The Russians may be occupying our attention by shooting missiles into Lviv this morning, but you also ought to take notice of the fact that some 1,300 of your fellow Americans died a death that didn’t need to happen yesterday. And 1,300 others will do so today. That’s more people than died in Ukraine yesterday. Or will die there today.
I am so glad you wrote this. I am still "self-quarantining" and only venturing out for curbside pickup. I wear my N95 mask when I even lower the window. I notice that most employees at the various windows and who bring groceries to my car also wear masks. But the maskless idiots abound and they are the ones who scare me. I'll get that second booster whenever I'm allowed, and I don't mind paying for it. But then I think of those who cannot afford it.
I associate with only two friends, both of whom are fully vaccinated. One got Covid break-through four months ago and it nearly cost him his life. Just this past week, he began to get his taste and appetite back. He has lost over 25 pounds and suffers from extreme debilitating fatigue. This is not a welcome place for a 6'5" Marine to be. My other friend is older than me and the caregiver for an 80-year-old husband who has COPD and congestive heart failure.
Yesterday was the first time in well over a month when she and I and two other older, fully vaccinated friends got together - in my home - because I refuse to enter any enclosed space in this town, which include restaurants. All of us have remained unscathed thus far because all of us have stayed away from the local idiots. This thing is NOT over. Patience and smarts are required in massive doses. I don't intend to have made it this far and then lose my marbles and do something stupid and die from Covid!
I view this installment of Thats Another Fine Mess as an extraordinarily important PSA: we can not become distracted by the next compelling political dilemma without assurances that we’ve solved the last one….COVID is not going away by itself. I’ll continue wearing my mask and distancing even as I support the Ukraine and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and equal rights and all the other important matters that face us…(with a face mask).
Yes: "If this is the mild one, I don’t want to meet the bad one.” I said the same thing in January when, protected by vaccines AND booster, I still got COVID (no one in our grocery store wearing a mask). Couldn't lift a snow shovel - an empty one. Please wear N95s, social distance, wash hands, enjoy company outside. And pressure your legislators to approve federal funding for vaccines. Thank You TC, from this good ol' Public Health Nurse.
I join in decrying Democratic ineptitude. But I'm also reminded of Yogi Berra saying that if people don't want to go to the ballpark, you can't stop them. These republican morons have caused most of the deaths and most of the continuation of this. There is literally nothing that a Democrat can do to get through to these proponents of jackassery--a term I have long used, introduced into the hearings by Ben Sasse when he decried the behavior of some of his colleagues, before he said he'd oppose Judge Jackson's appointment because he dislikes her judicial philosophy. To put it another way, and responding to the comment about COVID, if he's a reasonable one, we don't need to meet an unreasonable one.
Sasse is proof that with Republicans it is ALWAYS projection. The "judicial philosophy" he dislikes is the one that used the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to extend the rights in the Constitution to the States. Like all the civil rights we have enjoyed since Brown v Board of Education, which could be in their sights with their "originalism" bullshit, which fails to take into account the changes made in the Second Constitutional Revolution - the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments.
I got my truck serviced today. I was the only one with a mask on (KN95). 4 people in the TV “lounge”, all about 4-5 feet apart. I sat across the empty lobby 25 feet away.
Democrat’s ineptitude is as real as it is incomprehensible.
Glad to see this also..... I am afraid the Democrats have taken lessons in how NOT to message political statements..... We are ready for our fourth shot next month, and I had Covid after both shots and a booster - no symptoms at all, not even a stuffy nose - so the docs think I am immortal, but I'm getting the extra shot just in case. Sorry to hear of your partner's Parkinson's - we are just back from visiting the Bride's sister and brother-in-law, and he has Parkinson's and will likely be in a wheel chair for good. I wish you the best under trying circumstances.....
I’m pretty much over all things Republican… I still mask etc. Next Friday I’m going to a small concert in a local church to see Carrie Newcomer. I haven’t seen live music for two years. I’m vaccinated and boosted and I will wear a mask. I only shop at one store. They still have the plexiglass up and all the staff masks. If I need something they don’t carry, I get curbside. Never in my wildest imagination did I think we’d be living through a pandemic, a Russian invasion of a Democratic country, criminal Congress persons, a compromised SCOTUS justice, a TOTAL unwillingness to prosecute the wrongdoers ALL AT THE SAME TIME. Wearying doesn’t begin to describe the situation. I might have to take the spring off … if it ever truly arrives … snow and cold again in these parts.
