I'm either pregnant or have COVID

BY Dan Kopelman

Two lines... yep. Two of them! Early last week, I felt a little off after a lunch meal (where I took one too many servings of amazingly tasty chicken) and that feeling lasted into the evening where I went to sleep well before my normal time. Overnight, I was not comfortable and had those "night sweats" that make you want to wake up and do the laundry and had a dry cough. The next day I was fine, but the cough lingered and I was feeling thirsty all night. No additional laundry list of stuff, just this stupid cough in the morning so I whipped out my BinaxNOW kit (the one that is totally useless for travel even though it says it is accepted as an official, State-Sponsored test), tore open the test card, put in the 6 drops, shoves a swab up each nostril for 15 seconds, and stuck it in the appropriate test card hole with 3 twists. Then after 15 min (more like 30 seconds), a bright line appeared where there was none last time I did this same thing for a previous cough a month earlier. 

Since early on with the whole COVID thing, I have been saying it is real, but it is about the same thing as any other flu. I reluctantly got a "1-and-done" vaccine some months back and have followed both WorldoMeter.org and other news sources regarding what the latest "actual" and speculative results are. This lead me to tell my work I would be seeking a religious exemption because "G-d controls life and death." They tried to ask if I had anything to add and I simply said no... then they asked my religious affiliation and I said no to that too (this is an entirely different discussion that should alarm everyone).

Recently, on my journey, I came upon a relatively reasonable website touting the "Great Barrington Declaration" (https://gbdeclaration.org/) as a collection of "epidemiologists and public health scientists" who are concerned about the overreaching policies. I was pleased to see an entry from "Dr. Eitan Friedman, professor of medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel" indicating that the entire country has not lost its mind. I was also recently told that they do check for natural T-cell immunity and count it toward their ridiculous pass-card. 

To make this long post slightly longer. The 99.96% recovery rate on average is basically the same for this flu as for any other. The Spanish flu killed more because we had even less knowledge back then than we do now and this is not polio, smallpox, or even chickenpox. I had H1-N1 and survived, I had a cold in the summer last year and got a cough last month (it had me in bed for a day) that was not COVID. We are supposed to be exposed to our environment... and wash hands and brush teeth and not wallow in our own waste.

There are co-morbidities that make ANY flu dangerous.  A friend of mine did not address a non-COVID ailment and ended up with pneumonia and sepsis. Don't let things get that bad!!! 

We read Psalms 91 as part of our prayers in Synagogue (https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16312/jewish/Chapter-91.htm). It tells us if we believe in G-d and take reasonable measures "No harm will befall you, nor will a plague draw near to your tent." We are also given the strength of belief to go out into the world and live our lives without fear of everything that might happen to us. I believe we all have our role and hiding behind government-inflicted masks and shuttering ourselves inside our homes and even businesses divides us and separates us from Hashem and one another.  

Be free and be responsible at the same time. Say no to false promises of protections that have no basis or foundation in historical fact. If you are sick, stay home and have chicken soup until you feel better.

If you are healthy GO LIVE LIFE!