Should I stay or should I go?

News blues

Prez Ramaphosa down with Covid. He tested positive on Sunday after feeling “unwell” after the State Memorial Service in honor of former Deputy President FW de Klerk. He delegated all responsibilities to Deputy President David Mabuza for the next week.
President Ramaphosa is fully vaccinated and in self-isolation in Cape Town. He says his own infection serves as a caution to all people in the country to be vaccinated and remain vigilant against exposure. “Vaccination remains the best protection against severe illness and hospitalization" >> 
An estimated rate of previous infection at some 72% in Gauteng province – three times the rate detected during the Beta variant outbreak a year ago - “may explain the relatively low levels of hospitalisation and severe disease in the current outbreak of the Omicron variant, rather than the variant itself being less virulent.”
Vaccine expert Shabir Mahdi of the University of the Witwatersrand said that,

... emerging evidence pointed to the fact that Omicron was both more infectious and more able to evade antibody protection, he suggested that other mechanisms at work in acquired immunity through infection could explain the lower levels of hospitalisations and severe illness.
While the UK has a seropositivity rate above 90%, South Africa’s experience may be very different to the UK’s in terms of the Omicron, with the UK having an older population and different vulnerabilities to disease.

Read more >> 

Healthy planet, anyone?

Besides holiday cheer, the "festive season" generates millions of tons of cardboard boxes, plastics, glass bottles, and metals – about half of the 292 million tons of waste Americans produce each year. 

Besides putting out well-meaning but ineffective labeled and colored garbage bins, American recycling programs simply do not address the growing mountain of waste. Coupla easy solutions? 1) Americans refuse fancy packaging and recycle packaging they already have: carry reusable bags to grocery stores, farmers markets, and clothing stores; 2) The companies that create the waste rethink what materials they use; 3) Prompt new ways to think about how we recycle – and who pays for it >> 

Old car batteries: what happens to them? 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I must return to SA “soon” to attend details pertaining to my mother’s estate, her memorial, her house, dogs, domestic worker, etc. However travel and travel restrictions continue to confuse. One person’s story: “The Omicron variant turned my trip home from South Africa into a nightmare episode of conflicting public health orders that often seemed to have little connection to science.” 
Even as the UK removes all 11 southern African countries from their travel red list, I’m not convinced.
US winter is SA summer and, usually, summer is the time to travel to SA. Alas, the “festive season” means fewer deals on flights that compliment my wallet. More importantly in these unprecedented times, mixed messages confuse.
I’d have thought Amsterdam was a good bet – until I read the account (above). Which European airport offers the least intrusive stopover?
Moreover, SA recently published updates to Alert level 1 Lockdown restrictions. These travel restrictions imply - though do not clarify - that, once I arrive at Oliver Tambo, I may not find a connecting flight to Pietermaritzburg.
I continue in a watch and wait pattern….
Clash gets it right >>  (3:06 mins)

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Up to 2 inches of rain fell in the Bay Area and more is predicted later in the week. Temperatures dropped, too. Brrrr. Not quick to switch on a space heaters, even I’ve resorted to using one.