Category: COVID-19

bookmark_borderThe COVID-19 Diary: Sunday 19 December

Posted on by greg

Sporting events being canceled or rescheduled again. Broadway is canceling shows again. Hospital beds are filling up again. Saturday Night Live scrapped its planned show last night. Omicron is upon us. The good news is that we know what to do. Get fully vaccinated, including a booster, wear a mask, get tested before holiday gatherings, and try to stay away from people that aren’t vaccinated.

The bad news is that too many people won’t do it. We live in a country where only 61% of the population is fully vaccinated and only 30% have received a booster. Many of us live in places well below the national average.

It’s interesting to note that many states have wide variances between the percentage of fully vaxxed but narrow variances between the percentage that have received the booster. For example, Massachusetts is 73.9% fully vaxxed, while Kentucky is 53.8%. The booster percentages are 33.5% versus 32.3%.

(Source: The Washington Post.)

My reaction towards stories of people that refuse to get vaccinated has gone from astonishment to disgust to resignation. It’s selfishness on a level that I’ve never experienced before. The sad news is that the unvaccinated will continue to make up the majority of deaths and will have only themselves to blame. As someone I know once said, “I’m sorry that happened but I don’t feel sorry for you.”

Well, enough of that. On a positive note I’ve finished my Christmas shopping and sent my Christmas cards.

Stay healthy and safe.

Song of the Day

The entire Song of the Day playlist is available on YouTube.

bookmark_borderThe COVID-19 Diary: Saturday 18 December

Posted on by greg

For some reason (maybe the holiday shopping season) I started thinking about Kmart today. My first job out of college in 1984 was working for NCR on the Kmart account team. Kmart was the second largest retailer in the U.S., with 2,500 stores. The five most important general merchandise retail accounts for NCR at the time were Sears, Kmart, JCPenney, Montgomery Ward, and Walmart. The original Montgomery Ward went out of business in 2001. Sears and Kmart are owned by the same company now. Sears has sixteen stores remaining. Kmart has six. Those will probably close in 2022. JCPenney declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 and was purchased by Brookfield Asset Management. Walmart kicked all of their asses and is the largest company in the world by revenue. These days Walmart probably views Amazon as its main competitor. A lot can happen in thirty-seven years.

Stay healthy and safe.

Song of the Day

The entire Song of the Day playlist is available on YouTube.