The famous quote “It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over” is attributed to the famous baseball player Yogi Berra. Yogi had an illustrious career as a catcher for the N.Y. Yankees but his quote occurred in in 1973 when he was managing the N.Y. Mets. The Mets were involved in a very tight pennant race and seemed to be on the verge of losing out but Yogi told the press that the Mets cannot be written off entirely until the team was officially eliminated from contention. Yogi was well known for his colorful quotes and the “It Ain’t Over Till Its Over” was certainly one of his most famous.
I am now going to switch topics from lighthearted baseball quotes to something very serious: It is alarming to see the growing number of cases of Covid around the world, and now this is impacting the United States. Last week the number of cases rose by 44% compared to the week before and this is occurring in multiple areas of the country. The growth of cases has been attributed to the Covid Delta mutation virus that started in India and is now spreading worldwide. I spoke with a patient of ours whose family lives in Kazakhstan and he told me the hospitals there are fully packed, people are dying in the streets and doctors cannot be found as many have gone into hiding to avoid exposure.
Here in the U.S.: I believe most of us, including me, have suffered from a sort of “Covid Fatigue”, meaning that we have just about exhausted our abilities to think, worry, adjust our lives, and be dominated by the virus. We are now back to walking around stores/restaurants without wearing masks, resuming traveling via airplanes, gathering for July 4th parties and other summer get togethers etc. Many have developed the mindset of “It’s Over”.
The problem: It Ain’t Over. Seeing the statistics worldwide and now here in our country, clearly there will be more people that will contract the disease, not be able to fight it off and die.
This entry is not about pro-vaccination vs. anti-vaccination, mask requirements vs. none or anything political in nature. The purpose is to once again implore people to stay steadfast and focused on their weight control efforts. What will be in common concerning the Delta variant or any future mutation: The most “at risk” people for developing severe consequences/outcomes of contracting the virus will be overweight/obese people, especially those with co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma etc.
Unfortunately, in the case of the pandemic, “It Ain’t Over Till Its Over”. Please take this seriously and focus on the issues that are under our control…and weight is one of those.
Enjoy Lenny Kravitz’ song, “It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over”.