The following are excerpts from a current article in the New Yorker about how COVID, B.A.2,, has exploded in Hong Kong. It highlights the causes, some of which TC referred to -- lack of governmental preparedness, human behavior, low level of vaccine inoculations of the elderly. P,S The people of Hong Kong wear their masks. That is not one of the problems there. Causes of COVID spreading vary to some extent from place to place, but we learn from each location.
'At the beginning of 2022, Hong Kong stood out as a pandemic success story—proof that the so-called Zero COVID approach, whatever its costs, could squash the virus’s medical toll…. Then Omicron and its more contagious cousin, B.A.2, arrived. Since then, more than three million people are thought to have been infected, and ,today, Hong Kong is home to one of the highest COVID-19 death rates in the world. The scenes are both tragic and familiar: triage tents outside hospitals; crematoriums full and morgues overflowing; health-care workers and a health-care system on the brink.'
'What went wrong? As with surges in many countries, the contributors are numerous and complex. But a key driver appears to be low immunization rates among the elderly... ‘Meanwhile, the success of Hong Kong’s Zero COVID policy meant that few people had acquired natural immunity. In the face of a highly infectious variant, this combination proved combustible, and an under-resourced public health-care system couldn’t extinguish the viral inferno.
Hong Kong’s experience is further proof that understanding a variant’s severity in isolation is a fool’s errand. The virulence of any pathogen depends not just on its own qualities but on the preparedness of the human immune system. A variant that scarcely registers in a person with a booster shot and a prior infection can rapidly sicken and kill an immunologically naïve individual. The surge in Hong Kong may hold an ominous lesson for mainland China, where tens of millions of older people remain unvaccinated, and which is now experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases not seen since the beginning of the pandemic.'
‘…Sridhar’s descriptions of the crisis reminded me of my own experiences caring for desperately ill COVID patients during New York City’s surge, in the spring of 2020.'
‘It’s a catastrophe made more tragic by its preventability, and a reminder of the grave threat that the virus still poses to the unvaccinated.
‘People in Hong Kong had no problem wearing masks. It’s something that was adopted spontaneously in early 2020. You’d see people wearing surgical masks everywhere. I’m talking nearly one-hundred-per-cent compliance. But apart from that, it was very much life as normal. Restaurants were full. Shopping malls were full. People were gathering. There were some nominal restrictions on the number of people who could gather, but, really, it was almost indistinguishable from life before the pandemic.'
“Not surprisingly, a lot of people didn’t want to get tested. Stigma is a real thing when it comes to COVID in Hong Kong. If you test positive, it’s terrifying. You get sent off to isolation. Your family is quarantined. If your kids test positive, there’s a separation issue. Even when you come back, you might find that employers aren’t too happy about what happened. Your neighbors tend to shun you.
