COVID Corona Update-- Almost Two Years and...

The photo above shows people/cars gathered at the Shiloh COVID Corona testing site. 

getting COVID vaccine #4
aka booster #2

Numbers of "positives," whether with symptoms or asymptomatic are skyrocketing. I have my theories...

From what I understand most of the "positives" would never have gotten tested if the "law" hadn't demanded it. They had/have no symptoms. Here in Israel at least, many people need to be tested for work, studies, visiting the vulnerable, such as those in old age homes, or because they'd been identified as exposed to someone sick with COVID Corona.

This latest version of COVID Corona is much milder and less dangerous than the previous ones, otherwise the hospitals/healthcare system would have totally collapsed. I'm not surprised.

Epidemics like COVID Corona usually last about two years, and  it looks like the virus is getting less dangerous, though spreading easily.

IMHO we're getting to the time when the vaccine and booster will be recommended periodically, and COVID Corona will join the flu and common cold as part of life.

I also think that some of us will keep masking in public and closed places. It's a relatively easy precautionary measure against all air-borne viruses. 

What do you think?

I Do Choose What to Believe, and I Believe That COVID IS MORE DANGEROUS THAN THE VACCINE

Barely a week ago, I called our healthcare provider to book an appointment for the third or booster vaccine against COVID corona. Just a couple of days later I went to a nearby clinic and was vaccinated.

Since the epidemic began, I've been following regulations/suggestions even when it meant that I wore a mask at the birthday parties for our preschool grandchildren. Except for the occasional video call, they didn't see our smiles for a year. Masks were only taken off after being vaccinated.

Even when the kids came over, I'd serve but not eat with them.

For decades I've been known as a "health food nut." My cakes and challot are made with whole-wheat flour and brown sugar. I had been a vegetarian for a quarter of a century. My kids were "deprived," since we didn't have chocolate, candy or soda in the house when they were growing up.

I rarely rushed to a doctor for prescriptions, but I never had a doubt that certain illnesses and conditions healed best, most quickly and sometimes only by taking conventional medicines. 

Proudly I recall standing in line with my first grade class to be vaccinated against polio during that historic time in the middle of the 20th century. Later we were given different versions of the vaccine, since it was all so experimental. None of the experts were sure which would be most effective.

Every medicine, vaccine can have a rare dangerous side-effect, but as a CPA's daughter the math is simple. The illnesses/conditions we take those medicines for are much more dangerous. That's why so much money is needed for pharmaceutical research and testing. 

The polio vaccine was horrendously experimental but brilliantly effective. The Small Pox vaccine was a nightmare causing days of high fever. My two eldest children had to get it, and I'll never forget how sick it made them. But today Small Pox is history, and my younger children and grandchildren didn't require it. These deadly, crippling illnesses are now unknown. 

If people would just get vaccinated against COVID corona, we'll be able to return to a more pleasant life. Periodic vaccines and boosters are a small price to pay for health.

The financial ripoff isn't conventional medicine. It's all those pyramid schemes selling "oils" and "vitamins" etc. via agent after agent. The "sales staff" invites friends to "invest" and sell and then find new suckers to join their schemes. None of these medicines/products have been through any sort of proper testing. But lots of people are getting rich and even more are losing money. And some who should have trusted their doctors are losing their health and even their lives.
 

Masks- A Linguistic Purim Spiel, Story, Dvar Torah

Bemasked and Bewigged Purim 5781

I was rather surprised and even flattered when a neighbor asked me to prepare something to say about "Masks" for the Old Fogeys' Purim Party. To be honest, I wasn't quite sure if I was supposed to be serious, theological or humorous, but I figured that if I asked too many questions, I'd lose the gig.

My mind began racing in all different directions in two languages. Actually, I was thinking in English and translating into Hebrew almost simultaneously. The talk was to be in Hebrew, even though my brain's wiring is primarily English. 

One shouldn't forget that according to some expert linguists, Hebrew is the root/source of all languages. If that's really true, then thinking in English is sort of like thinking in Hebrew. 

Every once in awhile the similarities between English and Hebrew words strike me like a bolt of lightening. When I'm on the Jerusalem Lightrail in Pisgat Zeev I hear:

"פסגת זאב מרכז"

"Pisgat Zeev Merkaz*"

"Pisgat Zeev Market"

Until the lightrail announcement, I had never noticed the similarity between merkaz and market. Remember that markets are in town centers...

