The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 359 (859)

My cup of coronavirus news runneth over today. I may not end up using all the notes in this post, but it's nice to have enough that selecting might be reasonable.

Monkeypox moment: WHO has declared monkeypox a global health emergency, their highest alert level. Currently, there are two other global health emergencies, covid-19 and polio. While the publicity has centered on men who have sex with other men, two children and eight women have been diagnosed in the US. Officials think the children caught it via household transmission. 

POTUS is said to be improving. It's been said he will isolate until he tests negative. Interestingly, this goes beyond the current recommendation of the CDC which is to isolate for five days and then wear a mask for five more. Someone who still tests positive but goes out on the sixth day is still able to infect others. 

Europe has loosened most of its covid restrictions. A bookstore patron described still-posted warning signs as "things from the past, like bricks of the Berlin wall." Governments are not cracking down because they are not seeing a serious rise in severe cases, ICU admissions, or deaths. Experts, though, still worry about vulnerable people, the possibility of more long covid cases, and increased potential for mutations leading to more dangerous variants. A former consultant to Italian leaders predicted that over time, as vulnerable older people died, deaths caused by the virus would fall and it would become endemic. An Italian woman still wearing a mask and keeping socially distant describes it as, "Reality goes faster than laws."

Last week, POTUS extended the federal emergency declaration until at least mid-October. By Monday, fewer than 12 states will still have their emergency declarations in place. Most states have let their declarations expire. New York, on the other hand, has extended their declaration until 2023. 

Australia has some of its highest case numbers since the pandemic began but has implemented no new restrictions, just recommendations. These include wearing masks indoors and working from home if possible. The Prime Minister says that people are flouting the few restrictions that still exist. In regard to the restriction that masks be worn on public transit, he says, "Only about half the people are actually doing it. Now, do you get on the trains and buses and arrest people or fine people for not doing it?"

POTUS is taking Paxlovid. Dr. Fauci took two courses of it. Experts say that many doctors aren't sure whether to use Paxlovid; they don't see it as a good option. It is a combination of two antivirals that "interfere with multiplication of the virus." It prevents the virus from causing more damage and reduces the need for hospitalization for covid patients by 88 percent compared to a placebo. It has to be taken within five days of the onset of symptoms. Maybe the publicity about POTUS receiving it will help educate doctors that are wary of it. 

I have not gone to a meeting of my quilt guild chapters since before the pandemic started, and I am glad I haven't gone back yet. I just saw an announcement from another local guild that someone at their meeting this past week tested positive three days later. She thinks she was exposed at a regional meeting offering assorted classes. I know that several people in the guild and chapters to which I belong were there as well, which means people meeting with them are not in the clear. One less thing to worry about, and not having to worry is a good thing.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 351

XPot came out of the woodwork yesterday to speak at CPAC, on the stage shaped pretty much exactly like a rune found on the uniforms of Hitler's SS, a rune representing racial purity. As expected, he hinted at running for President again in 2024. Various Republicans, when asked if they would support him in 2024, have given less than straightforward responses. Moscow Mitch McConnell for one said that he would support the nominee of the Republican party but did not specify who he thought that person might be. Bill Cassidy, one of Louisiana's two Senators, said, "If we idolize one person, we will lose." Again, no names were named. I will offer a positive comment about XPot's remarks. He said that "everyone" should get vaccinated against covid-19, a remark that basically surprised the hell out of me.

Listening to or reading the remarks of some people who should know, I'd say we're at a crossroads of sorts in terms of the novel coronavirus. The CDC director says, " at this level of cases, with variants spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground we have gained. We have the ability to stop a potential fourth surge of cases in this country." The WHO director says, "We need to have a stern warning for all of us: that this virus will rebound if we let it. And we cannot let it. If countries rely solely on vaccines, they are making a mistake. Basic public health measures remain the foundation of the response." Finally, from the WHO's emergency expert, "the issue is of us being in control of the virus and the virus being in control of us. And right now, the virus is very much in control."

On a related note, global infections rose last week for the first time in seven weeks. At least a second African country has received vaccine via WHO's Covax program. Little by little, as long as we don't shoot ourselves in the foot by reopening too soon. (I type this as I am thinking of states or entities that are reopening too soon.)

Continuing on a less than optimistic thread, FEMA has issued a list of foreseeable events that could take us as a nation past the breaking point. 

Earthquakes. A 9.2 on the Richter scale earthquake is quite possible in the Pacific Northwest. There could also be serious quakes on the San Andreas fault in California or the New Madrid Seismic Zone in the border between Arkansas and Tennessee. And as long as we're on earthquakes, Iceland had more than 10,000 earthquakes of varying intensities in the last five or six days. That is one every few minutes. Most have been on the spit of land on which Reykjavik sits. No fatalities and no damage, so far, but then Iceland is prepared for crap like this.

Extreme Solar Flare. Such an event could cause an electromagnetic storm that would wreak havoc with electrical systems. If you thought what happened in Texas not too long ago was bad, this could be much worse.

Cyberattack. We've already been attacked in a major way once (that we know of) by Russia according to the intel folks. 

Hurricanes and Wildfires. They happen every year and seem to be getting worse every year than they were the year before. 

In other words, there are catastrophes out there that will strike us, and probably when we least expect them. We have been warned.

Finally, a couple of other random facts to take the edge off the preceding downers, the first one being a covid fact. Gila County, Arizona, outside Phoenix, has gotten to the point at which any resident over 18 can walk into a clinic without an appointment and get vaccinated against covid. Petaluma, California has voted to outlaw gas stations. I do not know if the regulation has a grandfather clause for existing stations, but I would think it would have to. It's National Women's History Month. Finally, if you're in Des Moines, Iowa, there is a pizzeria selling a 16-inch, Fruit Loops pizza for $20. The pizza is topped with cream cheese, mozzarella cheese, vanilla icing, and Fruit Loops. If you're into sweets, it actually doesn't sound that bad if you take out the mozzarella cheese. 

We will not be having Fruit Loops pizza for dinner tonight. I think it will be a breakfast for dinner night with eggs, pancakes, and vegetarian bacon (the only kind we have on hand). We haven't had breakfast for dinner in too long a time.