Pandemic Office

Posted on by Thor

I did this sketch of Pam using the hammock to do her office work. I sat inside looking through a glass panel of the back door. Since there are no interruptions she apparently has been getting a whole lot more work done. Today is day three of living with the COVID-19 virus in the home.  On Saturday July 16, 2022 the positive test was confirmed with an at home test for a member of the household. Pam tested negative as did I. The open air back patio was a safe space for the two of us for the first few days of quarantine.

Everyone is sleeping in separate bedrooms and the person who tested positive is staying in a guest bedroom behind a closed door for much of the day. The problem is that there is no bathroom attached to that bedroom. There is only a common bathroom in the hallway. We have worked around that issue by placing a portable HEPA filter in the hall outside the bathroom.

The first several nights I slept in the bedroom that faces out on the back patio. The air conditioning was on in the house and the air intake for the AC is in the hallway, which, as I noted has to be used to get to the bathroom. My thought therefor was that the AC may circulate virus throughout the house. I thought by opening the bedroom windows, the virus might get blown outside before it gets blown into my lungs. I had the odd habit of putting on a cloth mask when I heard the air conditioner turn on and then I would take the mask off when it turned off. The problem with this of course is that eventually I fell asleep and the mask stayed off.

Having to stay isolated in a bedroom for days on end can make anyone stir crazy. Last night the COVID positive patient left the quarantine room and sat outside in the hammock. The quarantine room windows were opened during this hammock time and surfaces wiped down. When I went to bed last night I wondered if I should open the windows since the back patio was now part of the quarantine zone. The virus was again inside the home. The AC must be circulating the virus again. I finally decided the benefits of opening the window outweighed the risk of the virus lingering in the air outside. Also with the AC on, air would rush out of the window rather than coming back into the bedroom.

Today I chose to change my safe zone from the back patio to the front porch. I set up a card table and lawn chair on the front port and that is where I went for breakfast and lunch today. Breakfast went fine as I ate my eggs and read the days news on by phone with my mask off. However at lunch time, a persistent fly found out I had food, so I moved into my car to relax and eat. I wasn’t going to spend my entire lunch battling a fly.

There are just two more full days of quarantine left and the COVID case seems to be a minor one. BA 5 thankfully has not in this case caused shortness of breath. Fever was countered by a cold shower and the only other major symptom seems to have been a runny nose. According to CDC guidelines, after the quarantine period the infected individual can go about life as usual as long as they stay masked. Everyone in the family can then finally sit down to dinner together after another 5 days.

Living with the Virus

Posted on by Thor

Today was day 2 of living with the COVID-19 virus in the house. Today was a full day of 8 hours of teaching virtual art classes. One adult student is learning Urban Sketching from me and I decided to teach him how to draw a room using 2 point perspective. I sat in a rocking chair in the living room and sketched down the hallway. At the end of the hallway COVID-19 lurks. These past few days have been the first days of the pandemic where I had to be masked at home.

Lunchtime was a major reprieve since I got to eat outside on the back patio. It was such a relief to be outside and breath the fresh air. That had been an ongoing policy of mine to never eat indoors for the five days of quarantine.

Students seemed to adjust easily to my being masked. Since much of my time with students is spent sketching, little has changed. Classes are sometimes interrupted when the dogs see the mailman outside the front window and then all hell breaks loose with the barking and snarling.

Right now the person who is infected is sitting outside. We had some discussion about weather that would be safe for our elderly neighbor. We had to weight weather the virus would dissipate enough over the distance to the neighbors fence and backyard. Most people are rather binary in their decision making during the pandemic. If mask mandates are lifted then no one wears masks. When pe0ple heard that it was safer to be unmasked outside, they decided to never mask outside even when in large crowds. I just watched a video from a doctor who decided to go to a crowed Eagles concert and he was infected outdoors.

Now that I have worn a mask for several days straight, it is becoming second nature. I can flick the mask on and off with ease when I eat outside. It has become a permanent accessory. Anti bacterial wipes that we used constantly at the beginning of the pandemic are now a critical tool as we wipe down anything we touch. So far I have tested negative. I plan to dodge this bullet, but it is clear that someday this virus will be impossible to avoid.

Eradication

Posted on by Thor

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.

COVID Inside

Posted on by Thor

While I was doing this painting demo with a student, I got a text informing me that someone in the house tested positive for COVID-19. After all this time, I am finally directly exposed. We all plan to isolate for 5 days from the world and each other to try and avoid a full house of infection. We are planning to each sleep in separate rooms. However, it is a small house. Suddenly we had to think about the home’s circulation. Would infected air disperse throughout the home? We are hoping not since the main air intake is just in one spot. Every home should be set up with better air circulation systems and HEPA filters, but that is not a priority to protect from something that can not be seen.

