Worcester county, where we live, is thinly populated and rather rural. Small town, not much in the way of big public gatherings now or ever. Yet our COVID population shot up from almost zero to 258% of the previous number — in a WEEK. It’s not (mostly) the residents, although there are more unvaccinated people than there should be. The biggest problem are tourists because in the summer, Cape Cod is a huge draw — even with a lot more sharks than we used to have.
We’ve been vaccinated. All three of us were vaccinated as soon as we became eligible. But this new variant has been spreading so fast and we’ve gotten rather mixed messages about whether or not the vaccination will prevent infection or merely limit the seriousness of any infection we got. All things considered, I don’t want any infection at all.
So we haven’t been out much. It has also been raining almost every day for the past two months. Today we seem to have had a dry, warm but pleasant day without any rain. This may be the first fully rain-free day in a long time. I was outside early in the morning. I fed the birds and hosed down the deck to get the old seeds off it. I was not as completely overwhelmed by mosquitoes today as I have been earlier this week, but they were bad enough. I don’t know if these are mosquitoes or some other biting flying bug. Something got inside last night and chewed up my back, but the bites are very small and not nearly as itchy as mosquito bites are. Flying jaws?
One more dry day and maybe Owen can mow the lawn! It’s about a foot high and it’s really green! About as green as our lawn has ever been. The rain has made everything green. We are being strangled by vines — at least three different types that I recognize and a couple more that I don’t recognize.
The idea of having to go back to masks is demoralizing. We just took them off!
So we are mostly lurking at home. I feel like we should be getting out more. We should be doing something, but mostly, we aren’t. We have a couple of long weekend vacations with friends coming up to which I am looking forward.
Maybe August will be better.
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Categories: #Birds, Anecdote, Cardinal, Coronavirus - Covid 19
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
I have two worries about August. First, with continued Republican resistance to getting vaccinated and to wearing face masks, I worry that the delta variant is going to explode and we’ll be in the same situation with COVID-19 that we were last year at this time.
Second, Trump has set expectations among his faithful minions that he will be reinstated as President in August. And when that doesn’t happen, I worry about how his MAGA-maniacs will react. I worry that the January 6th insurrection will seem mild by comparison.
I hope I’m wrong on both of these worries and that August will, indeed, be better.
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We are already hitting levels we haven’t seen since April — a 258% rise in COVID in a WEEK. And this is the most vaccinated state in the country.
I hate to think those lunatics could come back, but I’m guessing we’ve got some protection in place this time. I sure as hell HOPE so. I’m not even sure what better IS anymore. I do know that I have no faith in anyone doing the right thing. I try not think about it.
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That’s quite a jump … so far out here in Nor Cal hospitalization levels are manageable. But who know how long that might be. I think the virus has been around a lot longer than we thought and it has affected the brains of many people.
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It took a huge leap here, starting down on the Cape. That’s what the CDC has been tracking to see if vaccinated people pick up the Delta variant because most of the people who have picked it up here ARE vaccinated. None of the vaccinated people have gotten more than very slightly sick and if they hadn’t gotten tested, no one would have suspected COVID. But those tourists arrive and they bring more than bathing suits with them. Why there’s such a big jump right in THIS county I have no idea. Unless everyone has been going to concerts or baseball games.
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Brilliant photographs. I can never seem to get such detailed images of the birds I photograph. As far as COVID is concerned, having been fully vaccinated my fear of contracting the virus is fairly low. I too have stopped wearing a mask in most situations. What upsets me are the anti-vax people. My brother-in-law, for instance, is afraid of side-effects. He can’t seem to grasp that a day or two of discomfort is preferable to death. Then there are the people who cling to their “freedom” as an excuse. Absorbed with their own self-interest, they refuse to accept that by getting inoculated, they are also protecting those around them. I believe that many Americans are simply lacking in intelligence. They refuse to accept the science. Vaccination has been around since the Eighteenth Century. The vast majority have already been vaccinated against a host of diseases: measles, mumps, rubella. Besides those shots, I’ve received tetanus and even smallpox vaccines. As far as I can tell, I’m doing just fine.
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Yes, sadly, I think we are suffering from a massive case of stupidity. I don’t know when we got so dumb. Can politics CAUSE stupidity? Is it cell phones?
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I’d say, given the astonishing number of positive cases you’ve quoted, that the mask is safer, if a lot more annoying. I’m not wearing mine in public, but I haven’t heard of any case of “D” here either. It’s probably safer to wear the danged mask than catch it because nobody knows much about Covid, as far as we’ve come and as long as the damned virus has stuck around. Take care Marilyn!
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I’m staying away from people as much as possible. I don’t trust them to really have gotten vaccinated and not be lying about it. I feel like strangling the whole lot of anti-vaxxers. They should move somewhere else — a place for stupid people!
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We also have more cases of Covid now due to the new variant, but I am not sure how it is. In our Kanton we have about 1 or 2 new cases every 2-3 days, Switzerland is now having 7-800 daily instead of the 1-200 we were having, so I just hope. No-one seems to know exactly how well we are protected from our vaccinations and we are all vaccinated here.
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And Massachusetts is THE most vaccinated state in the country — but there are tourists and tourists may or may not be protected. It’s really incredibly frustrating. I don’t understand it at all. You get tourists too, I think. Who knows what they “bring” with them?
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Our tourists are only allowed in the country if they can prove that they have an accepted vaccination by the government
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Theoretically that’s true too, but apparently fake vaccination cards are getting really popular. People really ARE stupid.
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