Suck it up, Buttercup

It is difficult to avoid becoming a pessimist.

If you think in terms of "probability clouds" regarding future events as opposed to "this is for-sure going to happen", then the cloud representing future shutdowns is getting broader, taller and denser.

Covid virus tends to wax-and-wane and the mainstream-media is reporting a surge in Covid cases and it is only mid-summer.

Many virus become more common with the onset of fall and winter. Some claim it is Vitamin D deficiency. Others claim it is because we spread out in the summer and move closer together, i.e. indoors, in the cooler months.

Aside from biological realities, some elites in power feel threatened and long for a return to the days when they could stomp on people's right to assemble. It is a foregone conclusion that anything I commit to the internet is spied upon, leaving face-to-face the only private medium.

Thinking like an investor

I asked the every wise-and-lovely Mrs ERJ "Is there anything you really want to do that we can knock-out before mid-August? Is there anything we should buy? Any people you want to visit."

My thinking is that Michigan will tip into lock-downs between mid-August and mid-September as parents howl that they want their kids to return to in-person schooling.

She quickly said, "Let's go visit Ducky and Jerry" (not their real names). They live in a mid-Atlantic state.

Jerry's cancer relapsed and his prognosis is lower-triple-digit days even with aggressive chemotherapy.

Even now it might be too late. Ducky may look at the reports of rising Delta-variant Covid cases and say "Thanks, but no thanks". Chemo knocks down the body's immune system and Ducky is Jerry's gatekeeper at this stage of the game.

Nursing homes

It looks like Mom is on the brink of being transitioned to a nursing home for rehab.

Nursing homes were death-traps in the early stages of Covid due to decisions our Governor made.

They were also extremely inhumane in who isolating the patients. If any Covid was detected in the facility, they locked the patients into their rooms and delivered meals until they were "clear".  They were little more than coffins with oxygen hoses and TVs.

Signs of decline

Is there a hospital anywhere that is unaffected by staff shortages, insane Federal mandates and money-losing Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement rates?

A quick example. I took a photo of this paper-towel dispenser located in one of the Men's Restrooms at Sparrow Hospital. American Disabilities Act mandates the height that dispensers are located. It also mandates widths of doors and handicapped, self-opening features. Bringing an existing restroom into compliance is an exercise in compromises.

The only place to mount this dispenser was directly above the trash bin. If you want a clean towel, you must rip off the dispensed (and pitch it) before grabbing and ripping off the freshly dispensed before it is so long it spools out over the counter.

Stupid, stupid, stupid...but it is what the law mandates.

The manpower crunch hit older employees hardest. Management tends to be heavier in older people. The loss of management capability shows up with every step with the "THRIPP, THRIPP, THRIPP..." of every tacky footstep. Housekeeping decided that they only need to mop-down soap/disinfectant solution and never follow-up with a damp, wet-mop to pick it back up. 

That would have been nipped in the bud if there was even a vestige of management capability. As it is, what little management capability that is left is busy ensuring compliance to Federal mandates and funding while Housekeeping plays on their smartphones in the Atrium.

You are on your own

More evidence that we are on our own. Nobody is coming to save us. Suck it up, Buttercup. 

If there is anything you can do to improve your health, physical security, or ability to thrive during a lock-down, do it now.