Black history month is a great way for us to learn about those who have championed the cause against racial injustice in white history obscurity. When I was in school, I was taught nothing about Black history…with the exception that slaves loved being in bondage and happily sang songs as portrayed in Gone with the Wind.

Ugh, how embarrassing.

So I recognize that it is incumbent upon me to learn a more inclusive history.  Each year, I pick someone from Black History and Women’s History to research.

This year I cheated, I chose Ida B Wells, both an important voice for African Americans and a champion of women’s voting rights.

Born into slavery in 1862, she became one of the most renown journalists of her time (very unusual for a person of color) documenting lynching with unabashed bravery.

Always an activist (she was a cofounder of the NAACP), she gained notoriety when she took on the railroads in 1884 for requiring her to give up her (paid) first class seat to move to a less desirable (smoking) car.  When she refused, she was thrown off the train and began her journalism career documenting her treatment and her subsequent lawsuit against the railroad (she lost…in part thanks to a prior Supreme Court ruling).

She began her career as a teacher in Memphis. But after learning about the lynching of two friends, she began chronicling lynching. By shining a light on this barbaric practice, American Northerners and the world could no longer turn a blind eye to Southern depravity.  Not surprisingly, a White mob destroyed her newspaper office and presses.

Prior to her investigative pamphlets, Southern Horrors and The Red Record, Wells documented lynching under an assumed name for the Washington Star.  When her writing was brought to light, she was fired by the Memphis School board and, in fear of her life after the mob destruction, moved to Chicago.

Oh by the way, since she was woman, she did all of this while raising six children.

Not content to just report lynchings, she also analyzed why they occurred. Despite Southern justification, she uncovered that Black economic progress, bi-racial affairs, fear of a Black uprising, and refusal of courageous Black men to accept Jim Crow were the real reasons. She concluded that 25% claimed to be about the “rape of white women.” She shined on bright light on this cruel injustice for the world to witness.

An educator at heart, she also promoted causes that gave all races and nationalities access to libraries and knowledge; understanding that education was power.

She was an outspoken Suffragette.  She educated her African American colleagues on the importance of women’s votes to improve the condition of Black Americans and organized a multi-racial group for suffrage. Her group is considered primarily responsible for the election of the first Black alderman in Chicago (Oscar De Priest).

Her organization traveled to DC to attend the Women’s Suffrage parade in 1913.  However, Southern White Suffragettes threatened a boycott if African American Suffragettes participated.  In an attempt to appease the Southern Suffragettes, organizers asked Ida B. Wells and other Black Suffragettes not to march, knowing that Woodrow Wilson, among others, was no friend to African Americans.

But Ida B Wells was an indomitable force, so, after an initial skirmish (where anti-Suffrage men became violent); she mysteriously ended up at the front of her delegation and marched in the parade.

Ida B Wells was a force against injustice that would never be quashed.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

Gardening has been my passion since childhood, it has fed me through life’s joys and tragedies.  It nurtured my marriage, kept me alive when I no longer wanted to be part of this world, and nudged me to return.

Raised on a Caroline County farm, I found being outside in the dirt was a place where I could relax and focus on the task at hand.  I found solace working the soil, kneading the wet earth, or watching the dry dust sift through my fingers.  Tasks had a beginning and an end.  At the end I could look back at my work…a row of seeds planted, or seedlings transplanted…waiting for them to grow.  I instinctively learned about my silent pact with the earth…I will put it here and you will nourish it. And after we have tended it together, we will have something that will feed us either substantively or visually; and then we will start the cycle all over again.

I brought a love of that communion wherever I went.  In every yard, I built a garden, not always a successful one; but one that began with promise and imagination.  I would tend it, remove the unwanted weeds, water it during droughts, there was always something to do.  It was partnership, of interconnected roles; like enduring partnerships, sometimes we fought, sometimes we failed, sometimes we succeeded, sometimes we amazed, but always be together. I have learned that nature is not a one-way street, but a relationship that is always teaching.

I have been an organic gardener from the beginning, not because I was necessarily “woke,” but I recognized I was a temporary steward, and I did not have the right to leave a permanent blemish on the environment. Also, I figured that as a rather inept gardener, I could kill plants without the aid of chemicals.

