Tuesday, November 17th, 2020
It is late by my standards for writing tonight, especially given the unusual early start each day of this week – 6:00 it has been every day.
Today has been the first day of felt winter. It is 10C outside, but because of the wind feels like 0C. My lap lane had been an outside lane and the wind felt positively freezing. After my 17:00 swim I rushed home, grateful for that seat heating to shower and head for practice in the park. The turn out was rather mediocre. I had donned my winter jacket, which is a little to tight for Aikido weapons practice I found. I regret, having been in denial about summers departure. In hindsight I should have brought gloves and worn a head band as the wind was icy. I managed to hold out through the entire class though, practicing with Sensei., who always has good advice. I feel proud every time he praises me and try even harder. I realize I have a very long way to go, but continue to enjoy practice and the peace it gives me.
At home we have had a few turbulent days. EM has had several emotional meltdowns over her various friends, who I feel are all taking advantage of her kindness. She is their emotional dump, and if she distances herself of their problems they get terribly upset. I am trying to be her rock and provider her with stability in addition to advice. This situation in very hard on all of us, but takes huge mental toll on our children, more so than I realized.
Latest guidance on socializing is not helping. As the holiday period approaches there are discussions on how to ensure spending time with relatives safely, when and how to test. While testing is helpful the best protection is still to completely quarantine for 14 days prior to seeing relatives. I know this is the last thing EM wants to hear or do, but we will pull through efore we see my mum in Germany. More advise on spending time with people, if gathering indoors includes ensuring good ventilation, converting indoor to outdoor and spedning minutes rather than hours, which is unlikely to happen in our household. Despite all of this we are set to spend Thanksgiving with our pod family, but tested and observing quarantine in the run up to the event. Praying we shall be okay, and taking precautions.
As cases are back up with 169k new infections reported today bringing the total to 11.69 cases in the USA, Governors of red States are finally beginning to act. I think it may be too little, too late though. Possibly this change of heart is also caused by the most senior GOP senator having tested positive: at age 87 he is definitely at risk.
I found very informative article on how the RNA vaccines work. it is long to read, but very much worth it. Basically RNA uses the bodies messenger systems to build an immune response. "The unproven technology, named messenger RNA after the molecular couriers that deliver genetic instructions, has long eluded researchers. An mRNA vaccine has never been cleared by regulators. It is now the basis for Covid-19 vaccines from Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc. and its partner BioNTech SE." Both of these companies are expected to seek emergency approval.
Some chemical compounds found in everyday products we use could limit the effectiveness of a vaccine as these chemicals have shown to slow down the development of antibodies with other vaccines.
That is not good news.