The COVID-19 virus will never be eradicated. Humanity had it’s opportunity to eradicate it but that opportunity was lost and squandered due to greed, indifference, and stupidity. Though Americans are done with COVID, the virus is not done with us. Vaccines have offered safety from hospitalization and death but not infection and or re-infection. I have both of my boosters going into this BA5 wave but still maintain all other safety precautions, like social distancing, masking, and washing hands often.
In America all safety measures have been dropped which allows the virus to spread easily. Politicians do not want to face the backlash of once again imposing mandates for masking, social distancing and lock downs. People would revolt and gather in large groups to protest and spread the virus amongst themselves and others.
Now someone in the household is infected and this is day 2 of seeing if those safety measures can keep me from becoming infected. The person infected is staying isolated in a guest bedroom but the bathroom is a common area of the home. I tested negative yesterday. Basic measures include staying double masked with my cloth mask holding a KN95 snugly in place. I am starting to winder if the fit of my mask is snug enough. I have a beard and that might be a factor in allowing the virus in. I would love a simple everyday hazmat suit.
I am fully vaccinated and have had the second booster shot. Results coming in from Israel show that getting the second booster does protect against getting infected for two months. If that is true for BA5 then I might dodge this COVID home invasion. With Omicron a person can infect on average eight other people. That is how the virus spreads quickly through a community and around the world.
Masking is patriotic. I wear it to protect the ones I love. There is no downside to masking and it is so easy to do. When I want to take an open air breather, I step outside in taste the non air conditioned air. Last night I opened the bedroom windows, turned up the ceiling fan and rolled up a towel to stop air from flowing under the door. We live in strange times, and the next five days promise to be pretty strange.
China enforced hard lock downs to stop the spread of COVID and they have had relatively few deaths. Chine did however suffer hard hitting economic consequences. In America, politicians have decided to go the opposite route. We have become accustomed to 300 to 400 deaths a day. The elderly and immune compromised have become expendable so that Americans can go to concerts and bars, living a carefree per-pandemic lifestyle. America is in denial.