Crealde Urban Sketching Class

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My Crealde Urban Sketching students have this week’s class off because of Thanksgiving.  I have 3 talents student an we work outside doing sketches of the campus.

I always do several sketches as well to show them my approach. I work quickly so that I can spend plenty of time walking to each student and offer sketch suggestions. I offer insights on perspective composition and how to work quickly.

The student in this sketch returned for a second round of classes. As she explained, the first time she suspected some of the information washed over her. Explaining the principles is far different that applying the principles in each sketch. That is why we spend most of each class sketching.

From the first class each student does finished watercolor sketches. They quickly realize that covering a sketch page with watercolor washes takes more time that expected.  It is rewarding to teach adults since they are more in tuned with the idea of slowing down and taking their time to finish each sketch. My main challenge is always to give people the time to truly see. Society moves at a breakneck pace and an artist needs to slow down to put things down on the sketch page. When my students are working outside I allow them to unmask but ask that they put it back on when within 6 feet of anyone else. I have notice them forgetting to mask back up and when they do I stay at least 22 feet away. That is about 4 dead bodies lying bed to toe.

COVID Christmas

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More than 2000 flights were canceled prior to Christmas Eve. Operational snags at airlines are coming as millions are attempting to fly in spite of rising coronavirus cases. The TSA says it screened 2.19 million people at airports across the country on December 23, 2021, the highest figure since the uptick in holiday travel started a week ago.

Just last week executives from airlines were testifying in front of a congressional committee and said that being inside an airplane is one of the safest places to be. One of those executives was diagnosed with COVID-19 the next day. You have to admit this virus has a sense of humor.

Later Thursday night, Delta Air Lines also canceled flights. The airline has canceled 130 Christmas Eve flights, according to FlightAware. Delta said the cancellations are due to multiple issues including the Omicron variant. It has to be a bit of a sigma to be an airline that shares the name of one of the deadliest of the COVID variants.

In the blink of an eye Omicron now accounts for 75% of most COVID cases in America. We will all be exposes in short order. Each American has to chose for themselves what risk s are worth taking to celebrate the holiday season. Do I plan to attend a company Christmas party? No. Any plans for flying to visit family were abandoned weeks ago since not everyone in the family is vaccinated. If you judge by the long lines of people waiting for tests in New York City it is clear that what most people want for Christmas is a COVID test. President Joe Biden is planning to offer at home tests for free, but those will not be available until after this tsunami has blown through.

Merry Christmas folks. Stay safe.

Fighting the COVID Ghost

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Falcons owner Arthur Blank said, “At some point you feel like you are fighting a ghost, you don’t know where to swing.”

Giants co-owner John Mara seemed equally resigned to the situation. “It seems like it’s never going away,” he said.

That’s why the National Football League (NFL) needs to devise protocols that acknowledge the fact that the pandemic has become endemic. It’s here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. It’s not a one- or two-year thing. The league needs to figure out how to better manage things. The protocols need to reflect more common sense, more of the knowledge that has been developed over the past two years.

The NFL also needs to give a crap about the protocols it adopts. If a quarterback isn’t vaccinated, he can’t be allowed to ignore the rules, as Aaron Rodgers was.

Much of the 2021 protocols seemed to be about P.R. and politics. The goal needs to be finding a way to minimize the spread and to get players who catch COVID back in the game safely. Players who ignore the protocols need to be let go. It is looking like those that get infected with Omicron are showing less serious symptoms this could be a good since idiots like Aaron Rogers will likely get infected and this milder variant will give immunity. It will not however make him or the league any smarter.

Common COVID

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Everyone will likely be exposed to the Omicron variant in the coming weeks. If Omicron is far less deadly than Delta then that could be good news in this ongoing pandemic.The good news is that it will boost the immunity of anyone infected. The bad news is that we don’t know if long COVID symptoms will effect those vaccinated.

It can infect people who are vaccinated and even some who have been boosted. We are not sure yet how it affects the unvaccinated. Many hospitals in America are already full due to Delta.

