Citizen COVID

Posted on by Thor

The undisputed winner of the mid term election is COVID-19. COVID won the race in an undisputed red wave. Regardless of which party dominates Congress and the Senate, they are both down playing the ongoing pandemic. The cost of vaccines will no longer be covered by the government but will cost about $130 per jab.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned of a shortage occurring for COVID-19 rapid tests. In this advisory, the CDC advised diagnostic service providers to expect an increase in the demand for laboratory-based COVID-19 testing due to a shortage in supply for both point-of-care testing and rapid testing for COVID-19.

There is currently a temporary shortage in point-of-care and over-the-counter test supplies. To help preserve rapid test kits and supplies and meet the current test demand, CDC recommends the use of laboratory-based testing whenever possible.

As the election approached every candidate held packed election rallies which of course are fabulous venues to spread the virus since no one masks anymore. Passive conventionalists pretends the pandemic is over but it is not. The herds press together but there is no herd immunity.

President Joe Biden seems to think that Americans care about only one thing, and that is the price of gas. He may be right. He went on to announce that he felt the pandemic was over. All United States government efforts to curtail the coronavirus have disappeared. Mask mandates have been lifted on public transit. Public health agencies are being crippled by conservative law makers.

The White House and the CDC have framed COVID as a problem for individuals, but informed action is hard when cases and hospitalizations are underestimated, most testing sites have closed, and the over optimistic CDC guidelines downplay the coronavirus’s unchecked spread. COVID has won.

Fairy Doors

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Leu Gardens in Orlando Florida had twenty, one-of-a-kind, whimsical fairy doors scattered throughout the gardens. Orlando Urban Sketchers organized a group outing to sketch the doors. About 10 to 15 artists gathered in the garden’s guest house. I was surprised that I was the only artist wearing a mask. I invited several of my advanced Urban Sketching students to the event so they could see that there are other artists in Orlando who sketch on location.

We each got a map that showed where to find each Fairy Door. The first one we went to however was hidden up inside a trellis so it was rather hart to find and difficult to draw. We settled on this second fairy door which was in plain sight on a large live oak tree.

This was the Karasi Fairy Door which means life and wisdom. Karasi is a book fairy who loves to read every day. She shares her books and knowledge with all the fairies. She has teal eyes and plum-colored hair and wings. Her silver pixie dust is rare and can only be used if she sees another fairy in need. Basically this was a red book with several pages slipping out of it. My primary memory of sketching that day was the incessant humm of loud fairies buzzing in my ears. I would swat them away, but moments later they would buzz my ears once again. It had recently rained, and apparently fairies are very active after a rain storm.

Back at the Leu gardens guest house all the artists gathered and shared their work. It is always exciting to see all the different styles of work created.

Arctic Virus Lockdown

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A COVID outbreak of an Antarctica research station has forced a temporary travel ban to the site. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has confirmed that 10% of the people at the McMurdo Station have tested positive so far. There are 885 researchers at the station. That means about 88 researches have been infected. The outbreak was first reported by NBC News of November 4, 2022.

NSF operates the station on the southern tip of Antarctica’s Ross Island. Measure are now being taken to try and control the outbreak. “Consistent with the U.S. National Science Foundation’s commitment to balance research and operational needs while containing the spread of Covid cases in Antarctica, NSF is implementing a pause on all travel to the continent for the next two weeks, effective immediately, while we reassess the situation,” agency officials said in a statement released November 5, 2022.

Essential travel including medical staff is still being allowed. In a half hearted, pussy footed memo, the agency said it “highly recommends” KN-95 masks be worn at all times and will provide them to residents. Most COVID protocols, like quarantines, and multiple PCR tests have been relaxed, allowing the virus easy access to spread in this frozen petri dish. Of course these people are socially isolated from the rest of the world on this tiny island literally at the frozen ends of the earth.

 

Hoard

Posted on by Thor

Stat reported that rich countries like America have stockpiled far more vaccines that they can use while other nations have yet to get a first dose of any COVID vaccine out to the population. Part of the problem is that drug companies manufacturing the vaccines want to make a hearty profit. In America a shot of vaccine now costs $130.

Even if everyone in America were to get the recommended booster shot (which they will not) there is still plenty of vaccine to help other nations stop the spread of the virus. Any country which remains vaccinated becomes a breeding ground for future variants which could be more deadly ohave a greater ability to evade immunity.

About 11 billion doses of COVID vaccine have been manufactured but they are nor all being distributed. Only 7.1% of vaccines have been distributed to low income countries. The first Omicron wave came from low income South Africa. The biggest obstacle to global supply is in the stockpiles of excess vaccines that wealthier countries are holding onto. Hoarding vaccines allows the virus to mutate and spread unchecked and then return to America to infect the un-vaccinated and vaccinated alike.

The United States and Switzerland have allowed countries in dire need to take newly created vaccines first. However this is not enough to meet the demand. Distribution is often more expensive than the vaccines themselves. Nigeria recently was unable to use 1 million Covid-19 vaccines, according to Reuters, largely due to a rollout that’s limited by shortage of funds and staff.

