The dead are bushed an' stoned to keep 'em safe below

[sovay]

Rabbit, rabbit! I am having a great deal of difficulty with my state continuing to reopen as our delta cases spike. I was obliged to be inside two buildings for purposes of errands this afternoon and while I appreciated that more masks were in evidence than not, it did not make me feel as safe(r; safe as an absolute has been out of the question for some time now) as it might have even a month ago. I was just about the only person wearing a mask on the street. Somerville is recommending indoor masking, but not requiring it; Massachusetts as a whole has not reinstated the mask order it rescinded in May. We are officially no longer in a state of emergency. Please ignore the rates of community transmission blooming red across the map. It feels a bit like living in that blown-off splinter of reality in Diana Wynne Jones' Witch Week (1982), except I don't think there's much chance of merging into a healthier worldline. As of this week, spatch has returned to work in person. At least he is mostly interacting with dust.

Comments

[gwynnega]

Ugh. Only recommending indoor masking is definitely not good enough right now.

That is an awful lot of dust!

[sovay]

Ugh. Only recommending indoor masking is definitely not good enough right now.

Right? I can't believe I am looking back with any approval on the 2020 portion of this plague, but at least I felt that my immediate surroundings were more or less aligned with reality. Nope. We are just going to continue to behave as though the statute of limitations on dying from a pandemic expires naturally after a year and ignore the multiplying mutations. Governor Baker hasn't gotten sick.

That is an awful lot of dust!

The multiple utilities of the N95!

[selkie]

Extremely tired of having to steel one's nerves for capitalism, really.

[sovay]

Extremely tired of having to steel one's nerves for capitalism, really.

It's so very tiring.

Speaking of which, this article in The Atlantic felt unncessarily personal: "The Time Tax."

"This is the part of the story where I would normally introduce an obscene tally of the hours Americans spend wrestling with our government bureaucracy.

"I would demonstrate that they spend more time doing so the poorer and sicker they are. I would include data showing that many citizens give up on getting benefits—or do not receive benefits they qualify for—because of the time tax. I would estimate the value of the time Americans spend as their own benefits administrators, showing how such hassles reduce the functional value of government programs. I would reveal that Americans, with our freedom and our lean government and our skepticism of bureaucracy and our obsession with bootstrapping, spend more time doing paperwork than our compatriots in other nations, particularly ones with socialized health systems, national identification cards, and well-funded bureaucracies. [. . .]

"Finally, the time tax takes a psychological toll. It is a way the government impresses poverty on people. It hurts people. It does so despite a growing pool of research showing that poor folks are less capable of taking on paperwork challenges than their richer counterparts: Poverty causes a dip in cognitive function equivalent to pulling an all-nighter."

[selkie]

The thing I never understood is that nobody seems to understand that inherent in bootstrapping is that it does not work and cannot work because it's futile.

Also, Jesus, did they have to name us in the footnotes like that.

[asakiyume]

The time tax: Yes. I was baffled and very angry when I realized this when we moved back to the US from the UK and had no health insurance and very little income. I was incensed at how much time I had to spend dealing with bureaucracy. It struck me that the amount of time the bureaucracy demands of you is in inverse proportion to its respect for you as a member of society. Grrrrrrrrrr.

[sovay]

It struck me that the amount of time the bureaucracy demands of you is in inverse proportion to its respect for you as a member of society.

That is crystallinely said.

[kindkit]

My state (which had been doing pretty well, with a low case rate and about 70% of eligible people fully vaccinated) ended its mask mandate on July 1. Masks continue to be required for unvaccinated people, but not for vaccinated people.

Our case rate has quadrupled since July 1. Mask mandate has not been reinstated. Nothing that reopened (including movie theaters and the like) has been closed. And school starts in a couple of weeks.

I am worried. Also extremely annoyed, because I really wanted to see The Green Knight, but there's no way I'm going with those numbers.

[sovay]

Our case rate has quadrupled since July 1. Mask mandate has not been reinstated. Nothing that reopened (including movie theaters and the like) has been closed. And school starts in a couple of weeks.

That all sounds very, worryingly, annoyance-makingly familiar. I can't recommend you sitting for two hours in a theater with unmasked strangers, either, and I am so sorry.

[kindkit]

It's so frustrating. COVID could have been stopped in its tracks if everyone who was eligible to be vaccinated had gotten vaccinated as soon as they could, and if people had continued to mask. Instead, anti-vaxxers have allowed Delta to spread much farther than it would have otherwise.

If they were only hurting themselves it would be tempting to write them off. But of course they're also hurting children, immune-compromised people, etc., not to mention medical professionals who have to cope with whatever wave this is now.

Anyway. You know all this already, but the urge to vent came over me.

Hang in there, and stay safe. This has to end eventually.

[sovay]

Anyway. You know all this already, but the urge to vent came over me.

