COVID, COVID, COVID

No one talks about COVID anymore.  But I have to.  I have to bring up something for people who think I didn't get vaccinated on account of the fact that I'm still using social mitigation measures that pre-date the vaccine.

I did get vaccinated.  Everyone in my household did.  But I could still get sick, and if the next strain can evade vaccines, what good will it be?

So, no, the pandemic s not over yet, and it's possible that it never will be.  

What the 5?

Dr. Eric Topol was on the PBS NewsHour last night to discuss the COVID pandemic in America.

I can count all of the pieces of good news he gave on one hand with fingers to spare.  But I can't remember any of them.

I can, however, remember the bad news he gave.  He said that BA.5, the latest variation of the Omicron COVID strain, is the worst strain yet - a COVID strain, like a Madonna record, is always worse and more unbearable than the one preceding it - and that it can re-infect people who have had their shots or have had the bug.  Americans who have been double-boosted - myself included - are far more immune to BA.5, but because the BA.5 bug is so contagious, infection levels are where they were in early 2021, with re-infections all too common. 

And what is the Centers for Disease Control doing about this?  Practically nothing. What are Americans doing to prevent getting sick?  Practically nothing.  So few people have gotten their first boosters - with few of them getting second boosters - that the United States now ranks 67th in the world in booster vaccine deliveries.  The only Americans who will be happy to hear that are Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert.  And possibly Jim Jordan.

The director general of the World Health Organization said, "The pandemic won't be over anywhere until it's over everywhere."  What he meant to say was, "The pandemic won't be over everywhere until it's over in the United States." 😠 

COVID Continues

I was optimistic that the daily COVID case rate, spiking thanks to a new sub-strain of Omicron, would resume its downward trend once it got warmer in the spring, but after a chilly April, it's only beginning to get warm now and the seven-day new case average has already doubled over the past month.

And to make things even more disheartening, Dr. Anthony Fauci (below), after having declared an end to the pandemic in the U.S., quickly backtracked and said that the "acute phase" of the pandemic is over in the U.S. and that we're still in a pandemic. Some experts are actually expecting another surge - in the Southern states this summer.  But things are quiet for now, right?  Judge for yourself - Dr. Fauci skipped the White House Correspondents Dinner to avoid getting sick - despite being vaccinated - due to his age (he's 81, two years older than President Biden). 

Well, things should be done in my area for awhile by June, at least.  In fact, I was planning to go to a local art museum that opens to visitors for free every first Thursday evening of the month on June 2 to see a special exhibit.  June is usually the last month the museum has free first Thursday nights before resuming them in the fall.  I figured that going this Thursday, the first Thursday of May, was too soon.  Except for one thing; there won't be a June free first Thursday this year, so if I want to see this special exhibit, I have to go this week. 

And after that, I don't see myself returning to this museum any time soon.  Or doing much of anything else locally; there's a film festival every year in my area, and this year the festival is in October.  Thanks to COVID, and thanks also to high ticket prices, I don't expect to go to a movie at the film festival, and I have unsubscribed from the e-mails the festival organizers send out.  Dropping out of life's pleasures, of course, is nothing new to me, as I've made clear in the past month and change. 😢