A garden is about love. A love for beauty, a love for the outdoor miracle our planet provides, a love for the sounds, a love of being enveloped in soft green plants and rustling bushes and trees, a love of sharing the moments that a garden gives.

So fellow gardeners, it is time.  Time to get out those magazines, the books, the seed catalogs, get ideas and local plants from friends and garden clubs.  Time to plan, this is going to be the year!

Time to hope for rain at just the right time, a cool, wet spring, a gradual mild, summer with weekly thunderstorms; a mild autumn where our plants gracefully return to the earth; and a winter where our perennials, trees, and bushes can find safe harbor.

Everything is possible at this moment!

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

Vice President-Elect Harris wore a white pantsuit on the night that she and Joe Biden celebrated their victory.  She wore it to recognize the 72 years that Suffragettes worked, organized, lobbied, were incarcerated, marched, demonstrated, and even participated in hunger strikes so that women could vote.  Many Suffragettes did not live long enough to vote.  To honor Susan B. Anthony, on every election day, voters paste their “I Voted” stickers on her gravestone in Rochester NY.

As I cheered Vice President Elect Harris’s victory, I wondered how many other amendments had paved the way for that night.

With the exception of President Obama, all presidents and vice presidents met the framers’ original intentions of what a leader should be…white and male (and often, privileged).

Kamala Harris’s victory reminded me of my favorite quote by Sir Isaac Newton.

“If I can see far, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.”

Many amendments to the Constitution were necessary for her to be up on that podium. The most important amendments were the 15th and the 19th.  The 15th gave Black men the right to vote (or more specifically, prohibited states from refusing voting rights based on race) and the 19th amendment gave female US citizens the right to vote.

The journey to expand voting rights began shortly after the Constitution was ratified.  The Abolitionist movement officially began in 1830.  It would take a Civil War to pass the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments.  The 13th amendment abolished slavery, the 14th amendment gave citizenship to all born in the United States, and the 15th amendment prohibited states from denying voting rights based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Women’s advocates, who worked tirelessly to end slavery, expected to be rewarded with a voting rights amendment that included gender as well.  However, Abolitionists were afraid that adding gender was too controversial and they asked Suffragettes to “stand down.”  Frederick Douglass, a staunch supporter of women’s voting rights, finally capitulated when he recognized that adding sex could prevent the passage of the 15th amendment.  The Suffragettes were angry and bitterly disappointed.

As disheartened as they were, even they would not have imagined that women would have to wait another 53 years before the 19th amendment granting them the right to vote would be passed. In fact, by the time the 19^th amendment was ratified, 20 states allowed women to vote.

Biden/Harris won 57% of the female vote.

There were other amendments that aided Biden/Harris in the 2020 Presidential election.  The 24th amendment abolished poll tax, allowing Black Americans to vote freely.

Biden/Harris won 87% of the Black American vote.

The 26^th amendment gave 18-year-olds the right to vote.

Two thirds of those under 24 voted for Biden/Harris.

The 23^rd amendment gave the District of Columbia Electoral College representation.

92% of DC’s residents voted for Biden/Harris, giving them 3 Electoral College votes.

The road to Vice President Kamala Harris’s election began long before her immigrant parents were born.  Thousands of people dedicated their lives, especially in the Abolition and Suffrage Movements, to extend voting rights.

But you know who else needs to be celebrated?  The white male voters. Their willingness to share their privileges and power to those not represented created a broader, deeper, and richer America. These men recognized that a rising tide raises all boats. It can be argued that their foresight saved the Constitution in 2020. 61% of white men voted for Trump, I am convinced that those voters could not have envisioned a failed coup attempt to overturn the election and the Constitution.

When Kamala Harris strode onto the podium in her white pantsuit, she was saluting all those who worked tirelessly to give her this opportunity and, equally important, those, like her husband, who were willing to share it.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

Until now, the vaccine rollout in America has been a nightmare. In Florida it has been an embarrassment. (You might remember my column about getting on a list with the Health Department to get a COVID 19 vaccine appointment in Florida.  It turned out that list was meaningless.)