A Cambridge, Massachusetts based data analytics firm nference conducted a study, yet to be peer-reviewed, that said the variant likely acquired at least one of its mutations by picking up a bit of genetic information from another virus, possibly one that causes the common cold. This does not mean the Omicron variant has “mutated into the common cold,” as some are claiming online. The Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant is significantly distinct from seasonal coronaviruses (HCoV) that cause the common cold.

Vaccinated people infected so far seem to have milder symptoms, based on reports from South Africa. Even of it is lets say 60% milder, and it is 300 % more infectious, it could still create more severe cases. Fully vaccinated people infected with the omicron variant of the novel coronavirus could end up with super immunity to the coronavirus, according to new research from Oregon Health & Science University. The research — published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association — found that breakthrough infections create “a robust immune response against the delta variant.” Researchers said the findings indicate that “the immune response is likely to be highly effective against other variants as the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to mutate.”

It does seem that COVID is here to stay and the world will have to continue to face ongoing waves as lone as people refuse to get vaccinated.

Santa Shortage

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Have you been desperate to have your child photographed with Santa this year? Well CNN reported that Santa is fully booked through the Omicron season. The number of trained and available Santas has gone down, which is  another disruption in the supply chain caused by the pandemic.

There are 10% fewer Santas available this year while requests for Santas have more than doubled when compared to pre-pandemic levels.

The problem is that Santa schools are seeing less enrollment. Santa trainees don’t want to travel to the indoor school settings or sit in crowded Santa conferences. Just like health care workers around the country, experienced long time Santas are retiring their red coats. 18% are taking 2021 off.

Being over weight and over 60 years old, Santa is at a high risk category when it comes to getting COVID-19. More than 335 Santa’s have died this year from coronavirus and other ailments, according to Mitch Allen of Hire Santa. Santas these days must show proof of vaccination, and he must take coronavirus rapid test twice a week. Some Santas are fearful of the potentially infested children. With the Omicron variant more children are being infected and requiring hospitalization.

The obvious solution is to have Krampus sit in. He might bite, scratch and breath COVID on your scamp but think of the photo opportunity. Krampus doesn’t give a crap about his own health or anyone else’s health. If your child has not been good, Krampus had the solution.

COVID Stole Christmas

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COVID-19 stole Christmas. Cases are surging from both the Deta Variant and now Omicron which is 70% more transmissible. Omicron has now been confirmed in 46 states and is likely in all 50. 38% of Americans are still not fully vaccinated leaving plenty of fuel for the virus to burn through.

Royal Caribbean cruise line has just reported 48 cases of COVID-19 on a ship docked in Miami. The Rockettes in New York City have canceled their season spectacular show due to infections among the cast. Sports teams are being forced to cancel games. It is feeling like March of 2020 all over again. You might thing the earth had stood still.

In Florida cases are doubling every 36 hours. Despite this massive crush of infections many Americans are on the move returning to families where the virus can spread. Only 8 states have indoor mask mandates. Holiday travel will result in more cases and deaths. Patients in hospitals are still dying alone as they gasp for their last breaths.

The Netherlands on December 19, 2021 began an “unavoidable” lockdown that will last through Christmas to help tackle a COVID-19 surge caused by the emergence of the Omicron variant. It is closing most schools and daycare facilities. Spectators are banned from sporting events. Only 2 guests are allowed at any holiday gathering. Italy is planning to make masks mandatory outdoors. Germany has locked down its borders. Denmark, where cases are doubling every two days, is shutting down theaters and museums. Bars are closing early. That is how you know it has gotten bad.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is considering urging the public to limit household mixing at Christmas, the Telegraph reported on December 19, 2021. He is however wavering and will likely wait until after Christmas because he fears the reaction of his countrymen. In December 2020 he instated lockdowns so strict in parts of England that indoor meetings with people from other households were forbidden. Back then few dozen of the prime minister’s staffers reportedly hosted a festive gathering at 10 Downing Street. This has undermined anyone taking any lockdown he considers as two faced. Britain’s health secretary, Sajid Javid,  has refused to rule out imposing tougher COVID-19 restrictions before Christmas amid the rapid rise of infections and continuing uncertainty about the omicron variant.

