Thankful in 2020

It's been a difficult year for everyone, but I saw a lot of people writing up lists of things they were thankful for, despite all the horrible that's happened this year, so I came up with my own, in no particular order:

1. My husband - He's a perfect pandemic bubble buddy (good thing, since we live together and are married). We're on the same wavelength about how to handle things. It's also been nice just to spend more time with him, after several years of both of us being increasingly busy. 
2. My job - I'm so lucky to have a job that prioritizes keeping employees safe, and where I was able to continue working remotely. (It's also exciting to be working for one of the companies we've been hearing about a lot this year.)
3. My health - I had a weird health year last year and was looking forward to a healthier 2020. Well, I had it - not so much as a cold or a sniffle, thanks to the precautions everyone's been taking, and all my other health situations are currently well managed. 
4. The student entrepreneurship organization I volunteer with - When all my other extracurriculars were cancelled, it was great that we could carry on the this program virtually. It kept me busy, and it's nice to be able to keep the program going for the students, even in a modified form. I was also honored to receive a volunteer award from them this year! 
5. The group chat I have with some of my best friends
6. Grocery orders, Imperfect Foods, Door Dash, and any other place that offers delivery or curbside pick-up - I actually like going grocery shopping, don't mind running errands, and of course love going out to eat. But in an effort to protect myself and the people in the store, I don't mind using these services, even if it costs a little extra, to reduce our exposure to each other.
7. Essential workers - This includes everyone who has kept things going through this challenging year; from the lady who puts my groceries in my car, to the linemen who worked on Christmas Day and following our big derecho storm in June to make sure everyone had power, not to mention of course all the medical professionals working to keep everyone healthy!
8. Spending time outdoors - While I care greatly about the environment, I'm not an "outdoors" person. I got more bug bites this year than I've had in probably the last decade, thanks to time spent socializing safely outside. I've tried to go for walks as much as possible, and become much more familiar with my own community. We also discovered/rediscovered local gardens and an arboretum, making multiple visits.
9. Masks - a) They prevent the spread of germs. b) They protect your privacy. c) You don't have to worry about whether your face looks pleasant enough. I will definitely be continuing my use of these!

Headlines

Some of today's headlines in the COVID alert I received:

• COVID-10 now leading cause of death in U.S.; COVID-19 has surpassed heart disease and cancer
  Congratulations, COVID.
• Some Health Care Workers Are Getting the Vaccine. Other's Aren't. Who Decides?
  Seems like there's a gray area around people who deal with patients but don't work in hospitals, like primary care physicians, traveling nurses who work on contract, dentists, people who handle bodies or samples, hospice workers, chaplains, and first responders. And distribution plans vary by state 🤷‍♀️
• A new coronavirus variant is spreading in the U.K., but its significance is unclear
  I've been hearing about this for a few days from my British friends. When something similar happened in Denmark, they slaughtered all their minks and it was a huge deal. But this is even more widespread in England and it sounds like it's being swept under the rug (or had been)... This article says it's probably not more severe or deadly, but may be more infectious and easy to spread. The mutation is on the spike protein, which is what many of the vaccines target, but the scientist in this article says it's unlikely this will impact the efficacy of the vaccines.
• The latest stimulus plan isn't so bad
  Everyone gets $600 if they earn below a certain amount (probably $75000/yr), plus an extra $300/week for unemployment insurance for several months. If you've been laid off for months and are struggling to pay bills or make rent, that will do basically nothing. See my previous couple posts for my thoughts on needed stimulus. $300 billion in aid for businesses impacted by the recession. This article says the plan doesn't include direct aid for states and cities (crucial, but unpopular with Republicans), and there's no provision for protection for businesses if someone becomes infected on their premises (unpopular with Democrats who say it will lead to reckless behavior and danger for employees).
• French president Macron tests positive for COVID-19
  Heard this yesterday - seems many of the world leaders have gotten it by now...

Support Local

Photo by Dan Burton on Unsplash

Many people are making it a point to "shop small" and support local restaurants and businesses that have been impacted by shutdowns and restrictions. That's great, but, it should not be up to us to ensure these businesses are supported through the pandemic! They should be provided for by the local or federal government. Instead, individual citizens are being made to feel guilty and responsible for keeping these businesses afloat.

The same thing happened with pollution and the environment. Yes, every little bit you can do helps, you shouldn't litter, it's good to bring reusable shopping bags to the store, it's good to be efficient with your driving to save gas, etc. But 71% of the emissions that cause global warming have been caused by just 100 companies. Individuals have relatively little to do with the climate crisis, but have been made to think it's due to our cars and plastic bags.

It's not your responsibility to keep businesses from going out of business by supporting them yourself. Instead, individuals and business owners who are impacted by shutdowns and restrictions should demand support from the government.

I had planned to publish this post tomorrow, but it's sounding like a federal aid package may be approved soon (although they've been very close before and it hasn't gone forward, so who knows), but I figured I'd better post this now so my indignation is timely.

Rip It Off

I'm finally starting to see more people commenting that instead of being mad at state governors for having to shut things down, they should be mad at the Senate majority leader for blocking all attempts for further stimulus packages or any type of support for people while their businesses are closed.

Basically, what I've been saying since April (and again just last week): the thing people should be protesting is not the fact that they were forced to close, but that there is no support for businesses or individuals to keep them afloat during these necessary closures. Instead, remaining partially open and counting on people to continue patronizing businesses (leading to unsafe conditions for patrons and workers, and further spread of the virus) is the stimulus.

