Life in the Age of Corona

A Daily Diary

Monday, February 1st, 2021

Missed Application

Today saw another emotional breakdown. I of course thought it was due to a nasty text I had sent to EM about not filling up the car – though she did let me know last night that her card was not working, I had just forgotten and was enraged when I headed to the pool and found the car empty.

Turns out the tears were due to a missed application deadline. She had put in a lot of work to apply to the University of British Columbia but did not submit the application. When I quizzed her why she had not sent it the minute it was down, I was told some spiel about US$ 130 application fee being to high. I distinctly remember telling her not to worry about it, to just submit. Between her concern over costs and school she missed the deadline altogether, which she noticed only today.

She is terrified of not having a university to go to. She has already been accepted by Penn State, so not sure why she is so worried. I think the fact that I will not pay US$ 75k for tuition a year puts pressure on her to have alternatives; I have all the confidence in the world that she will get into IE Madrid, University of Uitrecht and University of Tilburg and will have choices. It just takes time for them to make decisions.

At the same time, she is so drained from virtual school that she is entertaining the idea of a gap year, which I encourage. There will be more than enough time for her to experience the treadmill of work. First though she will need to finish school and I told her tonight to take it one step at a time: Get the IAs done. Then we shall see if there will be exams or not. If there are, the sooner she has the IAs out of the way, the sooner she can honker down to prepare. If there are no exams, she will have more time on her hands and the second semester will be a bit less stressful.

Her worry tonight about getting into university prompted a last-minute application to Trinity College in Ireland. And not all is lost on Canada yet.

Other than the emotional roller coaster today was not a bad day. I emerged myself in Sudan and after a couple of calls got a nice chunk of reading done.

Generally, we both feel 2020 was a lost year on so many levels. We had plans to travel in the US. I had plans for my Aikido progression. We miss our social life, our friends, dinners, travel even as we make the best of the cards we have been dealt.  We are tired of being home all the time, no matter how lovely our home may be.

We are hoping that life will get back to what it used to be in the next six or so months, banking on the vaccine. Mum got her second shot today, so she should be safe. Maryland has moved to group 1C, so our group, 2, should come up in the next few weeks. With the FDA approval of the J&J vaccine coming in the next few weeks this scenario is ever more likely.

Based on what I read in the New York Times in their daily morning brief today it does not seem to matter much, which shot one gets. The discussion around 60 versus 90% efficacy apparently is a mot discussion as all vaccines prevent severe illness and death. There is even increasing evidence that the vaccines prevent transmission. Dr Fauci agrees comes to a similar conclusion. He believes the new J & J vaccine could be a game changer as billions of doses can be produced fast, possibly preventing further mutations. J & J has promised to deliver 100 million doses by the second quarter of 2021.

More good news also on the treatment front as Rengeron and Illy report results of antibody treatment study showing a high protective impact if given to people residing in households with infected.  So there is hope.

Testing is also critical to controlling the spread. Thus, news of an Australian firm having developed a rapid tests to be used at home, delivering results within 15 minutes, is equally welcome. The US government has now bought 100k. I wonder why these tests are not just sold to the general public via pharmacies akin to pregnancy tests. USD 30 a piece is not cheap, but far more reasonable then the fees labs charge which vary from USD 50-270. I am sure there must be a way to bring cost and waste down too. Anyway, if I could, I would buy a dozen or two.

Fearing a new wave of infections caused by the more easily transmissible variants of the Coronavirus the CDC is now urging for distributing of as many first shots as possible to give people at least some protection, even if it means a delay between the first and the second shot. The argument being that there is significant impact after the first shot already. I am not so sure this is a great idea. There is a reason why the developers state two shots are needed for efficacy.

Finally, there are two interesting articles on COVID and diabetes. Firstly, about 150 cases of Covid patients worldwide have been reported to develop diabetes after contracting the disease. To me 150 seems a very small number considering well over 100 million people have reportedly contracted the disease. Secondly, the mortality rate in people taking Metformin, an drug regulating blood sugar levels in diabetic patients is three times lower than in people not taking Metformin.

Might I unknowingly have additional protection?

The USA continues to be on a good trajectory with newly reported cases continuing their decent. Numbers continue to go down with only 125k cases added over today to bring the reported total to 26.9 million with 16 million reported as recover, but sadly also 446k deaths.