“There were at least three points of introduction of COVID into the community. There was an incident with flight staff who broke the rules on self-quarantine after coming into Hong Kong and went to a restaurant and infected people. Then there was another incident which grabbed a lot of attention: the hamster incident. Basically, there was an outbreak of Delta in a pet shop and it was linked to the hamsters, The third outbreak—the one that really did us in—was somebody who came back to Hong Kong on a flight and was doing that excessive twenty-one-day quarantine, and then caught Omicron in the hotel, during their third week of quarantine. Then they went into the community and spread it to their family, who spread it to a public-housing estate. It spread like wildfire from there.' (NewYorker)
If you haven't had Covid-19 by now it means you have no friends. Our covid was mild. We were fortunate. A friend in Regina has it and is having a bad time. A fourth booster is essential I think
My dear presumptuous friend, I've had good reasons to restrict our meetings to the digital sphere. Would we have become as friendly without it? I shall leave you in the dark, where you may belong, about whether or not I have other friends. Great to hear from you, along with your snipes. Glad you checked in and came by to tell me how friendless I am. Withal, you and Tanya get Bronx Cheers from Manhattan. 🌝🌿🌻💓
Allen, It's only slightly sweaty Fern. How are you doing and Tanya, too? I don't know how much you follow the news here. Wish I could tell you something really positive. Probably didn't read enough news today and missed a couple of sections. My personal news, at least what I care to share, is you will find me on this newsletter and it is where I hope to find you. LFAA's forum doesn't work for me anymore. I'll read HCR's Letters and Notes == that will be enough. I have books piling up and like to do research. I also like to talk with you, so I have plenty to do.. I am hoping that we go on as we have. When will you know that you can book a flight? Take care, Allen, laugh and find your happy spirit. Cheers
Allen, I'm going follow behind you. Rather excited and nervous. I got up earlier than usual and went right to the computer. Maybe I was expecting important news. You are my first human contact this morning. I think that is a good sign. 🌈 🌝 ✈️ 🟥🍁🟥 🌿❤️ 🌷
Thank you for writing this and for all you do to protect your partner. I decided at the beginning of this thing--pre-vaccination--when I was getting ridiculed for staying in my house- that we who have compromised immune systems have just got to be our own advocates-- for ourselves and those we love who are vulnerable. This is not "over" yet and, as you say, we are woefully unprepared nationally for the next go round. It is pathetic that a failure in this arena will be used by the R's against the President ......so depressing. But I really appreciate your writing about this as it has gone off the radar due to Ukraine!!!
Appreciate your attention on Covid at home, as I vacation in SF, CA for first time in 2 years. I’m masked up. Many (not all) are not. I don’t care, because I absolutely don’t think we are out of the Covid woods. In fact, I expect to wear a mask in public for the rest of my life. I’m very sorry to read that “she who must be obeyed” is suffering from Parkinson’s. Also, I send my loving support to you, the person in the very difficult role of witness and caregiver. ❤️🤍💙
I got my Covid vaccine shots and did fine. My booster shot KICKED my butt, literally. I was sick and achy for 2 days after my booster. Like your nephew, I would hate to meet the bad one . About 10 days after my booster shot, my piriformis muscle became so inflamed
I could hardly walk. A course of meds did not help. My experience was mild compared to the full blown disease. Some people cannot get vaccinated, like babies, but those who could and won’t, I can’t drum up much sympathy for. Good for your for being cautious for your partner.
TC, 'The Cult of Adam Tooze' is the cover story on New York Magazine. I think that I cannot be helpful other than alert you to it (which you probably already know). The link is below. I couldn't figure how to gift it other than through FB, which I do not subscribe to. The link is below. Isn't this comment perfect for Thats another fine mess...of nothing?
Further on the subject of Democratic messaging, it’s confounding that no one from the liberal side of our country has put together an adequate response to the Movement Conservatives’ powerful campaign of propaganda, party doctrine planning, and recruitment created over the past 60 years. Take ALEC, https://alec.org/about, for instance. They have been the leading force behind so many battles in Congress and legislatures across the country; they have written almost all the voter-suppression laws passed in 2021. Yet the Democrats disdain their approach. I was assigned by Heather’s Herd to look into this, and I reached out to the nearest competitor, the State Innovation Exchange (SiX). Their National Communications Director, Katy Fleury, told me that “As for SiX, we do not operate like ALEC (For example, we’re not a “bill mill” that churns out copycat legislation). We know that policy alone won’t fix our democracy and economy, so we take a policy plus approach--we share policy research from issue experts, as well as communications, strategy, connections with movement partners, and other types of support that legislators need.) We do provide tailored support for state legislators, and democracy is one of our primary issue areas.”
Read it and weep. “…democracy is one of our primary issue areas.”
I am so glad you wrote this. I am still "self-quarantining" and only venturing out for curbside pickup. I wear my N95 mask when I even lower the window. I notice that most employees at the various windows and who bring groceries to my car also wear masks. But the maskless idiots abound and they are the ones who scare me. I'll get that second booster whenever I'm allowed, and I don't mind paying for it. But then I think of those who cannot afford it.
