The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 171 (671)

I've started a new volume of daily notes. This one is pretty thick and has larger pages than many of the other 12 I've used. The first of those started on December 1, 2020. I don't recall what I did for notes before that. I may have used random pieces of paper that went into the recycling bin once I'd finished writing the day's post. 

We're once again awaiting weather here. If there's no post tomorrow, it will be because we again lost power. We sit about 30 miles away from the east side of the Blue Ridge Mountains with the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean a couple of hours to the east. That puts us at the mercy of Mother Nature. She may keep the soft, powdery snow west of the Blue Ridge and send us the ice, sleet, and freezing rain. Or we'll get snow, and the line between snow and the slick stuff will be to our east. We won't really know what sort of weather we're going to get until it starts. 

The CDC has acknowledged that cloth masks offer less protection than surgical masks or respirators. The old language in the CDC's mask guidance: People may choose to use disposable N95 respirators instead of masks "when supplies are available." The new language: "A respirator may be considered in certain situations and by certain people when greater protection is needed or desired." Basically, a well-fitting respirator such as an N95 is better than a well-fitting disposable surgical mask or a KN95, and all of those are better than a cloth mask. The bottom line is that you should "wear the most protective mask you can that fits well and that you will wear consistently." 

We can request free rapid test kits starting on Wednesday. The website, covidtests.gov, is active now and notes that ordering will start of January 19. It will likely take until the end of January for tests to be delivered; delivery will be by the US Postal Service. Each household is limited to four tests. There will be some tests available at some community health centers, rural clinics, and federal testing sites. There are three times an at-home tests should be used: if you start to have symptoms; if you were exposed to a positive person five or more days earlier; and if you are planning to gather indoors with someone at risk, and you want to know that you're negative. 

A not-yet-peer-reviewed study of National Basketball Association players and staff reports that a large percentage still had viral loads over a certain threshold five days after the first positive test. This suggests that people with Omicron may stay infectious for longer than five days, giving credence to the suggestion that a negative test be required in order to leave isolation or quarantine. 

Texas scientists are developing a vaccine called Corbevax that they won't patent, meaning that anyone able to manufacture it will be able to. They say, "Pretty much anybody that can make hepatitis B vaccines or has the capacity to produce microbial-based protein like bacteria or yeast can replicate what we do." They have not yet released clinical data, but reports are that Corbevax is 90 percent effective against the original coronavirus strain and 80 percent effective against the Delta variant. Tests on Omicron are ongoing. The vaccine has been developed on a platform called recombinant protein sub-unit technology. Do not ask me to explain that; I included it only because it sounds so neat. 

It had to happen, that is, the first case of Omicron in Beijing just three weeks before the Olympics open. The infected person's residential complex and workplace have been locked down, and several thousand people have been tested. There will be positive results in those several thousand tests. Meanwhile, the Olympic rules in Beijing are tighter than the rules in Tokyo. Personnel will undergo daily throat swabs. N95 masks are required. Where distancing is not possible, such as in an elevator, talking is prohibited. Spectators are asked to clap instead of shouting or singing.

If someone is asymptomatic and tests positive, they will be sent to isolation in a dedicated hotel. They will be given meals and may open windows, but they won't be allowed to leave their 270 square foot room.  Athletes can request fitness equipment. Asymptomatic people can leave isolation after testing negative on two days. Symptomatic people will go into hospital isolation. To leave, they must have two days of negative tests and three days with no fever. Their symptoms must also be lessening.  

And now we wait, for whatever weather might develop, for Omicron or another variant of concern likely to arise, for whatever Mother Nature throws at us next. As a psychologist, I know that if you can't change the stimulus, you can try to control your reaction to it. How about we say that we live in truly interesting times, which was a curse not a blessing.