This week is going to suck. Again
Happy Sunday, it’s raining and getting colder and we’re bracing for another covid wildfire to roar through, swamp the hospitals and shut a bunch of stuff down. Again.
This time, it’s without the safety net we’ve had for more than a year and a half of this damn pandemic. Those rescue benefits were time-limited and the net has been dissolving over the last few months even though a rise in evictions and unemployment are the inevitable outcome of a next wave.
The politics of the moment — especially today’s news — does not give one hope that those measures to ease the impact will make a comeback. Right now, it’s hard to see how even things that make sense, even things with broad consensus, will come to be.
As I have often said, thing don’t make sense for a reason. Usually a lot of money and bad-faith arguments are involved. Now, in places where things need to get done there’s all that plus plenty of willful ignorance and good old-fashioned prideful ignorance.
Bad combo. The week ahead is going to really suck as all this sinks in. Next month isn’t looking good, either.
Like a lot of times when I’ve had that feeling of impending not good things, I’m thinking about anyone with kids and how in the hell you’re going to pull off the next couple of weeks.
Here in Chapel-Hill-Carrboro, the Winter Holiday Seasonal Festival (Observed) is supposed to be a special time for our young people. But as information on the new variant continues to flow, it’s clear that the unvaccinated and vaccinated people who haven’t gotten a booster are at higher risk.
That’s almost every kid in town.
In so many ways this feels like how it did in the beginning of the pandemic. We’re all to some degree and worried most about how we can protect the most vulnerable among us.
We can’t do much about the fact that this new variant is here, nor the math that says it will spread rapidly. What we can do is what we already know works and being extra diligent about it.
So, please be kind to children and old people by not killing them or getting them sick out of negligence. Hunker down, wear a mask and don’t hang out in crowds of unmasked strangers. And, of course, please get vaccinated/boosted and do your best to encourage others to do so.
Sorry this sucks. Again.
Have a seasonally appropriate experience — kmr
Here are some links:
Orange County Covid Stats Page & Covid Info Page
NCDHHS Vaccine Info Page & En Español
• DTH — Orange County reports 1st case of variant
• Chapelboro — Carrboro moving ahead with special election plans
• N&O — Omicron could break records in NC
• Chapel Hill News — Yet another snappy 55+ concept plan for the Obey Creek property
• Ben Rappaport — Acme employees are fed up
• Joe Killian — UNC again approves guy it approved in secret, gets defensive
• Inside Higher Ed — If you haven’t seen it, check out this Q&A w/ Geeta Kapur on UNC and her book To Drink From The Well
• Smart twitter thread on COVID spread and good practices being emloyed around the world