So sorry, Pat, that you have been hit so hard. Last Friday I really felt crappy, headache, congestion, fatigue, and a low grade fever. I took the rapid test and was negative. I felt slightly better Saturday and decent enough to walk on Sunday. On Tuesday, the nose really started to run so I took another rapid test and it was positive. I've been home now for two days and the runny nose is my only real complaint. In school, which is solely a grades 5-6 school, it's all around us. One feels like it's inevitable that you'll come down with the virus. In all of the talk about keeping schools open, I just don't hear enough talk about how one can do that if teachers and support staff are out in significant numbers. We're not there yet in my school, and perhaps we won't be, but you need a certain number of adult bodies to simply supervise the kids.
Also, I don't hear much talk about long haulers, and the potential for long term or possibly permanent damage to vital organs. I recently heard Nicholas Christakis, a guy I really trust, state that we'll probably end up with one million deaths and FIVE MILLION people who are disabled, unable to work. I don't think most people are aware of this. Too many have heard that Omicron is "mild" and foolishly associate it with the common cold.
Does anyone else feel overwhelmed with information? And some of it surely is politicized, or worse! I think of the healthcare workers who are truly heroic, and the bad actors who seem determined to spew dangerous misinformation and thus keep pushing more sick people into the already packed emergency rooms, and ICU beds. So many people are solely motivated by acquiring power, and they don't care how large the related body count is!
Politics for many has become entertainment and group warfare, a zero-sum game. So many Americans are just not serious people. Too much watching, too little reading, and very little thinking, and dammit, thinking is really hard.
Throughout the pandemic, I've been walking about an hour each day. Me thinks I need to extend it, once I'm through being quarantined.
Peter T.
