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...

I can remember a number of years ago when people first had the ability to “work from home”. The studies quickly showed that “out of sight, out of mind” meant that the people who worked from home didn’t get promoted or get raises, at the same rate as those who came into the office, because the Boss never saw them and quite frankly, it was easy to “forget” them. Companies were so afraid that people working from home would spend time on “other things”, that some companies set up the work computers so they would tell the “Boss” if the person stepped away from the computer for more than a preprogrammed allowable time. While a few industries continued to promote it, most companies preferred their employees to come to a central office or workplace instead. Now, after 2 years of people working from home, or working“hybrid” with some days in the office and typically more days at home due to covid restrictions, working from home (or “ off site ”)has become the “norm” in many industries. ...