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stevemoffett · 3 years

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A Hard Nap, The Fall of Math, The Star Wars Holiday Special, Disco Point, and There You Are

In January last year, I noticed a sign in myself of the same cancer my dad had back in 2008. Unlike the usual symptoms that set off my paranoia, it wasn’t some vague feeling, it wasn’t an intermittent pain, and it wasn’t a general ill feeling—it was clear and unambiguous, out of the ordinary and one of those symptoms that, if you google it, is under the list of “call your doctor if you experience any of the following.”

It was also nonspecific: this symptom could mean cancer, but it could also mean about five other cancer-unrelated conditions. I called for an appointment that morning with my general practitioner, who said that the earliest available date was about two weeks later.

I knew that the only way my fear would be effectively relieved was with the one sure-fire diagnostic tool for this type of cancer, one that’s recommended for everyone, but not until about age 50: a colonoscopy.

For the two weeks before my GP appointment, I mentally prepared for death. For the record, I do this every time I interpret my body’s signals as cancerous, but the mental preparation usually stops after a few days when the symptom either goes away or when a clear alternative cause presents itself. This time, I didn’t get that kind of relief and, in fact, the symptom repeated more than once between setting the appointment and going to it. Each time, it was like an intrusive thought come to life: you’re going to die. You’re going to go through surgery and chemotherapy like Dad and you’re either going to die early, or find out like he did that the cure is worse than the disease, or maybe you’ll hang on just long enough to experience both.

Winter mornings in Texas can sometimes be surprisingly cold. While stepping out the door on a midsummer morning is like walking into someone’s hot exhale, as you might expect, a 33-degree morning is more like a slap in the face. When I packed everything I figured I’d need to move here a couple of years ago, I threw away my winter coat, thinking, I won’t be needing this anymore. (The coat was also about ten years old at that point.)

My first winter in Texas, I layered a bunch of shirts underneath a light jacket and wore a scarf on freezing days. The second winter, I decided that I’d had enough of being cold. After all, I rationalized, here in Texas it was monetarily possible to never have to feel cold again if you really don’t want to. So I bought the warmest coat I could find, an unstylish, bulky parka made by Caterpillar, the company that makes construction vehicles. No more layering, no more checking the weather before leaving in the morning. I could just put this coat on and not worry about it.

But now, under the shadow of a cancer scare these January mornings, wearing the big coat made me feel less like I was smarter than the weather and more like I was trying to smuggle a terminal disease wherever I went. Under my coat, tie, button-down shirt, undershirt, skin, fat, and muscle, something was growing silently in the dark. While maybe it had slipped up and showed some of its handiwork to me, it was already too late to do much about it now.

Since it has affected my life several times before, and since it is such an exquisite mixture of dread and uncertainty, cancer is one of my mind’s biggest bogeymen. I feel personally insulted by the idea of it. I treat you so well, body—why would you betray me? Was I not nice enough? Is this poetic justice for my vanity? Is it, as the old anecdotal saying goes, due to my worrying?

Not only did I feel like I was smuggling cancer under the big coat, I was also warming it up by drinking my coffee. I was feeding it directly when I ate something too sugary. And I was probably even giving it an evil sense of satisfaction when I got stressed out about it. If I was able to keep my mind off it by working in the lab, mixing and pipetting, using kits, and doing arithmetic in my head, it would come crashing back into focus when I was pulling my gloves off to wash my hands.

I pulled up incognito mode on my phone’s browser during my breaks, googling “5-year survival rate colon cancer age 35.” “Cancer staging colon prognosis.” “Colon cancer smoking.” “Colon cancer smoke one pack in college.” “Colon cancer smoke one pack 18 years ago.” “Colon cancer smoke one pack after seeing Luke Wilson smoking in The Royal Tenenbaums.”

At home, I suddenly started noticing the expiration dates on my nonperishables. What will last longer, I thought, the freshness of this baking soda, or me.

I knew I wasn’t going to be comforted by the first GP visit. After all, they’re usually the first stop to a specialist, unless you have a PPO insurance plan, which I don’t. The doctor listened to my symptoms and family history. “Well,” he said, “Given your history, it’s a good idea to refer you to a GI. But, you seem like you lead a healthy lifestyle otherwise, with none of the other risk factors, so we’ll see what he says.”

I made the GI appointment and had to wait two more weeks for it, with the same circular worrying and googling. At the GI appointment, I sat in the waiting room, the youngest patient there by a few decades, and I felt a little bit ridiculous. On the other hand, I’d also just read a harrowing story about a woman in her late 20s who had colon cancer and died from it. That was a real person, I thought, who at the first phase of it probably went through all the same feelings I was now, the I’m-being-ridiculous and is-this-worth-the-time-and-vacation-days, all the way up until her diagnosis. Not just because I was scared, I felt a pang of sympathy. A disease of the old picking a victim from the young is terrible luck.

