David J.
Danto
Business travel
thoughts in my own, personal opinion
eMail: ddanto@IMCCA.org Follow Industry News: @NJDavidD
Good Riddance 2021 –
What Have We Learned
2021 has certainly been a year like
no other. 2020 had the pandemic as well, but at least that year
started with a couple of normal months for most people before the pandemic
realities took-over. 2021 began with the
optimism of vaccines, seemed to be improving, then – just as we had lowered our
guard – threw Delta and Omicron at us.
In other words, it was a double dumpster fire. Keeping in line with what my parents taught
me – that nothing is a waste of time when
it can be used as a learning experience – let’s go over what we should have
learned from this awful year.
Lesson One – Masks: Wearing a face covering to prevent the spread
of germs is now a just-about permanent part of all our lives going
forward. It serves multiple purposes. If you wear a mask it shows you care about
not infecting others in your community.
If you wear an N95
or KN95
mask it also provides you with strong protection from COVID19 and other
viruses. The masks serve other purposes
as well. If you run into someone wearing
one over only their mouth with their nose fully exposed, or even worse – not wearing one at all – then you have an ideal,
instant visual indicator that the person is an idiot. In the history of mankind there has never
been so sure an instant sign of stupidity as this one. There is definitely a social advantage of
being able to steer clear of people exhibiting these ‘I’m an idiot’ indicators.
Lesson Two – Cruises: If there
has ever been a face-palm moment in the history of mankind, it is surely
brought-on by people who have seen everything that has happened to cruise ships
over the last few years and yet still decided to take a cruise now. The nature of cruises – that people are
trapped into a small space with thousands of others for weeks at a time – is
the exact perfect breeding ground for viruses.
It was predominantly noroviruses before the dawn of COVID-19, but then
the coronavirus settled-in to call the cruise industry its home. People clearly saw stories of ships that were
denied ports around the world, of people trapped for indefinite periods and
forced to share the same public and ventilation facilities as those that
are ill, all with little chance of avoiding infection on what is in essence a
floating petri-dish. Yet many somehow
still decided that taking a cruise now was a good idea. (I guess this kind of explains some of the
outcomes of past elections.) In the last
couple of weeks multiple
ships leaving Florida had COVID outbreaks and were denied entry at planned
stops. The cruise companies have
reported only a small number of infections, but passengers have claimed the
numbers are much higher than being reported.
Whenever I read stories of disease outbreaks on cruise ships it always
makes me think about the parable of the Scorpion and the
Frog. Cruise passengers knew full
well they were signing-onto (and amazingly paying for) being trapped on a
floating disease factory, yet are shocked
when they get sick and are trapped onboard.
I mean, what will it take for some people to learn to protect
themselves?
Lesson Three – Scientific Research: Scientists
usually spend nearly ten years in formal higher education in their field,
including and followed by years of practical experience working with the tools and
technologies they focus on. They have a
strictly detailed process called the Scientific Method
that requires them to hypothesize based upon observation then fully test each
hypothesis using strict regiments. If
something new is discovered there is also a strict peer-review process and then
typically the requirement of publication of the discovery with all supporting
data. It is always a rigorous process
that ensures the quality and validity of the discovery. The development of the mRNA vaccines we’ve
been using to stave-off or reduce the severity of COVID-19 infections are based
on years of research that just happened to be ready to help us in this current
crisis. Now, faced with all those facts,
there are still stupid people that believe that their Google and Facebook
searches are valid ‘research’ that
can counter the rigorously obtained science.
The lesson here is that the principle of the Dunning-Kruger
effect is 100% true. Essentially, a
person needs to be smart enough to realize how stupid they actually are. People with low IQs do not have the cognitive
ability to realize they are idiots. (See above regarding exposed noses and
cruise ships.) No, the article that you found on Facebook that tells you animal dewormer can prevent COVID-19 isn’t something to base your
vaccine decisions upon – it’s BS. If you
believe it then it says much more about you than about real science.
As many have eerily pointed-out, this next year twenty-twenty-two can also be read as twenty-twenty-too. This is an ominous semi-prediction
that twenty-twenty is here again and we’re not done with this
merry-go-round-from-hell quite yet.
Please, please, please learn from our experiences to date:
· Wear N95
or KN95
masks when outside of your home and going indoors or being around a lot of
people. Cover your mouth AND nose.
· Don’t eat in indoor restaurants
unless they have fresh air / great ventilation.
· Get vaccinated and boosted ASAP! Ignore false research based on internet
searches.
· Don’t take cruises – unless you’re
trying to do your own research on what it’s like having COVID-19.
This article was written by David Danto and contains solely his own, personal
opinions.
All image and links provided above as reference under
prevailing fair use statutes.
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As always, feel free to write and comment, question or
disagree. Hearing from the traveling
community is always a highlight for me.
Thanks!