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Coronavirus

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Twoapenny:
I'm so glad you got your first jab, Hopsie, and will be even gladder when you get your second one :)  Here (UK), I think, from what I have seen, read and heard, that the vaccine rollout has been bloody amazing.  Yes, there have been problems, I can run into problems cooking dinner so to administer millions of vaccines in a way that adheres to safe practices, particularly as the Pfizer one has to be kept at a mind blowingly low temperature, must be full of logistical issues and I think they've been first class here.  I too am eternally grateful that we have science, that all those amazingly clever people have put their boffin like heads together to come up with this (I am reading about the different vacs and how they work on the 'Dear Pandemic' website and it is mind blowing stuff) and I am certainly feeling calmer and more hopeful about the future as more people get it.  Yes, there are issues over who should get it first, I think it's a reminder that we all need one another and we all affect each other.  Millions of people need it and it just isn't possible to vaccinate everyone at the same time.  I'm more anxious about son getting his sooner rather than later but equally we can carry on staying in for as long as necessary and not everyone can do that.

Posh, I understand the burn out feeling.  I think everyone is fed up with it all now, however much we try to look on the bright side and/or just keep going.  We've had health related appointments and people have been very careful with safety protocols and so on.  I don't know how it is where you are but I hope there's some way of checking things that you need to xx

sKePTiKal:
I'm doing better this winter than I did the last - avoiding lethargy, having the inspiration/motivation to start & complete projects, juggling in all the other things I do/have to do. I do have the occasional "do absolutely nothing" day still... but it absolutely HELPS that there isn't anyone here just doing so I don't have to, or doing things "for me". I guess I'm that much of a contrarian that I'm better off having to do for myself on my own, to keep at it. Oh there's the occasional heavy stuff that needs dealt with that I most definitely appreciate help with - or things beyond my ken that I dare not tackle due to ignorance or lack of skill.

And we seem to have come full circle with the issue of massive amounts of un-externally-scheduled time. Hol is finally realizing that she can most definitely keep herself occupied - and pursue a goal at the same time. My little rituals and routines that I used to use, to motivate me - are shifting into different timeframes - so that I don't feel so out of sorts at any change in routine, when it does happen. That feels kinda liberating in a way. I'm playing with it.

I am indulging in some long sleeps; my subconscious seems to require it because things are pretty busy in that realm for me right now. But it's not every day; it's not a depression symptom. Or even a retreat to the void for healing. Healing involves doing things now - the routine ones, the novel ones, the taking a chance ones. My sense of things around here, is that we are beginning to find a new balance through all this time on our hands and lockdown. Hol is actively working on one aspect of her relationship with S that just isn't going to work for her, if allowed to continue or if it doesn't change. She bounces some things off me - but isn't offloading energy about it like she was. Old stuff is also starting to slough off her too. She still has the big one to begin dealing with - but isn't just diving into her maternal frustrations at the moment. And that seems to be OK. She has been working through old hurts; current ones... and naming those for herself. Claiming, understanding, and letting go.

Things between her & I are better than they ever have been. She's stopped trying to take care of me; isn't reverting to any form of child-parent relationship with me; is extending the benefit of the doubt to how things will change when B is part of our little bubble-world... and trying to sort out her own relationship before he gets here. We both kinda see a big potential for friction between them - but it's a wait & see thing. Could be completely wrong.

None of us are interested in getting the vaccine - but the kids likely will because of work requirements. IF work in their occupations comes back. We've been discussing options for what else could be done instead. Better now while we have time to research, explore, decide... seriously ask ourselves about commitment... than in a hurry, because we HAVE TO NOW.

Having all this time is an absolute luxury for me - it chafes Hol sometimes because her connections with her circle of friends has shifted. Some are steady and reiable; others are taking some hits - just due to circumstances, not direct falling out with each other. That's a tough one for her. And she has yet to start making new friends out here. But then, almost all opportunites for social interaction - which are scarce here anyway - have evaporated. Since I can get completely involved in my own mind - and lost even - my needs for that kind of interaction aren't so urgent. LOLOLOLOLOLOL.

And now it looks as though I already have the 10-12 inches of snow that was forecast at the end of the storm - TOMORROW - we could see 2 ft this time. Mud season is going to be epic this year....

Hopalong:

--- Quote ---As a whole country it's like we are one big bumbling neurotic Uncle Sam.
--- End quote ---

It does look that way, Mouse. As I understand it, the cause is primarily due to no centralized planning or control of the rollout. States with vastly varying resources and capabilities were left to figure it out and implement on their own, for too long, with some falling for specious emotional arguments about "freedom." The administration has a huge repair/catch up job on its hands. It'll never be perfect but it could be a whole lot better! As to equity, shades of Katrina....

