Wednesday, May 5th, 2021
Early start with calls as of 7:00, which was not fun as it was positively miserable outside, rainy and grey, but not cold.
For most of the morning it simply felt as if the day would never begin. The sun finally broke around noon and switched places with the rain for the remainder of the afternoon. Now the wind is back, clearing the clouds, so the forecast sun tomorrow is likely to happen.
I am watching the weather like a hawk. Not that there is anything I can do to influence it, but we do want it to be rain free Friday from 15:00 to 21:00 from set up to break down of the PhotoPROMenade on the Mall. I have taken the afternoon of to help with set up from 15:00-16:00 when other volunteers will show up. Then I shall rush home to see EM get ready for the event.
I have at her request booked her an appointment at my preferred Nail Studio so she and A. can get their nails done – acrylics. EM has been under the weather all day as she is experiencing side effects from her shot. I very much hope she will be better tomorrow. Since I ran back and force between my office and her room to provide food and check on her, I feel I did not put in what would be a full day’s work. Hence, I put in for a half day of sick leave. I do hope she will be fit again tomorrow and ready for what will hopefully be a memorable event.
Over the past twenty-four hours the USA added 42k new cases to bring the total reported cases to 33.1 million. If vaccination reaches 70% and people remain careful the CDC estimates the virus could be under control in the US by summer.
This is sadly not the case in many countries, especially poorer countries. Enabling many more countries to manufacture vaccines could alleviate the spread. To help with this effort the USA is considering waving IP rights for vaccines as part of WTO negotiations. This could be a major step towards getting the world vaccinated. However, it is unlikely a quick fix as not only IP, but technical skills and raw materials need to be transferred.
Given my ties to South Africa I am very happy to learn that the BioNTech vaccine is effective against the South African variant!
On a final note, truly despicable are people who sought animal companionship during the pandemic and are now returning them to shelters. Humans are simply the most horrid species populating this earth.