And Other Bad Words
We all went to see Six the Musical on Broadway.
We’ve been listening to the album since the spring of 2020, which is when we originally had tickets to see it. (until COVID-19 cancelled everything across the world.)
We did a lightning trip into NYC, driving in mid-day Saturday for a 3 pm show, and leaving the next morning.
I also brought along my newly-purchased camera, my first digital camera that wasn’t part of a smart phone, so I had to take some artsy-fartsy pictures.
After two years, much of the world seems to have given up on keeping a pandemic posture. I haven’t touched on COVID-19 in the blog in a while because I find it to be so frustrating. In the United States we’ve had strong anti-vax, anti-mask, and anti-science movements. They’ve really hampered efforts to “flatten the curve” of hospitalizations and keep COVID-19 from overwhelming the healthcare system.
Infection and hospitalization rates have dropped recently, so even the most vigilant have relaxed. Few people wear masks into stores; most employers are cajoling people back on-site. If there is going to be another resurgence of the virus, now is the time.
So, of course, the entire family is now COVID-19 positive.
We fell in a fairly orderly fashion: Megh, Alpha, me, Beta, one per day. The only family member not affected appears to be Butter-the-dog. I don’t know how to even tell if she is infected, but there’s evidence that she can. So far she seems fine.
We think we’ve traced it back to an outdoor event the past weekend in Concord to re-enact the “Battle Road” from the American Revolution. There was a crowd, and not everyone was masking – sadly, including us.
There have been a number of COVID-19 variants, and we seem to have caught a fairly recent one, Omicron, based on both the speed of infection and nature of symptoms. It’s been fairly mild for us overall.
We also visited Baba on Sunday, after infection but before contagiousness. Megh has been feeling guilt over the possibility of infecting her, but (so far) she has tested negative and seems fine. After this much time it’s unlikely she’ll contract it from us.
As a side note: my boss Terry, and his mother, also both tested positive for COVID-19 this week. I work from home so it’s just coincidental timing.
We’re just over a year into the COVID-19 pandemic. Most years past we would simply go to Meghan’s mother’s house, and she would put on a traditional dinner: boiled corned beef, boiled potatoes, and boiled cabbage.
Last year we ate a sad dinner on our own, as I had never made corned beef and cabbage before. I tried it in the slow cooker. It didn’t turn out very well. Lesson learned.
Due to the wonders of science and concentrated efforts, the world has vaccines in record time and we see the light at the end of the figurative tunnel. My mother-in-law has been vaccinated and graciously agreed to come to our house. And I’m taking another stab at making traditional Irish-American dinner.
Taken from How To Make Corned Beef:
Stovetop method: For a 5 pound brined corned beef brisket. Place the corned beef in a Dutch oven. Sprinkle with one tablespoon of pickling spice blend and pour in 4 cups beef broth. Add potatoes, carrots, and cabbage. Bring to a boil on high heat. Reduce heat, cover and cook for about 3 1/2 hours. Add water if necessary to keep brisket covered. Slice across the grain.
I don’t mind saying, it was delicious. But it might have been a side-effect of having company for the first time in a very, very long time.
We made two exceptions from tradition: I added garlic mashed potatoes, and we didn’t have Irish coffee after dinner.
After the first full week of quarantine, some observations.
Today the shortages are pasta, rice, french fries, and pepperoni. We couldn’t find any presliced pepperoni in Market Basket.
When we got back home around 8 pm the kids asked us to go out for a drive.Looking ahead, it seems that we might have to collectively hunker down for months, perhaps a year, perhaps more.
“The real winner of this pandemic are the nation’s dogs, who are experiencing unprecedented levels of People Being Home”
If you’re reading this far enough in the future, a bit of context may be needed.
As SARS-CoV-2 entered the United States a few weeks ago, we collectively looked at the ongoing experiences of China and Italy and jokingly compared it to Captain Trips. Meghan and I studied the history of the Spanish Flu looking for parallels and worst-case scenarios.
The lessons learned from 1918 are being applied by health officials right now, in an effort to avoid a healthcare-system-crushing pandemic. We can’t avoid contracting the virus, that is clear, but perhaps we can prevent everyone from catching it all at once.
In the middle of last week schools in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts started closing as a preemptive measure. Many businesses did as well, including my own. A few did not until they were ordered to. This all mirrors the experiences (and failures) in other countries that were hit by the virus first.
As I write this, the governor has ordered all schools closed for at least three weeks. Large gatherings are prohibited, originally capped at 250 people and now capped at 25.
— Governor Charlie Baker, March 15 2020
The ban also prohibits eating at restaurants (take-out and delivery are still allowed). By extension that essentially closes most bars, since you can’t take drinks to go. Bars garnered a lot of bad press over the weekend as people noted lines “out the door” at many downtown Boston establishments.
So basically we could go out if we really wanted to, but there’s no where to go right now.
Grocery stores are still allowed to be open, so people can buy things eat, but the doomsday preppers have effectively cleaned the shelves. Stores have struggled to keep essentials in stock, including (oddly) paper products like toilet paper, kleenex, and paper towels, as well as the true essentials that never spoil, like bread, milk, and eggs. Meghan witnessed someone buying five gallons of milk on Saturday. It’s like snow is coming.
Some businesses are instituting, or are relying on, work-from-home policies; unfortunately others, especially service-oriented jobs, are sending people home without pay.
I’m fortunate that I can work from home. We’ve cleaned out the office so I can get real work done, and made a spot for Butter to curl up. Meghan’s situation is a little murky, but so far as we can tell she will continue to be paid for the duration.
The kids are starting to get remote assignments from school. I expect the pace will pick up now that a longer, mandatory stay-at-home order is in place. Some schools in harder-hit areas have stayed open because they support homeless and needy children, providing much-needed meals and warm places to wash up.
Baba has been asking for advice on what social events to attend. (answer: zero.) My own parents have continued to live like nothing has changed, though they’re a bit less social than Baba. All three grand-parental-units are in multiple high-risk groups. Connecticut has been less affected by the outbreak so far. I’ve got my fingers crossed that they’ll come through without contracting it.