Save David Tennant From Invasion!!

 There are lots of horrific things going on in this world. Most are out of our control. One is not.

There's nothing I can do about the atrocities happening between Hamas and Israel and Palestine. I can barely look at it. I've sent texts of support to friends who are Jewish or Muslim because you can guarantee some of that hate will be capitalized on here towards both groups. And there's also very little I can do, personally, to affect the global changes coming from increased warming of our climate. I don't drive much or ever use a drier, and I eat low on the food chain. But I produced three kids, one of whom drives a block away to see friends, eats meat a couple of times a day, and is pumped to have just moved out somewhere with a washer and drier, so he can do laundry pretty much as soon as he wears something with no concern for conserving water or energy. 

Sorry about that, world. I tried my very best, but there's only so much we can do.

But my kids always wear a mask inside public buildings. Wearing masks does have an effect on directly reducing the chance of transmitting a virus that is disabling people in ways they don't even notice. Before you think, "If they don't notice, then what's the big deal?" be aware that Covid affects the brain with dementia-like symptoms causing people to be suddenly confused and/or irrationally angry without warning. Have you noticed people driving worse than ever on the street??  

Justin Lee recently wrote about our collective apathy:

"When it was like 40,000 covid deaths to 80,000, we were like, 'Oh no.' Then it hit 100,000 to 200,000; we were like 'Uh oh, this is terrible.' But there was a point we closed our eyes, as we started to reach 400 to 500,000 covid deaths, we started to comfort ourselves. Our 'adaptation' came in the form of getting used to death. Our sensitive little empathy meters all fried into oblivion. We hit the million, 1,000,000+ covid deaths, and arbitrarily decided, 'Phew! Glad that's over!' as we keep losing and disabling people. Now, nobody can fathom the scale of our destruction. Mythology and excuses are soothing, like ducks who let the pandemic roll off our backs, no moments of silence, no 'never forget,' just a belligerence to fighting against our nemesis. That's how we've adapted."

But one thing just might save the day: Our love of celebrities! 

Many, many, many performers have bailed on concerts and tours and other promotions because they're too sick to perform. They can't say it's Covid, because that's right in their cancellation insurance form. They have to say, explicitly, that it's not Covid-related or else lose a fortune. I'm sure not all of the cancellations are due to Covid, but I'm a big fan of concerts and book readings and festivals, and I've never seen anything like this. Covid must be a significant part of the reason.

Recently, Neil Gaiman (Coraline, The Sandman...) postponed an event, and fans were outraged that some bastard gave Neil Covid!! What if it affects his brain (or heart or lungs or pancreas), and he can no longer write and entertain us so beautifully as he has done for years?? Lindsay Brown wrote about the importance of removing the passive voice when we discuss Covid: It's not that he just randomly got Covid, or was infected, making it easy to evade responsibility, but 'Someone infected Neil Gaiman with Covid-19 after venues refused to enforce audience masking.' That someone needs to be stopped and the venues held accountable!

 

Now Charles Waltz is on a mission to stop the spread at Comic Con in order to save the much-loved David Tennant (Dr. Who, Good Omens...). Waltz asked how to craft a quick explainer to help get the word out as he's now being contacted by venue operators. 

I suggested this: 

"SAVE DAVID TENNANT FROM INVASION! Wear a mask at Comic Con! Evil covid is taking out performers and destroying careers. Most spread is from people who feel healthy at the time. [It's using people that appear perfectly healthy to invade the world.] It's stealth, and we need to be on guard with a well-fitting mask. Keep him alive by wearing an N95!!"

Upper room UV would help and CR boxes everywhere would help, but the easiest, most certain, and fastest way to prevent transmission is to mandate masks and pass out N95s at the door. Masks are most certain because even with enough CR boxes for the space, if a maskless person gets right up close to Tennant to tell him how amazing he is, and the fan happens to be infected, then Tennant's screwed. 

This is a problem WE CAN SOLVE!!!! Just wear an N95 when you go to this event... and every other event... and definitely in the hospital... and how about in schools too!! If we can work together to save David Tennant from a brain-invasive virus, we can save our children, too.