Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™

Made it through July! The heat is kicking butt all over the country. You know things are screwy when New York is hotter than south Florida and new heat records are being set in the Pacific northwest. That’s just wrong. My daughter will be visiting Seattle this month and I am hoping the weather cools off. In August. Is that even possible at this point? South Florida meteorologists are busy watching all the tropical storms and Floridians are hoping they pass us by. So far, so good but it is early times so we are ever vigilant. But interestingly, heat isn’t the big problem in south Florida because everything is air conditioned. It’s the places in this country (and the world) that aren’t used to the heat and don’t have the infrastructure in place where people are dying. The NYT had this scary yet fascinating piece: America in 2090: The Impact of Extreme Heat, in Maps

Can you believe summer is half over already? The days are flying by, probably because I’m not stuck at home 24/7. I’m still careful going out but I go to the supermarket and Costco and Target and just wear my mask. Yes, I’m vaccinated, but a lot of people in my area are not. As the pandemic and the Delta variant heat up, there has been about 10% breakthrough for vaccinated people ending up with Covid. Luckily, the vast majority are either asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, mild enough to keep out of the hospital. Something like 97% of hospitalized Covid patients have not been vaccinated. Not surprised here. It’s just mindboggling to me that people all over the world are literally dying because they can’t get the vaccine, and people here won’t walk down the street to the CVS or whatever and get a free shot, no waiting. Ignorance is not always bliss. Nowadays, it’s downright dangerous.

College classes start up later this month and I can’t wait to see all the students again! Lynn University is going back to full time on campus, and hopefully, it works. They are not requiring vaccines but cannot even if they wanted to because our idiot governor keeps passing laws making sure people are going to die here. So schools who did institute a vaccine mandate (like Nova Southeastern University) had to rescind it. I worry because college students are in the age group least likely to get vaccinated, and Lynn has a large (20%) international student population, some of whom didn’t have access to vaccines in their home countries. They have kept pretty good control of the situation over the past year, and I sincerely hope they continue to do so.

Just recently, the ladies room in the library where I work lost its paper towel dispenser. In its place? A high speed hand dryer. Those things are known to spread disease so it really seems like a horrible idea, especially during a pandemic. To be honest, I was really shocked at this decision. I have felt pretty safe at work. They installed plexiglass shields at the public desks, a huge air purifier on each floor of the library, and hired a special cleaning service to come through several times a day. But I haven’t seen the cleaners for weeks and now this germ machine. Guess I’ll drip dry on my way back to my office!

Meanwhile, Norwegian Cruise Lines is suing Florida after the state banned vaccine passports, saying it cannot safely resume sailings without ensuring its passengers and crew are vaccinated against COVID-19. They are even considering pulling ships out of Florida. So far they are losing the battle, but hopefully if they get to the Supreme Court, they will win. The court, despite the Trump appointees, recently ruled that Indiana University can require vaccines so maybe the same will hold true for the cruise industry. They had horrific problems during the beginning of the pandemic. “Roughly one year ago, thousands of people were trapped on cruise ships just waiting to go home. They would spend weeks, some months, in tiny rooms with the world watching as the coronavirus became all too real.” https://fox40.com/news/local-news/a-look-back-stuck-on-cruise-ships-local-couples-relied-on-wavering-hope-as-covid-19-became-a-shocking-reality/

The CDC revised its evaluation of the mask situation in light of the ever-rising number of Covid cases and hospitalizations. They are now recommending even vaccinated people where masks indoors, and that all students wear masks when school starts. Here in Florida, that is right around the corner. Palm Beach County goes back August 10, they only gave those kids a 6 week summer vacation, which is probably for the best considering that the latest report shows kids lost at least 6-8 months of school last year and minorities are particularly hard hit. So masks, again. The CDC says it’s not necessary in areas where more people are vaccinated, so if you’re not sure, here’s a map:

My beautiful grandson is growing like crazy and is still the happiest baby ever! I miss him so much. Please indulge me…

As always, thanks for reading and stay safe!

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 1st, 2021 at 8:00 AM and is filed under Ramblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.