Coronavirus

[Twoapenny]

Jab done!  It was amazingly well organised and much of it was being done by volunteers which was so nice to see - most of my contact with the outside world has been people telling me I'm an idiot for thinking it's real or telling me that old people should just die so it was nice to see there are a lot of people doing something to help instead of talking about other things.  Very reassuring.  Son stayed at home; it was good to go alone because now I know exactly how it works I can focus on him when I take him rather than worrying about where to go next so that was a help.  I did see something very sad on the way there and that was a funeral team bringing a body out of a house.  I've never actually seen something like that before and it was an odd moment - I know it happens every day but I've never actually seen it happen and I didn't quite know what I should do.  I was looking at what was going on before I realised what was going on, if you see what I mean, and I felt I'd been a bit intrusive.  Didn't mean to be, it just took my brain a few seconds to work out what I was actually seeing.  Poor people, it's all very sad.  Was just a bit sobering.  But jab all done, no side effects or problems at all (which bodes well for son; we tend to react to the flu shot in the same way so I'm hoping this will be the same).  Just got to wait for his date to come through now.  It was nice to walk through town and to feel there is a time coming when we can walk about without worrying about keeping a distance or wearing a mask.  Lots of spring flowers coming up.  Let's hope this year ends a lot better than last year did xx

[Hopalong]

So glad you're jabbed, Tupp, and ready to guide son through his without worries. What a relief.

It is sad about the cycle of life but spring is a good time to go, imo. I can't grasp criticizing yourself for happening to be passing by as a body was brought out. You may have felt some shock but surely to stand respectfully by could offend noone. Tried to think what I'd do differently...nothing. (I actually think it's good for death to be witnessed by caring community, not sanitized and tidied away in a rush before we put makeup and clothes on dead people and pour too many resources into a ceremony. But I'm an old grump with Puritan roots. Give me some lovely singing and a plain wooden box--and then an excellent party.)

I think I'll have a mask dangling from one ear for a long time, and I don't mind.
There's so much more they have to figure out about how protected others are from the vaccinated (they still don't know if it's possible to asymptomatically infect others after vaccination, or what the variants will be up to). As long as we're not at herd immunity (fat chance here, with governors in two of the worst-hit states lifting all restrictions for political gain) and everybody's not yet vaccinated I think I'll just keep wearing one. A few weeks after Jab 2, I'll switch back to the lightweight ones. That'll feel like a fair compromise as I find it hard to breathe with the N95 on.

There will be good histories written of this pandemic, but I think it'll end with a whimper, not a bang. Nobody's going to forget this in our lifetimes or the next. And though much that is joyful will return to community life, I do believe there'll be a new normal. Including masks in crowds and public areas. In Asia it's been routine forever, because they're driven by community over individual values (too far, imo, but in this instance, much more sane).

Anyhow, I'm not watching numbers any more and do feel anticipation over the simplest joy in life here: going down to the pedestrian, cafe-covered downtown main area again, to sip a wine or beer or eat and enjoy the people/dogs parade. A friend and I did that the other day in unexpected warmth and it was so wonderful. Our server shared his story of holding on to his job, and several of my favorite local cafes/restaurants did survive. It must've been very hard but I was so glad to see them open. I hope people who work for tips are treated more generously forever.

hugs
Hops

[Hopalong]

Got this from a kind friend in New Zealand. I like him and his perspective:

This seems like the weirdest start to a year in a long time.

In our earthquake sequence years the phrase " new normal" became popular. It summarised that fact that we had gone through a massive event and that the world for us would be thought of in pre EQ and post EQ terms.

In some ways, even 10 years down the track, EQ-related changes are still playing out. Our city continues to slowly evolve due to delayed rebuilding, individuals and families frequently live in different parts of the city, teens of the time suffer increased prevalence of anxiety, post EQ some businesses boomed and others faltered. In other words, a crisis usually takes much longer to play out than you think, and sometimes the responses to the events are the actual crisis.

I'm thinking CV19 is like a very slow earthquake sequence with a much wider reach.  The implications will be with us for a long long time.

Our second grandchild is due imminently.

Our daughter, carrying him, was born pre-internet.  She has lived through that (ongoing) change.

Our twins, 10 years younger than R., were born into an internet-shaped world; but they'll experience a pre- and a post- Covid world. Our grand-daughter, aged 4, will have dim memories of lockdown and Covid.  But our grandson will only know a post-Covid world.

I think I see in all that our resilience as individuals and people. Change comes, we adapt.

The trick is in the midst of the clamour and drama ( who knew " doom-scrolling" would be a word?) to maintain our equilibrium, our poise, to reach out when we need help and to savor the moment with our loved and close ones.