I associate with only two friends, both of whom are fully vaccinated. One got Covid break-through four months ago and it nearly cost him his life. Just this past week, he began to get his taste and appetite back. He has lost over 25 pounds and suffers from extreme debilitating fatigue. This is not a welcome place for a 6'5" Marine to be. My other friend is older than me and the caregiver for an 80-year-old husband who has COPD and congestive heart failure.
Yesterday was the first time in well over a month when she and I and two other older, fully vaccinated friends got together - in my home - because I refuse to enter any enclosed space in this town, which include restaurants. All of us have remained unscathed thus far because all of us have stayed away from the local idiots. This thing is NOT over. Patience and smarts are required in massive doses. I don't intend to have made it this far and then lose my marbles and do something stupid and die from Covid!
Mask up. Be safe. Be patient. Be smart.
I view this installment of Thats Another Fine Mess as an extraordinarily important PSA: we can not become distracted by the next compelling political dilemma without assurances that we’ve solved the last one….COVID is not going away by itself. I’ll continue wearing my mask and distancing even as I support the Ukraine and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and equal rights and all the other important matters that face us…(with a face mask).
Yes: "If this is the mild one, I don’t want to meet the bad one.” I said the same thing in January when, protected by vaccines AND booster, I still got COVID (no one in our grocery store wearing a mask). Couldn't lift a snow shovel - an empty one. Please wear N95s, social distance, wash hands, enjoy company outside. And pressure your legislators to approve federal funding for vaccines. Thank You TC, from this good ol' Public Health Nurse.
I join in decrying Democratic ineptitude. But I'm also reminded of Yogi Berra saying that if people don't want to go to the ballpark, you can't stop them. These republican morons have caused most of the deaths and most of the continuation of this. There is literally nothing that a Democrat can do to get through to these proponents of jackassery--a term I have long used, introduced into the hearings by Ben Sasse when he decried the behavior of some of his colleagues, before he said he'd oppose Judge Jackson's appointment because he dislikes her judicial philosophy. To put it another way, and responding to the comment about COVID, if he's a reasonable one, we don't need to meet an unreasonable one.
Sasse is proof that with Republicans it is ALWAYS projection. The "judicial philosophy" he dislikes is the one that used the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to extend the rights in the Constitution to the States. Like all the civil rights we have enjoyed since Brown v Board of Education, which could be in their sights with their "originalism" bullshit, which fails to take into account the changes made in the Second Constitutional Revolution - the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments.
I got my truck serviced today. I was the only one with a mask on (KN95). 4 people in the TV “lounge”, all about 4-5 feet apart. I sat across the empty lobby 25 feet away.
Democrat’s ineptitude is as real as it is incomprehensible.
Glad to see this also..... I am afraid the Democrats have taken lessons in how NOT to message political statements..... We are ready for our fourth shot next month, and I had Covid after both shots and a booster - no symptoms at all, not even a stuffy nose - so the docs think I am immortal, but I'm getting the extra shot just in case. Sorry to hear of your partner's Parkinson's - we are just back from visiting the Bride's sister and brother-in-law, and he has Parkinson's and will likely be in a wheel chair for good. I wish you the best under trying circumstances.....
I’m pretty much over all things Republican… I still mask etc. Next Friday I’m going to a small concert in a local church to see Carrie Newcomer. I haven’t seen live music for two years. I’m vaccinated and boosted and I will wear a mask. I only shop at one store. They still have the plexiglass up and all the staff masks. If I need something they don’t carry, I get curbside. Never in my wildest imagination did I think we’d be living through a pandemic, a Russian invasion of a Democratic country, criminal Congress persons, a compromised SCOTUS justice, a TOTAL unwillingness to prosecute the wrongdoers ALL AT THE SAME TIME. Wearying doesn’t begin to describe the situation. I might have to take the spring off … if it ever truly arrives … snow and cold again in these parts.
Yes. "May you live in *interesting* times" may not be an ancient Chinese curse, but it is still a curse.
True. Story.
The following are excerpts from a current article in the New Yorker about how COVID, B.A.2,, has exploded in Hong Kong. It highlights the causes, some of which TC referred to -- lack of governmental preparedness, human behavior, low level of vaccine inoculations of the elderly. P,S The people of Hong Kong wear their masks. That is not one of the problems there. Causes of COVID spreading vary to some extent from place to place, but we learn from each location.
