I am reminded of the line from the ads for the sequel to “Jaws” — Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…
Just as all of us thought it was safe to unmask and stand closer to each other than six feet and stop washing our hands like we were obsessive -compulsives and return to pre-pandemic life, the COVID19 virus mutated once again into a more transmissible, and possibly deadlier, version of itself: the Omicron Variant (Sounds like the title to a SciFi movie). This fiendish bug seems to have a consciousness all its own, deliberately evading human attempts to crush it once and for all.
Leslie and I are fully vaccinated, and have had our booster shots. But is Omicron capable of defeating the vaccines? No one knows; nor is anyone likely to know for weeks. We are psychologically at a point I’d call reasonable resignation — we’ve done all we can do to stay healthy, if we end up infected anyway, ascribe it to God’s will or fate or destiny.
We flew to Miami for Thanksgiving, on a full flight that could have been a super-spreader event but wasn’t. Younger son Marc and daughter-in-law Erin have put on a holiday feast at their Coral Gables house for the past ten years, a tradition broken only once. That was last year, when the pandemic was at its worst. Twenty people gathered there this year, and the whole crowd ate, drank, watched football, and was generally as merry as in the days before the plague. But it was a COVID Thanksgiving. Elder son Geoff, a libertarian and anti-vaxxer, submitted to a COVID test administered by me, with a kit I’d purchased at CVS. He tested negative.
Omicron, by the way, is the 15th letter in the 24-letter Greek alphabet, between Xi and Pi. I’m not sure how the new Variant skipped 11 places from the its previous incarnation,, Delta, the 4th letter. What happened to Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, etc.? I assume there is some logic, some method to the epidemiological naming process. Let me know if you know what it is.
Meanwhile, trusting in God, fate or destiny, Omicron be damned, we are driving out to Arizona tomorrow and will spend Christmas with my sister in Phoenix. That’s all the news I have from this side of Lake Woebegone.
I read A Rumor of War in the 70s. It still has an impact. The last book I read was Crossers which I found very interesting as I am very familiar with AZ. My father was born in Bisbee and I have lived in Phoenix and Tucson spending some time in the wilds. I am temporarily (20 years) in Virginia before we head back to the Old Pueblo. If I ever get my attention span back I have another copule of your books picked out. Enough about me.
Your vision of what is occurring in this world is so remarkable clear. And you have a way with words that I will never come close to. I have enjoyed the your books immensely and going back though your dispatches has been an interesting journey.
Thanks for all of your work. I wish you the best in your battles against your physical ailments. It sounds like you have done your research and have that well in hand. It is selfish of me; however, I hope you keep writing. Please continue share your clarity of thought with the world that is unfortunately infatuated ignorance.
Thanks much for the kind words.
Phil and Leslie,
The invitation to safe harbor with us here in Colorado stands during your annual drive to AZ. Safe travels.
Travel safe.
I believe the reason the CDC did not use Nu or Xi is very simple.
nu sounds like new and no one would comprehend what the media was saying without seeing the Nu symbol.
And why, would a nation that would not even ask Xi Jinping about the Uyghur imprisonment, sterilization, forced labor, the theft of our pattens and intellectual properties, the shut down if speech, disappearing tennis players, journalist, and Wuhan doctors, the supersonic missiles, the created China Sea military island, the military buildup, the threats to Taiwan name a virus with Xi
The first name of the ruler for life of China. The president never even brought up the China based virus, culpability and responsibility, cover up in his Zoom call with Xi.
It’s deadly serious, and the world won’t get involved.
Journalists need to get serious regardless of party.
Merry Christmas
Bull walsh
Ok, I get it re: Nu and Xi, but my question still stands: what happened to the other 8 of the 10 letters between Delta and Omicron? Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta,Iota, Kappa, Lambda, Mu? (Sounds like a frat party gone berserk) Were those variants that didn’t make it to the majors? Stillborn variants? A crucial question for these trying times.
Glad to hear all good news and that you are migrating. Began Leslie’s fine book today.
Vaya con Dios, mis amigos
Very sorry that your grandson is an anti-vaxxer. Hard to understand the unwillingness of people to fail to accept a branch of science that is hundreds of years old. I can’t imagine that his attitude would have been tolerated during the Polio days of the ’50s when the vaccines became available. Also, it is selfish since the difficulty in reducing the Covid-19 spread is caused by its ability to be transmitted by those who are not vaccinated. How those nations without access to free vaccinations must be scratching their heads. But, alas, I am preaching to the converted, I expect.
Alas, you are
Hi Phil covid is testing for sure !! Have fun in AZ ok ??