I still feel some guilt over my random luck in landing a vax appointment. It was due to a complete fluke and inadequate forward-planning (state and federal). As the national vax depot released some more doses, a message went out locally intended for PART of group 1B (because they don't yet have enough doses for all so they were working on signup queue order once the 75+ and frontline workers had been covered--I had signed up the first day), and then some grandson-or-other shared it on social media after he saw an elder use that link for an appointment, and bingo, thousands tried to get in. Once the health district realized the mistake (opening the pop-up site w/o age restrictions) they had to turn away anyone under 65, even if they'd managed to snag an appt slot online.

The health district immediately owned and apologized for the error and have since been predictably pilloried for it (understaffed and underfunded as they are). But I felt badly that someone poorer, less computer-savvy, less healthy, with less social support no doubt missed out on a dose because I had been forwarded that link by a very alert similarly-privileged friend.

I read an ethicist article about this some time ago, and the view came down to, it's not your individual fault if you're offered an opportunity for the vax, and every person who gets vaccinated is helping society survive the pandemic and sooner, so if you do get the chance, take it. You're just one member of the herd. And then help others if there's some way you can be of support. (Like a friend of mine who spends hours standing in the cold directing traffic at vaccination sites when one opens for a time.) The urge to sacrifice your turn is moral but impractical and won't solve anything. So, I took it. ?????

As to vax-deniers, that makes me sad. There's so much mistrust of science and "expertise" and advanced education and lack of recognition of the negative power of uninformed online communities that draw identity and comfort from sharing "secret knowledge" or believing in conspiracies. I worry most about children who have -- and will -- come down with dangerous diseases because a parent won't trust the scientists who have done brilliant, dedicated work for so many years to develop vaccines and further understand immunity. (Though not immunologists, Dorothy Hodgkin and Clara Barton must be spinning in their graves....) It's unfathomable to me that so many still believe in the discredited, debunked vaccines-cause-autism myth that was spread from one sloppy scientist's paper in the Lancet decades ago. That one piece of misinformation fed a whole group of conspiracies with tragic results. Never mind that it was reviewed, found scientifically completely wanting, and even retracted by the journal and subsequently denounced by a huge number of reputable researchers. One "byte" of misinfo went viral (no pun intended) and was enough to infect a culture with ignorance.

Mistakes and evils and greed have happened from the Tuskegee experiments and worse, to all kinds of medical errors and profit-driven strategies ongoingly, but I've never understood the throw-baby-out-with-the-bathwater reaction. As screwed up and unequal as health care here is, we also have extraordinarily dedicated practitioners and researchers, and as a nation have the potential to lead dazzling science and public health. Yet so far we've squandered those hopes to emotion, poor education and unclear, uninformed long-range thinking and planning. And underfunding. Maddening. I wish they'd let Bill and Melinda Gates take it over!

I'm feeling so sad for freezing, dying Texans right now. Wind turbines account for 10% of their winter energy use, yet that misinformation piece is already being churned.

ALL that said, this isn't about my politics, just my sense from observing what people go through on all sides of any aisle, that the answer really is that we need to love and look out for each other. And take every opportunity to do that we're given.

Putting away soap box and I hope anybody who has a different take on any of these opinions understands I'm not insisting I'm right, just explaining what my opinion is and a little about why.

I don't need to be right, or win a debate, or convert or be converted. I have people I love and respect in my life who see the world and similar issues very, very differently. Who have different backgrounds and experiences and identities and politics and have come to different conclusions. I love them no less -- even more, I'd say -- because we've all intentionally found ways to cherish and nurture our friendships in spite of those differences, even when it was difficult. Given the state of things, I recognize that as a precious exception I'm lucky to experience. For that I'm intensely grateful! (As I have been for being informed and changed by some of those differences. When I stop learning or assume I know it all, I'm cooked.)

Thanks for tolerating this "column." If it offends or stirs any negativity, I'll delete.

hugs
Hops

Twoapenny:
I don't think you have any need to feel guilty about getting your jab before someone else, Hops, nor do I think you need to justify it.  It seems that the programme is going well here because the NHS have organised it (ie, medical people) and the politicians kept their beaks out.  We do have variations in how quickly it's happening in certain areas but that's mostly because some areas are more rural and in areas that are very densely populated it's difficult to manage large numbers of people in relatively small spaces when you have to maintain social distancing.  They're very big programmes to manage and there will always be areas where it doesn't work so well.  I'm just glad a vaccine is available and glad that you got your first shot.  The sooner the risk of serious harm to so many reduces the better, however it's achieved, is my view, and we defo don't want you poorly or worse xx

Meh:
Yeah, I agree with Two on this one, Hops there is no need to get guilty over the shots. The faster they get you out of the way the quicker they can get to other people (sticking tongue out) I'm half joking there. They just need to get it out to as many people as possible.

Heck, if census workers can go door to door so could immunization givers. Anyhow I'm not going to go on about it.

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