It’s been a Monday on a Wednesday. Or something like that. Actually, it’s been Monday after Monday so far this week as things are piling up rapidly. Fortunately, I have a slow weekend so I should be able to begin getting things caught up. The Mondays began with the second weekend of performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It ended up being an enjoyable romp in the woods for both cast and audience and there is already talk of another Shakespeare for next summer. I’m not against it. Of course, the one I would really want to direct is King Lear as it’s one of the only works of Western Literature to deal with the catastrophic effects of dementia on family systems – but I don’t think this group is quite ready to go there yet and we better stick with Much Ado About Nothing or Twelfth Night or maybe The Tempest.
And then it’s been multiple issues of craziness at work. The chief one being the flooding of the building in which my VA office is located (burst water pipe). The damage appears to be relatively extensive and despite the multiple Servpro trucks parked all around the block, we’ve been told we cannot get back in for several months. I’ve had to transfer my VA office to my home office for the duration which took several days of cursing various computer systems until I could finally work with the charting system and get into my email. On the UAB front, it appears that all of my patients have decided that this is the week to write long emails through the portal system with multiple clinical questions – and we’re running short staffed due to vacations and illnesses.
To top it all off, while driving on the interstate late this afternoon, through the aptly named malfunction junction (where I-20, I-59 and I-65 all converge just west of downtown), I had a blowout in my right rear tire. Fortunately, I did not lose control of the car, was able to get off the freeway and into a gas station parking lot, and then spent the next several hours in a low budget version of Planes, Trains and Automobiles while I attended meetings on Zoom while dealing with AAA, the Toyota Dealership, a ride across town in a tow truck with a most amiable driver, and a trip in an Uber with a guy who did not seem to understand the function of traffic lights. Needless to say, I am now at home and contemplating a large single malt scotch before bed, something I rarely do these days but I think I deserve it.
So where are we with Covid? It’s definitely everywhere. I’ve been informed that someone who was at the wedding I was at this past weekend has been diagnosed. One of my Midsummer actors tested positive this morning. There was a case in the cast of Twelve Angry Jurors last week. I’ve had a couple of messages a day from patients who have tested positive. The local ERs are full. Hospital rates are still relatively low but anything could happen. Most of what is still circulating are omicron variants. They’ve been given various poetic nicknames such as Eris and Pirola but they are pretty much slightly mutated sub lineages of the omicron that raced through the world during the holidays of 2021. There are some new variants percolating though which, while not widespread yet, could create problems moving forward, especially BA.2.86 which has dozens of variations on the spike protein (important because that’s how the virus latches on to host cells). It’s very different from omicron (although I haven’t seen it assigned it’s own Greek letter yet) and worldwide surveillance has detected it in several countries. Wastewater surveillance has found it in even more places suggesting that it’s spreading undetected through the community. Will it cause a new spike in cases or morbidity and mortality? Time will tell.
People keep asking me what do we do? As politically, we are not going to go back to lockdowns or mandatory masking unless there’s a strain that causes a severe increase in mortality and morbidity in young healthy people, the options are relatively straightforward. You can masks, but unless masking is universal, it’s not all that helpful. If you have been diagnosed, you should mask to protect others for ten days (five days on isolation, five with masking but you can go out). If you have had a known close exposure (fifteen or more minutes within six feet of a known case), you should mask and test if you have symptoms and if asymptomatic, on day five. If you’re negative, the mask can come off then. Probably as important as masking is keeping your hands washed. Thank god my new UAB office suite has sinks in the patient exam rooms (we didn’t have those in our old suite). My hand hygiene is pretty good as I wash before touching a patient. Isolating yourself is an option, but I’ve got too much going on in life so I choose not to at this point. I’m fully vaccinated and boosted. The next booster (which should continue to help against omicron strains. I don’t know about BA.2.86) is supposed to be released sometime this fall and I will certainly get one. I have no more information on when it might be available than anyone else.
I had my first church choir rehearsal of the season this evening, start up with the Alabama Symphony Chorus in a couple of weeks (first up is the Faure Requiem), have been making progress in my voice lessons and have a taped audition for ‘Into The Woods’ due next week so lots of vocalizing around the condo at the moment. The cats are trying to sing counterpoint but they always seem to come in in the wrong key. I’m pretty happy with my audition piece and I hope it’s enough to land me the Tom Aldredge double casting. That’s my role. Although it’s a show I love dearly and I’ll settle for whatever.
Thirty some progress notes, a new legal case, and a lecture to write all teed up for this weekend. Thank god the bailiff in 12 Angry Jurors only has four lines. I was off book walking across the parking lot to my first rehearsal. We tech and perform that next week. Then I think I’m off from things theatrical for a couple of months. It’s probably just as well.
Life, The Universe, and Everything 