It is Christmas. I have a booster shot for my third dose of Covid-19 vaccine in three days, on Tuesday. I have decided that until it is time for my booster, I am not leaving my home. Well, I am leaving my home, I am just not going in anywhere outside my home. I last went shopping eight days ago. I have a lot of rice and flour in my home. I will try not to die of scurvy in the next three days. Ever since I figured out that the Omicron Variant was not overhyped but was, indeed, a real thing to be concerned about, I have been trying to avoid contact. This month, I have made it two times going over a week without entering another building outside my house.
To me, it isn't a terrible burden to be at home. It isn't pleasant, and right now I am really wishing I had some fresh produce and dairy to liven up my diet, but to me, there is a clear difference between what is a necessity and what is a luxury. I won't say I have been perfect with this, the last time I left my home, eight days ago, I ended up going into five stores, and it is debatable whether a new, comfy pair of sweatpants was an absolute necessity (it is cold out there, though!). So I am not faulting people for travel or visiting. But. I am surprised that people are acting as if things had "returned to normal", as if the most important thing right now was having entertainment and custom, and not thinking about how miserable the next eight weeks could be, a grinding death toll and further stress on an overloaded health care system.
This isn't going away anytime soon. A few weeks ago, I wrote that Covid-19 would have long term impacts on the US' population demographics. Since then, that has been confirmed by the US Census. The question isn't just what the next eight weeks is going to look like: it is what happens in 20 years, when I will be 60 years old, and suddenly the normal amount of young people entering the workforce won't be there. Yes, it is a bummer that I am trying to figure out what to do with a bag of feta cheese and a bag of flour on Christmas Day, but that is a very small concern compared to what looks like decades of change to US society. Which is why I count myself lucky to be here, counting the days until a dentist can give me a free injection that will help me protect my own life and the lives of others.