Thursday, October 1st, 2020
It looks as if I may actually get my book published. Almost unbelievable after the full year I spend getting feedback and accommodating god knows who. It feels like a major achievement, which I guess it is. I must say, the last year was a painful process, but I hope it has made it better.
Otherwise it as a perfectly normal day in the age of Corona. I had my swim. I bought a new kettle and was a little sad to throw the old one out. It had served me well for 23 years!
On the Virus front it seems like Dr Fauci is fed up with being the broken record and encouraging people to wear masks. While all hopes for the USA at least are on a vaccine, I am not sure things are going that well. People participating in the vaccine phase 3 trials for Moderna and Pfizer report side effects lasting for about 24 hours after the shot. Symptoms include headaches, severe shivers and fever. Not sure if this is what should happen.
At the same time Russia is claiming it may be licensing its second vaccine soon. All things being equal I may go with Russia on this one over the US, even though Pfizer’s CEO came out today stating they would not rush the vaccine to accommodate the orange Cheeto, who during the debate again said a viable vaccine was but weeks away. We shall see. At the same time a study finds children and young adults can be super spreaders. The same study also finds that lock downs work, who would have thought?
As society grapples with a return to normalcy there is a lot of talk about antigen tests. It seems to be a mixed bag between they can play a significant role and science cannot make it work. While less reliable than PCR tests, antigen tests are quick and easy to administer and produce results in minutes rather than hours. Research suggests they could be key in returning society to some sort of normalcy in the absence of a vaccine. Imagine applying these to dating. One agrees to meet, both bring their tests. Jointly test and minutes later dada, the date proceeds. This may even enable me to meet my brilliant friend again who has underlying health issues and has as a result staid home. I really do like the idea.
What is really interesting is how white collar workspaces will change. Twitter has for the past two years been encouraging work from home. I found their experience intriguing. Seeing we have all been working from home for 204 days my take away is: it works. I can quite happily settle into a routine without regular office attendance. One or two days a week might be nice, but more for social than productivity reasons. I get a lot more done in four hours in my home office then in ten at the office. The only thing which has become incredible difficult is developing new business with new clients in technology challenged parts of the world. I do believe traveling and personal interactions are critical for that, so once testing becomes easier, maybe that is in the cards again.
Oh and total reported infections today are at 34.1 million globally of which 7.48 million can be attributed to the USA.