Thursday, September 22, 2022

Covid Diary 10-1-21 to 9-30-22

10-15-21

Sociology to the rescue (Zeynep Tufekci):

Research on the unvaccinated by KFF from this September showed the most powerful predictor of who remained unvaccinated was not age, politics, race, income or location, but the lack of health insurance.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/15/opinion/covid-vaccines-unvaccinated.html

10-18

It's been a slog, but it's going to get better.

10-19

Our downtown fate has been sealed: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/400-W-Main-St-2605-Durham-NC-27701/2067850157_zpid/

10-22

The bakery can no longer get cake boxes due to: Supply Chain Woes: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/22/business/shortages-supply-chain.html

10-29

The Great Resignation: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/29/style/quit-your-job.html

11-2

Everything is Conditional

11-3

Workers are scare and empowered: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/03/business/jobs-workers-economy.html

11-4

Vaccine psychology: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/04/business/tyson-vaccine-mandate.html

11-18

Our failures, our future: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/18/opinion/covid-winter-risk.html

11-19 

Nothing broke today and nobody quit.

11-20

It's gotten cold and people are moving inside, often unmasked, as if to say, "well, here we go again," or "well, here goes nothing," or "well, we all know what happened the last time we did this." the cavalier attitude about indoor gathering will inevitably transition to fear, anxiety, and further lockdowns? early on, one scientist described Covid as like a wildfire, and people are wood. So long as there is wood, even a small fire will quickly turn into a conflagration. 

11-21

Things are getting desperate.  I might need to get a Covid dog.

11-22

Ready for the next wave of infections: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/22/us/us-covid-cases-rising-thanksgiving.html

12-4

Cream cheese woes:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/04/nyregion/cream-cheese-shortage-nyc-bagels.html

12-8

Doctors and nurses are burnt out and the health system is on the brink: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/08/opinion/covid-michigan-surge.html

12-10

A "boring apocalypse"? https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/10/opinion/covid-omicron-psychology-fear.html

12-24

Omicron (why did I first hear Unicron?) has taken hold in NC, after starting its way first in South Africa, UK, and New York. Does the beginning of the end of Covid start with a weaker, more transmissible variant?

12-28

There is collective unconscious, a collective intelligence to save the planet (from ourselves). We only win if we see results.

1-4-22

Today is National Sick Day Day. Half a million cases per day in the U.S. Everyone and their mother has Covid.

1-12

It blows my mind that in the height of the Omicron surge, indoor dining and bars are not closed to the public. It's virtually impossible to find rapid tests or get PCR tests or results in a timely way. ERs are shutting down from overcapacity and hospitals are very very full, with many staff out due to infection or exposure. School buses can't do routes because drivers are sick. Pls dear Nature let nothing bad happen. After 4 years of hate, 2016-2020, this overwhelming kindness and gratefulness is palpable and seems to pervade the lastest surge, over and amongst the anxiety and fear.

1-14

Am I having a panic attack or do I have Covid? 

Is it Covid if you haven’t lost your sense of taste, but you’ve lost your will to enjoy food?

1-15

Hospitals are overwhelmed again: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/15/nyregion/brooklyn-omicron-cases.html

1-16

From one of our Durham Neighbors members: Hi Everything Is Better Now Then it Have Been The Past Few Months. Granted Me Have Our Bad Days Just Easier To Bare 

1-20

A dark chill has come in. The world just seems a little bit darker than two years ago.

1-21

Between Omicron and in the snow, it’s like paralysis. I feel like our fears for the globe (climate change, etc.) are refracted through a prism of snow ("Snow is a bad and merciless gd!"). We are certainly worrying about the wrong things.

1-22

We’ll never be the same.

1-26

Today is the day everyone posted their positive rapid test result to ig.


2-7
Covid infection rates locally have come down. It's unclear what will come next. More of what life was like in November, or just waiting for the next variant to come through and knock everything out for a loop again?