[Twoapenny]

All very true, Hopsie.  I hope the new grandbaby arrives soon

Restrictions are easing a little here from today.  Kids are back to school (younger ones, I think older students are continuing to work from home for a while).  Outdoor picnics with one person from another household are allowed - I don't think we'll meet up with anyone but it will be nice to take a packed lunch to the beach if it's sunny and just sit for a while.  Care home visits are allowed, lots of safety measures in place but I really hope that will help all those poor people who've been unable to see one another for so long.  I think they're reviewing again at the end of March.  Does feel like the end is in sight.

[sKePTiKal]

Well, it's not over yet. 

Friday's sales report from the shop came with the news that only 8 of 23 people showed on Friday and that the VP who refused to wear a mask at work visited personally with everyone in their normal, separated spaces... has been hospitalized with CV. The shop foreman is also positive. Saleswomen had to work in shipping to get orders out due to abscences there.

Yes, mama-boss will be checking in today for the latest news. This is in a state that is still enforcing some rigorous shutdowns. In my state, the cases are dropping dramatically - while across the mountain they're still dealing with 10% positive test results resulting in new cases. Not all of those are severe however. I get that.

But the most vulnerable are still dying from this. I'm going with "guarded optimism" for right now and not changing what I've been doing for the time being.

[Twoapenny]

Oh, Skep, is that 8 out of 23 because everyone else is sick?  Or isolating, which I guess amounts to almost the same thing.  I hope whoever has it that none of them are too seriously unwell with it.  It's such a difficult one to deal with, it just seems to be so easy to catch.  I hope there is more positive news coming.  I think you're right not to change your approach; we're still going to be staying home as much as possible and taking precautions if we do go out but I have to say it was nice to see the kids walking past on their way to school this morning.  We can all only keep our fingers crossed; I do hope you get some better news soon xx

[Hopalong]

the VP who refused to wear a mask at work

God, I'm sorry. Weaponized ignorance can kill oneself and others.

This is really tragic. When scientific, public health measures first were manipulated into politics, rather than being explained as right and rational responses to a natural disaster, so many death notices were signed.

Makes me sick at heart. I hope most of your employees will remain well, and their families. I can't imagine how you must be feeling about that VP. I know you'd never be cruel enough to ask: Was his "independent thinking" worth the price?

Right now, I would be. We don't need to lose our adventurous, entrepreneurial, aspirational national spirit. But we sure as hell need a little of New Zealand and Japan in us. America is in the last destructive throes of its wild adolescence. We're just not mature as a nation and it's breaking us in pieces. Not so exceptional after all.

We once were. I hope we might be again. But our collective experience is not going to turn into collective wisdom in our lifetime, if ever, and that's a very sad thing.

hugs,
Hops

[sKePTiKal]

Tupp the breakdown goes like this:

2 80-somethings; bookkeeper just had her second vaccine. No reaction. Other one sent home for a week to keep him safe while everything else sorted out.

In the 50-65 category - one with a history of health issues sent home for a few days; and to get tested to be sure. Both shipping personnel out for a few days getting tested. Negatives. Two home sick; mild cases. One home sicker than she's ever been - but not considered "severe" enough for hospitalization. One out positive - and her sister is sick.
Guy in charge didn't sound good when I talked to him; his test results come in on Wednesday. The VP is in this category too. So far, his O2 is good - and he's been on oxygen a bit to stave off pneumonia; so far 2 doses of Remsdesvir - however it's spelled.

So, masking & distance isn't foolproof at stopping an infection. Handwashing likely helps a LOT. And it's not political to try to protect yourself/others during a pandemic - despite the clear attempt to make it political. Not entirely sure just what basis there is to claim this is restricting people's freedom -- the shutdown of certain businesses & schools seems a better candidate for that. But I totally get the logic behind closing the schools! Even though my campus had dedicated janitorial staff - we took it upon ourselves to go the extra step and clean door handles, phones, desks & keyboards ourselves AGAIN during flu season.

As for my VP, he's never been my favorite person. He is, however, very qualified and good with the people side of the business. So I find his irresponsibility for the crew puzzling, to say the least. Even if he was skeptical of any benefit to masking, it was a risky choice - one the huge unknowns is still why some people are hit are much harder than others. It seems irrespective of underlying issues and age - except statistically.

Hol said I should've mandated masks. But that's not my way; I assumed that people would do whatever they were comfortable with in a responsible fashion without being told they had to. Fortunately, I haven't been forced to alter the health insurance benefit very much. He's just learned a very expensive lesson. My fingers are crossed that guy in charge is negative and that it's just the cumulative gloom and widespread economic slowdown, that's got him down.