'At the beginning of 2022, Hong Kong stood out as a pandemic success story—proof that the so-called Zero COVID approach, whatever its costs, could squash the virus’s medical toll…. Then Omicron and its more contagious cousin, B.A.2, arrived. Since then, more than three million people are thought to have been infected, and ,today, Hong Kong is home to one of the highest COVID-19 death rates in the world. The scenes are both tragic and familiar: triage tents outside hospitals; crematoriums full and morgues overflowing; health-care workers and a health-care system on the brink.'
'What went wrong? As with surges in many countries, the contributors are numerous and complex. But a key driver appears to be low immunization rates among the elderly... ‘Meanwhile, the success of Hong Kong’s Zero COVID policy meant that few people had acquired natural immunity. In the face of a highly infectious variant, this combination proved combustible, and an under-resourced public health-care system couldn’t extinguish the viral inferno.
Hong Kong’s experience is further proof that understanding a variant’s severity in isolation is a fool’s errand. The virulence of any pathogen depends not just on its own qualities but on the preparedness of the human immune system. A variant that scarcely registers in a person with a booster shot and a prior infection can rapidly sicken and kill an immunologically naïve individual. The surge in Hong Kong may hold an ominous lesson for mainland China, where tens of millions of older people remain unvaccinated, and which is now experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases not seen since the beginning of the pandemic.'
‘…Sridhar’s descriptions of the crisis reminded me of my own experiences caring for desperately ill COVID patients during New York City’s surge, in the spring of 2020.'
‘It’s a catastrophe made more tragic by its preventability, and a reminder of the grave threat that the virus still poses to the unvaccinated.
‘People in Hong Kong had no problem wearing masks. It’s something that was adopted spontaneously in early 2020. You’d see people wearing surgical masks everywhere. I’m talking nearly one-hundred-per-cent compliance. But apart from that, it was very much life as normal. Restaurants were full. Shopping malls were full. People were gathering. There were some nominal restrictions on the number of people who could gather, but, really, it was almost indistinguishable from life before the pandemic.'
“Not surprisingly, a lot of people didn’t want to get tested. Stigma is a real thing when it comes to COVID in Hong Kong. If you test positive, it’s terrifying. You get sent off to isolation. Your family is quarantined. If your kids test positive, there’s a separation issue. Even when you come back, you might find that employers aren’t too happy about what happened. Your neighbors tend to shun you.
“There were at least three points of introduction of COVID into the community. There was an incident with flight staff who broke the rules on self-quarantine after coming into Hong Kong and went to a restaurant and infected people. Then there was another incident which grabbed a lot of attention: the hamster incident. Basically, there was an outbreak of Delta in a pet shop and it was linked to the hamsters, The third outbreak—the one that really did us in—was somebody who came back to Hong Kong on a flight and was doing that excessive twenty-one-day quarantine, and then caught Omicron in the hotel, during their third week of quarantine. Then they went into the community and spread it to their family, who spread it to a public-housing estate. It spread like wildfire from there.' (NewYorker)
If you haven't had Covid-19 by now it means you have no friends. Our covid was mild. We were fortunate. A friend in Regina has it and is having a bad time. A fourth booster is essential I think
Fortunately for me, writing is a job best done at home, alone. "Social distancing for 40 years." :-)
Covid didn't change our lives much until we had to leave the country. Stress, exhaustion, and packed into a train did us up royally
My dear presumptuous friend, I've had good reasons to restrict our meetings to the digital sphere. Would we have become as friendly without it? I shall leave you in the dark, where you may belong, about whether or not I have other friends. Great to hear from you, along with your snipes. Glad you checked in and came by to tell me how friendless I am. Withal, you and Tanya get Bronx Cheers from Manhattan. 🌝🌿🌻💓
I'm certain that being your friend in "meat world" is as much an experience as doing so in "digital world" Fern. :-)
🤝🏼🤸🏼♀️🌿
More of an experience TC. Think you could cope?
