Wednesday/ comeback of the year

WA state will follow current CDC guidance and I am asking Washingtonians statewide to consider wearing a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission. This is a recommendation, not a requirement.
– Governor Jay Inslee @GovInslee on Twitter, today


I guess I’m putting my mask back on when I go into stores. (I confess that I was not wearing one tonight for our Wednesday night beers. The Chieftain pub was virtually empty, though).

The experts agree that we’re in for a rough few months here in the US, as the Delta variant of Covid-19 spreads among the unvaccinated (and also infects some vaccinated people as well).

I’m watching an interview that Bill Kristol is having with Dr. Ashish Jha (Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health). Dr. Jha explains that there is 1,000x more of the virus in the nose & throat of Delta variant patients vs. others. An infected person with the Delta variant infects on average 6-8 others (it used to be 3-4 others with the Alpha variant).

GET VACCINATED. You are in for trouble if you are not vaccinated, and you encounter the Delta variant. Vaccinated people have an army of antibodies (and long-term T cells and B cells) that stop the virus from getting a foothold.  In some cases for vaccinated people, the viral load encountered is very high, though, and a breakthrough infection happens. Masks work by reducing the amount of virus that is inhaled from an infected person. [Cartoon by Dave Whamond on caglecartoons.com]

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