It's healthy. *hugs* if they help.

Hang in there, and stay safe. This has to end eventually.

You, too. I want to see it.

[thomasyan]

I was worried a little while back: https://thomasyan.dreamwidth.org/41214.html

The recent news suggests I was not worried enough: Although vaccination may greatly reduce the chance of serious illness or death from the Delta variant, it doesn't seem so protective against infection.

[sovay]

Although vaccination may greatly reduce the chance of serious illness or death from the Delta variant, it doesn't seem so protective against infection.

I'm not seeing it talked about as an escape variant, but I don't see how it isn't. It can be transmitted by vaccinated people. I just don't want to be waiting another year for the new vaccines.

[kore]

Yeah, and as someone who already has multiple chronic conditions and a bunch of "conditions that increase the risk of serious illness," I'm really not thrilled at the emphasis that if you're vaccinated, you could get sick but you won't get that sick and won't have to be hospitalized. I mean I am sure that is true for the majority of people who are vaccinated and that is genuinely great! But it also feels like those of us who are disabled or in really poor health are getting written off, again. And most of the chronically ill and poor don't have insurance or access to good ongoing healthcare.

[sovay]

But it also feels like those of us who are disabled or in really poor health are getting written off, again.

One does feel a bit sacrificial, yes.

[kore]

Very few people are masking in stores even right now, and nobody's masking on the street at all (which includes eating outside in those damn little "outdoor dining patios/sheds," which take up a lot of the sidewalk). Meanwhile the state's infection rate has skyrocketed, despite King County having an amazing vaccination rate of above 80%, but that's mostly people above fifty -- fewer than half of the people 18-30 are vaxxed. In spite of that, good old Jay Inslee, who just got props from Grampa Prez Biden about climate change, declared "I do not want to have to shut down a single business in the state of Washington" and, the news said, "he is not making the state's new masking recommendation a requirement because he doesn’t want to take away the benefit of numerous residents who got the COVID-19 vaccine so that they wouldn’t have to continue wearing masks." Meanwhile the state's been fully open for weeks with no pandemic restrictions. But vaccination levels continue to drop and infection rates continue to go way up.

It feels a bit like living in that blown-off splinter of reality

That really is what it feels like. It's unreal. -- And the eviction moratorium just ended today, too. It's all just so....fucking baffling.

[sovay]

"numerous residents who got the COVID-19 vaccine so that they wouldn’t have to continue wearing masks."

What a nonsensical and divisive way of framing it. I got the vaccine so I wouldn't catch and transmit a lethal virus. My nervous system would love it if I could leave the house without a mask, but it wasn't exactly a factor in my calculations. My behavior didn't change.

-- And the eviction moratorium just ended today, too. It's all just so....fucking baffling.

I saw. It really is.

[kore]

I got the vaccine so I wouldn't catch and transmit a lethal virus. My nervous system would love it if I could leave the house without a mask, but it wasn't exactly a factor in my calculations

YES, exactly! I was frantic to get the vaccine because I was worried about getting terribly sick! And I was having panic attacks at first over having to wear a mask longer than five minutes, but eventually I got accustomed to it. I don't WANT to leave the house without a mask, not with all the unvaxxed people out there, and especially not if even vaxxed people can transmit Delta.

It's just like a whole lot of the government and state govs and ordinary people have decided to behave like the pandemic is over, and no, it's starting to look like the pre-Delta pandemic was the warmup. I just don't understand how the reaction to something like 78% of infections in the US being due to Delta translates as "let's hold Lollapalooza." And that giant motorcycle rally in Sioux Falls is going to start this Saturday, again, too.

[asakiyume]

It was interesting on our journey to see where people masked, and who masked. The T has a recording on repeat telling people they're required to wear a mask on the platforms and in the trains, and I'd say 85 percent of people did. But then there's that other 15 percent.

The exhibit was almost open air (it was in a long, straight, open space that was open to the outdoors on both ends), and most people were unmasked in it--but almost everyone put a mask on to go into the bathrooms.

[sovay]

and I'd say 85 percent of people did. But then there's that other 15 percent.

I suppose it's better than the ratio being reversed, but aaaaaargh. I didn't even like being on the Metro in D.C. and it was functionally deserted.

The exhibit was almost open air (it was in a long, straight, open space that was open to the outdoors on both ends), and most people were unmasked in it--but almost everyone put a mask on to go into the bathrooms.

That's really interesting! Intelligent of the museum to commission an effectively open-air exhibit. (I'd still have masked for it.)

[asakiyume]

I didn't even like being on the Metro in D.C. and it was functionally deserted.

--We decided against a Green Line train that was just as packed as in the before times. We took the next one.

