"Daily" Check In

We are off to Maine in the morning for our semi-annual trip to recharge and refresh. Thanks to Bulkey for the heads up on Maine virus rates. Packing extra masks as a precautionary measure. Need a lot of beach walks to get over CT winter, and weather looks warm and (mostly) sunny (frost free!).

Their record is safe - I can't eat lobster! But I make a good dent in a crab roll....

Yes, decades from now "Maine Lobster" and "Vermont Maple Syrup" will be empty references. Instead, we'll have "Rhode Island Crab Cakes" and "Connecticut Peaches"

Sorry to add to what we all want to stop thinking about. But suddenly there's lot of personal family travel this summer and concomitant concern (which doesn't seem to stop the travel).

The new term(s): Covid Complacency/Capitulation:
erictopol.substack.com/p/the-covid-capitulation?s=r

Now we are seeing people with 4 shots who are getting breakthrough infections, even at 1-2 weeks from their most recent shot, when there should be the maximal level of neutralizing antibodies induced. That’s not a good sign, relative to the 95% vaccine effectiveness we had against symptomatic infections against the ancestral, D614G, Alpha, and Delta (with a booster) strains.

But it’s worse than that. Because we have relied (and taken for granted) on vaccines to protect us from severe disease—to prevent hospitalizations and deaths. Prior to Omicron we could, with a booster, assume there was well over 90-95% vaccine effectiveness vs severe disease. It is clear, however, from multiple reports, including the UK Health Security Agency and Kaiser Permanente that this level of protection has declined to approximately 80%, particularly taking account the more rapid waning than previously seen. That represents a substantial drop-off: instead of a gap or “leak” of 5%, it is about 4-fold at 20%.

The author is Eric Topol, who describes himself as "physician-scientist."

We are back from Maine, where it was relaxing and wonderful. Masking not very prevalent, except for a few small shops where it was required by the owners. We did see quite a few folks voluntarily mask in public. I was struck however, by the seeming contradiction of people walking in outdoor, uncrowded conditions while masked, and then promptly unmasking in a full, crowded restaurant. The area of concern would seem to be the exact opposite. To each their own.

And oddly enough, not a lot of stares here in Tucson.  Not a lot of masks, either.

I have read enough to convince me that, given my wife's immunocompromised status and my general health, masking is a good thing.  Studies suggest it does - with a good mask - provide a level of protection, nothing being perfect, of course.

I also have read enough to believe that outside is not the issue (although I admit a psychological reluctance to sit in a stadium).  I only mask indoors, but I mask everywhere outside the home when I am indoors and around folks.  Other than 2 family members we haven't had inside company and we have eaten out only twice (outdoor seating).  Of course my wife's various health issues keep her largely homebound.

The only places I see masked employees is a couple fast food restaurants - they mask at Panda Express where I got lunch yesterday.  The only place I see a lot of masks (and still maybe only 20 to 30 percent) is in grocery stores, largely but not exclusively older folks.

Like you, I don't claim to understand it.  But it doesn't bother me, I'll do my thing in an effort to protect myself and other folks can do theirs.

Sorry, Rocky. I'm sure it's tough there.

It's an 800 (at least) year drought in the west. And yet, there are no water use restrictions in place, at least in California: lawn watering, dish washing, length of showers, etc. Friends assure me those will come in the summer, but you'd think they'd try to get a head start so they can smooth out the limitations.

Here in New England the problem is too much water--in coastline erosion. We're about 1/2 mile from the ocean and our (required) flood insurance goes up the legal limit every year. Eventually it will make our home too expensive to own (hoping to sell it before then  ) and further on it will be washed out to sea (really hoping to sell it before then  ).

Wow, that is wonderful and amazing. It is so important.
We are in Vienna now, and will do some remembering of Schubert. What a tragic life he led. Such a genius, and only one full concert of his music in his lifetime, yet he kept going.

Most of the European countries are very appreciative of the US and Canadian soldiers who fought so selflessly, so far away from their own homeland to help retain or win back their freedom.  I find it deeply touching that the Netherlands takes such care of the soldiers who served and made the ultimate sacrifice, so long after their deaths and the war they died in.  

I have been fortunate in that I have not lost immediate family members to war. My father-in-law served in WWII in the Pacific theatre and came home as a disabled vet and had shrapnel in his leg until the day he died. He never spoke about the war except in the most abstract of ways. My father was in the Air Force in the early 50's during the Korean war but served state-side repairing radios. My husband was too young for Vietnam, and then they stopped the draft before my children turned 18, though both my sons had to register for selective service just in case the draft was reinstituted.

Still...I recognize the sacrifices our military members who served in armed conflicts made, putting their lives on the line for the freedoms of others, even though many left their own wives and children, girlfriends, parents and siblings behind for a cause they may not have understood at the time. And let's not forget the female members of the military who served first in nursing corps and now on the front lines. Tomorrow we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice and gave their lives. In memoriam, I thank them for their service.

On Memorial Day I always pause to remember the guys I went to grade school and/or high school with, or who went to high school with my younger brother. Many of them served in Viet Nam, and several never came home. Others who did come home had lingering scars, mental and physical. I say a prayer for them all.

You truly cannot fix stupid. And you either have common sense or you don't. In this case, I think the young woman suffered from a deficiency in both smarts and common sense. A senseless loss of life with no one to blame but herself.