I wish I could “triple” like this. Dealing with the present Covid surge is truly the IED alley. In Canada, to buy alcohol or cannabis, you need to show vaccination card. Do you think THAT could work here among Repugnicans reluctant to get the vaccine? NYC offered money and that seemed to only work a little. I’m really tired of playing Russian Roulette with every person who gets into my 6 foot space. I’m tired of encountering people in the store of any age, including mine, who are not masked. The secondary pandemic is stupidity. What do we do for THAT one?
When the first inkling that there was a pandemic began to trickle out, I battened down my hatches and changed my entire lifestyle. Without vaccines and with little to no knowledge of Covid 19, it was simply safer to avoid IED Alley altogether. I learned to order food and supplies on line and to pickup via curbside. I, along with everyone else, wore a mask, scrubbed down my house and my hands and tried to follow the "rules" as they emerged. It was difficult back then because tfg had shut down the experts and was holding ridiculous "news" briefings that weren't worth a second of anyone's time unless you wanted a good laugh. Up to then, I had had a very active life - in theater and music and various groups around my little town. All of that stopped. The two ladies who helped me clean my house once a month turned out to be QAnon freaks, so that ended that. Regular guitar and drum lessons ceased. Any indoor activity was a no no. And the one other person who lived here moved to an apartment across the street because his work required him to come into frequent contact with real, live people and we knew it would be a matter of time before one of us got the virus.
Year two. Vaccinated and boosted. I commenced lessons with a friend who was also vaccinated and boosted - weekly art lessons in my kitchen. My other "real person" contact got break through and it was the nasty Delta variant. I did not.
This is year three now. I never enter an enclosed space. At all. I shop only online and do only curbside pickup (or home delivery) for food and supplies. There are only the two friends in my "bubble" and they too have tiny little "bubbles" that limit exposure to others (having break through will do that to even the toughest among us I have learned.) I can do this because I am retired. I feel so badly for those who MUST get out and about. I feel for my brother-in-law, a pulmonary specialist, a niece who is a doctor and runs a clinic, and another niece who, as an RN/NP, works full time from home ONLY on Covid cases (and with Austin now at stage five, that's around the clock work.)
I am boring you here with my lifestyle, because for the foreseeable future, this looks like the way it's going to be. Year one was terrifying. Year two was flat out dull. Year three...well, we'll see where that's heading. I read this week that there is another variant in France now that epidemiologists are studying.
What an apt analogy! Those of us who are old and retired can hunker down but I worry about my adult children and grandchildren who have to spend time at work or school. I have lost all patience with the anti-vax, anti-mask people. They are prolonging the war for us all.
It seems to me that RESPONSIBLE, credible policy-making was predicated upon advice from professional, licensed medical and public health experts. What the Repugs have done is to introduce policies based upon BS—THEY ARE PRACTICING MEDICINE WITHOUT A LICENSE.
And, NO, Rand Paul is NOT a licensed medical physician with expertise in infectious disease. He is a crack pot with an agenda. Period.
And, NO, having a doctoral law degree DOES NOT MAKE YOU QUALIFIED to make medical decisions without having the backing of licensed, medical expertise.
...and now (Thursday afternoon), SCOTUS has behaved exactly the way we all thought they'd behave, which is obviously only going to ratchet up the chaos in places that are already pretty chaotic. in my immediate circle, very little will change, but that's because my life has become extremely limited and was pretty much just as limited before 2020. but that's just me, and I'm not the world. my best and oldest friend relies (at least partly) on his income from royalties on Broadway shows he's orchestrated and those royalties don't get generated when those shows are closed, as they are now. another good friend works as a home attendant, and was required to work every day during the entire pandemic. and now I'm hearing on CNN that Gorsuch, Alito and (of course) Thomas were arguing for a "more muscular approach" to curtailing Federal regulations. fuck them, of course, but all that does is make me feel a little more calm for about a minute. well, there's always those seditious conspiracy charges that make the news today not completely horrifying.
Excellent commentary. We are in a dark place and the future is not assured. Dr. Fauci warning that all of us might get Omicron does not help. Sometimes telling the truth can makes matters worse. There won't be another official lockdown, it would be a political disaster, even though a lockdown might appear as enough businesses and schools shut down due to lack of staff. Right now it's winter, the warmth and sunshine of spring might help all of us get to a better state of mind and health. Maybe.
I wish I could “triple” like this. Dealing with the present Covid surge is truly the IED alley. In Canada, to buy alcohol or cannabis, you need to show vaccination card. Do you think THAT could work here among Repugnicans reluctant to get the vaccine? NYC offered money and that seemed to only work a little. I’m really tired of playing Russian Roulette with every person who gets into my 6 foot space. I’m tired of encountering people in the store of any age, including mine, who are not masked. The secondary pandemic is stupidity. What do we do for THAT one?