[Twoapenny]

Gosh, Skep, that sounds like a lot of juggling and balls to keep in the air.  I hope everyone recovers and isn't left too badly affected by their own experience of it, it just sounds like such a variable virus that does little to some and a lot to others.  They have said here all along that masks etc aren't foolproof and I've heard of people who've taken all necessary precautions and still caught it.  It seems to be a slippery little bugger to deal with.  I don't know if your laws are similar to ours but here, even with emergency laws rushed through Parliament and the law being you must wear a mask unless exempt, there's no legal obligation to prove exemption and you can't be forced to wear one in any practical sense.  I only mention it because I doubt that you mandating masks would have made any actual physical difference to anyone who didn't want to, for whatever reason.  What could you have done to enforce it?  You can't physically pin someone down and glue it to their face, and you wouldn't want to sack the guy when he's good at his job.  Hindsight's easy so I hope you're not whirring that round in your head.  I confess to not having a business head on my shoulders so I'm not fully understanding of the various things you've had to deal with in regard to it, but you've sounded to me like you've 'done a Skep' on it and burrowed through a whole load of problems with the best outcomes for the staff in mind.  There aren't many bosses that would do that (especially with the farm and the Buck situation to deal with as well).  So I hope you're giving yourself a good pat on the back and I hope everyone there recovers soon xx

[sKePTiKal]

Thanks Tupp - as usual, you've hit the nail on the head about the virus/masks quandary. Succinctly, too. I still don't have an opinion about "what's right" one way or the other - just my own personal choice, and even that can vary on different days, in different circumstances.

I think everyone would've been better off if just the basic "verified known facts" about the virus had been published broadly & loudly, and then let people make their own decisions. Yes, the public health policy should've RECOMMENDED best practices. But this became a political issue, in this country -- and that's just infuriating to me. The two schools of thought seemed to break down into: the gov't can't/shouldn't force people to do anything... versus those who accused the non-mask wearers of wanting people to die. Then, there was a ton of encouragement to choose a side.

Which is when I decided it was time to walk away from that false dichotomy and make my own rules. Dualities usually are insufficient to address all the issues - just like black & white thinking. No, I wouldn't have a legal leg to stand on by mandating that employees (who never interact face to face with the public in the course of their work) must wear masks. I left it to each person to choose what they were comfortable with. Some who wore masks got sick too.

It's that variability in who the virus affects and the physical impact severity variance that makes my head hurt, when trying to think about "what we know" about the virus. To date, the absolute facts that can be proven as common to all cases, just ISN'T THERE. Even the docs who've treated people through the worst of the surges in localities, are saying this. So until the "key" or "pattern" is discovered about it, I operate on the premise that almost everything we know or think we know, could be true. It COULD become a seasonal bug, just like flu; but no one will KNOW, until it happens.

[Twoapenny]

Exactly the same thing happened here, Skep - lockdowns, masks, distancing and so on are either seen as draconian and another step toward a police state or seen as a civic duty that all should adhere to without question or exception.  Very all or nothing, and depending on which side of the fence you sit you're either a sheep or a psychopath.  We took more precautions than we were told to because I felt, based on what I'd read, that the best thing for us was to just avoid catching it and not take a chance on how ill it may or may not make either one of us.  But not earning money, seeing people, having physical contact and so on has done just as much damage as the virus itself, plus there have been many who died because they couldn't get treatments or surgery they needed for other things.  I agree there still doesn't seem to be a clear consensus on all the different aspects so we'll just keep trying to avoid catching it, which for us we can do by staying home as much as possible.  But my friend called me earlier; it's Mothering Sunday here and she met her daughter at her mum's grave and they had a big, and currently prohibited hug for the first time in a year while they both cried.  My friend now feels guilty because she and her hubby are at risk and she's been very stringent about all the precautions but we're all only human and that hug was very necessary.  I think we've all just got to keep muddling through as best we can and yes, as you say, this could flare up every winter just like flu does and could continue to cause problems so we're all going to have to find a way to keep plodding on, preferably without the media pointing big sticks at people and whipping up rows all the time xx

[Hopalong]

But not earning money, seeing people, having physical contact and so on has done just as much damage as the virus itself

I agree it's done a lot of emotional/psychological/mental health PLUS employment/security/care access/economy damage, and in some cases those forms of damage have led to death. Despair and loneliness can kill too.

Yet since more half a million have died of it directly here (and the toll's still climbing), and by all accounts it's a horrible, painful death by slow drowning, and it has burnt out a generation of health providers, first responders and more....I can't equalize all the forms of damage. Dead is as damaged as one can get and the same is true for those we carry it to (if one's among the 40% of asymptomatic carriers).