Back to masks...

...The job of a mask is to mask is to hide...

OOPS! A mask is a מסכה masecha, but to mask or to hide is להסתיר lihas'tir which unrelated linguistically to מסכה masecha. which has the same root as סוכה succah, which gives us protection. 

By thinking/planning in English I was making no sense in Hebrew. And davka me, who gets all riled up at bad translations causing even theological mistakes. For example a Biblical Prophet, Navi נביא is not a fortune or future teller. He or she is a messenger, a tool Gd uses to pass important warnings to the Jewish People. Because it's always translated into "prophet" meaning teller of the future, now even Hebrew speakers think that the role of a Navi is tell the future.

Mask does sound very much like masecha. Maybe they are related...

Then it hit me! Such siyate d'Shmaya, such irony, too! During this past year masks have been a tool for protection against the COVID corona virus! No longer do we primarily think of a bank robber in a mask. Now we wear masks to stay healthy and keep others healthy. It's for protection, not hiding. 

Hebrew really is the root of all languages.

Stay safe, and wear your mask in public or when with other people.

*Center

Letters From Planet Corona- A Book Review

Letters From Planet Corona is a series of "letters" written by Chaya Passow during the first half year plus of the COVID corona pandemic, which has changed our lives in so many ways.  They had been sent out to numerous family and friends, who enthusiastically read them and encouraged her to publish them in book form. Now all of us can buy and read Letters From Planet Corona, which also makes a great present for others.

Chaya Passow is, davka, someone I had known in my teens way back when in the old country, and we had just gotten reacquainted* a short time before COVID corona closed down what we all now refer to as "before" or "normal life." 

It's rather ironic that Chaya began sending out these letters to friends and family, as my blogging went into paralysis of sorts. But I must admit that Chaya's letters are much better than any of my musings aka blogposts. She combines, humor, stories, philosophy, news, religion, fantasy and more.

We can all identify with the subjects and emotions Passow describes in Letters From Planet Corona. I love how she suddenly notices the flowers in front of her building, because on Planet Corona she exits the front door to walk in her immediate neighborhood instead of going out the back to her car. Yes, on Planet Corona our world has shrunken. For many of us, we only travel to go to a doctor or the dentist.

I look forward to seeing Chaya again in person, but in the meantime I've enjoyed getting to know her via Letters From Planet Corona. I'm sure that you will, too; buy her book.

Product details

• Publisher : City of Gold Press (December 1, 2020)
• Language : English
• Paperback : 239 pages
• ISBN-10 : 9655994058
• ISBN-13 : 978-9655994056

*Chaya Passow's son plays quarterback for the Jerusalem "Big Blue" Lions which is coached by my son. Yes, it's a very small world. We had been looking forward to cheering the team onto its fourth straight IFL national championship when all sports activities were stopped in order to prevent/reduce infection.

When Will The COVID "Typhoid Marys" Admit Their Mistakes?

I wear a mask even when walking. Why doesn't everyone wear masks and keep the rules to keep us all safe?

Here in Shiloh, when the COVID corona positive person agrees, there are detailed public announcements that ____ has been diagnosed. 

In addition a list of places where the person had been are listed, and it always says, so far at least:

"wore a mask and behaved according to instructions." 

One thing bothers me. The sum total of those sick and the names announced don't tally. 

Then I realized that not everyone has agreed to have his/her name publicized. OK... 

In cases I've heard of people sick with COVID corona who've refused publication, they've been neighbors who flout the rules. I guess that's why they won't let their names out. 

The announcement would have to give that detail, no masks and mocked the rules. 

I'm waiting for one of those to allow their names to be publicized and then say: 

"Chatati, I've sinned and I'm sorry."

Get Vaccinated!

Plea For Honesty and Openness, Please Admit When COVID Positive

I should hope that by now everyone, even the most fanatic of the doubters, admits that COVID corona can be very deadly and is extremely contagious.

Here in Shiloh we periodically get notices about neighbors being COVID Positive, meaning that they have been officially diagnosed as sick with corona. 

In the beginning, I was pretty relaxed figuring that not too many neighbors had gotten the disease, since so few names had been released. But then I began to notice a major discrepancy in the numbers of those whose names had been released and the total number announced of  affected people living here in Shiloh. You don't have to be a CPA's daughter like myself to know that the numbers weren't adding up at all. 

