Last week Stevie Nicks pleaded for people to wear a mask and practice social distancing. Recently, Sharon Stone spoke out on Instagram about the personal losses she’s had from the virus.
Sharon has lost her grandmother and godmother to COVID and says that her sister and brother-in-law are currently in the hospital fighting for their lives. She also found out that her mother, who has had heart surgery, stents and other health issues, is an asymptomatic carrier. Sharon decided to take this moment to advocate for Montanans and the Democratic presidential ticket. Here are a few highlights from her video and some COVID statistics from Montana as reported by Independent Record.
Stone, 62, lamented the situation in Montana, specifically its lack of testing. It is unclear in which county or counties her family members live. She claimed that officials were lying about testing and suspects that put her family at risk. Her mother, she said, is asymptomatic but can’t get a test despite having had two heart attacks, five stents and a pacemaker in the last five months. She thinks she could have been an asymptomatic carrier of the virus.
“People are dying and fighting for their lives because there’s nothing but lies,” Stone said.
The outspoken actress also expressed concern for the nurses treating her sister, who has lupus and isn’t doing well, and her sister’s husband, Bruce, who is in the same COVID-19 ward. The nurses treating them can’t get tested because they don’t have tests, she said.
“The stress, the strain, the exhaustion that’s happening in that hospital is met with a conflict around the courthouse where people are carrying guns and saying that it’s their freedom not to have to wear a mask,” Stone said.
“The only thing that’s gonna change this is if you vote. And if you vote for Biden and if you vote for Kamala Harris,” Stone said, endorsing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris. She joins the scores of celebrities who celebrated Harris’ announcement for the blue ticket. (Stone has previously called Harris “the Cinderella Man of our time.”)
“With women in power, we will fight for our families. We will fight for people to live. And we will fight for people to get tested,” she said. “Because the only countries that are doing well with COVID are the ones that have women in leadership.”
She concluded: “Please vote. And please, whatever you do, don’t vote for a killer.”
This pandemic, which has seen more than 170k Americans dead in the span of 6 months, has been handled astonishingly poorly by the government. I can truly understand Sharon’s frustrations. We won’t even talk about how certain segments of the population are putting the lives of front line workers and others at risk because they believe that COVID is a hoax.
It is also true that the countries that have handled COVID most effectively have been led by women but those countries are also more progressive. In the US the pandemic will continue to overwhelm communities of color and disproportionately affect women. At this point simply voting is an over simplistic approach because even if Trump loses in November, he will still be running things until January. That is another five months of a terrible COVID response from the U.S. government.
I do hope that Sharon gets the answers she need and perhaps the governor will allow her to do that fundraiser to help make tests more available for the state. Hopefully, her family members will pull through and have speedy recoveries. But the continual case spikes across the country leaves me feeling a bit hopeless. The daily reminder of how extremely selfish and ridiculous some folks are being just pisses me off. As Sharon said, don’t vote for a killer and again, wear a damn mask.
Here’s Sharon’s video:
Photos credit: Avalon.red and via Instagram
Sorry for her losses.
Another weepy moment. I’m glad she was blunt about non-maskers. I know I have developed a form of situational depression but feeling like it’s probably normal and for anyone with a heart at this point in time and I know I’m not the only one. Just need to battle through it.
My cousin is a retired nursing administrator, living in Montana. He came out of retirement to do testing at a clinic. He says it is extremely frustrating because they can’t get the testing supplies they need and people aren’t taking the virus seriously. He and his wife will be voting a straight blue ticket.
I just don’t get why people can’t wear a mask. It is extremely frustrating because people wearing a mask would get us through this crisis much faster. Those people who refuse to wear a mask are punishing those of who do.
It’s so cruel. I’m in a constant state of high-stress and depression due in large part to people in my building and neighborhood who don’t wear masks. I wish I could go outside to enjoy the summer weather while it lasts, but even checking the mail is an exercise in fear and frustration because people are not wearing masks in my building. And management sent out an email that basically told us to be nice to people who don’t wear masks. I carry extras so when someone isn’t wearing one, I offer it, and usually people roll their eyes. It’s horrible. I will sue the management company if I come down with covid. It’s so incredibly selfish of people to act as if their lives are so much more precious than anyone else’s. There are elders and folks like me with degrees of immune compromise and just everyone who deserves to live. I want to make t-shirts that equate non-mask wearers with murderers. So so upset and feeling trapped in this hell-hole of a country that is so woefully regressive. May we all survive this.
How awful. I wonder how old her grandmother was, given she’s 62 herself.
I live in Montana and work as a home health/hospice nurse. No one in my circle of co-workers, family or friends have tested positive or been sick with covid, for whatever reason the precautions we’ve been taking have worked.
I’m super frustrated by the lack of adequate testing but also crazy frustrated by the huge surge of out of state visitors. We’re always inundated in the summer by tons of vacationers but I’m saddened every time I pass a vehicle with out of state plates. We asked my brother who lives in Texas to stay home this summer and forgo his annual summer visit and yet the whole country thinks it’s appropriate to haul their families cross country. I passed a camp trailer from Louisiana the other day and thought, really? How many states you passed through and stops you made to arrive here.
I won’t even drive two states over (only about 80 miles or so) to visit my parents’ graves. My kids would love a day trip to the mountains or the beach. I’ve thought about it, but I just can’t be that irresponsible and selfish.
Also a lot of Asian countries have done amazing. Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, South Korea, etc.
Sadly, these countries learned how to manage through previous fatal epidemics like SARS, avian flu etc. I cant even take in the horror SS describes 🙁
Im my location govt is begging us to get tested (its free), and pays you if you have to take time off work.
Ugh this is so sad and frustrating. Its August! We should have had a nation wide approach to testing. I will say in NYC I was easily able to get a test last week. They have opened testing sites all around my uptown neighborhood. My family and I walked over, got tested within 20 min and walked home. All we needed was proof that we were a resident. No symptoms needed. They didnt even want my insurance card. It was completely free. Less than two days later we had results. My friend said her results came within 5 hours as she was checking religiously. We checked later since we weren’t going anywhere. So who knows, maybe it was uploaded same day. We want to finally see my grandmother and decided to take a test to ensure her safety. This is how it should be all over the country.
The anti-maskers won’t stop this reckless endangerment of other people until it affects them personally or until their lords and masters change the narrative on them, which they will at some point when they feel it’s beneficial. One thing I’ve seen here in red Florida, at my daughter’s doctor’s office and yesterday voting in person (no lines), is people putting the mask on but purposefully leaving it underneath their nose. At first I thought they were just stupid and didn’t understand that both the nose and mouth are connected to the lungs, but now I think it’s their next form of protest. “You can make me wear a mask, but you can’t make me do it correctly.” It’s so juvenile and it enrages me.
It astounds me that Covid tests aren’t readily available to people in Montana. (Are other States having trouble with having tests available?) And dumb question… do American’s have to pay for the Covid test?
I live in Alberta, and we can waltz up for a test with no problems. If you’re symptomatic, there are specified areas for you to go to, but if you have no symptoms, there are many local pharmacies that are doing testing.
My city has had a recent spike in Covid, despite on-going efforts to lower the spread. People are just being idiots and getting together in large groups when they shouldn’t be, etc; I’m hoping the curve evens out again once the weather starts to turn (living in Alberta, people unfortunately want to make the most of our precious summer time, despite the risks of getting Covid… they’re making poor choices)