Halloween is the time of year we allow ourselves to be frightened and fearful which I have been very often since my brother died of Covid-19 early in the Pandemic. I have been frightened of how poorly prepared we were even though experts warned of a Pandemic coming decades ago. The Pandemic revealed the dire need to better invest in public health infrastructure to address future public health threats and now our Federal leadership is doing the opposite and making our preparation so much weaker. They are reducing spending and pausing and blocking research. Every health agency has been dismantled with continual attacks on science. Our current administration is canceling almost 500 million dollars on contracts to develop mRNA vaccines to protect our citizens against future viral threats. This technology created the most commonly used Covid-19 vaccine that saved millions of lives.

My beloved brother must be rolling in his grave. I don’t know my country anymore.