A few days ago I posted: “The virulence, transmissibility, and vaccine resistance of the omicron variant is unknown, but it seems to be a fast-mover and is a reminder to be as safe as possible…” Now we know. Omicron is a very fast mover, anyone can infect anyone, cold weather is here, more people are sick (53% increase in cases over last 14 days in California), the variant causes illness ranging from mild to severe, California and New York have new universal mask mandates, so on and so forth and so, dear ones, here go again. We’re tired of this pandemic, but too bad; it’s not over.* Here is one functional way to approach the coro
navirus at this (omicron) stage of the game:
The vaccine + booster (the new “fully vaccinated”) is like a slice of magical Swiss cheese laid on top of you. Protection against severe disease is pretty good, but not 100%. AND even fully vaxed we can still carry and transmit the disease – thus infecting others and promoting the virus’ ability to further mutate.
A second slice of that cheese (the masking slice) on top of the first slice cuts the number of openings considerably, but still not completely (though highly effective against any variant).
Add a third slice (the social distancing slice) and there is hardly a hole in the protection. Good air circulation is essential to social distancing.
Frequent hand washing helps.
This “targeted layered containment” concept is taken directly from Michael Lewis (2021). The Premonition (pp. 92-93). WW Norton.
* Covid has killed >5,000,000 people worldwide and the U.S. leads the world in recorded deaths and cases (800,000). Trump’s crime against humanity.
Mr. Natural says, “Take heed.”