(no subject)

[olivermoss]

Me on 1/13: Maybe I can do in-person Escapade and things will start to normalize one way or another

Me on 1/14: LA County has it's number of cases to date and people are being asked to stop non-essential activities. Amtrak is cutting service due to too many sick employees.

For context, Escapade is in LA.

No stabilizing, services are just going to collapse as people either don't work due to being sick or try to work sick.

I still haven't cancelled my Spokane trip, but that trip may wind up being cancelled by... just becoming impossible.

Comments

[writedragon]

Cases are straight up spiking where I live, resulting in many, many schools and entire districts closing because there aren't enough teachers, staff, bus drivers, and/or students to stay open. Things are definitely collapsing; it will be interesting (not really, but you know what I mean) to see what will happen in terms of recovering from all this.

[olivermoss]

A lot of schools are closing here, and students are protesting any being open.

I don't know what to even do any more. I'm not part of some cozy little group getting through the pandemic together. It's just me, on my own... still. I thought I was going to get a chance to see friends... for about 12 hours. Now that hope is looking very dumb.

[writedragon]

I'm sorry. That definitely stinks. I hope you can continue to engage virtually at least with some friends and family so you don't feel so isolated. I understand though -- any time I've ventured to a store or even seen a neighbor in passing I find myself talking way too much -- I think we're all a little desperate for connection right now, and I hope you find a healthy/safe way to get some.

[james]

We're supposed to be going to the coast the second week of February and even that keeps looking more and more doubtful. Ugh. (Just driving out, but staying in condos or hotels.)

[olivermoss]

Good luck! I hope it happens.

[mistressofmuses]

Well fuck.

I feel like there's just a bizarre sense of dissonance in the headlines that come across my various feeds. Half of them are about record numbers of cases and hospital capacity being strained, further cuts to transportation services, how trash collection and other essential services are being impacted by how much of the workforce is out, how many businesses are closed or on reduced hours due to shortages of workers, exacerbating supply chain issues... and the other half are about how Omicron is of minimal concern, and how restrictions are being lifted, and how many businesses have fully cancelled remote work, ads for big in-person gatherings/shows/conventions/events, etc.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, it's a mess. I don't want to be overly cautious but also things are falling apart. The country can't function with a sick workforce, which is something a lot of the 'let it run it's course' people didn't get.

I have no family, so a chance to see friends after so long is worth taking some risk for but honestly I have no idea what things will look like at that point. I don't have the data points I need to risk manage.

I want to avoid covid, but also I need some light at the end of this tunnel. I live alone. I don't have a way to see people IRL. Heck, I got freaking played on FB by someone posting about meeting up in one of my groups when it was really just them trying to get people to friend their store page. (I was pretty sure it was spam when I clicked it, but I clicked it anyway)

I want to go, but also the next few months seem like a particularly stupid time to try to go to events.

[mistressofmuses]

It's hard to know what's "sensible precaution" "overly cautious" and "just plain irresponsible" when there's so little consistency. I mean, using your own judgement is about all you can do anyway, and I think you personally have a good and rational level of concern, so you CAN tell to some degree.
But there's just a striking amount of dissonance. "This is a minor strain and you shouldn't worry about getting it, so just go about your business as normal" and "business as normal is literally impossible because so many people are severely sick" are... difficult to reconcile.

And of course no one can predict things a few months down the road.

There has got to be some light at the end of the tunnel. I absolutely don't want to be one of the people dragging this shit out by making poor decisions... but we're going on year fucking three of "being personally responsible", and it's increasingly obvious that "personal responsibility" isn't ending the damn pandemic.

Ugh, shitty on the FB spam. But I understand the impulse, and I've gotten played by some similar things that bill themselves as meetups or hangouts... but turn out to be mlm scheme shit. Usually it's easy to spot, but every once in a while...

I hope that summer is better. Impossible to know, so impossible to plan. But I fucking hope.

[walgesang]

Oof, I'm sorry. This latest spike seems to be lasting forever. The number of positive cases in our tiny state are still just SO fucking high too, argh.

[olivermoss]

This is all such a mess. There needs to be some light at the end of the tunnel.