On December 21, 2021 President Joe Biden will address the thread of Omicron in a public address. For now however, most Americans going about life as if the pandemic were a thing of the past.

Bronchial Battle

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Omicron is here. It has been found in 100 % of the waste water samples in Orlando Florida.The only reason it isn’t being reported officially is because it is not being sequenced in labs.

Omicron is in a battle against the already raging Delta Variant in America.  In South Africa Omicron completely overwhelmed and replaced Delta in a matter of weeks. In that case however Delta was already on the downswing. It is hard to know exactly how two variants battling against each other for human fuel will play out. The unvaccinated will all face this threat. Even the vaccinated could be re-innfected but cases should be more mild.

In New York City the Rockettes canceled its run because of infections among the cast. Hamilton, Mrs Doubtfire and other Broadway shows are shutting down. The NFL is canceling games because too many players are infected. In a struggle for normalcy players can get back on the field after just 1 negative test.  School children are much he same they do not need to isolate as long as they do not test positive. Asymptomatic spread is being ignored. More than 60 fully vaccinated people tested positive for Omicron after an office holiday party in Norway, and all had gotten negative rapid-test results just a day earlier.

A case study in Japan found that Omicron is much better at infecting Bronchial tissue. The brochus are the tubed that lead down to the lungs. They found that it infects bronchus tissues 70% more than Delta. That means there is plenty of viral partials expelled when any infected person breaths, or speaks. Another finding was that Omicron infects actual lung tissue 10% less than Delta. That means there might be less need for supplemental oxygen or intubation. With milder symptoms an infected person might feel free to go out and infect many more people.

The Omicron variant is incredible transmissible. Super spreading events are happening daily since everyone has let their guard down. To stay safe the rules remain the same, social distance, wear a quality N95 mask and wash your hands often. Vaccinate, get boosted and stay vigilant. This holiday season is going to be a viral battle ground.

Omicron Blizzard

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Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota,  told CNN on December 16, 2021 that the U.S. is facing an imminent COVID-19 “viral blizzard.” “In the next three to eight weeks, we’re going to see millions of Americans are going to be infected with this virus, and that will be overlaid on top of Delta,” said Osterholm.

New York City, America’s original pandemic epicenter, is displaying warning signs of yet another drastic surge of the virus, this time likely driven by the Omicron variant.

A new study showed that having had COVID-19 offers little protection against the Omicron variant, Bloomberg reported. Booster shoots could bring up protection to 90%. President Biden warned unvaccinated Americans that the Omicron variant will start to spread more rapidly in the U.S. if they do not receive their shots soon.

In a mater of a few weeks Omicron has already circumvented the world. It is everywhere. The surge is happening quickly in a matter of weeks rather than over months. At Cornell University here in the U.S. 900 cases were detected among the students. Many of those Omicron infections were among fully vaccinated students. Some even had booster doses. Vaccines can blunt the serious illness associated with infection. There have been no reports of severe infections requiring hospitalization. The school shut down its campus and lessons are being taught online.

A study not yet pier reviewed showed that Omicron replicates 70% faster that the original COVID-19 virus and the Delta variant in the bronchus or airways to the lungs. This can explain why people are so infectious. They also found that Omicron does replicated 10 times slower in the lungs which could be good news meaning there might be far less serious infection requiring oxygen and incubation. Only time will tell how this Blizzard of infection will effect America’s unvaccinated population. I am keeping my eyes on England which is several weeks ahead of us in this global wave of infection.

NFL Scrambles With COVID

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Over 100 NFL players are now on the reserve COVID list. This is a record number, in a three day period, since the pandemic began. Many of those players are fully vaccinated. According to the league, two-thirds of them are asymptomatic and the rest have very mild symptoms.

Players also lied about their vaccination status, putting team mates at risk. Some idiot quarterback takes his medical advice from  Joe Rogan, a podcaster rather than doctors or scientists. The NFL temporarily suspended Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Brown and two other players for lying about their Covid-19 vaccination status. They will miss three games, which is a slap on the wrist that will be more of a short vacation for these highly paid players. Brown males $6.25 million dollars a season.