Allen, It's only slightly sweaty Fern. How are you doing and Tanya, too? I don't know how much you follow the news here. Wish I could tell you something really positive. Probably didn't read enough news today and missed a couple of sections. My personal news, at least what I care to share, is you will find me on this newsletter and it is where I hope to find you. LFAA's forum doesn't work for me anymore. I'll read HCR's Letters and Notes == that will be enough. I have books piling up and like to do research. I also like to talk with you, so I have plenty to do.. I am hoping that we go on as we have. When will you know that you can book a flight? Take care, Allen, laugh and find your happy spirit. Cheers
🌝🌿 🟥 🍁🟥 🌻 🟦 🟨 🌈
Hi Fern
We will try again today for a negative test. If so we will fly tomorrow. I will let you know
Allen, I'm going follow behind you. Rather excited and nervous. I got up earlier than usual and went right to the computer. Maybe I was expecting important news. You are my first human contact this morning. I think that is a good sign. 🌈 🌝 ✈️ 🟥🍁🟥 🌿❤️ 🌷
Early to bed, early to rise, makes a girl healthy, wealthy and wise. :-)
Early to rise, Early to bed makes a man healthy wealthy and dead.
Sounds good to me, TC. Hmmm, early for you, too or is it late? Taking the plane out for flight into the wild blue yonder?
Thank you for writing this and for all you do to protect your partner. I decided at the beginning of this thing--pre-vaccination--when I was getting ridiculed for staying in my house- that we who have compromised immune systems have just got to be our own advocates-- for ourselves and those we love who are vulnerable. This is not "over" yet and, as you say, we are woefully unprepared nationally for the next go round. It is pathetic that a failure in this arena will be used by the R's against the President ......so depressing. But I really appreciate your writing about this as it has gone off the radar due to Ukraine!!!
Appreciate your attention on Covid at home, as I vacation in SF, CA for first time in 2 years. I’m masked up. Many (not all) are not. I don’t care, because I absolutely don’t think we are out of the Covid woods. In fact, I expect to wear a mask in public for the rest of my life. I’m very sorry to read that “she who must be obeyed” is suffering from Parkinson’s. Also, I send my loving support to you, the person in the very difficult role of witness and caregiver. ❤️🤍💙
Thank you TC for this excellent reminder.
Your post is so important! I still wear a mask and at my college we all wear masks to teach and interact indoors.
I got my Covid vaccine shots and did fine. My booster shot KICKED my butt, literally. I was sick and achy for 2 days after my booster. Like your nephew, I would hate to meet the bad one . About 10 days after my booster shot, my piriformis muscle became so inflamed
I could hardly walk. A course of meds did not help. My experience was mild compared to the full blown disease. Some people cannot get vaccinated, like babies, but those who could and won’t, I can’t drum up much sympathy for. Good for your for being cautious for your partner.
TC, 'The Cult of Adam Tooze' is the cover story on New York Magazine. I think that I cannot be helpful other than alert you to it (which you probably already know). The link is below. I couldn't figure how to gift it other than through FB, which I do not subscribe to. The link is below. Isn't this comment perfect for Thats another fine mess...of nothing?
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/adam-tooze-profile.html
Further on the subject of Democratic messaging, it’s confounding that no one from the liberal side of our country has put together an adequate response to the Movement Conservatives’ powerful campaign of propaganda, party doctrine planning, and recruitment created over the past 60 years. Take ALEC, https://alec.org/about, for instance. They have been the leading force behind so many battles in Congress and legislatures across the country; they have written almost all the voter-suppression laws passed in 2021. Yet the Democrats disdain their approach. I was assigned by Heather’s Herd to look into this, and I reached out to the nearest competitor, the State Innovation Exchange (SiX). Their National Communications Director, Katy Fleury, told me that “As for SiX, we do not operate like ALEC (For example, we’re not a “bill mill” that churns out copycat legislation). We know that policy alone won’t fix our democracy and economy, so we take a policy plus approach--we share policy research from issue experts, as well as communications, strategy, connections with movement partners, and other types of support that legislators need.) We do provide tailored support for state legislators, and democracy is one of our primary issue areas.”
Read it and weep. “…democracy is one of our primary issue areas.”