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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
This sign outside a small convenience store in western Massachusetts loudly proclaims that “Masks (covering both mouth and nose) are Still Required in our Store.” This sentiment is unusual now though here in this state with its very high vaccination rate (55% fully vaccinated; 67% one dose). We arrived here in the Berkshires a few days for our first real vacation since Covid struck. It is beautiful and wonderful to be somewhere different! But I was so surprised on our first day here to go into the large local chain grocery store and see that many of the employees were not wearing masks. Oddly enough, most of the customers were. I’ve chosen to believe that these employees are fully vaccinated, and our following the advice of the science and medical professionals who keep telling us that fully vaxxed folks can skip the masks! In the past few days, we’ve gone into many smaller shops that cater to the tourists and there also, most of the staff aren’t masked and many of the customers aren’t either. At the restaurants, staff are masked, but diners aren’t. And outside, most people aren’t wearing masks, but some are, especially pre-teens. It is a real hodge-lodge of rules and behaviors. We went into the public library and there a sign was posted that said masks were still required in government buildings. As we walked through the neighborhood of our rental home, we passed many people - no masks at all. Mostly, though, people seem happy and are glad to see others. The store owners are thrilled to have people coming into their stores again. “Help Wanted” signs compete with all the new signage about masks! In just a few days of being in this new environment, I feel myself loosening up with regards to my own behavior. We’re all fully vaccinated and I’ve started to follow the lead of the store owners, if they aren’t wearing a mask, I often take my off, too. They’ll often request that we use hand sanitizer that they have put near the door. Of course, we comply. I just hope that more people continue to take the shot, and that these changes are lasting! I feel that a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders, now that we can visit with family and friends, hug each other, eat together, and just be together, again.
June 6, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
29 Jan. 2021. COVID Blues (in waves, logjams, and contradictory projections). This week a good friend, age 46, came down with COVID. On 21 Jan the daughter, age 5 or 6, tested positive. He and his wife still tested negative, but wrote: "I feel not well today, but maybe it is just exhaustion. The whole dilemma was caused by a child in V's class, that was sent to school, even showing already symptoms. Now half of the class is infected and the classroom closed. It is insane to experience how selfish and stupid people act, even in times like this." Four days later, Jan 25: "We all have Covid now. V. is over it I believe. But it hit me the hardest. It comes in waves. I have hours of total fatigue and high fever, but then also some hours where it’s more or less bearable. The pain in my body is brutal. It seems to be everywhere. The doctor warned me today that it might get worse before it gets better. I can't imagine how 'worse' could look like. The lung issues often start only after 7-10 days in. So this is all in front of me. I am not qualified to receive treatment. This is reserved for people over 55... I am on day fourth of having symptoms now. Nightmare. M. is holding up better. She was also tested positive, but her symptoms are much milder. Who knows why it got me so hard. It is scary. Especially the nights." I put out a crowd sourcing request and got some helpful suggestions, but the main one, Redemsivir (from a biologist friend who is working on the vaccine, who also noted that the German Minister of Health just ordered 200,000 doses) is what his doctors said he was unqualified for by the state; they are saving it for the over 55 age group. Frustrating. Fortunately by late on the 26th he reported the fever broke and he thought he might be "über dem Berg" (out of the woods). Meanwhile, vaccination log jams. When Mass. entered phase 2, checking with both my possible providers, neither had vaccine. (How this jibes with reports of vaccine sitting in refrigerators, unused or held back for second shots, is unclear. The key issue is that clinics cannot plan ahead to schedule vaccine appointments.) The good news. J&J finally announces today (29th Jan) their vaccine (one shot, no deep refrigeration needed): 74% effective in blocking infection (vs 95% for Moderna and Pfizer's) and 57% effective against the new more transmissible variant (but reminded that the flu vaccines are only 50% effective), and do seem to block deaths. The less good news: Fauci on TV warns there will continue to be new variants if we cannot get everyone (85%) vaccinated, that we will be dealing with this for the foreseable future. The anti-public health campaign. On television we get first hand reports about Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Georgia, Qanon supporter), walking around Congress without a face mask, bypassing metal detectors and refusing to stop when requested by Capitol police, posting self-videos and tweets about forest fires in California being caused by Jewish lasers from space, the need to shed blood to save the country from the election of Biden, and yelling about BLM. We see a video of her walking up behind and taunting David Hogg (now 18, but a survivor of the Parkland, Fla., shooting and killing of 17 teens) -- accusing him of using kids to attack her gun rights, saying she was carrying a gun, and that he was a coward (having plenty of such experiences he refused to engage lest she get the publicity she was seeking). We see Green being offered a face mask when the Congresspeople were in a room during the attack on the Capitol, ignoring the offer. We hear of her supporting executing Democratic politicians including "liking" a bullet should be put in Nancy Pelosi's head. We also see video and hear Congresswoman Cori Bush describe a run in between them in the Capitol tunnel, when Green came up behind her talking loudly into her cellphone; Bush has had her office moved away from Green's and hear her yelling about Black Lives Matter (Bush had been a BLM organizer). It appears that after a very short momentary condemnation of the attack on the Capitol on 6 Jan, the Republicans are now uniting in brushing it aside and mounting a full-scale white supremacy backlash, with Minority Leader in the House Kevin McCarthy going to Mar-a-Lago to consult with Trump on next moves. When Greene does wear a mask, it is one that says "Stop the Steal".
February 3, 2021