Talbot County has recently vaccinated a number of its citizens. Its Tuesday briefing provided good information about access, but I could feel the frustration of Talbot citizens trying to get the vaccine.

But at least Maryland is attempting to distribute the vaccine fairly, then there is Florida.

To date, 39,000 non-Florida residents have been vaccinated.  That’s right, 39,000!  39,000 would have vaccinated all this county’s senior citizens, educational, and essential workers; and all of Talbot County!  But for reasons that we can only surmise, Florida became a popular vaccination destination for wealthy Argentinians, Canadian residents, and who knows who else (with Uncle Sam footing the bill).  Just recently, Florida restricted the vaccine to residents and “snow birds.”

In my Florida county, vaccines have been distributed by privilege.  An exclusive country club and gated community in Key Largo, Ocean Reef, mysteriously vaccinated 1200 residents (which is incredible given that many are International residents, and all Key West was given fewer than 1300 total doses).  Florida is investigating how they “jumped the line.”

In Key West, the Health Department distributed the vaccines to their friends and relatives.  There is still no roadmap for nonaffiliated qualified residents to receive the vaccine.  Vaccine distribution to the privileged has been reported everywhere.  Houston and other states are investigating “International Vaccine Vacations” and other states report unqualified people being vaccinated due to “connections.”

Another frustration for me has been watching people get vaccinated on TV as if they are providing a public service.  Vice President Pence, Vice President Harris, and President Biden took a leadership position by doing so.  But seriously, local leaders, celebrities, reporters, give me a break.  I would get on TV in a bathing suit if I could get the vaccine.  That would be a true “profile in courage.”

Back to Florida. Publix (a regional grocery store and pharmacy chain) is now distributing COVID 19 vaccines throughout Florida (to those over 65). This is how it works. At 6 a.m. on a pre-announced date, the Publix COVID 19 appointment website goes live.  To prevent the system from crashing, a limited number of users are allowed access.  The rest of us wait in the queue, hoping that we will be able to get into the site before all the appointments have been filled (usually by 8:30 a.m.). Most of us do not get in (there are over 250,000 people waiting), but the website announces the next date that appointments will be available. When the next date arrives, we do it all over again.

On one of these dates, I got in.  The system was cumbersome.  I selected an appointment by county and then filled in two pages of medical data.  By the time I finished and clicked the “submit” button, the appointment had been booked by someone who was quicker or got access before I did, and I had to select another appointment date, re-enter the medical data and click “submit.”  That appointment, too, was taken. Soon, all the appointments in my county had been filled, but I found an appointment 5 ½ hours away.  I grabbed it.

One of the advantages of this system is that anyone with an Internet connection can wait in the queue.  So elderly citizens who are not computer savvy can get their friends and relatives to book an appointment. I was able to make appointments for others who could not navigate the system.

Acme recently announced that they will be distributing vaccines and I suspect that they will use a similar system. So set your alarms and find someone with an Internet connection who is willing to help.

It is chaotic, but it is also fair.  Getting into the system is like winning the lottery.  No special privileges needed, just tenacity and good fortune.

According to the Biden administration, national pharmacies won’t be able to distribute vaccines before the end of February.  I wish that they could get them sooner.  In remote, underserved areas there need to be alternatives, but in most areas, allowing pharmacies to distribute the vaccines would benefit the economy, reduce cost, make it a fair system, and help overworked, dedicated local Health Departments.

Before expending the effort to educate those who don’t want the vaccine, I recommend that we start with the millions of people who do. Once they see the benefits and the minimal side effects, they will be less resistant.  And if vaccinations are required to live in a post-COVID 19-world, people will comply.

The vaccine rollout has been badly mismanaged.  Operation Warp Speed was only warped.  But let’s not try to “boil the ocean”.  Let’s help our Health Departments by taking advantage of one of America’s strengths, our businesses.  In my limited experience, they are ready, willing, and able.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

Watching the January 6th insurrection was like watching a train wreck. It was hard to look away, but in the end, all that I could see was the wreckage.

Why do we believe that the election was stolen and other conspiracy theories?

