WS Chronicle

By Dr. James B. Ewers Jr.

Our America is full of both problems and solutions. We test different theories and then make decisions. Information provides us with the tool by which we make informed choices. The problem with information is that we don’t always use it to make good decisions.

For example, I knew growing up that I would suffer the consequences of my choices. Even when I had the right information, I made the incorrect decision. Why? Hard-headed.

Maybe I thought that the facts did not apply to me. My thinking now is that I temporarily misplaced my thinking cap.

I think that is happening with the coronavirus and the judgments people are making about it. People have the facts yet are ignoring them or not believing them. I say that respectfully.

Many Americans are putting aside statistics about hospital stays and even deaths. They are using their own logic and reasoning to come up with their way to combat COVID-19.

I have been around long enough to know that we have different lens through which we look at life experiences. No matter our different and varied experiences, COVID-19 is a shared experience. We are all getting it and some have passed away from it.

To respond to citizens who want to be tested, the government is giving away testing kits. Each family can get up to four testing kits. The website to order them is covidtests.gov. You can expect to receive them within a two-week window. That is good news for people who want to go the testing route.

Those who are choosing to be tested should also be aware of fake testing sites. They are in business and their reviews are not good. In other words, buyer beware.

One such operation is called The Center for COVID-19 Control. According to reports, they have testing locations across the country. This company is being investigated by the Department of Justice in Oregon and the Better Business Bureau in many cities.

Michelle McDaniel, a customer, said, “I still haven’t heard anything. It was very frustrating.”

Liz Gerard, another duped customer, said, “At the moment I was asked for my driver’s license number, along with quite a bit of personal data that I thought was excessive, but I was sick, so I went along with it.”

If you are sick, then going to the doctor and getting some medication might be a good step to take. By not going to the doctor, it might indicate that some people are on a COVID testing frenzy. You get sick and you automatically think you have the omicron variant.

Now if you have been vaccinated and boosted, your chances are much better. It is my opinion that too many people are not vaccinated and running to these testing sites on a regular basis. That is their choice, and some will continue to do it. However, it is my hope that some minds will be changed and they will get vaccinated and boosted.

The Supreme Court ruled against a federal mandate for companies to require their employees to be vaccinated. However, SCOTUS did say that it would leave the decision up to the employers.

I think large companies will want to see their employees vaccinated. Chief executives see these statistics, so I think they will make wise and prudent decisions.

The sports world has also been affected by this vaccine dilemma. Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets can’t play in New York because of the vaccine rules in that state. Novak Djokovic, the top ranked men’s tennis player in the world, will not be able to play in the Australian Open because he is un-vaccinated.

To vaccinate or to test? Those are the choices. Which will you choose?

James B. Ewers Jr., Ed.D., is a former tennis champion at Atkins High School in Winston-Salem and played college tennis at Johnson C. Smith University, where he was all-conference for four years. He is a retired college administrator. He can be reached at overtimefergie.2020@yahoo.com.