Pen-demic

On one hand, the number of cases that have been diagnosed is down; the number of people hospitalized is down; the number of people who have died with a diagnosis reflecting a covid 19 cause is down; the President of the US has declared the pandemic is over , BUT   Covid 19 is still raging around the world .  A look at the NY Times Coronavirus Vaccinations Around the World tracker, shows that as of Sept 4, 2022, only 69.7% of the world’s population (more th an 5.35 billion people) has received at least one dose of the original vaccine. It would be easy to say that third world countries aren’t vaccinated while first world countries are, but the numbers sho w a more interesting set of data.   The US has 79% of the population vaccinated with at least one dose, but only 67% of the population have received the necessary second dose of the vaccine and only 33% have received the necessary boosters . Nicaragua on the other had has 97% vaccination rate with an 87% having had ...

  March 2020, was when we knew we were in a pandemic. Now it’s almost July 2022.   The Pandemic still swirls around us, but here in our “safe” suburban world, most people ignore it. The newspapers give it maybe a 2 in by 3 in column here and there. Primarily when the World Health Organization comes out with something new, or a resurgence “somewhere else” brings up talk of masks or quarantines. Right now, the talk is of vaccinations for infants finally being available and do we need to tweak the vaccinations we have to better work against the latest variation of the virus.   And yet the latest variation, Omicron (I think it’s called), is far more transmissible than the earlier variations, though my understanding is that the symptoms aren’t as bad if you get it. I connect with people who tell me that, though vaccinated and boosted and having avoided Covid all this time, have come down with the latest variation. My son and his girlfriend among them. Several days of high...

Today I exercised. That is not new; however, I haven’t gone to a class or exercised by myself since early December, prior to getting covid, and then pneumonia. I had been feeling fatigued and not up to par since then. It felt good today to move muscles that I hadn’t used in a while. I went to a class for senior ladies at the clubhouse in our subdivision. I’ve gotten to know most of these ladies in the two years that I’ve been here. Last summer many of us took water aerobics at our subdivision pool. I’ve also joined many of them at the monthly condo ladies luncheons at various restaurants in the area. The reason I was finally able to exercise and be with these ladies again is because last week I received injections of antibodies, especially against covid. Since the Omicron variant has been active, I have had to stay away from groups of people because my immune system is not working well. The medicine I take for my leukemia kills not only the bad white cells in my blood, but also good on...

  Jan 2022, Covid 19 Update by Dale Weir We are TIRED. OVERWHELMED. We just want it to either end or become the new annual flu with a yearly covid shot when we get our annual flu shot. The papers and news media no longer focus on COVID as they did at the start, 2 years ago. Now the media focuses on political battles instead: - A politician trying to get his name and face known, not caring if it’s because he is famous or infamous, costing the taxpayers’ money as he sues China, local governments, and school districts. At times, even putting himself in the position of suing those he was elected to defend and protect. - State legislators enacting laws that further disenfranchise many members of the communities they represent, but who don’t have the same ethnicity or racial background that they have - State legislators enacting laws that take away the right of women to control their own bodies. These and similar stories populate the news media reports, rather than updates on Covid 19. T...

  Bethlehem Steel While it might not be easy to think of positives that have come from the pandemic, I have one I’d like to share that may be useful to others. It was July of 2020 and we were tired of jigsaw puzzles, having the every 10-day trip to the grocery store be the highlight of the week, and frankly, each other’s exclusive company. But what could we do? The enforced inactivity was harder on Mitch, who thrives on travel. Rather than giving up, however, he started looking for interesting places we could safely drive to and explore, even if the actual destinations were still locked down. Through internet research, he found many relatively unknown, interesting and historical places within a half-day’s drive from our home. Needing something to which we could anchor time, and the traditional designation of “hump-day,” he chose Wednesday as the day for us to venture out. That’s how “Wandering Wednesday” was born. The first WW was a drive along Great Bay Boulevard, a little-used, s...

 I’ve been whispering to you  As to not disturb your streaming and clicking and daydreaming  But this year I decided to shout  The warm wind is here  The ice brilliance is here  The bird symphony is here  The lilac scent is here  Always been that way  Why have you dismissed these?  Like channels that don’t catch your fancy  At one time there wasn’t an unseen creature with a crown  That could turn the world upside down  But now, so much to observe and feel  Being apart from others, but closer  To our true selves  Scary to witness suffering, longing, fearing  Find the perfect scene with a grasp to heal  What is strangling our souls and keeping us engulfed  In the big hurt  Open the door, breathe, see, listen  Our world, always changing, is injected with  More hues, more sounds, more energy  And you are in the midst of perfection  Do I have your attention now? Linda Larim...

The 2021 school year has arrived. Backpacks are packed.  First day of school outfits are chosen. Teacher assignments are received. The last thing on my checklist is to have the kids fill out their chalkboard for the first day of school. Obligingly, my son and daughter will stand in front of our home – backpacks on and hair fixed – and hold their respective chalkboards. Those boards are currently blank slates but soon they will be filled with each child’s age, teacher, and aspirations for what they want to be when they grow up. I’ve been anxiously awaiting their teacher assignments and over the past week, I’ve been asking them to think about what they want to be when they grow up. Last year they both said they wanted to be soccer players. To be exact, my daughter said she wanted to be the greatest soccer player EVER (she’s got some serious goals!). As I stare at the blank slates in preparation for the 2021 school year, I’m thrown back to last year. A time when we took their photos i...