We have several inherent biases that make us susceptible.

One is our old friend and nemesis, confirmation bias, where we form an opinion and gather facts to prove it.  For example, when Donald Trump was elected in 2016, I was unable to reconcile how someone who lost the election by almost three million votes could win; so I became convinced Russians had successfully injected themselves into the elections in a few key districts. Why?  I had such a negative opinion of Donald Trump it was impossible for me to believe that people would vote for him.  Similarly, in the 2020 election, it was inconceivable to ardent Trump supporters that he would not be re-elected, so they became convinced that the only explanation was wide-scale voter fraud.

We share other biases as well.  Proportionality bias happens when an event is so significant that a simple explanation does not seem possible, such as, the death of Lady Diana.  It was too catastrophic to believe that her death was merely caused by an inebriated driver chased by relentless photographers.  We looked to coincidences and then made our next error. Confusing correlation with causation.  We looked for anomalies that were correlated with the event (for example, the unknown Fiat) and assumed that they were causal. But correlation is not causation.

The well-known conspiracy theory about Roswell centers on the belief that an alien spaceship crashed into the desert in 1947.  Seventy years later there is no physical data, but there are eyewitness accounts. The heavy-handed treatment and misinformation by the military added to fuel to the conspiracy theory.  In the 1990s, the Air Force researched the incident and concluded that a top-secret nuclear test surveillance balloon from Project Mogul containing test dummies crashed at the site. But Ufologists remain unconvinced.

For the Roswell incident to occur there must be confirmation bias (the belief that there are extraterrestrials) and another phenomenon, the inability to prove the null hypothesis.

Put simply, when conducting an experiment, there is a treatment group and a placebo group.  The null hypothesis states that there is no difference between the two groups. If there are statistically significant differences between the two groups, then we reject the null hypothesis, and conclude that the treatment had an impact.  But if there are no differences there could be other reasons unrelated to the treatment for no differences.

No one has discovered alien materials from the Roswell crash site. Yet, it is impossible to “prove” the null hypothesis (that there was no alien spaceship crash) because there are other explanations that those materials have not been found (e.g., the Government removed all the materials, they disintegrated over time). The null hypothesis that there was no alien crash can never be proven.

In the case of the 2020 Presidential election, it is impossible to prove that there was no fraud, because it is the null hypothesis.  However, there is data from over 50 rejected lawsuits and the inability of the mass effort to uncover substantial fraud  support the conclusion that this was a fair election.

Many conspiracies have at their heart a good vs. evil story (with the proponent’s side being “good”). Those who listen to QAnon fabrications believe that Democrats are child molesters or socialists (evil), while they are good Christians who want to take back the government.

Then there are the “Uncle Know-it-Alls.”  You know the guy, who speaks with absolute certainty and knows virtually nothing?  So, what do you do when “Uncle Know it All” tells you that JFK Jr. is alive and attends Trump’s rallies?

And finally, there is the “Need to be Right.”  People who suffer from this (and I am a recovering NTBR’r), just cannot accept that they could be wrong.

Sadly, the most important casualty of conspiracy theories are facts.  We no longer have the media filter that we had 40 years ago (local press, national news). Biased and inaccurate information is promoted without consequence…a lie repeated often enough becomes a “fact.”

Critical thinking is crucial to stopping the spread of conspiracy theories.  For example, why would Democrats decide to eschew basic human values and engage in child molestation?  How could Russia have invaded our decentralized voting system?  How could a 7 million vote differential be overcome?  Why has no valid evidence for wide scale voter fraud been uncovered, despite millions of dollars devoted to the cause?

We must find some way to ensure that the press does not stoke conspiracy theories.  For example, Fox News segments gave airtime to “Stop the Steal” demonstrations and baseless claims by politicians who frankly knew better.  Some anchors rebutted these speakers, but others allowed it unchecked.

“Those outlets that propagate lies to their audience have unleashed insidious and uncontrollable forces that will be with us for years,” said James Murdoch (who has broken with the family over Fox News content). “I hope that those people who didn’t think it was that dangerous now understand, and that they stop.”

Social media platforms have finally taken a stand against the spread of misinformation.  But is it too late?

