Light at the End of the Tunnel of Covid

[Benway]

That particular variant is thought to be 50% more contagious. This is why it's SO important we get the vaxxes out there. As long as this keeps infecting others they are just giant petri dishes for variants to emerge.

I've lost contact with one of our members over there in India. She's a nurse. Last report was they were totally overwhelmed...no O2, no beds, nothing to treat with. Prayers out to all of those in India right now.

I'm still hopeful, Lynne. We've come a long way since last year. The US appears to be at least stable with the situation at the moment. We need to continue this trend.

I really hope she's okay.

 

[Benway]

The masks help with pollens, too.

That's true. And distancing means I haven't been subjected to anyone's BO in a year!

 

[Debi]

I think that when restrictions end it's just going to be considered bad taste.

I'm going to hope not. There are many of us out here that for medical reasons HAVE to continue to wear one, vax or no vax. There are more virus and germs out there that can affect us and a mask is one way to help us avoid those little beasties.

My hope is that people can relearn to be nice. Not everything has to be political or a "statement". If it doesn't hurt you, then leave others do what they need to do without confrontation. We need to stop judging others. I would remind everyone of the Golden Rule...let's try that one again.

 

[Debi]

Last spring I came out of a long quarantine near the start of the first lockdown and well remember being alone on empty streets. When I got sick everything was as it always had been and when I came out... the world had stopped and everyone was gone. I walked for miles. As a kid we used to talk about what we'd do if everyone just vanished and as a teenager we read a novel called Empty World at school (a new virus kills most people) and I read The Stand and then Day of the Triffids (which begins with a man falling ill and when he recovers finding that everybody has gone), and then there was 24 Days Later, which starts the same way. It felt like all of those. The city I'd always lived in empty. Empty streets with no sign of life, total silence for miles. I'd lived it in my imagination when I was younger but never expected to truly live it. It felt as though I'd fallen out of real life and into a story. It reminded me of The Magician's Nephew where they find the dead world. I'm tearing up typing this, but at the time I was shell shocked and there was something exhilarating to it, as though all those old imaginings really happened and it was my world now. Just me alone. I just walked. The major roads were the weirdest and most thrilling. All my life I had the constant background noise of traffic and just like that it was gone. Replaced by the wind and birdsong. The quietness was so loud! I walked along the centre of a major road and I remember standing on a flyover bridge staring for a long time at the empty road just stretching away. There was a distant sound and then a minute later a car, alone on the miles of empty road, pedal to the metal just driving on all the miles of nothing. A fellow lost traveller. That time was a haunting experience which I will never forget.

Thank you for sharing that, Ben. I felt that one on heart level.

 

[garnetsilver]

Their lives haven't changed since getting vaccinated. This is their new normal | CNN

For all the people who are clamoring to get back out in the world post-vaccine, there are plenty who are saying, "nope, we aren't ready."

www.cnn.com

I really related to these people's stories! I am not going to stop wearing a mask anytime soon, because we just can't be sure it's safe yet.

Today we were driving to a doc appt. and passed a college, where there was apparently a graduation just ending. While it was gratifying to see life going on as usual, I was amazed at the fact that not one person in the crowds of graduates was wearing a mask. I wonder if this will impede or accelerate herd immunity?

 

[garnetsilver]

Thank you for sharing that, Ben. I felt that one on heart level.

Same here.

 

[GoneWestUtah]

I sat in a dealership waiting room for 90 minutes late this afternoon, with 4 other old men waiting on service. It was high ceilinged, very well ventillated, at least 6 feet between all of us. None of us were wearing masks, everyone looked old enough to have qualified for the vaccine months ago and local government lifted mask requirements recently for the fully vaccinated.
It felt liberating.

 

[Lynne]

Last spring I came out of a long quarantine near the start of the first lockdown and well remember being alone on empty streets. When I got sick everything was as it always had been and when I came out... the world had stopped and everyone was gone. I walked for miles. As a kid we used to talk about what we'd do if everyone just vanished and as a teenager we read a novel called Empty World at school (a new virus kills most people) and I read The Stand and then Day of the Triffids (which begins with a man falling ill and when he recovers finding that everybody has gone), and then there was 24 Days Later, which starts the same way. It felt like all of those. The city I'd always lived in empty. Empty streets with no sign of life, total silence for miles. I'd lived it in my imagination when I was younger but never expected to truly live it. It felt as though I'd fallen out of real life and into a story. It reminded me of The Magician's Nephew where they find the dead world. I'm tearing up typing this, but at the time I was shell shocked and there was something exhilarating to it, as though all those old imaginings really happened and it was my world now. Just me alone. I just walked. The major roads were the weirdest and most thrilling. All my life I had the constant background noise of traffic and just like that it was gone. Replaced by the wind and birdsong. The quietness was so loud! I walked along the centre of a major road and I remember standing on a flyover bridge staring for a long time at the empty road just stretching away. There was a distant sound and then a minute later a car, alone on the miles of empty road, pedal to the metal just driving on all the miles of nothing. A fellow lost traveller. That time was a haunting experience which I will never forget.

Ben you really have a knack for writing! Have you considered a book? This short discription put me right there with you. That is not easy to do.

 

[Debi]

A really hopeful treatment for those that do get Covid. The prelim reports are looking really good!

10 serious COVID patients given Israeli drug, leave hospital in one day

The data showed a 40% decrease in lung inflammation from treatment – from 55% to 15%, as seen in chest X-rays * Rambam Health Care Campus doctor: ‘Results extremely impressive’

www.jpost.com

 

[GoneWestUtah]

At our investigation last night, there were no masks. Everyone was fully vaxed, both the team and client.
It was like life used to be. Completely ordinary, yet just being able to see someone's face, read their expression, see them smile, made me realize how much I had missed it, how happy it made me.