When the first inkling that there was a pandemic began to trickle out, I battened down my hatches and changed my entire lifestyle. Without vaccines and with little to no knowledge of Covid 19, it was simply safer to avoid IED Alley altogether. I learned to order food and supplies on line and to pickup via curbside. I, along with everyone else, wore a mask, scrubbed down my house and my hands and tried to follow the "rules" as they emerged. It was difficult back then because tfg had shut down the experts and was holding ridiculous "news" briefings that weren't worth a second of anyone's time unless you wanted a good laugh. Up to then, I had had a very active life - in theater and music and various groups around my little town. All of that stopped. The two ladies who helped me clean my house once a month turned out to be QAnon freaks, so that ended that. Regular guitar and drum lessons ceased. Any indoor activity was a no no. And the one other person who lived here moved to an apartment across the street because his work required him to come into frequent contact with real, live people and we knew it would be a matter of time before one of us got the virus.
Year two. Vaccinated and boosted. I commenced lessons with a friend who was also vaccinated and boosted - weekly art lessons in my kitchen. My other "real person" contact got break through and it was the nasty Delta variant. I did not.
This is year three now. I never enter an enclosed space. At all. I shop only online and do only curbside pickup (or home delivery) for food and supplies. There are only the two friends in my "bubble" and they too have tiny little "bubbles" that limit exposure to others (having break through will do that to even the toughest among us I have learned.) I can do this because I am retired. I feel so badly for those who MUST get out and about. I feel for my brother-in-law, a pulmonary specialist, a niece who is a doctor and runs a clinic, and another niece who, as an RN/NP, works full time from home ONLY on Covid cases (and with Austin now at stage five, that's around the clock work.)
I am boring you here with my lifestyle, because for the foreseeable future, this looks like the way it's going to be. Year one was terrifying. Year two was flat out dull. Year three...well, we'll see where that's heading. I read this week that there is another variant in France now that epidemiologists are studying.
What an apt analogy! Those of us who are old and retired can hunker down but I worry about my adult children and grandchildren who have to spend time at work or school. I have lost all patience with the anti-vax, anti-mask people. They are prolonging the war for us all.
I doubt we’re done with mutations…
It seems to me that RESPONSIBLE, credible policy-making was predicated upon advice from professional, licensed medical and public health experts. What the Repugs have done is to introduce policies based upon BS—THEY ARE PRACTICING MEDICINE WITHOUT A LICENSE.
And, NO, Rand Paul is NOT a licensed medical physician with expertise in infectious disease. He is a crack pot with an agenda. Period.
And, NO, having a doctoral law degree DOES NOT MAKE YOU QUALIFIED to make medical decisions without having the backing of licensed, medical expertise.
Why doesn’t anyone call the Bullsh!tters?
well, we may not have a frontline, but we know where the enemy is.
the orangetan dictator is sitting in his stronghold in Florida.
Yesterday there were more masks in my nearby Wally World than I have seen in months.
Oh, forgot, Former says to get vaxxed is now OK. Feel better?
I ascribe to keep it simple. Go back to the basics we did as individuals in those first months of Covid. Starve the invader!
Yep--this is how I feel.
Another column that gets at the underlying reality like no one else’s ever do.
...and now (Thursday afternoon), SCOTUS has behaved exactly the way we all thought they'd behave, which is obviously only going to ratchet up the chaos in places that are already pretty chaotic. in my immediate circle, very little will change, but that's because my life has become extremely limited and was pretty much just as limited before 2020. but that's just me, and I'm not the world. my best and oldest friend relies (at least partly) on his income from royalties on Broadway shows he's orchestrated and those royalties don't get generated when those shows are closed, as they are now. another good friend works as a home attendant, and was required to work every day during the entire pandemic. and now I'm hearing on CNN that Gorsuch, Alito and (of course) Thomas were arguing for a "more muscular approach" to curtailing Federal regulations. fuck them, of course, but all that does is make me feel a little more calm for about a minute. well, there's always those seditious conspiracy charges that make the news today not completely horrifying.
Excellent commentary. We are in a dark place and the future is not assured. Dr. Fauci warning that all of us might get Omicron does not help. Sometimes telling the truth can makes matters worse. There won't be another official lockdown, it would be a political disaster, even though a lockdown might appear as enough businesses and schools shut down due to lack of staff. Right now it's winter, the warmth and sunshine of spring might help all of us get to a better state of mind and health. Maybe.