The hardest step is always getting shots in arms.

After Pulse: Melanie Rollman

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Advisory: Please note that this post is about the Pulse nightclub massacre on June 12, 2016. It contains sensitive and difficult to read content.

Melanie Rollman is the founder of the Facebook group Conway Critters. She offered pet sitting and dog walking to survivors and victims pets in the aftermath of the Pulse massacre.

After the shooting Maleanie’s son started blowing up her phone about 2am with text messages. He works as an EMT clinical tech at ORMC in the emergency room for the overnight shift. The first text said simply: “24 dead.” Another said, “at Pulse there is a huge shooting.” At this point she could hear all the helicopters flying over her home. Then she turned on the TV to see what was happening.

She knew survivors would be taken care of, to the best of everyone’s ability. But then she thought, what about the people who died? They might have animals at home with no one to return home to take care of them. Some of these people might not have extended family. She decided she had to save the animals somehow.

The next afternoon, she put out on Conway Critters and her personal page, that she would need help to bring this about. She s tarted getting calls from everywhere, as far away as California, and Canada. Several others were doing the same thing. There were just 2 animals that no family members would take. Those 2 went with a 5013c rescue organization. The rest were taken in by family or friends.

She turned her attention instead to collecting and providing all the food and supplies that would be needed to take care of the animals. People who took in these animals might not have the supplies needed to take care of them. A friend who owns the Monograph merchant offered her store as a drop off point. Crates, bowls, collars, leashes, food, toys, treats were collected. A local radio station announced the drop off spot. It was incredible. By day of or three the store owner was calling saying trucks were needed.

It got too big. She couldn’t handle it all herself. She had to delegate responsibilities. Blue at the Venue stepped in and took all the supplies at her theater. The venue couldn’t handle all the incoming donations, so they had to obtain a storage space at the a Track Shack on Mills Avenue. Everything was moved from the Venue to the Track Shack space. The entire space was filled up. It was amazing.

The drive lasted about two months.

COVID Happily Ever After?

Posted on by Thor

The COVID-19 pandemic had played out like a fairy tale for most people. In the first act normal everyday life was interrupted by a dark and deadly mythical creature. In the second act heroic scientists helped the millions of people who were dying by creating an invincible vaccine. For many, once they took the vaccine, the story was over, they were vaxed and done and life returned to normal. Masks came off and everyone huddled together indoors to comfort one another, and spread the disease.

However the vaccines do not actually protect against infection, it protects against hospitalization and death. There is also another segment of the population who decided that vaccines were a hoax and they refuse to ever get vaccinated. There is plenty of human wood for the COVID forest fire to continue to burn through.

We are in a relative calm right now, but hospitalizations have begun to climb again due to immune evasive new variants. No one knows how high the next infection wave will rise this winter. Flu which has been on the sidelines because of social isolation and masking is now coming back with a renewed vengeance along with RSV. This winter promises a triple whammy of infections.

The other factor is that the immediate threat from a COVID infection is not always apparent at the first flush of infection. Cardio vascular disease, diabetes, blood clots, along with heart disease, and brain problems are being discovered months and even years after the initial infection.

So just how many people have died due to the pandemic so far? The pandemic directly or indirectly caused 14.9 million deaths in 2020 and 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on May 5, 2022, in its newest attempt to quantify the outbreak’s toll. That’s around 2.7 times more than the 5.42 million COVID-19 deaths the WHO says were previously reported through official channels in the same 2-year period. Over 2,000 Americans continue to die each week from COVID-19 and this seems to have become the accepted new normal.

On top of this, excess deaths are on the rise. Excess deaths are the number of deaths above what would be expected over a 5 year average. Excess deaths are happening in every age group.  The number of excess deaths today is higher that the number of deaths from COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic lockdown. For some reason no one is reporting about this rise in excess deaths. My concern is that these deaths could be the result of the after effects from COVID infections. There is likely collateral damage. I however an not a scientist, so don’t take my word on that point. It is just my suspicion. The long term effect of COVID infections are only now being discovered. And the media remains silent.

A Halloween Carol Workshop

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I was honored to sketch at the world premiere of A Halloween Carol musical written and composed by local playwright Tracey Jane. I had sketched at a prior rehearsal so I knew several songs from this unique spooky musical but this would be the first time I could experience the whole tale. I arrive at the artist’s call time at the stage door. I helped the musical director (Billy Williams)  move a few folding chairs into the theater and then considered what my best angle might be to sketch the circular stage.

Tracey suggested I sketch from a wooden balcony that had been set up and that was indeed the best vantage point. At first all the actors sat on the circular stage but then the musical director asked for all the actors who were not wearing a mic to stand in front of the stage. This was how they rehearsed until the house opened. However for the final performance they all returned to the stage. This made for a challenging sketch opportunity.