Adjustments are being considered for the COVID player protocols. The first three months of the season had few COVID-19 cases. The league  profited from full stadiums, and fewer masks. Fans and athletes seemed to forget there ever was a pandemic.

There remain just four games in the regular season before the playoffs begin. At this rate there will be no players on the field to play them. Commissioner Roger Goodell said there had been no discussion about postponing any games. Sills said that for the first time this season, the virus has begun spreading within team facilities. Immunity among vaccinated players and coaches is waning.

League officials felt some urgency to take action quickly as the reserve COVID-19 list ballooned. The league is encouraging booster shots. Since some players are afraid of needles that is a weak option for weak willed players. The league is mandating boosters for coaches and staff. To keep bodies on the field, they want fully vaccinated players who have tested positive to return to team activities with just one negative test. Currently, a vaccinated player needs two negative tests 24 hours apart in order to return before the end of the normal 10-day quarantine period.

Masking, social distancing and virtual meetings are returning to team facilities. I’m amazed these basic protocols were ever dropped. Some members and officials from the players union are advocating for a return to daily testing for all players, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated. Right now, only unvaccinated players (the ones they know about) are tested every day. Vaccinated players are tested once a week. More testing for everyone would almost certainly reveal more asymptomatic cases. League officials are resistant to the idea of daily testing. Because, hell that is a cost. The NFL is, for the second year in a row, in a race with the virus to the end of the season.

Omicron Blitz

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Omicron is “the most significant threat” to public health in the U.K., authorities warned on December 15, 2021, as the WHO cautioned that the highly contagious Covid-19 variant was spreading at an unprecedented rate.

The number of Covid-19 infections over the coming days will be “quite staggering” compared to previous variants, said Jenny Harries, the head of the U.K. Health Security Agency.

England has entered a wartime stance against the advancing Omicron variant.  The country reported a record number (78,610) of new daily Covid-19 cases on December 15, 2021. This surpassed the previous high of 68,053 cases reported on January 8, 2021.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that Britain faces a “tidal wave” of omicron infections, and has announced that England would be speeding up its booster program to offer all adults a third dose of a vaccine by the end of the year.

Long lines have been seen outside vaccination centers in many U.K. cities and towns with the government putting its booster program on overdrive to try to get a third vaccine shot to as many people as possible.

Johnson confirmed on December 13, 2021 that at least one patient infected with the new omicron variant had died in the country. It was the first publicly confirmed death globally from the new heavily mutated strain. Some restrictions, including mask mandates in shops and instructions to work from home where possible, have been reintroduced in England throughout December 2021. France imposed a travel ban on U.K. travelers. The United States will be following the U.K. in two to three weeks. Omicron is already prevalent in Orange County waste water meaning it is spreading Central Florida.

Professor Shabir Madhi, a leading vaccinologist, said that Omicron is NOT less virulent than Delta but deaths have been 10 times less in South Africa. This may be because so many people (73%) had prior infections resulting in some immunity. Discovery Health of South Africa reported on a study of 3.7 million people from the first thee weeks of the Omicron outbreak. Omicron now accounts for 90% of the cases having displaced Delta. Omicron has peaked faster than any other variant of COVID-19.

Two doses of Pfizer Bio-NTech now only offer 33% protection against infection. Cases however are mild when infection occurs. The two doses of Pfizer offer 70% protection against hospitalization. Booster doses should bring immunity levels back up  to 90%. For someone with a prior infection of COVID there is a 40% risk of re-infection.If you are unvaccinated, then you are screwed. The virus will find you.

In South Africa the chance of hospitalization with Omicron is 29% lower than Delta. There is less of chance of intensive care admission. Children under the age of 18 have a 20% higher risk of admission. There is also an increase of admissions for children under the age of 5. Most children presented with mild symptoms such as sore throat, nasal congestion, headache, and a fever that resolved in two or three days.