And I figured, if it could be her, it could be anyone. But most of all, it could be me.

That last bit, I think, is one of—one of—my greatest flaws, the vanity of always thinking that the worst things will happen to you, in spite of the odds. It’s a way of making yourself feel special, but it has no upside. You don’t feel confidence with this type of special-feeling. In fact, you’re more likely to be timid and self-centered, and you just come across as weird to the outside observer. They might think, There’s only a few steps between that guy and Howard Hughes. Somewhere, deep in your mind, they think: Wires are crossed.

Shortly before I went in, another patient arrived, a man around my age or maybe younger who, despite a dozen or so free seats, declined to sit down. My name was called, and I passed a sign on the way to the back that said, “If you have recently traveled to China and have a fever you must let our staff know.”

This doctor’s exam rooms had floor-to-ceiling windows, the kind you’d see in a movie, instead of the usual dull and bulby, off-white plastic exam room interior. A Spanish medical student came in to give a pre-appointment questionnaire and to take my vitals. He asked, in much better English than I could have mustered in Spanish, “So. There is some blood in they crep?”

When he came in, the GI repeated what my GP had said, and since he was also the person who would be performing a colonoscopy, he said I should set an appointment for one with him. I managed to get a date three weeks later.

From other people’s stories, I knew two things about colonoscopies: they are no fun, especially the night before, but the general anesthesia on the day of the procedure, on the other hand, is fun. I was nervous enough on the day before that I actually asked someone at the pharmacy for help finding the items I was looking for: Polyethylene Glycol (or PEG, which we use all the time for lab experiments, and which I was going to have to drink 2 liters of), Gatorade, and laxative pills. I had to take about 800% of their recommended dosages, each.

The bodily effect of those chemicals was dramatic, and I will spare the details. The worst parts of it, I found, were the generally exhausting physical toll it took, and the feeling by the end that I had some kind of dangerous sodium imbalance: I was sweating between my fingers, for example, but the rest of me felt as dry as paper. At 10PM, I was too tired to do anything, but too nervous to sleep for more than a few hours.

One smaller worry that I felt the next morning, as I took a selfie in my hospital gown to send to a friend back home, making a backward peace sign to show off the IV sticking into my hand and also how brave I was being, was that I might just die right there on the table from the general anesthesia. Part of my grad school research was on Propofol, the most-used general anesthesia nowadays (which, incidentally, also killed Michael Jackson). This was the same drug I was to be given.

I’d never been fully put under anesthesia before. It was astronomically improbable that I’d have an adverse reaction to it and die (and by the way, Michael Jackson abused it, using it far outside of medical praxis—if you’re afraid to get a colonoscopy yourself, don’t be, it could save your life), but keep in mind what I said about my vanity.

“Hey, I’m really scared,” I told the anesthesiologist. He said something, muffled by his mask, that sounded like, “It’ll be all right.” Then he busied himself with a syringe, connecting it to my IV. He depressed it about a third of the way. “This should help you,” he said.

The last thing I said was, “Whoa…I feel it.”

After what felt like a hard, late-afternoon nap, I said, “Hello?”

My head was wrapped with something. When I touched my face, I could feel that there were cotton pads underneath the wrapping, holding my eyes shut. I guess that at some point either mid-procedure or after, my eyes had opened, unseeing, and they’d done this to keep them from drying out. “Hang on, sir,” I heard a nurse say, and my head was unwrapped.

“It’s over?” I asked.

“You’re all done,” he said.

“Gimme a minute, please,” I said, my South Jersey accent peeking out. “I feel a little weird.”

Eventually, I sat up. Two of the nurses helped me stand, and I pumped my arms like I was lifting light, invisible dumbbells. As I put my glasses on and looked around, I thought that they all seemed like they were fighting to not smirk. What did I say while I was blacked out? I wondered, with a twinge of panic, before deciding that it would be worthless to speculate. It could have been anything. There are literally millions of possibilities. Again—it would be worthless to speculate, I told myself, firmly.

An Uber driver, I had been told by hospital staff during a consultation, was not a legally strong enough party to take responsibility for me at discharge. Someone I knew would have to escort me to my apartment. Also, they said, they really would do that thing where you’re back in your own clothes, and they push you to the exit in a wheelchair when you’re all finished. After my procedure, my co-worker stood waiting in the discharge zone with his car as an orderly wheeled me out of the hospital exit. I stood up from the wheelchair and got into the passenger seat of his car, for some reason more aware than usual of the heat coming from the vent and the smell of the car’s leather upholstery. “I still feel weird from the anesthesia,” I said to my friend.

