Quarantine 2.0

 It’s now been a year since my first COVID blog post.  On Tuesday I had my first vaccine shot (Moderna), with the second scheduled for April 27.  Many people I know have already had both shots or at least the first one. 

Sadly, the COVID did have an enormous impact on my Mom.   Last April, she was lucid and talking, and I was able to take her around places.  In July she went to the hospital for an operation which wound up having complications.  From then  until December, she bounced back and forth from local hospitals to local assisted living facilities.  She caught the COVID around December 17, and on December 27 she died.  Her death certificate marks COVID as the cause of death.   That death was especially hard because I was by her bedside with my brother when she actually passed away.  Every other relative, including my father (who died in 2004 of a stroke) took place outside my actual presence.

In January and March 2021 I went to CVS for COVID tests, not having sufficient priority to merit a vaccine yet.  Both tests were negative.  I had purchased a digital thermometer (oral) and have been using that to monitor my temperature, which appears to remain normal.

In March 2020, Gold’s Gym closed down for quarantine.  In June it reopened, albeit with masks mandated and enforced, temperature checks at the entrance, and every other cardio machine turned off for social distancing.   I checked my weight at both times, and weighed no more in June despite having no gym access during that time than I did in March.  About the only thing I could do at home were situps, pushups, and walking up the stairs.   I used to be able to climb all 20 stories at once, but at 52 I’m running out of breath after 5 floors, so 10 floors seems to be my current max. 

By now Trump is gone and his replacement appears to be doing what he can as President to fix the problem instead of writing it off as a “hoax”.  Not that Biden can create and distribute the vaccine himself, but at least he’s doing something.  Moreover, Trump’s own behavior and public statements encouraged his own inbred army of yahoos to refuse to wear masks or social distance – so to that extent, he did make the problem much worse by his own incompetence. 

My other concern was that the virus would mutate into variants which would resist the vaccine.  From what I’ve read, the vaccine appears to be effective against all current variants and probably will.  The cumulative death rate in the US is 2%, meaning of ever 100 people to catch COVID, 2 will die even with medical attention. 

I will continue the masking and social distancing thing.  My subjective impression is that this thing will only end when a substantial majority of the world’s population is vaccinated and we see NO new cases for days on end.  Then and only then can we take off the masks and get back to normal.  And I would hope that we’d learn something for the next virus that comes by.

Oh, and don’t get me started on the “COVID is a hoax” morons, or the anti-vaxxers.  Moreover, holding views which are not only not supported by science but outright dangerous to everyone else is not harmless or simply someone’s difference of opinion, but could have fatal consequences.  If you refuse to wear a mask, and infect 100 people with COVID, two of whom die, I’d say we’re talking about two cases of manslaughter (causing someone’s death without an express intent to kill).  When this is over, I’d suggest the police and prosecutors get to work on prosecuting anyone who can be proven to have caused COVID deaths by this means.  For their part, anti-vaxxers should be socially ostracized and treated as lepers.  Here ends the rant.