Day 11 - Mask mandate REINSTATED by LA County Dept. of Health

The BA2 variant…

South Africa, the UK, and Denmark have seen a huge increase in the BA2 variant, following on the heels of Omicron.  In LA, the BA2 variant makes up about 1% of cases.  How do we know that percentage is accurate when testing in the US is so inadequate?  

Today, “public health officials” (whoever that is), says the BA2 variant is 30% more transmissible. I never thought I’d say this, but it’s obvious that, unless you wear an N95 consistently, masks are completely ineffective when used to ward off Omicron  due to the high transmissibility rate; at one point, the US was registering 800,000 cases a day!  Now, BA2 is enroute to America and is thought to be 30% more transmissible? If you haven’t had Omicron yet, you don’t stand a chance. 

Let’s do some Covid math…Omicron was 70%+ more transmissible than Delta and Covid-19. If the BA2 variant is 30% more transmissible than Omicron, then that means…[drum roll, please]… the BA2 is 100% transmissible. I know my Covid math is flawed, but the point I’m trying to make, which is the same point the FDA Director made a couple months ago, is that there are no mitigating measures that will stop an Omicron infection. Depending on when you got the ‘jab’, the vaccine and/or booster will prevent severe illness or death…but that’s all. I predict BA2 will burn itself out quickly. There are almost no hosts left…Americans have either died or were already infected.  

I commented a few weeks ago that “public health officials” are no longer using the term “herd immunity”, largely because it was a fraudulent concept to begin with, used to generate hope among my fellow Americans, as in “The virus will burn itself out after we reach herd immunity, thank goodness.”  I debunked this theory in one of my earlier blog posts almost as soon as the “public health officials” started talking about it. Herd immunity doesn’t occur unless the virus is gone, eradicated, kaput, destroyed, at which point, nobody gets sick because the virus is DEAD. That’s herd immunity. 

 Hope started fading as Fauci slowly moved the goalposts:  

Fauci: “Everyone, you have to trust the science…herd immunity occurs when 60% of the populace is infected, which means the virus will eradicate itself…there are not enough hosts for it to survive…Then later: No, uh sorry, now its 70%...the science is always changing.” Then later: “Herd immunity occurs at 85%...new studies from blah, blah, blah  show...” Even later: “Hey, sorry everyone, it’s actually 95%”... and then two months ago, Fauci doesn’t even use the word anymore.  He calls it “background” immunity and today, I heard another “public health official” refer to herd immunity as “community” immunity. What a joke!  Trust the science, they say. What science?

 2/26/22. Saturday

9:00-9:30 –I wake up naturally and text L. that she and T. should hike Mt. Rubidoux since they’re staying at the Mission Inn. Then, I start a load of laundry.

9:30-10:00 – I have a conversation with B. about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

10:00-10:15 – I go downstairs to say good morning to the dog.  She’s awake and running around so we go outside straight away. I check my plants while I wait for her to go potty. Return inside and cheese for her while I make a cup of coffee.

10:30-1:00 – Blog posts.  I listen to PBS New Segments; Marketplace Money; and Be Wealthy and Smart while I have two pieces of chocolate.

1:00-2:00 – bullet journal

2:00-4:00 – I’m a little embarrassed to admit this because I sound unhinged, but I’m afraid there might be some serious disruptions to the food supply chain now that Russia has invaded Ukraine…I decide to stockpile. I already bought all of my 2022 toiletries in December so I’m good there, but I should shore up my food supplies.

-I go through my pantry and refrigerator and take an inventory, then discard all of my expired items. I cook and meal prep everything I have on hand today before I go to the grocery store. I prepare two spinach salads and add tomatoes and cheese.  Then, I make a batch of scrambled eggs and store in individual containers for next week. I steam the remaining carrot sticks that I chopped last week and have them for lunch and dinner. I boil the last of my eggs and make overnight oats in bulk to have for breakfast over the coming days. I clean the kitchen and create a Master grocery list.

-Next, I go through my cookbooks and pick several meals that I can prepare and freeze. Then, I add the ingredients to my grocery list.

-I have a few pieces of cheese and the last of L.’s tortilla chips for a snack.

4:30-5:30 – Upload blog posts and I read a few previous posts for old times sake.  For motivation, I have a piece of chocolate.

5:30-6:00-I put on workout clothes, wash my face, brush my teeth and hair, and put my contacts in; then

6:00-6:45 – I do a 30-minute, Insanity Max – Tabata Power workout.

6:45-7:20 – I put on a hoodie and mascara, grab my lunch bag, and leave for Food-4-Less, the “poor store.”  Driving.  I listen to What Next.

7:20-8:30 – Grocery shopping at Food-4-Less.  Nobody is here and everyone is masked. I listen to Today Explained about the history of Ukraine while I shop.

8:30-8:45 – Driving. I listen to The Political Gabfest

8:45-9:30 – At Sprouts and I buy the remaining items on my list that Food-4-Less didn’t have. I continue listening to The Political Gabfest. Like Food-4-Less, nobody is here and everyone is masked.

9:30-9:45 – Driving

9:45-10:30 – I listen to More Happier while I put all the food away.

10:30-2:00 – Long day. Exhausted, I start watching KIMI, a new release starring Zoe Kravitz, but I fall asleep after 30 minutes and don’t wake up for 3 hours.  Long Covid?

2:00-2:30 – I take the dog out and lock up.

2:30-3:00 – I start working on my bullet journal, but fall asleep. Why didn’t I just go straight to bed?  Now my sleep is so fragmented.

4:30-I wake up, do my nighttime routine, and now I’m officially going to bed.