"Where I Live, No One Cares About COVID," reads the headline in The Atlantic.
Outside the world inhabited by the professional and managerial classes in a handful of major metropolitan areas, many, if not most, Americans are leading their lives as if COVID is over, and they have been for a long while. …
Earlier this week a local hospital system held a webinar entitled, COVID-19: Omicron, Vaccines, and Anti-Virals. The news is sobering.
Covid is surging, yet again. Delta is wreaking havoc on populations in colder-weather states. Moreover, we don't yet know or understand exactly what Omicron means for the future of this pandemic. Unvaccinated populations remain at the highest risk for serious illness, hospitalizations, and death, but those who are fully vaccinated still must act with caution. The news is that we are in for a long winter. And it's not just the virus itself that we have to worry about, but the impact of the virus on our healthcare systems. ICUs and hospital beds at capacity mean diminished care and strained healthcare workers.
None of this is good news. Yet, it's the same news we've heard since March 2020. And the best practices to combat Covid remain the same. If you're not vaccinated, get vaccinated. If you're not boosted, get boosted. Regardless, wear a mask to protect yourself and others. Limit contact with unvaccinated people. Practice good hand-washing and other hygiene habits. And for God's sake, if you don't feel well or have any possible symptoms of Covid-19, stay the frick home until you've tested negative.
While we all might be done with Covid, it's not done with us. We all just need to act like it. Now I sound like a broken record.
I can't leave you for the week with all bad news, so before I turn today's post over the employment law links, I have two other links to share with you.
First, before there was The Norah and Dad Show (have you downloaded and listened yet?), there was the guest-hosting spot Norah and I recorded for the Rockin' the Suburbs podcast. Our episode, in which we discuss daddy/daughter concert experiences, went live today. You can listen to it here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Secondly, I have a movie recommendation. Check out Mixtape on Netflix. It's an utterly charming, family-friendly movie set in 1999 about a quirky 12-year-old who sets out to learn about her deceased parents through the songs on an old mixtape of theirs she found in her grandmother's basement. It's the rare family movie that speaks to adults without dumbing down the substance, speaks to children without soaring over their heads, and has the emotional beats and laughs hit equally for both. Also, the music slams. Any scene in a 1999 Pacific Northwest indie record store that accurately showcases early White Stripes is a winner in my book. Bottom line — my house absolutely loved Mixtape, and you should add it to your Netflix List. Highly recommended.
Now, here are the best things I read online the past week that I think you should be reading, too.What is the current state of the Biden Administration's three separate federal Covid-19 vaccination mandates, and how should employers be responding. In this short video update, I discuss where things stand and what it means.
A little over a week ago Better.com — a digital mortgage lender that Forbes.com recently called a $7.7 billion Unicorn — received a $750 million cash infusion from investors. Two days ago its CEO, Vishal Garg, gathered 909 of the company's employees (nine percent of its total workforce) via Zoom and let them know that their services were no longer needed.