“I’ll bet you do,” he replied.

It was about lunch time, and I had taken the rest of the day off from work. When I got home, I ordered a pizza and lay on my bed. I ate the pizza and watched Star Wars. I had not felt any euphoria when I woke up, I thought hollowly. And my first solid meal in almost forty hours tasted unremarkable. I was still groggy, but not in a pleasant way. I felt cheated.

The hospital staff had put a manilla envelope into my hands as I left. It contained sheets of images the doctor had taken during the procedure. Once lucid, I leafed through them and compared the thumbnail-sized images on printer paper with googled images of cancerous tumors viewed through a colonoscope, trying to diagnose myself.

A couple of the images on the papers had shapes that looked weird, with what seemed like variations in the texture or color of my colon wall that to me, at least, appeared one hundred percent fatal. It was another two weeks before I had a follow-up appointment to go over them with the surgeon.

“See this?” The GI said, two weeks later, pointing to one of the images that had seemed completely normal to me, unlike other ones I had thought were much more scary and unusual-looking. “That’s a low-risk polyp. Of course, now it’s a no-risk polyp, ‘cause it’s gone.”

This medical episode ended only three or so weeks before the whole world changed, but I was all the more grateful for that. If I’d waited to be checked out, then I would have been weighing whether it was worth getting tested against the possibility of being infected with COVID.

The doctor recommended that I get a colonoscopy every five years from now on, but added, “If you want, you can go earlier than that.” I told him thanks, but once every five years sounded fine.

I wrote about the first seven weeks of the pandemic in my last entry. After that, May and June passed in the same way as March and April had. I went back to work in mid-June for two weeks before the first summer COVID spike closed things back up. I continued to play Quake, and I continued to fret about my family.

I had a job interview for a position in northern Maryland in April. I didn’t get it, but I had a good idea why I’d been turned down: the position wanted people with proven math skills. Which makes sense—for the last few years I’d said repeatedly that I wanted to have a job that involves less lab work and more data analysis. This was one of those jobs.

My graduate program gave me a degree in “Computational and Integrative Biology.” Sometimes I shorten it to “Integrative Biology,” or “Computational Biology,” but I always feel sort of dishonest when I tell people my degree. (Apparently this feeling is common among grad students). My own reason for feeling dishonest was because, in any other college, the work I was doing would probably just fall under normal old “Biology.” While it was true I had done course work that reflected “Computational and Integrative” Biology, they were courses taught in a remedial way.

When I say remedial, I mean that they were courses designed to get biologists up to speed on how to do higher-level data analyses with their experiments. For instance, in my “Biomath” course, we went over ordinary differential equations and graph theory. Those are both intermediate-level math types, ones you’d encounter in the later part of an undergraduate math degree program. Throughout that course, there was a lot of handwaving whenever I asked questions.

“Eh…,” the professor might have responded to something I had asked, “that requires a lot of background explanation we don’t need right now to handle the problem here. Just take it as a given for what we’re working on.”

In grad school, it’s common to be well-versed in only your narrow little research tunnel that leads outward to the edge of “known” biology. But a few times each month, several of us students would head to the bar down at the city’s waterfront after work to talk about our research. It usually began with a complaint—“This is the third time this kit wouldn’t work this week and it takes twelve fucking hours to run it each time,”—but to give us a more context for their problem, whoever was griping would have to go back and start at the beginning, recounting all the steps leading to their experiment’s failure.

This was a useful exercise, since a pair of new eyes on your work meant that at least you could get feedback on how to better relate the subject matter when you talked to a non-science audience, and at most, you might get a real solution for the problem you were bumping up against.

But I would sometimes get privately upset, as I sipped my beer and glanced out the window at the river, when a math-centered Computational and Integrative Biology student would start talking about their research. As someone who feels an unpleasant, TV static-like anxiety in my chest the moment I see letters in italics, or one of those big, orphan sorority sigmas following an equal sign during a math seminar, this upset feeling was directed at myself. Because, as a result of my insecurity, I would start listening to the beginning of the math student’s explanation of their research, trip over the first unfamiliar term I heard, lose the thread of what they were talking about, give up, and zone out. The math students, overall, just seemed light years ahead of me.

A critical vocabulary word that I began to mentally tie to the situation—slumming, these math types were slumming when talking to us biologists—was the grain of sand to my insecurity’s oyster. By the time I got my diploma a few years later, it had developed into a little pearl; now I had the feeling that I was, relative to those who’d come from a math background, a fake computational biologist.