Look at some other countries where they did support people. Yes, it was difficult, but I've been comparing it to ripping off a bandage - by doing a really hard thing, they just got it over with, and now they're able to recover sooner.

In addition to this article I shared the other day about countries where they've gotten back to normal and almost forgotten there was a pandemic, there's this TikTok video from Australia showing people going about their normal activities, while Americans left jealous comments. And the blogger I follow from Wuhan has also written about how things there have gone back to normal. I can confirm, my colleagues there are back in the office and sitting together in conference rooms, sans masks. Ben Kavanagh, a British teacher in Wuhan who became famous for his vlogs during the peak of the lockdown there earlier this year, also announced recently that he would soon be returning for a new teaching job there, and that Wuhan is fine and getting on as normal.

This whole thing could have been over, without a vaccine, if the world could have truly shut down for 2 weeks - let's play it safe and say a month. Instead, we're just making it drag on, and on, and on...

The Vaccine

CDC: Woman receives a vaccination from a
public health clinician during the nationwide
Swine Flu vaccination campaign in 1976

Last week the MHRA approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for emergency use in the UK, and as of this week people have been receiving it starting with the elderly and frontline workers.

On Wednesday, Health Canada approved the vaccine for emergency use in Canada.

On Thursday, the FDA's vaccine advisory board held a 9-hour public forum to discuss the vaccine, after which they voted nearly unanimously in favor of recommending approval of emergency use in the US.

And on Friday, the FDA did just that, authorizing emergency use of the vaccine in the US; doses are shipping out and should start to be administered as soon as Monday.

The New York Times had a neat interactive article where you could visualize your place "in line" for the vaccine, so as suspected, I'm way at the end, but I plan to get it when I'm able.

Being involved in the development to some degree, I know that it wasn't rushed or corners cut. I think this experience will really change the way future drugs are developed. One of the speakers at the VRBPAC meeting said that this just shows we can and should speed development of other types of drugs, like cancer treatments, that could also have a big impact.

Wasteland

Back in May, I commented that I could imagine a world where many places get the virus under control through various suppression measures, while the US becomes a wasteland overrun by virus, which nobody can travel to or from. Well, look what's happening - some countries are so under control that they forget there had been a pandemic, while the US needs to overcome misinformation, vaccine hesitancy, and handle thousands of predicted daily deaths before maybe achieving herd immunity through both vaccines and continued public health measures like masks and social distancing.

I am so sick of people assuming that once the vaccine is approved, they'll just get a shot and go back to their daily life. This virus is so rampant, we missed our chance for a quick recovery like that long ago.

Provide Support

As of today, my state's alert level on Covid Act Now has gone from red (active or imminent outbreak) to dark red (severe outbreak). People have been begging the governor for weeks to impose more restrictions. (Coincidentally, he just tested positive for COVID this week himself...) 

At a press conference today, he announced the following new restrictions, starting Saturday and running for 3 weeks until January 4:

• No indoor dining (outdoor dining and takeout can continue)
• No indoor gatherings of more than 10 people (how is this monitored and enforced?)
• No outdoor gatherings of more than 50 people (also how is this monitored?)
• Businesses open to the public can operate at 50% capacity (unless already restricted to a lower capacity by a previous order)
• Gyms and indoor entertainment (casinos, movies, museums, etc.) closed
• Pausing all sports for K-12 students; other extracurricular activities can be virtual
• Professional and college sports can continue, but without spectators

This barely impacts me because these aren't things I've been doing for the past 9 months anyway, and I am totally in favor of shutting things down and increasing restrictions until this virus is more under control, but I also recognize that you can't just put people out of work without providing some sort of support. I've already heard from one friend that they're now laid off due to this announcement. All this is going to do is further stratify the people who can comfortably work from home and those who are supported by a public-facing business. Those are the people who've been upset and protesting this whole time, and shutting them down, especially right now before the holidays, is just going to make them more upset and oppositional. 

Memorials

Monday was the 79th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. I've been seeing this image shared a lot on social media this week:

I've wondered for a long time how we will memorialize COVID victims in the future. 9/11 was the only other one of these events I've been around for, and I've made comparisons between that tragedy and this one previously. If we're not already there, we'll soon be approaching a point where we experience the equivalent of one 9/11 or greater per day. Here's an interesting look at how the 1918 flu pandemic and AIDS have been memorialized, and what type of monuments we might expect for COVID.

Yet there's still people who not only aren't taking the situation seriously, they're actively working against it and claiming it's not real. Hospitals all over the country are actually at capacity and will have to start turning away patients with any kind of injury or illness. Doctors and nurses are burned out and begging people to stay home so they don't get sick.

One thing I've noticed recently, on my daily walks around my neighborhood: many people are now just wearing masks by default, even if they're walking by themselves with nobody else around. I am a big mask fan, and keep one in my pocket, but don't put my mask on unless there are people around that I won't be able to avoid. If I were in a city or somewhere that a person could come out of a building or around a corner, I'd keep it on - but for walking my wide suburban streets where I can see people coming and 99% of the time avoid them by crossing the street, I haven't been wearing one (although it's been so cold, it would probably be nice for keeping my face warm!). It seems like overkill, but I'm glad that in my area, at least, people are being more conscientious of taking precautions.