I believe that if we'd behaved like people unafraid to work together for the common good, we'd all have had masks on pronto if we'd been educated skillfully from the get-go, even though masking's an unfamiliar practice. All sorts of failure and lack of preparedness and dominant political manipulation contributed to the mess that's been made. As did our national hyper-independent cowboy character, which some confuse with freedom. Saying "no" can be wise and principled. So can saying "yes."

All that said, I have to remember that whether or not someone's attached to a different ideology than mine, my primary practice is (ideally) love. For me the mask expresses love of humanity plus belief in interdependence. And it has also protected me. But masks, no matter how diligent one is, do not provide perfect protection because gaps/leaks, etc. For that you'd need scuba gear, probably.

In the end I am so profoundly grateful for scientists and public servants at every level who've worked incredibly hard to try to save us from ourselves, as well as from the pandemic. The suspicion and disrespect aimed at some pretty selfless experts (and even bureaucrats) are for me, very sad to see.

America is, in comparison to Europe, a juvenile country. We've seldom shown it more, except for our long history of using violence to "solve" so many things that don't need force, but education, cooperation and compassion.

hugs
Hops

[Twoapenny]

I agree, Hopsie, the sensible thing would have been to close the airports everywhere to stop it spreading like it did and for a lot of preventative steps to have been taken.  Sadly, it comes under the same bracket as it being sensible not to allow businesses to destroy the environment, not to leave people living in the streets, not to deny people healthcare, create wars, sell weapons to countries and then complain that the people they're being used on seek refuge somewhere else and all the other mad, destructive practices that happen.  I do think it will take longer to see the fall out from the damage caused by all the lockdowns, though - the impact on mental health likely won't make itself apparent immediately and will take longer to assess along with the the overall effects on health that low incomes, unemployment, homelessness and so on have, all of which it seems (here anyway) are only starting to show now as steps have been taken to prevent things like evictions at the moment.  Once the gloves come off I think that's going to get a lot worse - plus we'll be seeing, I would assume, more huge cuts to public sector services and staff shortages as the government claw back the money that it's all cost and staff leave because they've been treated so badly (plus all the overseas staff who are already choosing to work elsewhere because of Brexit) and I do think long term we'll see more damage from the way it's been handled than we have from the virus directly.  They spent so much time posturing and being 'manly' about it that, whatever they did, that genie was out of the bottle and no way forward was going to be anything other than a nightmare to deal with.  I think a big part of the problem here has been the number of times they backtracked as well - they insisted for months that there was no reason to wear a mask and then mandated it.  So many mixed messages.  They've really made such a pigs ear of it.  I am also very grateful for the science and all of the people who've worked through it and helped one another out.  It's been a truly terrible situation for so many and I know I will be so happy once it really is behind us and things get back to some sort of normal xx

[Hopalong]

That's what I call PERSPECTIVE.

Outstanding, eloquent and rational rant, CB! You have a way of seeing right through to the cognitive dissonance. This part was especially striking to me:

In that disease, science said most people were safe, but people believed what they wanted to. Now, science is saying we are not safe, but people still believe what they want to.

The rapid devolution of reason and community is really shocking:
From post-9/11 adaptations:

Everybody just takes their shoes off as they go through the security line.

To present chaos and crumbling:

Might just turn out to be the downward spiral of a culture.

You are as clear and cogent as Heather Cox Richardson. I have SO appreciated you turning me on to her. Sad as the facts are and the perspective may be, it does ring clear.

hugs
Hops

[Hopalong]

You are that perceptive too, Tupp:

[about what's sensible]: Sadly, it comes under the same bracket as it being sensible not to allow businesses to destroy the environment, not to leave people living in the streets, not to deny people healthcare, create wars, sell weapons to countries and then complain that the people they're being used on seek refuge somewhere else and all the other mad, destructive practices

It's just SO clear that it was cultural/psychological, and not strategic:

They spent so much time posturing and being 'manly' about it that, whatever they did, that genie was out of the bottle and no way forward was going to be anything other than a nightmare

I think that coarsening of character really is what's wrong. Older ideas and mores may have been conventional (and racist, sexist, colonialist, etc.) but in terms of community -- WWII really did show the courage and grit of ordinary people and they DID band together. Losing that sense of communal obligation and affinity (which I personally believe we lost to entertainment replacing education)...was a slow bleed and now we're waking up to how pale and weak we (Western culture) have become.

Sounds grim and there's hope anyway. But I'm going to have to start digging beyond the click bait for that. If only they'd report the quiet heroes as much as the palaver.

hugs
Hops