I Predicted the Pandemic (over and over and over again)

We are in this mess because we did not prioritize as a species strong and equitable healthcare systems for all humans. We have a choice.

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[juliabrooks]

“Disease does not treat people equally because our social order does not treat people equally.”

[carissa-]

True confession: I listen to old Dear Hank and John episodes while I fall asleep, and yesterday I listened to an episode from a couple years ago where you talked about how liberal votes in Georgia might play a major role in upcoming elections. Needless to say, that aged well.

[charcharcharlieee]

“clean glasses daily” I see we were both traumatized by Hanks video

[sashablank]

I’m an optimist. I see “Stronger and more Equitable healthcare systems” next to “clean glasses Daily” and I’m reminded that improved healthcare is possible when juxtaposed with the impossible.

[murrmurishka]

"Conspiracy theorists would probably conclude that I had some kind of inside knowledge, which I suppose I did in a sense that I read a lot of.. history!" 👏👏😁

[elisa.llew-send]

“Disease does not feel like a choice.”

excellent clip, my friend

[kangarooo]

"the fact that infectious disease is a greater threat to the most vulnerable and marginalised among us does not mean that we should spend less time and money fighting those diseases" SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE AT THE BACK

[skylerwitherspoon]

"if we don't address unequal access to healthcare, pandemics will continue to be routine, and they will continue to disproportionately harm the most vulnerable among us"
^^^^

[trace_tomorrow]

“Fight the creeping sense of dread with temporal things” for anyone who couldn’t read it with the glare.

[ColouredPenguins]

"All disaster movies start with a scientist being ignored."

[Anu-htgs]

I thought Hank was the one good with predictions! 😂

[vlogbrothers]

Hi.
Thanks for being here with us. -John

[erannso]

“i’m like madame trelawney but not a fraud!”

[meenakshivisvanathan]

"clean glasses daily"

Guess Hank's glasses under a microscope video really had an effect

[TheSpecialJ]

I am so tired of hearing the word "unprecedented" in reference to this pandemic. There's nothing unprecedented about mass disease, what is unprecedented is going three generations without one.

[meenakshivisvanathan]

"We've long placed war at the centre of our historical narratives" feels like a crude and blunt summary of a good big chunk of the recorded history that we learn and sheds harsh light on how civilizations have worked.

[skylerwitherspoon]

"manifest live action penguins of Madagascar" John, never change

[Beryllahawk]

two phrases hit me hard:
"adequately staffed" being the first and worst.
My husband is in the hospital again. He left our house in an ambulance yesterday about 1 pm. He was put into a hospital room at 8 am today.
He could have been placed in a room last night around 7 pm.
Why the 13 hour delay?
The hospital here (which serves the city, the county, and several surrounding counties) is so badly understaffed that when night shift comes, there ARE no nurses to handle intake, new admits, any of that. I don't know if that's "just" covid having an effect, or if there has been some epic mismanagement in the hiring process, or if things are just that bad here. All I know is that my husband - in kidney failure, needing dialysis, and unable to walk - was stuck in the ER area of the hospital, alone, for 13 hours longer than necessary. Because of current policies (and this I do know is covid's fault) no one was allowed to sit with him in the ER.

Second thing - the poorest people dying 30 years before the richest people do.
My family is definitely poor. I have a roof over my head and internet access purely because I live with a person who has resources to allow for that. And, to be clear: I am not gifted these things, I work for my room and board, doing all the mental labor and much of the physical labor to keep a household of 6 adults fed, lights on, and so forth. Without me here, the power bill would likely get "forgotten" about every few months, there would be no phone or internet because of missed bills there (the owner of the house has been black-listed by the phone company for so many times of just not paying her bill in the past, and so the phone number is in MY name and so is our internet, even though the money still comes from her). It is an immense amount of work for one person to shoulder, though anyone who's been a housewife and mother is likely quite familiar with every task I take on.
But should something happen, and the owner of this place decide that my work is no longer sufficient - she can throw me and my family out on the street without warning and without stated cause. We have zero protections. We work, and we are at her mercy. We are fortunate: she is kind, so far. But if that kindness should end: we will have nothing, not even a vehicle to sleep in, and in very short order my husband would be hospitalized or dead, because the homeless shelter certainly does not have facilities to care for someone with his needs. The rest of us would be in bad shape, without the medicines we need and with prospects for work bleak at best. My son and my brother have the best chances, but that's only because they are relatively young, male, and white. They've BEEN looking for work. They have had no luck: dozens of interviews, and not one call back, in three years. To put it bluntly, without the kindness we are currently being shown, we would be in penury: on the streets, no food, no prospects, no future.
In the 21st effing century in what's supposed to be the richest country on this planet.
This phrasing slapped me in the face with that reality, a reality that i try real hard not to think about since there's very little I can DO about it, given that I have my hands metaphorically AND literally full with taking care of a very sick husband on top of the whole 6 adults thing. But the reality is still there, and I am filled with rage and despair in equal measure. We did nothing wrong, we do not "deserve" the things we are enduring, and yet - we are seen as the criminals, the free loaders, the problem. And I know of no miracle on this earth that will fix that.

[lauren]

I follow zoonotic diseases pretty closely and anything respiratory rings my “oh sh*t” alarm bells. I learned arguably too much about SARS in nursing school. Nothing quite like learning how severe acute respiratory syndrome kills people to make you a little paranoid. It’s a bad way to go. I remember sitting in my car in early January in a Trader Joe’s parking lot listening to an NPR report about viral pneumonia in Wuhan possibly related to a wet market. It didn’t have a name yet and I thought well that will be one to watch. Man, did I have no idea how much I would see.

[RamenNoodle]

"clean glasses daily" omg I'm howling!

Guess I'm not the only one Hank freaked out...