Somehow, we must find a way to assign consequences to the spreading of misinformation.  It doesn’t mean that we won’t have different perspectives, but we will disagree using the same facts.

I wish I knew the answer, but we do know how dangerous it can be.  Historians have proven that misinformation is the first step to totalitarianism, and then, as we saw last week, insurrection.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

I am still angry over the events of January 6th.  I am angry at the shameful behavior of Eastern Shore’s Delegate in Congress and others who aided, abetted, and fed this insurrection.

But my greatest outrage is reserved for those who failed to protect Congress and their own employees.

I am referring to the utter failure of the Capitol Police, Pentagon, Homeland Security, and other law enforcement agencies as well as those politicians and insiders who abetted this mob.

Watching security officers courageously trying to save our leaders from mob violence despite being understaffed, underprepared, and under-armed was heart wrenching.

Why did the Capitol police leadership refuse assistance prior to and during the incident?  How could they have ignored the warnings from agencies and watch groups about the impending violence?

Several Capitol police officers report that some insurgents flashed police badges and armed forces IDs to get into the building. There are videos of some security officers inexplicably letting the terrorists in the Capitol building, removing barriers, failing to check for weapons, and escorting rioters through the Capitol. A policeman took selfies.  Some terrorists commented that they knew which security officials would help them.

And who can forget watching the rioters jubilantly leaving the Capitol with one even being aided by police walking down the steps?  She clearly had no difficulty going up them. These lawbreakers reported that many police wished them well and “were on our side.” The insurgents “high fived” and celebrated their insurrection until two hours after curfew when the police finally required them to leave.

It reminded me of Billy Crystal’s character’s line in The Princess Bride. “Have fun storming the castle.”

Why were these insurgents not arrested as they exited the building?

As Americans, typically our next move is blame and punishment. Sadly, I am not immune.

The FBI and other law enforcement agencies are hunting down these thugs, which is much more expensive and difficult than had they already been in custody.

Over time any complicity or collusion will be exposed; and patience, not conspiracy theories, is needed.  But there is blood on the hands of all of those who failed to protect Congress and their own officers.

The images of the understaffed, vulnerable, undersupplied, courageous officers who risked their lives to protect our democracy are indelibly etched; as are images of those who stood guard over Congress with weapons drawn.  The FBI hinted that there will be more information about what these brave officers did during the insurrection.

These officers are the heroes.  They are the true patriots.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

I got a call in Key West yesterday. It went something like this.

“Hurry down to Simonton Street, they are signing up senior citizens to get on a list for a vaccine appointment.”

“What? Where? Are you sure?”

“Yes, just heard about it from my husband on the golf course.  Call your friends.”

I called my friends, who called their friends.

Within hours, people were racing to the parking lot to give their name, phone number and birthdate.

And that is how we in Key West found out how to get on the list for an appointment for the COVID 19 vaccine.  No notifications, just good old telephone tag.

Up until yesterday, we had been searching fruitlessly for any information.  Our county did not participate in the online website (which crashed repeatedly), the health line number went to a voice mail that was not returned. Our doctors didn’t know. The local and chain pharmacies didn’t know. So we waited, and if not for that call, I would never have known.

Nationally, only 28% of the vaccines that have been distributed have been administered.

Surprised?

The experts aren’t.

The plan to leave it up to individual states, counties, towns, and townships was a system designed to fail.  Without a nationally coordinated effort, an untrained, understaffed, beleaguered, and besieged local officials could only do the best that they could.

Maryland is effectively keeping its residents informed, but other states, well…

So, the 20 million people who were supposed to be vaccinated by now is less than 5 million.  Some are panicking as the COVID crisis gets worse and conditions are becoming dire.

The good news, the new President has already developed a desperately needed nationally coordinated plan.  There will be hiccups, of course, but for those of us who remain vigilant, help is on the way.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

I am hiding from winter in Key West.  When I saw my Key West friends, it took approximately five minutes for all of us to catch up.  The conversation went something like this:

“What did you do this summer?”

“Nothing, just stayed home, how about you?”

“Nothing, just stayed home.”