I have a small air filter in the studio area, but from the moment I found out COVID had smuggled its way into the home I masked up. For the next 5 days I will likely be masked 24 hours a day, perhaps except when sleeping. So, can illness be avoided with the highly infectious BA5 variant once it is inside the home? I am seated right smack dab in the center of the petri dish, so time will tell. I will continue to take every possible precaution, but that may not be enough.

The likely point of infection for this case of COVID is probably a summer camp. I am teaching virtual summer camps and will continue to do so, although I will be masked even at home. We are all still scrambling to figure out the best way to proceed. There is no clear play book. I teach an in person class on weekends and I had to email to let them know I will not be in. I tried to leave a voice mail but it turns out the institution had no way to leave messages. Ultimately through texts, messages and emails, the students were contacted.

Centaurus

Posted on by Thor

A random Twitter user named the new BA2.75 variant of Omicron the Centaurus variant. The name seems to be sticking since all the news outlets have adopted it. BA2.75 was first detected in India in early May 2022. BA.2.75 has also since been detected in about 10 other countries, including the UK, US, Australia, Germany, Canada, and now the San Francisco Bay area in the United States. Centaurus will likely out compete BA5 in the coming weeks.

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) designated it a “variant under monitoring” on 7 July, meaning there is some indication that it could be more transmissible or associated with more severe disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) is also closely monitoring the new variant, although its chief scientist, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, said there were not yet enough samples to assess its severity.

Last year Delta seemed to be the worst case scenario, but Omicron which came seemingly out of nowhere was a major curve ball. Since the new variants of the BA lineage of COVID are getting better at evading immune protection form past infection and vaccines, it is becoming clear that the virus can not be treated like the common flu. It will be a problem for generations.

Lake Eola Farmer’s Market

Posted on by Thor

My advanced student and I sketched at the entrance to the Lake Eola Farmer’s Market. Several guys in yellow vests were canvasing the crowd to inform them about human trafficking.

We had picked our sketching location because of the shade offered by a large tree. Across the path people sat on the ledge of a short wall.

The guy with the large Saint Bernard dog seemed to be posing for us. People stopped to pet his pup and take pictures. Anyone who would listen would hear about the large pup’s history.

He said his pup was born in Switzerland and is 9 years old. The dog has it’s own Instagram page and the owner shared his handle with everyone. His primary goal seemed to be to make his dog the most popular dog on Instagram.

This was a rare day when my student and I were not drenched in rain. It seems that starting a sketch one hour later means always getting soaked before the sketch is complete.

BA Bingo

Posted on by Thor

The BA4 and BA5 variants of Omicron is causing a massive wave or re-infections thanks to its immune escape ability. IF you were infected with a previous variant of COVID-19 or if you are “fully” vaccinated, you are not protected from being infected by the BA4 and BA 5 variants. Some experts believe that over one million people are being infected every day. If, like me you have managed to evade infection so far, your time is running out before you become infected.

I continue to take basic safety precautions like masking and social distancing not because I fear death, but because I don’t want to have to deal with long haul COVID symptoms and complications. I had to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles, a nightmare in itself, and in that tight crowded room no one had a ask on besides myself. I am amazed by that.

The vaccines are great at helping avoid hospitalizations and death but they are bot the ultimate solution in America’s new normal. The huge rise in cases caused by BA5 is resulting in a rise in hospitalizations. It would seem to make sense that a rapid rise in cases should result in people taking basic precautions, but Americans seem to be “over” COVID. The virus then happily take advantage of holiday travelers and people gathering in huge crowds. It seems humanity is pre-programed to huddle together in tight crowds and long lines.

Some believe that future variants of COVID will become weaker causing less severe illness but that is not a foregone conclusion. Pi, Sigma, Tau, Upsilon, any one of these can become more deadly. This virus will never be eradicated. Generations from now, children will be getting vaccinated for COVID-19 because our generation wasn’t able to take the threat of the virus seriously. Take simple basic precautions to help stop the spread. Get vaccinated, wear you mask indoors and outdoors if in a crowd, and social distance. BA5 can spread person to person even with a brief passing encounter indoors and outdoors.

239 Larch Avenue Dumont, New Jersey Reconstruction

Posted on by Thor

As an exercise with online Elite Animation Academy Art students, I had them look up their home on Google maps and then use a Street View to sketch a two point perspective view.  I sketched the house I was born in. Since our family left the home back in 1972, a second story was added above the garage and the second story dormer was replaced with a full second story. The resulting building is a simple cube shape with another cube shaped garage attached.

