Another Day At The Office

When the Covid-19 pandemic traveling restrictions eased up a little, and international travel was re-opened, I decided to visit Paris and booked a flight for the morning of January 10, 2022.

I began to worry because the airline required a Covid test taken 72 hours prior to boarding. After booking the Paris trip, I was unable to find a testing site in Philly that didn't required an appointment, everyone was full. And to make matters worse, there was no appointment available before my trip. I contacted my former supervisor at the health center where I used to work before retiring a few months prior, and they squeezed me in to get tested. I received the online results the next day, and was all set to travel.

Another one of my concerns was that to return to the United States, travel restrictions were a little more strict and now I was required to show a Covid test result taken 24 hours prior to the day of my flight. After arriving in Paris, I learned that Covid tests were available at any pharmacy in the city, results available in 20 minutes, and no appointments required. Cost $26.00 euros, and I was assured that there was a pharmacy in every corner, as illustrated in the top picture. In my broken very limited French, I asked a fruit vendor to take the pic of "moi" waiting to take the test.

To put it into perspective, yesterday I read that two days before Thursday night’s men’s 200 final race, Noah Lyles, the American record holder of the 200 meters, and the third fastest man in the event learned he had tested positive for Covid. With permission of officials at USA Track and Field and the U.S. Olympics, who said they followed protocol, Lyles was allowed to run at the Olympics. Lyles won the bronze medal with 102-degree Covid fever and collapsed on the track after the race was over.

Nowadays, a  Covid diagnosis is like just another day at the office.

Trump Said In Audiotape He Needed To Deploy Plan Against COVID When It Could Help His Reelection

In one of the recorded interviews from July 2020, Trump told Bob Woodward he had a plan for dealing with the COVID pandemic.

In the audiotape, Trump said he needed to deploy the plan against COVID at a time that it will help his reelection. In other words, not at a time where it will save the most American lives, not at a time where it will keep people healthy. Trump told Woodward he will wait until the time it would be best for Trump's reelection.

At that time, more than 70,000 Americans had already died from the virus. Trump told Woodward, "if I release the COVID plan now, people will have forgotten about it when its time to vote". Woodward should've said to Trump, "if you do it now, it may save more lives".

For saying something like deploying a plan based on election timeline and blocking things that would save millions, this loser should rot in jail. It's terrifying that so many American's still support this disgusting treasonous guy. 

If you can listen to this recording, Trump in his own words allowing Americans to died needlessly, and you still support Trump, then you’re just beyond hope. No amount of evidence will ever convince Trump followers. 

Trashed My Entire Room

I booked a flight to sunny Puerto Rico for the love of my life and I for the second week of September. We don't need a passport to travel to Puerto Rico, but to make travel easier my COVID-19 Vaccination Card is in the same document holder with my passport.

I took my vaccination card and passport to our getaway three weeks ago; you never know when a restaurant is going to request proof of vaccination. Last night I spent hours looking for my passport, trashed my entire room while doing so trying to find it.

Apparently I seem to have misplaced it. Even called the hotel where we stayed, and the Fiesta Mexico restaurant where we gorged ourselves silly. I have copies of both documents on my cell phone, and my passport is about to expire next year, so I am not worried. But I prefer to have the original documents.

Not sure how it happened, but I found the documents holder with my COVID-19 Vaccination Card and the passport inside my toolbox this morning while looking for my motorcycle keys. How did it got there is a mystery to me.

COVID Cases Up In Philadelphia, City Officials Will Reinstate Mask Mandate

Every time I read that the government is lifting COVID mandates, I cringe. For the past two years it has been proven time and time again that when the mandates are removed, the COVID numbers go up. 

How does anyone expects this virus to go away, when as soon as the numbers begin to normalize these people cave to pressure and start easing up sanctions?

On Monday, Philadelphia health officials will announce whether the city will reinstate its mask mandate inside of public places. The health commissioner lifted the indoor mask mandate just over a month ago, and right now, COVID-19 cases are back on the rise. 

At this pace, in my opinion, COVID may never go away. 

Invisible People

In all the years taking the subway in New York, this is the first time I got to see the cleaning crew in action.

The MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) contracted workers to help disinfect the NYC subway during the pandemic. 

It is a dirty job, but somebody has to do it. Public transportation cleaning work is usually scheduled to be done overnight. I was surprised to see a grandma cleaning the subway around midday during my visit to Coney Island last Monday. 

As I watched her to scrub away grime,  with so many young people jobless, I couldn't help thinking of why is grandma doing this work in our nation's largest transit system?

We Have Seen This Movie Before

It has been proven that COVID infections and hospitalization numbers go up after restrictions are lifted. 

Denmark is the latest example. They lifted restrictions and mandates earlier this month.  “This marks the transition to a new era for all of us, because Denmark will once again be an open society, completely open,” said Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. “We dare to believe that we are now through the critical phase."

Since then, they are now recording more COVID cases per capita than anywhere else in the world. And hospitalizations and deaths have also gone up. 

It was announced today that Philadelphia is ending indoor mandates, including vaccinations,  thanks to the declining cases. 

In my opinion, we're going to deal with COVID for the next five to 10 years, or in the worst case scenario, maybe for the rest of our lives.