From the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation goalkeepers report:

On Monday, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation released its annual Goalkeepers report, meant to measure global progress on development goals, including reducing poverty, improving access to clean water, healthcare, vaccines, and more than a dozen other measures. But this year, there was virtually no progress to report. Aside from smoking cessation, the world “regressed” on every measure of its well-being during the pandemic.

Because we are in the middle of it, we are honestly still not looking in the long term with this pandemic. Oh, sure, we all dream and fantasize about a day we can walk out without a mask and mingle amongst other humans without the worry of infection. We dream of coughing and not having a band of rabid Karens with torches and pitchforks surrounding you. We dream about not having to see the nightly parade of Covidiots, mostly Karens and the male version of Karens (Chads maybe?) spewing their idiocy into any camera that they find about their supposed “freedom” not to wear a mask. Even better are the Karens and their “excuses” not to wear a mask. As an aside, I never have and do not expect to ever recommend to a patient not to wear a mask (sorry Karen) that little bit of cloth is just an inconvenience, not a smothering rag, please get over it.

Honestly, if we had done the correct thing back in March and sacrificed a summer, we might be on our way out of this as would the rest of the world. We failed to do this, and now we have no one but ourselves to blame, which brings us to the Gates foundation. In General, the Gates Foundation does a pretty good job. They focus a great deal on Clean water, healthcare, vaccines, and helping folks out of poverty.

Well, their news this week was a stern slap to the face for all of us. Our inaction and desire to go to Applebees in our fresh Karen haircut has caused some significant issues with necessary human initiatives.

The change is unprecedented in the history of the 20-year-old, $50 billion foundation. The foundation’s Goalkeepers report, established in 2017, is meant to serve as an annual look at progress around the world on benchmarks of poverty, health and well-being, sanitation, education, and other sustainable development goals.

“Every single one of the goals was moving in the right direction,” Gates said on the call, which replaced what’s normally a star-studded in-person event. “The pandemic has, in almost every dimension, made inequity worse.”

This year, there is almost no progress to share (apart from some improvements in smoking cessation rates worldwide).

“We have to confront the current reality with candor,” the report said. “We’ve regressed.”

While we are trying to stave it off, we are headed to an epic recession, and we have seen a jump in global poverty of over 7% after nearly 20 years of slow and steady decrease. Poverty isn’t just the streets of Calcutta; it is the streets of Anytown USA.

We erased 25 years of vaccine progress, and we are showing regression in all areas.

I can hear some idiots out there going, so what. Let me clue you a little bit here. We need to decrease poverty, increase clean water, expand healthcare access, and continue developing safe vaccines for our current existence.

I know you turn your water on and clean, clear water comes out (unless you are in Flint). Most can roll up to a doctor for a routine visit thanks to the ACA. You have safe, unrushed, well-tested vaccines. A significant part of the world does not. The fight keeps everyone healthy as that level of health produces stronger immunity and gives the whole planet a chance to fight global outbreaks.

I sat and read the last paragraph and thought, it is that simple, isn’t it. A healthier world would have made the spread of disease more difficult, and the long-term impact not as crazy. I sit and think about how all the harping that goes on ignore about not only my patients’ health but even my own. Hopefully, we have some chance left. We must get things under control because we need to continue to fix things while we fight the pandemic. We need to follow instructions and not be the whiney entitled fucks we are and pause and think about the greater community. I harp on this a lot, but we may be individuals, but unless we live on a desert island with no human contact, we are part of a community.

I am tired of saying, “wear a mask” all the time, but this needs to stop. We need to stop being in a rush for this to be over. You are looking at a virus with a 5-21 day incubation period, all of which you are contagious. Rushing only means that you have more “start overs.” Don’t believe me?

We fight like crazy to reopen schools for our little cherubs education. Oh no, not in remote education; we need to be in person. Why the hell do we need that? I have heard about a child’s need to socialize being the most significant thing, well that and “people need to get back to work.” You know, hurrying again. I mean shit, without working, how are any of those billionaire capitalists going to buy their 4th home?

I have seen school returns here in Utah, cause outbreaks of the virus within the school. Do we quarantine or go back to restrictions? Nope, we forge ahead, and in some cases, those kids continue to go to school. We are rushing, for what?

Between rushing and being gaslit about the reasons, I am exhausted. I have holed up in the castle except for essential projects. I have limited most, if not all, social contacts. I pretty much go to work and hang out at home, that is it. Stop rushing, which I think is much more critical than just wearing a mask.

Stop rushing; things will eventually resume after the massive recession that is coming because Karen couldn’t go to Applebees with her fresh coiffe. We could be done with this now and recovering, but we are not. We may have to go back again; we may not have a choice. We are idiots about this, and we need to stop thinking it will just go away.

Be alive for your dog; wear a mask. Be the kind of person that your dog and your mom hope you are.