Coronavirus Archives - The Pickled Prepper Blog

Make a Choice, Face the Consequences

People make bad decisions all the time. Some have minor consequences, others may lead to death. The government can’t save them all, nor should they.

I am amused to note that at about the same time President Biden was announcing his new vaccine mandates, the number of cases as tracked by the New York Times had started to fall. Hospitalizations are also flat. By the time OSHA gets around to writing their emergency regulation, this COVID-19 wave may be behind us. Ironic, isn’t it?

Freedom of Choice

Someone said to me today, “People without the vaccine are 11 times more likely to die.”

My answer was to shrug and say: “It’s their choice.”

New Mandates a Giant Step Forward in Government Overreach

Maybe he did it to change the narrative away from the Afghanistan withdrawal, but Biden’s new vaccine mandates are another example of executive overreach.

I was planning to write about my electric fence and the difficulty of driving an 8-foot ground rod into rocky soil, but that exciting topic is postponed because of my need to comment on the new vaccine mandates which cover all federal employees and contractors, healthcare workers, and many others.

As I have said before, I am not taking a position on whether the vaccine is good or bad. I give my readers credit for having enough sense to make up their own minds. However, I consider mandates forcing people to get vaccinated to be a huge example of government overreach, especially when they are done by executive orders rather than being passed by the legislative branch.

It’s Official

With today’s announcement, President Biden officially confirmed that he is tougher on Americans without vaccines than he is on the Taliban. Not only do they get out of jail, but the Taliban gets free automatic weapons and cool military vehicles. The unvaccinated lose their ability to make a living and may lose their seats to the big game.

Quiet Non-Compliance For the Win

Have you ever noticed than when many people refuse to do something or use something, that something fades and loses its luster?

When 10,000 people show up and protest in a city square or outside a governor’s mansion, it makes news. When ten million people quit their jobs due vaccine mandates, it gets little coverage but makes a much bigger point.

It’s hard to ignore when cops, firefighters, and EMTs quit or sue the governor because they are required to get vaccines,. The very mandate designed to protect people is actually making them less safe by reducing the number of first responders.

In my experience, a big-city cop with five or more years of experience can get a job in an outlying suburb or smaller city relatively easily. Smaller agencies and Sheriff’s departments like someone with experience and training. But for the city to train a new officer takes at least a year, and that gives you an inexperienced rookie. Likewise, EMTs can always find work, and an experienced firefighters are in demand.

COVID is Breaking the System, and it may Never Bounce Back

I think we could have handled a pandemic but the global overreaction, the lockdowns, the restrictions and the crackdown on individual liberties are far worse than the disease itself.

It’s Monday, so I’m going to talk about COVID-19, specifically the state of America now that the latest surge, blamed on the Delta variant, has thrown us back into where we stood in mid-November. Last November, people panicked. This year, the reaction is ho hum.

I think the government is focusing its messaging on the need for more vaccinations because it allows them to blame the populace for rising numbers. I think the media are ignoring COVID not because we are sick and tired of hearing about it, but because they don’t want to pile more bad news on the Biden Administration. Both are avoiding talking about possible treatments because it might make Trump look good. After all, he was recommending some of the same treatments a year ago that other countries are adopting today.

What will they do when they force more than 90 percent vaccine compliance and we still get new variations and more breakthrough cases? Maybe they will go back to blaming China, which is no doubt where a good part of the initial blame lies.

Prepper News Update August 27

Large Food Suppliers Running out of Stock in U.S.

Companies like Sysco, which supply the restaurant and institutional food market, are experiencing problems with sourcing and delivering food due to a tight labor market, food shortages, and high demand. United Natural Foods, a grocery supplier, is having trouble getting food to stores on time. Industry wide, the on-time rate for food deliveries has slipped from 90 percent to 50 percent.

Just say No and COVID Mandates Will Backfire

We need to resist the mandates and unjust laws en mass because they can’t arrest us all; there will be no one left to do their work.

People are sick and tired of adhering to unreasonable, unexplainable COVID-19 rules and regulations, the insistence of mask mandates, vaccine requirements, and restrictions on their travel. In France, they are protesting in the streets. In Australia, they are being arrested and fined for leaving their homes. Here in the U.S., the Federal government is pressuring companies to require their employees to be vaccinated and school boards are forcing children to wear masks.

Restaurants in places like New York are also fed up with requirements that reduce their customer base and make them the bad guys. They just want to serve food, not police public adherence to medical mandates.

Things are Waterlogged but Back to Normal on the Homestead

We’ve had power for a couple days, and now we have Internet back as well.

I’ve heard terrible reports of local flooding in Tennessee in the past 24 hours with at least ten dead. Separately, Tropical Storm Henri made landfall on Rhode Island o Sunday, along with storm surge, high winds, and power outages. Let’s keep all of those affected by adverse weather in our prayers.

Remnants of Fred Knock our Power Out

Wind and rain from what is left of Tropical Storm Fred hit us, knocking over trees and some power lines. As a result, I won’t be posting much until we are back up and running.

Our preps have held up just fine, and we’ve checked on two neighbors who are also OK. After 6 hours, we cranked up the generator and extension cords are keeping our fridge, freezer, and a few lights running. No Internet access, however. We had to go to town to respond to texts and email.

A good reminder that a local emergency is more likely to hit than a global one, but they are both disruptive.

Be safe, everyone.

Social Effects of COVID-19 May Be Worse than Medical Threat

COVID-19 is bad, but the damage it is wreaking on our society may be even worse. It is illuminating the petty tyrants who seek to rule rather than govern.

I think we all know that COVID-19 is a pandemic that has killed millions and sickened 200 million, but have you ever stopped to think about the non-medical problems the virus has created, uncovered, or accelerated?

Here are just a few of the things our society is dealing with that have been caused or exacerbated by COVID-19 and the government’s reaction to it.

Loss of Personal Freedoms

From forcing business to close, telling people they can’t go to church or gather in large numbers, to forcing them to wear masks and even take a vaccine, the loss of personal freedom caused by the pandemic is not only unprecedented, it is growing worse every day.

Study Answers Question: How Effective is the Vaccine?

As Delta spreads, new evidence reveals that it might not be the unvaccinated that are causing the problem. The Pfizer vaccine is weak against this variation.

Data from a study conducted recently in Minnesota shows that the Pfizer vaccine’s effectiveness against the Delta variant of COVID-19 is only 42 percent. It remains 85 percent effective against hospitalization. This seems to confirm data produced several weeks ago based on the rising infections in Israel.

In contrast, the Moderna vaccine was 76 percent effective in preventing infection by the Delta variant and 92 percent against hospitalization.

The efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine against the Delta variant of COVID-19 is so low, if it was a new vaccine developed to combat Delta, they might not approve it for use.

This raises the question no one has studied: Are those states or counties that received the Pfizer Vaccine the states with the highest rate of infection? Maybe a weak vaccine and not the vaccinated are to blame.

Category: Coronavirus