The show as a delightful retelling of Charles Dickens Christmas Story. This story however took place in the present in a high school. Carol Cratchit (Alessia Preda) was visited by her BFF Marley Jacobs who had left for Idaho. As a song put it, she didn’t die, you know; she moved to I-DA-HO!” The show is about facing ones fears and indeed Carol is visited by 3 ghosts, the Ghost of Halloween Past, The Ghost of Halloween Present, and in a tense verb twist, The Ghost of Halloween Past Perfect.

Past Perfect (Carson Holly) gave a particularly memorable performance that left the audience stunned for a moment. Another amazing performance was by Alessia Preda as she sang “Electricity” about her crush Evan Neezer (Jacob Steele). Barnaby (Stephen Lewis) had everyone including Alessia in stitches as he performed as a happy hamster who loved life but unexpectedly passed away. In the talk back after the show, Tracey explained that her family got a hamster during the pandemic but hamsters only live 2 years, so he did not live to see the possible end of the pandemic. He lay on his back with his feet in the air and the cast sang “Barnaby’s Eulogy”. His foot twitched ever so slightly from the effort. Tracy gave him wings and a halo and he hilariously walked his way up the blood soaked staircase, disappearing into the greenroom.

I don’t think I will unveil the ghoulish plot twist that is at the core of this macabre tale. This workshop which showcased the 26 or so songs, is just the beginning of this show’s evolution. The rich orchestrations by Christopher Robinason were pared down for this workshop to just piano and percussion. The music will truly shine when performed by a full orchestra. The soundtrack will be available for sale and the hope is to raise enough through patrons and sales to fully stage the production in 2023.

 

Pulse Victims Services: Christine Mouton

Posted on by Thor

Advisory: Please note that this post is about the Pulse nightclub massacre on June 12, 2016. It contains sensitive and difficult to read content.

Christine Mouton is the director of UCF Victims Services and the regional coordinator of the Florida Crisis Response Team for the 9th and 10th Circuit. After the Pulse tragedy UCF Victims Services and Florida Crisis Response Team provided aid to victim’s families and survivors.

Christine got a phone call about a shooting at Pulse.  She immediately called her on call advocate, and she directed her to go to the Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC). The advocate actually lives close to the medical center. She then proceeded to call her other staff. She managed to get three advocates down there. Then she called her community partners. She called an advocate from the sheriff’s office, she got contact information for the Victim’s Service Center which is a non-profit. They were able to provide some extra support.

An advocate helped identify the nine families who were destined to get the initial death notifications at ORMC. The doctor had to provide the death notification since he had witnessed the death, so a room was set up. Once families went in the room and came out traumatized it became very clear you did not want to go into that room. The advocate was put in charge of convincing families to go into the room. In those kind of moments people respond in terribly different ways. You can not predict how someone is going to respond. Some people just shut down, some are angry and aggressive, and you have to accept that. They have to come to accept the thing they never wanted to hear. Once the family heard the news, the advocates job then, is to provide families with the right options to empower them to make the best choices moving forward.

iVirus

Posted on by Thor

CNN reported that workers at an Apple iPhone manufacturing plant in Zhengzhou, China fled after the facility was locked down due to a COVID-19 outbreak. On October 2, 2022, authorities imposed a seven-day lockdown of the area that houses the Foxconn plant, an order that could hit the iPhone assembler’s production and shipments. 350,000 people work at the plant that some call iPhone City.

Analysts said the chaos at Zhengzhou could jeopardize Apple and Foxconn’s output in the coming weeks. Ivan Lam, senior research analyst at Counterpoint, estimated that between 10% and 30% of iPhone 14 production could be affected in the near term if the situation did not stabilize. The Zhengzhou campus is the world’s biggest iPhone factory and typically accounts for as much as 85% of iPhone assembly capacity, according to Lam’s estimates.

The city, of more than 12 million, imposed sweeping lockdown measures earlier last month after identifying dozens of Covid-19 cases. Workers are panicking over the spread of the virus at the factory and lack of access to official information. Workers are packed side by side much like meat packing workers. It is not clear how many cases of Covid have been identified at the factory. Many scaled fences to escape the iPhone facility by foot.

Apple has started to boost production in other countries, including India, to reduce its dependence on China.

Shanghai Disneyland COVID Lockdown

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On October 31, 2022 all guests at Shanghai Disneyland were locked down due to a single case of COVID-19. Reuters quoted city authorities as saying the resort shut its gates after authorities became aware of a 31-year-old woman who had visited the park in recent days testing positive for the coronavirus. Some rides kept running as guests were trapped in the happiest place on earth. No one could leave until they showed a negative COVID test. The city health bureau announced that all guests in the park tested negative and all guests could leave by 8:30pm.

There were 10 reported cases in Shanghai on October 29, 2022.  Shanghai then decided they must screen 400,000 people. President Xi Jinping‘s government has remained committed to a “Zero COVID” policy while the rest of the world had dropped most COVID safety precautions.

The city government appealed to anyone who had visited the Shanghai Disney Resort since October 27, 2022 to undergo three days of nucleic acid testing and avoid gathering in groups.

The snap closure of Shanghai Disney came just two days after the park began operating at a reduced capacity to comply with Covid measures.