Then I discovered something very, very disturbing and worrying. Quite a few people had been refusing to release their names to the general public, insisting that they would let everyone they had been in "close" contact during the crucial contagion days know. Technically, the law is with them on that. But it means that if their family members -including young kids- aren't keeping the legally required quarantine, we innocent/ignorant neighbors have no idea of knowing. That's dangerous, especially since children are known to be asymptomatic COVID Positive in many cases. 

Another "privacy" issue concerns who has been vaccinated and who hasn't?

When I decorated our Shiloh 43rd Birthday/Anniversary poster, I added the "We've Been Vaccinated" sticker I had. I think it's very important to know if someone has or hasn't been vaccinated. Many of us are making great efforts to stay healthy and protect others.

I'm always masked when outdoors and do my best to keep my distance from those whose vaccination and health status are unknown and possibly dangerous. 

IMHO all those men and women too who pray in a minyan, whether inside or outside, must make a public notice if they're confirmed as COVID Positive. The same goes for any staff member in a store or a medical clinic. The health safety of others should override personal privacy. That's why I've written this: 

Plea For Honesty and Openness, Please Admit When COVID Positive

Sort of Locked-down Jerusalem, Corona COVID Life

Yesterday I escaped to Jerusalem for a few hours. To be honest, it's rather risky. For me, my age makes me one of those who should be avoiding people. And in terms of corona COVID statistics, Shiloh is much, much greener/safer than Israel's Capital Jerusalem. But I'd been home for over a month and a half. To say I was going stir crazy is no exaggeration. As "jails" go, Shiloh may be rather benevolent and friendly, but waking outside, zooming with friends and family, facebook, whatsapp etc just aren't enough. 

Following are photos, some with captions of sorts to illustrate what I found in the Holy City of Jerusalem.

Body language says it all. 

No eye contact. People are masked in more ways than one. No unnecessary touching of anything. It's like we're all within our personal portable jails, even when on the lightrail.

Depending on where you're looking, life looks almost normal, but for after 10am too many stores are totally shuttered.

With typical Israeli ingenuity, these fabric and notion stores are trying to sell their wares. Those who know how to sew are the lucky ones, because clothing stores were boarded up. 

Shopping for fabric required explaining to the sales staff what you wanted, choosing and then "ordering" for immediate "delivery." I discovered that many storeowners adopted this method of sales, as if they were pizza or felafel places.

Very lonely Jerusalem street with most stores totally shut until the government allows them to open.

Even some shoe stores have adopted the immediate order/delivery system, though I presume they permit people to try on their shoes first.

I just can't imagine buying shoes I haven't tried on. My feet and body are just too unique and delicate to trust online shoe shopping.

I almost bought a few packs of these gorgeous masks, but then I ran into a good friend who told me that she bought the same ones much more cheaply in Rami Levi. I must find someone to buy me some pretty colored masks there.

One thing for sure, disposable masks have dropped dramatically in price.

Prices have dropped, but the stores are locked. I guess you can order online, but I like to see and touch items first. That's how I judge quality.

Just in case those trying to get into the main post office have no idea of what two meters, aka social distancing, means, there are little boxes on the sidewalk to show you where to stand. 

People were very obedient. It's taking awhile, but Israelis are beginning to accept the concept of physical distancing when downtown doing errands.

After filling my backpack with Israeli craft beer, Shapiro's to be exact, I was overjoyed to discover that HOBBY was "open." Of course "open" meant that customers couldn't enter.

I stuck my head and phone in as far as I could to see the colors of the jersey yarn HOBBY was selling. Then the salesgirl had to bring them to me. 

Not all of them looked the same up close, but I had no time to have her run back and forth the way I would have chosen. Also there were people lined up waiting to "shop." I'm glad to have a new stock of jersey yarn to crochet more bags.

In all honesty, I think that these craft, sewing notions and fabric stores should be open the public just like pharmacies are. For many of us crafts are valuable medical tools, occupational therapy. And this is a great time to teach children these wonderful arts and crafts instead of their just using computer apps to make "works of art."

Gd willing corona COVID will disappear quickly, and everyone should be healthy and healed. Let this lockdown nightmare be quickly over. 

I'm glad to have accomplished a lot in my Jerusalem escape. And in case you're wondering, I ate nothing while there, but I walked a lot.