Within five minutes all seven of us caught up on each other’s lives.

This has been quite a year.

Healthcare workers risk their lives daily. Those parents lucky enough to have jobs struggle to keep their children at their computers while working full-time from home.

Essential workers like teachers have stretched their creative limits to keep students invested in learning amidst so many distractions.

Many service workers are home, without jobs or income…anxious about when or if they will be able to return to work. Small businesses are failing.

Larger companies are finding that some employees work from home effectively while others fall prey to the distractions of home life.

Most of us have conquered online meetings.

Family get togethers, clubs, and meetings are face squares on the computer or phone.  Celebrations (such as my nephew’s wedding) are movies.

My nephew’s COVID 19 wedding with his charming fiancé (now wife) was a quiet, beautiful, and simple ceremony that was all about their love and their desire to build a life and family together.  There were no distractions from bands, bridesmaids, groomsmen, guests, just the two of them, their parents, and siblings, smiling and tearing while they shared their commitment.  It was a gentle, sweet ceremony where they were the sole writers, actors, and producers of their special moment.

It made me wonder what will happen after science saves us.  After the 1918 influenza people went about their lives as if nothing had happened.

Will we do the same?  We have the advantage of communications and the Internet that they did not.  Everything that we need is available by touching a few keys. We can get meals, chat with friends, and be up to date on the news with a few clicks.

So, will we respond like those who survived the devastating 1918 influenza? Or will we use these newfound skills and revelations to change our lives to a quieter, more intimate version?

During COVID 19, we discovered that we don’t need to give that annual party or socialize as much as we thought.  We looked inward to the familial for companionship and to the Internet for social connection. Will that be enough?

As a retired introvert with compromised health, I have been healthier.  The masks (formerly a social no-no) prevented me from getting my monthly colds, our family has gotten closer and I have been able to stay close to my friends through the Internet and social distancing.

But for the extroverted, the young, the unemployed, the devastated business community; it has been an unmitigated disaster.  Many are trying to stay afloat until the old world returns.

Will it?  Will we?

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

There is no doubt that 2020 will go down as one of the most traumatic years in recent history. We have lived through a pandemic; a deeply divided nation; an economic crisis; forced to simultaneously work and educate children; witnessed heroic health care workers who gave everything, even their lives, to fight a virus and in the US, there are 300,000 deaths and counting.

We have reason to celebrate.

This year could become the year when science saved the world by introducing a “sea change” technology.  Given the rapidity and remarkably high efficacy of this technology, scientists are researching how to expand it to other illnesses, such as cancer.

While I do not have scientific training that would qualify me to understand this new technology; I can still see the significance of this story.

Moderna and Pfizer took a gamble that mRNA technology would be the best mechanism for rapid vaccine development.  But even they were surprised by the 95% efficacy.  Oxford, by contrast, used a tweaked methodology of a killed virus and got a 70% efficacy, (typical for flu vaccines).

So, how is this technology so different?  mRNA stands for Messenger RNA, which you probably heard about in your old college science classes.  Messenger RNA is the mechanism that DNA uses to tell the cell which proteins to develop.

Here is how it works (in very simplistic, layman’s terms). Scientists manipulated mRNA to instruct normal cells to develop the COVID 19 spike proteins (called “S” proteins). Then they injected patients with this modified mRNA.  The mRNA caused normal cells to develop COVID 19 spike proteins and the recipient’s immune system developed antibodies to attack cells with these “foreign” proteins.  By the time vaccinated individuals were exposed to the COVID 19 virus with its characteristic spike proteins, their immune systems had already developed the antibodies to attack it. (Viruses must invade our cells in order to replicate.)

To summarize, vaccine recipients developed antibodies to a virus to which they had never been exposed.

Scientists have had this technology for at least 20 years, but there have been substantial problems with implementing it.  The best and worst aspect about mRNAs is that they die quickly, too quickly.  Until 2007, when researchers at the University of Pennsylvania developed a technology to prevent mRNA from dying too quickly, mRNA could not have had any impact.  But with this methodology, an injection of mRNA could stay viable long enough to trick some normal cells into developing the spike protein. When the immune system encountered cells with these spike proteins, it created antibodies to kill those “foreign” cells.