[aurumcalendula]

We are officially no longer in a state of emergency. Please ignore the rates of community transmission blooming red across the map. It feels a bit like living in that blown-off splinter of reality in Diana Wynne Jones' Witch Week (1982), except I don't think there's much chance of merging into a healthier worldline.

This so much. (Thank you for reminding me of Witch Week)

[sovay]

(Thank you for reminding me of Witch Week)

(You're welcome.)

[larryhammer]

We are in a state of high stress here, with transmission rates going up. Eaglet returns to school next week, and Arizona has passed a goddamn fucking law that bans public schools from mandating masking. Some school districts are planning to defy it, but not ours because the board is set in a CYA mindset -- publicly criticize, sure, and do every other mitigation they can, but not the measure that actually does the most good. And of course, Eaglet is sick ...

[sovay]

And of course, Eaglet is sick ...

*hugs*

That sounds appallingly stressful. Those are not laws it should be possible to pass.

[larryhammer]

There is a thin hope that the measure won't pass (state) constitutional muster as it was snuck into a budget bill and clauses not described in the law's title are supposedly verboten. However, any redress here won't be for weeks at best.

Eaglet is much better this morning -- fever low, sinuses less snotted up, which makes a quick cold an even more likely diagnosis. But still....

[sovay]

Eaglet is much better this morning -- fever low, sinuses less snotted up, which makes a quick cold an even more likely diagnosis. But still....

Your argh icon remains appropriate.

[lokifan]

It feels a bit like living in that blown-off splinter of reality in Diana Wynne Jones' Witch Week (1982), except I don't think there's much chance of merging into a healthier worldline.

Oh man yep, exactly

[sovay]

Oh man yep, exactly

At least your icon is right on.

[lokifan]

Some might suggest I just muttered to myself "Chrestomanci, Chrestomanci, Chrestomanci" just in case, but I couldn't possibly comment.

[kore]

To make up for my earlier whingeing I'm just leaving this here:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/aug/02/fruit-baskets-from-fourth-century-bc-found-in-ruins-of-thonis-heracleion

[sovay]

To make up for my earlier whingeing I'm just leaving this here

"They were still filled with doum, the fruit of an African palm tree that was sacred for the ancient Egyptians, as well as grape-seeds."

That's wonderful!

Thank you.

[kore]

I gotta admit, I read "sealed ceremonial site in ancient port city discovered with untouched fruit in underwater excavation," I think of one person....

[sovay]

I gotta admit, I read "sealed ceremonial site in ancient port city discovered with untouched fruit in underwater excavation," I think of one person....

Aw.

[selkie]

Numpty thousand years trotting behind you confusing the archaeologists and you left the groceries where?

[sovay]

Numpty thousand years trotting behind you confusing the archaeologists and you left the groceries where?

Look, I put them down to have both hands free for the papyrus negotiations and the next thing I knew someone was thanking me for contributing to the offerings! You can't take a thing back after that! Not even quality street food!

[selkie]

It's true, you really can't.

I saved you some eel onna stick, anyway, unless you're holding out for some of those weird Norse potted herrings from the Temporally Unstuck Society of Guest-Friends meeting next month. I don't understand why they have to hold those in Kjelvik even if the swimming is great.

[kathmandu]

Right there with you on this. I have retreated into grimly pessimistic and self-protective single-masking at work (I have to talk, and my voice does not carry well); double-masking on errands; and continuing to mask every single time I leave the house.

Hong-Kongers said it was easier (as in less mental effort) to mask up every time than to be constantly alert for other people's nearness and vectors, and to avoid going into buildings on impulse because one had not brought a mask, and they were right. Instead of getting quarantine fatigue, I got into a quarantine groove. Wish more people had...

I did go shoe-shopping recently, since mine are worn out and I have to try new ones on in person. Six out of ten people in the athlete-oriented shoe store were masked, including all the visible staff.

[sovay]

I have retreated into grimly pessimistic and self-protective single-masking at work (I have to talk, and my voice does not carry well); double-masking on errands; and continuing to mask every single time I leave the house.

*hugs*

I can't say it isn't sensible, but I'm sorry it's harder to make yourself heard through a double mask.

Hong-Kongers said it was easier (as in less mental effort) to mask up every time than to be constantly alert for other people's nearness and vectors, and to avoid going into buildings on impulse because one had not brought a mask, and they were right.

I hadn't thought about it till this minute, but agreed. I did not change my protocols and therefore don't feel suddenly wrenched out of normal life again.

Instead of getting quarantine fatigue, I got into a quarantine groove. Wish more people had...

I'm pretty sure I have quarantine fatigue, but that's because there's still a plague on, not because I have to wear a mask! I am also fatigued of other people and their willful refusal of reality, but that's not new, either, alas.

Six out of ten people in the athlete-oriented shoe store were masked, including all the visible staff.

I really feel that if staff are going to be masked, it is the minimum of courtesy to be protective of them in return, but see above.