2-23
It’s been a long drawn out 2 years, but with Omicron nearly past us and Spring weather on the doorstep, there feels to be reason for optimism.

2-24
This is the era of the friend breakup.


3-7
Durham lifts its mask mandate. We at the Bakery will likely hold out another week to make sure that cases don't spike as a result.

3-9
The Indy runs a cover article on Durham Neighbors: https://indyweek.com/food-and-drink/features/durham-neighbors-program/

3-12
The war in Ukraine intensifies, Russia lashing civilians and civilian structures like hospitals and residential areas. Their technique of rendering submission through brute force and breaking the will of their enemy seems to hold constant through the various wars they've fought.

3-14
Masks again become optional at the Bakery!

3-29
Wherein we await the coming of BA.2. Six weeks from now? Eight weeks? How intense will it be?

How can you negotiate with a dictator who fundamentally feels that life is cheap? https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/world/europe/photos-chechen-war-russia.html

4-5
I have successfully eaten and drank indoors at bars and restaurants now for a week without catching Covid!


Bakery ingredient and supply costs have gone up ~40%!

Having already suffered through the Great Resignation, I fear now the Great Repricing.

4-18
Well, goodbye to all that. Many many anecdotal cases of BA2 in the community, though published rates have stayed low. It is likely not safe enough to drink or dine indoors again. It appears that most people are diagnosing with rapid tests, and skipping the PCR which would send the data to the State.

4-25
On top of all that, there is now a virulent respiratory flu going around (fever, cough, weakness, aches). The staff put their masks back on again last Wednesday. Between this flu and other planned appts, we had 5 ppl out last Friday, which out of a day staff of 17, makes running the Bakery nearly impossible.

5-5
Corporations are using the pandemic as means to raise prices (and profits) aggressively: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/05/opinion/us-companies-inflation.html
What we have learned is that demand for many items is inelastic, and that vendors have consolidated to the point that competition for many goods is limited. As a result, producers will push pricing to the point that it affects sales. We see this in the housing market, where there is little or no price point that consumers will not push through. Supply is more limited in this case in many markets, yet housing prices continue to inflate by ~20% per year or more. I see this as akin to the Japanese asset price bubble of the late 80's and early 90's where access to easy credit caused rampant speculation in the markets which carried over to consumer goods, such that being a tourist in Japan is on a whole other level compared to the cost of visiting New York City, etc. I would be prepared for the higher costs for everything to continue at least five years.

5-6

5-13 

5-16
Quick reinfection of vaccinated people is a real thing: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/16/health/covid-reinfection.html

5-25
Justice for the children of Uvalde begins with national gun regulation: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/25/opinion/roxane-gay-uvalde-school-shooting.html

6-13
And so, finally the Covid came for me. Caught it on a plane. 3 days of terrible coughing flu, 2 weeks of subsequent fatigue, no lasting symptoms.

7-16

7-20
The next variant of Omicron, BA5, seems to be sickening everyone. Restaurants are shutting down for lack of workers and the prevalence of infection.

7-26

8-9
From one of our Durham Neighbors, MG:
When you see. Grandma at McDonald's  Taken orders 
Grandpa at Wendy's  Serving at the Window 
And Auntie Cleaning the Dining Room . Now that is times are hard Sad and Bad all at the Same Time. Neighbors all Around Please Help our elders back to sitting in the rocking chair like they used to
 Time Changed But 
The Game is the same.
 Grands We Love 

Inflation has been passed from the wholesale customer down to the consumer:

8-14
We can no longer hold back the dike of pressure. With virtually no other workplaces requiring masks, we have acceded to pressures internal to the Bakery and gone masks-optional for staff. 
 
8-24
So easy to follow, no wonder everyone's doing it.

9-19

It is now a rare sight to see masks indoors. I see them only at doctor's offices and occasionally at the supermarket. I too took off my masks at work two weeks ago. First time in over two years. My goodness it's weird for people to see my face.

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