This vaccine was developed in less than a year; it took over 20 years to develop the polio vaccine.

Since this is a relatively new technology, we need to be cautious.  We don’t know about reactions to the vaccine and if those who have reactions get the same benefit.  We don’t know how long this vaccine will be effective. We don’t know if there are long term consequences.

But for now, more than one newscaster has called it a miracle.

But scientists know better, it is simply science.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

Watching the President and other high-risk patients recover quickly from COVID-19 made me fear the virus less, until a friend of mine contracted COVID 19.

She was probably exposed when she volunteered to be a poll worker for the election.  Proof of the adage: “No good deed goes unpunished.”

She became infected despite wearing a mask and washing her hands frequently. After testing positive, she was contacted by Florida contact tracing, and then…nothing.  She began to experience worsening symptoms; but there were no treatments available to prevent her from declining.

The President and other VIPs were given treatments that are not available to us because of the limited supply of these medications i.

As her condition deteriorated, she continued to search for treatment; but the only guidelines were to self-quarantine and contact her doctor.  Like most of us, she did not have access to a doctor who specialized in COVID 19 treatment.

She had fallen into the COVID 19 “donut hole.”  Experiencing worsening symptoms but not sick enough to be hospitalized.  A terrifying place to be.

COVID 19 research has focused on developing vaccines, treatments for the critically ill, and prevention, but there is less research on stopping the virus at the early stages to prevent those infected from becoming gravely ill.

There are some experimental treatments for these early stages.  Early studies demonstrated that monoclonal antibody treatment (that President Trump received) can be effective when symptoms first appear.  Unlike vaccines, which enable us to develop our own immunity by exposing us to the virus, monoclonal antibodies are laboratory made proteins that target COVID 19. The FDA approved Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody drug, but only 80,000 doses will be available by end of November with a maximum of 200,000 by the first week of January.  Currently 165,000 people are infected with COVID 19 per day.

Other studies are assessing the effectiveness of anti-virals (such as Remdesivir) and convalescent plasma (which is receiving plasma from COVID 19 survivors) on early stages of the disease. Both can be expensive (Remdesivir is over $3K). Other experimental treatments for early stages are off-label uses of Ivermectin (an anti-parasite drug used for river blindness and to prevent heartworm in dogs) and fluvoxamine (an anti-depressant); both with anti-viral properties.  But there is limited research, so these treatments have not been approved by the FDA. In fact, the FDA strongly discourages users from being treated with Ivermectin because studies have only been done in a test tube.

Doctors risk malpractice lawsuits prescribing them.

My friend in the COVID-19 “Donut Hole” was getting sicker.  As her condition worsened, she desperately sought help. Was there a treatment to stop the virus now to avoid hospitalization?  All she could do was hope that her oxygen levels would stop dropping.

Utilizing every connection she could find, she eventually discovered a doctor who was willing to prescribe experimental drugs.

Ivermectin proved to be a miracle drug for her, within 24 hours her symptoms dramatically improved. But she wondered, why was it so hard to get? Why was it so difficult to get treatment until a patient became critically ill?

So we are in a perfect Catch-22.  There is no approved treatment until you are gravely ill.  There are some treatments that MIGHT prevent this severe manifestation of the virus, but because there is inadequate research to prove their effectiveness, it is hard to find a prescriber.

She now knows that she will recover, but she can’t shake the uncertainty, fear,  and anger.

She learned how desperately we need to explore medicines to stop the virus in the early stages. Preventing patients from becoming critically ill would benefit patients and health care workers, alike.  But for now, luck and prayer are all that we have.

Science is coming to our rescue with vaccines, we are in the home stretch, and we can only be grateful for these brilliant minds who have worked tirelessly to save us as well as the health care workers who have risked their lives to treat us.

But we have months to go until we all can be vaccinated.  Until then, a deadly virus lurks in the microscopic shadows.

For those interested:  There is a site where you can participate in research studies of early treatments. (Qualification: You must be at high risk and have tested positive within 6 days.) But remember, you may end up being in the placebo group.  The link is here.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.