The building is a warm tan in 2022 but back in 1972 it was a steel grey. I thought it might have been grey simply because we only have black and white photos of the building. By older brothers and sisters however confirmed the true color. I got multiple details wrong in my initial pass at this sketch but brothers and sisters corrected my memories from back when I was 10 years old.

I was doing this house sketch exercise with one student and for some reason he was not able to draw any lines on his iPad. I went through a long series of checks vie our Zoom call to try and find out what might be wrong. We turned his iPad off and on again. We checked the opacity levels and made sure he had black chosen as the color for his iPencil lines. Finally I asked him to show me how he was drawing his lies. Maybe it had to do with how he held the pencil. I was surprised to see that he was trying to draw on the iPad with a 6B lead pencil. It left no marks on the glass surface. When we realized that this was the “Tech” issue we both had a good laugh. He has an iPencil and we will be using it next time we sketch together. When he said he was using a pencil each time I asked, he wasn’t lying. This is an example of the types of challenges faced by an Analog Artist in a Digital World.

Chasing the Virus

Posted on by Thor

Scientists keep trying to keep up with the rapidly changing COVID-19 virus but it keeps mutating faster than they can develop new and more effective vaccines. With the rise of BA5 which can better evade immune protection, we could be facing a perfect storm. Travel over the July 4th holiday rose back to pre-pandemic levels. About 2.5 million people went through airport security check points. It was the largest travel weekend since the start of the pandemic.  With transmission levels high, large numbers of people traveling, and shifting attitudes about the pandemic, and the BA5 which has been shown to increase hospitalizations in several countries around the world. The pandemic is not done with us.

Vaccines seem to always be a step behind the virus. Boosters are becoming less effective against avoiding infection. Anti-vax misinformation has lead to vaccine uptake in the United States being lax at best. 90 million doses of vaccine have been thrown out in the United States because it went unused or expired. Variant specific boosters will likely never keep up with the fast COVID mutations. By the time a BA5 specific booster is developed there will likely already be a BA6 and BA7 variant that will completely change the playing field.

When first introduced the vaccines seemed like the ultimate solution. However with the rapid mutation of the virus it seems protection from infection may only last several months at best. Waning immunity and immune evasion are causing a continual rise in hospitalization. Chasing variants is not the solution. The dogs of science will never catch that rabbit.

 

The Houdini Escape Virus

Posted on by Thor

The Omicron BA5 variant is a Houdini Escape Artist. When people got infected they might be frightened for a moment but when they recovered, they let out a sigh of relief and thought they were done with the virus. The same happened for folks who became “fully vaccinated”. Once vaccinated people thought they were done with the virus and returned to life as normal. BA5 has changed the playing field. Re-infections are not only more common but they are happening on a scale never before imagined. It is estimated that there are over 100,000 new cases daily and that is likely an under count since at home testing and people getting infected and simply not reporting their infections make an accurate count impossible. About 300 people continue to die every day which is like 3 commercial airline crashes every day. This level of death seems to becoming acceptable for most Americans.

The original Wuhan strain of the virus was very deadly because it infected people’s lungs leaving people like fish out of water gasping for air. The Omicon variants which might have evolved by infecting mice proved to be less deadly because they only infected the nose and throat, and not affecting the lungs as much. BA5 has taken a step back, becoming similar to the original Wuhan virus and settling deep into peoples lungs. Multiple re-infections are resulting in people getting more serious outcomes. Even mild infections and re infections are resulting in long bouts of Long COVID which can be debilitating. Only time will tell if it is truly more deadly.

The BA5 variant which is now dominating in the United States is the worst possible version of the virus to hit the United States yet. This virus’s ability for immune escape means those with past infections and those who are vaccinated can and will become infected. On top of immune escape the virus is the most contagious variant to date. It is close to becoming the most contagious virus ever, second only to the measles.

Since vaccines are becoming less effective against prevent COVID infections, it is reasonable to assume the hospitalizations and deaths will also be on the rise. I track hospitalizations daily, and they are indeed on a steady rise. Despite this basic health safety precautions have been abandoned and our nation is unable to adjust to the changing playing field.

“The superpower of BA.4 and BA.5 is, if you had Omicron in January, you’re still going to be susceptible to getting BA.4 and BA.5. It’s the escape artist of COVID, the Houdini, because the spike protein looks so different, even (compared) to BA1. The front guards, the antibodies, are not recognizing it,” Chin-Hong told KRON4 on July 5, 2022.