The Books of Bokonon

  This was the scene at one of my local stores (I know - a Walmart) just days after the WHO announced that Covid-19 was a global pandemic. To be blunt, this was starting to happen well ahead of then. This aisle was the one where you were supposed to find toilet paper, paper towels and the like. If I hadn't been so focused on just getting the last necessities my household needed to survive for a few weeks, I would have taken tons more photos of the other aisles. By that point, there was almost nothing left on most shelves, except perhaps for items that were not necessities. The behavior was about what I would have expected. People were panicked and the federal government was already AWOL. Trump did nothing to reassure the nation that the full power of our national emergency services, our public health agencies (CDC), etc. would be used to make sure we were as safe as possible. There was no clear display of empathy. There was nothing but bluster. Most state governments in my area wer...

Five years ago today, the WHO declared Covid-19 a global pandemic. By then it was pretty obvious what was headed our way. After all, it was hard not to doom scroll during the first couple months of 2020 as Covid-19 spread from Wuhan to the rest of China and shortly thereafter Europe and the rest of the planet. The data we were seeing on reputable news sites and health sites were already frightening. Obviously that only continued to get worse for a while.  My life at the very start of 2020 was really no different from the previous year aside from the increasingly grim news from across the Pacific Ocean. I attended events held by a couple local organizations I belong to (including my county's Democratic Party meetings each month), went out once a week with my wife for a meal together, taught my classes and attended or led committee meetings where I work, did the usual grocery shopping, and otherwise tried to carve out some time to walk along some of the riverfront trails (which typic...

Let's start with Rebecca Watson, who has some good solid commentary on the COVID update which is now starting to make its way into pharmacies across the US: This is right on the money. We've been past the worst of the pandemic (knock on wood) for a bit now, but a lot of folks are still getting the virus as it continues to mutate. The vaccines available are effective, but public health policy has never really been our strong suit in the US, and it shows. We are getting a new vaccine once a year now, but the effectiveness of those vaccines runs out in about a six months. So it's no surprise when we get an upsurge in cases, as we've noticed recently. Given my line of work, I am a bit amazed that I haven't come down with COVID within the last few weeks. Since I have some underlying health issues, I am hoping my luck does not run out. From what one friend told me after a miserable couple weeks, you don't want this strain of COVID. So get vaccinated and play it as saf...