I wear a mask most of the time I'm away from home - even to go down the hallway to dump trash. I don't wear one while sitting at my desk at work, but do when I step away. I get aggravated at the people who ignore the signs on Metro that masks are required - they can get a mask when they go in, but there doesn't seem to be anything to make them wear masks. It seems to be mainly tourists.

Comment of the day in regard to the vaccines? "You have a better chance of lightning striking your nipple rings than you have of dying or being harmed by the vaccine."

We've got him a rapid test scheduled for tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed it's negative and just allergies.

AUGH. It might also be this respiratory thing going around. My mom, my husband, and I all caught it, and Husband and Mom were hit hard with it.

My boss has a bad respiratory infection - he's gone to the doctor and been assured it's not COVID, is taking antibiotics and is actually getting better. Seemingly, it's going around.

Ugh, everyone -- stay safe and fingers crossed! I think it's time for N95 masks for all.

I'm now annoyed with my formerly favorite site, covidactnow.org, for weighting the infection rate at least as high as the number of cases, so MA gets put back in the bad category, when our actual numbers are still quite low. They are growing faster than they should be, for sure.

I just want a good grade, which I know is stupid.

I think it's time for N95 masks for all.

I'm slightly paranoid, so when I started reading about how the Delta variant is hitting Israel, which has a higher vaccination rate than the US, I bought a box of KN95s. I feel like maybe I should buy more. I don't think cloth masks are going to cut it with this Delta variant.

A friend asked me why I was so worried, because she thought people can't get Covid twice. And prior to the Delta variant, it's true that there were very very few cases reported of a person getting Covid twice. But this variant might be different, and I don't want to learn the hard way. And I don't want to be an asymptomatic carrier, either.

Yeah, I just sent DH the most recent map where Florida is 100% red and where I am in New York is yellow or blue. I am not going to want to leave the house when I am down there next week! [link]

Timelies all!

Been busy at work lately. Doesn't help that there seems to be at least one person out every day.

It might also be this respiratory thing going around.

That's true. I'm not super worried since he started feeling better immediately after taking a cocktail of allergy meds when he hadn't been taking any previously, but we'll all feel better once he gets tested. I did run a self-test for my dad using the machine I brought with me and it came back negative, but I'm not sure how accurate it is.

I ordered a bunch of KN95s just now, since all I have at home are disposable surgical masks, cloth masks, and N95 respirators with valves.

I ordered a bunch of KN95s just now

After my last post, I did in fact order another box of 50 KN95s. They're mostly for Tim, because he's the one who works with other people, while I loaf with the kitty all day. He takes 2 meds that mildly suppress his immune system, and it's looking more and more likely that people who are immunosuppressed don't get the same level of protection from the mRNA vaccines that people with no immune suppression experience. (Again, does the fact that he had Covid mean he's way less likely to get it a second time? Maybe, but maybe not. We don't know shit about the Delta variant. Or, well, we're learning more every day, but we don't know enough at this point to say sure, buddy, go maskless at the same workplace that gave you Covid in January.)