Pandemic - Chapter 7

October 20

 The saga continues. Beyond all expectations, the pandemic is still raging in ebbs and flows. It appears the "fourth wave" seems to be slowing. After seeing rises in daily infections and hospitalizations, we seemed to have peaked and the numbers are declining slowly although still higher than a few months ago. Over 83%  of eligible people have been vaccinated but I suspect that the remaining unvaccinated people are those who have chosen not to be, rather than those who have not had a chance to be. Now there is talk that a third "booster" shot would be beneficial and we can expect to see that roll out soon. As well, approval is being sought for vaccinating children between 5 and 12 years old. Unfortunately, while vaccination seems to be the only way out from the grips of the pandemic, the push for more vaccines and the growing number of jobs where employees must be vaccinated or go on unpaid leave is heaping fuel on the growing fire from those opposed to either vaccinations themselves or governments telling them what to do. It seems some feel that everyone should be able to do as they please without interference. Without vaccines, people can not attend indoor dining, entertainment venues, etc. It kind of reminds me of the Book of Judges in the Bible. The recurring theme there was "everyone did what was right in their own eyes". This did not go well. One restaurant in Hope remains open despite being cited for violating health regulation protocols, loss of liquor license and an order to close. Does the word "anarchy" mean anything?  But, I've said too much. I have tried very hard to not to respond to social media posts, etc. as I see nothing being gained by arguing for or against how the government battles this pandemic with those who are set in their beliefs. I am not sure though how we come out of this.

On a more positive note for those who have been fully vaccinated in B.C., restrictive measures are slowly being lifted. Federal vaccine cards are also in the works, but of course when it come to government, this will takes months and months to achieve for some reason. It will make traveling easier now that Canada has opened its borders to vaccinated Americans and the U.S. is set to open their borders to vaccinated Canadians in early November. Just hours ago I booked our flights to Bonaire and Aruba for late January and this time I may not have to cancel. Here's hoping. 

 The one thing consistent through all this though is that my football team continues to disappoint. Even a pandemic can not change that.

November 27, 2021

Guess what? We are still in the middle of a pandemic. It has now been over two years and it looks more and more that COVID -19 or some strain of it will be with us to stay and we simply need to learn how to live with it. How that will look for those who are unvaccinated is anyone's guess. For now, we in B.C. have electronic Vax cards which we must produce to go to restaurants and other non-essential venues. This is unfortunate for the unvaxed who may not access these places, but it does make one feel more comfortable knowing that everyone around you has been double-vaxed. I also have the Federal Vaccine card which must be used for international travel. Again, you need to be double-vaxed to travel. This is all OK for now to curb the spread of the virus, but is it sustainable in the long term? We already have many protests locally and around the world by people feeling their rights and freedoms are being taken away. Mask wearing in church allows for in person services but unfortunately, our church has many unvaxed people and there is no requirement to wear masks while conversing or singing in the pews. There was an outbreak at the associated Christian school which also included children and parents of our church. Some ended up in the hospital very, very sick from COVID. Have we learned a lesson from this? I doubt it. Therefore, since then, we have stopped attending and have returned to watching church online.

Our trip to Bonaire in January is a go for now. So is our trip to Costa Rica in March, if we secure a new accommodation after our last one suffered damage from the effects of a hurricane. Africa on the other hand is still questionable. A new, very aggressive variant was discovered in South Africa, and within a day or two, travel to and from Southern Africa was halted. Hopefully this variant is isolated, and the international community will support the effected countries with vaccines so that this is only a short setback. More variants will no doubt spring up though. The world is not back to normal in any way.

In B.C., eligible individuals are 87.6% fully vaccinated. That is people over 12 years old. When vaccines started, we were to have "herd immunity" when we reached something like 80%. Not so any more. Effective next week, approval has been reached to vaccinate children from 5 years old to 12. The vaccine rate will go down as the number of eligible people suddenly goes up. Of course, there is no general requirement to have the vaccine, but certain jobs that require working closely with people, including federal jobs, healthcare workers, etc. are required to be vaccinated or be terminated. Naturally not a popular move by those opposed to the vaccine who work in these industries. And now it seems the vaccines lose some of their strength over time and booster shots are now being administered. I suspect over time more permanent vaccines will be created. In Costa Rica, the vaccine rules are similar to here, but there is talk of making vaccines mandatory, even for children. 

On a side note, weather has been a major issue for B.C. this year. I guess this was to help distract us from COVID. With more time on their hands, the weather office has been busy creating or at least educating us on previously unused weather terms. The extreme heat wave we suffered in June was because we were under a "heat dome". Now we are inundated with extreme rain storms. Last week saw record setting rain over a 48 hour period which caused major flooding, dike and levee breaches and saw all major roads from Vancouver to the Interior cut off because of washed out sections of highway. The Sumas prairie in Abbotsford was under water. Supplies normally trucked in and out were cut off, as was gas from Alberta. Everything was disrupted. We used to talk about the "Pineapple Express", a band of rain coming up from Hawaii during the winter months. Not any more. We now have an "Atmospheric Highway", a long band of very intense rain. If I had a bitcoin for every time I have heard the phrase "Atmospheric Highway" in the last two weeks...