The View from the Hermitage, Day 358

It's International Women's Day! I'd never heard of this until we arrived in Vietnam in 2009 a day or two before the day. I had no idea why the clerks at the hotel gave me a bouquet of flowers. They were somewhat surprised that I had never heard of International Women's Day in the US. We happened to be in Vietnam on that day in 2012, and then I knew what was going on. I still don't really see it recognized here though it does take place in March which is also Women's History Month.

The morning news seemed led by Oprah Winfrey's interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, aka Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Some of what they said ran counter to what had been reported earlier. Meghan did not make Kate cry; Kate made Meghan cry. Some sounded a bit like whining. No one told Meghan that even family curtsied or bowed to the monarch. They took her passport, driver's license, and ATM card and seemed to hold her hostage while at the same time suggesting she might want to keep working as an actor. After some random thinking as I worked on the quilt repair, I ended up thinking that if Harry felt trapped, as he said he had, why the hell didn't he share that bit of info with the woman he loved and wished to marry? He also should have filled her in on royal protocol such as when and to whom to curtsy.

Scientists in the Netherlands have run an intriguing study. They invited 1,300 people to the Ziggo Dome, the largest music arena in Amsterdam. All the people were tagged to track their movements. There were five "bubbles" of 250 people each and one bubble of 50 people. Each bubble had different rules. In one, members were constrained in their movements. In one, people were masked the entire time while in another people only wore masks while dancing. The people in one bubble were given a florescent drink and encouraged to sing and scream; the aim there was to see how much saliva was released. Interestingly, even those people asked to keep their masks on dispersed with them as they danced. They are doing similar studies in other environments such as a football match, a business conference of 500 people, an open-air festival, a pop concert, and a cabaret artist performance. 

Thinking of a vacation? Look before you book because 32 percent of global holiday destinations are completely closed to tourists. That amounts to 69 out of 217 worldwide. The destinations closures come with the fact that entrance requirements differ from country to country as do the things you might need to prove in order to get on a plane. Be prepared. And don't forget travel insurance. 

Vietnam has started its vaccination program, starting with healthcare workers. The country has purchased some doses directly and will get the rest from COVAX, the vaccine-sharing plan. Auckland has finished its lockdown; there have been no new local cases. New Zealand has also purchased enough doses of the Pfizer vaccine for their entire population. 

The CDC today released its guidelines on what activities might be open to people who are fully vaccinated. Americans who have been fully vaccinated and waited the two weeks needed for the vaccine to be fully effective can meet with other fully vaccinated people indoor and without masks. Gathering with unvaccinated people should be limited to those people from a single household. It would be okay to visit with healthy children and grandchildren, something I know many grandparents have been hoping to hear. Fully vaccinated people should continue to wear masks, avoid large gatherings, and keep a safe distance when out in the general public. They do not need to quarantine if they may have been exposed, but they should seek out testing if they start to develop symptoms of covid. 

The death toll from covid has been surprisingly low across much of Africa and Asia. Several reasons may be at work here. First, poorer countries tend to be younger than developed ones. They also do not have the number of nursing homes the US has; elderly people more commonly stay in multi-generational families. People tend to be outdoors more in the warmer climates; even in the developed world, being outside is in general safer than being inside. Previous exposure to other forms of coronavirus may give people in these countries slightly different immunity than found here. Finally, some countries reacted to the appearance of covid more quickly and decisively than the US did. 

On the home front, the quilt repair continues. I finally got the fabric I ordered for the back of the repaired quilt. FedEx managed to lose it until I submitted a claim for the cost. After I did that, they moved it out of Memphis, where it had sat for almost two weeks and sent it the rest of the way here. I'm going to wash it a couple of times to get rid of any sizing and to shrink it appropriately. I have two more borders to repair before I add the new backing. I am starting to feel confident that I will make it by Son #2's birthday in April. Fingers crossed.