Unhelpfully, the people in charge of hiring for the jobs I want nowadays seemed to agree. All the job listings I was interested in applying for made me feel the same panic that advanced math symbols on powerpoint slides did. The subjects they wanted their applicants to have experience in—machine learning, deep learning, regression analyses—were all frightening, impregnable terms, reminding me either of some kind of giant machine made up of endless tubes and valves, all spitting dangerously hot steam, or of a highly secure, underground bomb shelter that requires fingerprints or eyeball scans to get into. I knew from my previous learning experiences that if I didn’t understand the fundamentals and learned only the higher-level, applied stuff, it was just going to make me feel unworthy, and I’d forget it at once.

But summer had come—it was midsummer now, in fact. The pandemic wasn’t going anywhere, so what was I going to do if I didn’t start learning something? I ended up registering for three classes at a community college back home, which offered their fall semester online. For two thousand dollars, including textbooks, I got a spot in Introductory Statistics, Linear Algebra, and Calculus III.

Calculus III was a risk. I’d taken Calc I and II in undergrad, now about seventeen years ago, and I had earned Bs back then. I didn’t remember much of the material from either class. I’d tried watching Khan Academy videos at various points in the meantime, but could never stick with it. I’d watch several videos in a row, feel like I understood things, try a practice problem, get it wrong, and forget about it after a day or two. But now, I had put actual money into it and, in a few months, a grade would be spit back out, so this time I had real skin in the game.

But I had misgivings that I was too old to learn new stuff, or that I would be one of those students I remember when I was in undergrad, the older students who would grind class to a halt with their endless questions. Or maybe I would get worse grades than I had in undergrad, despite taking things more seriously now.

Two of the classes were taught asynchronously, meaning each lecture was a video that you could pause or replay at your leisure, and all tests were take-home, but the other class, Statistics, was done over Zoom. You might think a Zoom class could be a better way to learn—clarifying questions can be asked immediately, for instance—but for me, at least, it was not. Instead of focusing on the material being taught, the whole time I’d be thinking, “They can see me. Everyone here can see me. I can see me, and I have a dumbass expression on my face. Can they tell that I have a bedsheet instead of a curtain over my window blinds?”

My mind wandered during class just as much as it had while sitting in a lecture hall when I was eighteen, but now, these classes were held later at night, after I’d been working all day and had eaten dinner. As a result of this, and the fact that I find Statistics to be boring when it’s taught as a series of don’t-worry-about-how-we-derived-it formulas to plug numbers into, I did the worst in Statistics.

But Calc and Linear Algebra were more interesting. When I watched the class videos, I got familiar with the disembodied voices of the teachers, who each seemed to be trying to do an impression of Khan Academy videos. My Calc teacher, with his strong Vietnamese accent, would punctuate every few lines of derivation or proof with, “So what does that mean then?” Every time—new topic, new chapter, new problem, exactly the same tone of voice: “So what does that mean then?”

Eventually, in my head, his cadence merged with the tones of Woody Woodpecker’s laugh, and I began saying it to myself as I did chores around my apartment. “So what does that mean, then?” I’d half-sing at my garbage can liner as I cinched it shut. “So what does that mean, then?” I’d say to a wrinkled button-down shirt, enjoying the pepper shaker-y smell of my iron when it’s turned up to its hottest setting. “So what does that mean, then?” I’d say to the window blinds, when considering whether I should replace the bedsheet I’d hung there with an actual curtain, before answering myself that No, this apartment is too temporary for something as tony as curtains.

Sometimes I’d say it three times in a row, like Woody Woodpecker himself:

“So what does that mean, then?”

I kept a Google Sheet of how much time I spent doing work for each class, and found that I averaged about 20 hours a week total. That broke down to approximately an hour and a half each weekday, and on Saturday and Sunday I would go for about six or seven hours each. I’d get up at 7:30 those weekend mornings and brew a pot of coffee, then sit taking notes and working through every part of each assigned homework, not moving on from a problem until I understood everything about it.

I think that those Saturday and Sunday mornings may have been the happiest I felt during the year 2020. In the middle of a difficult Calc problem, not having the answer yet but certain I was on the right track, while also buzzing on caffeine, as a beam of early horizontal sunlight hit my kitchen backsplash and filled the apartment with more brightness than all my lightbulbs put together, I for once did not feel worried. I was unworried about my parents, my sisters, my brother, my sister-in-law, my niece and nephew, and all the pets. Unworried about COVID, or cancer, or the work stresses of the week. Unworried about getting older, about being alone still, or about enjoying being alone too much; unworried about letting all of this time go by and still feeling like real life hasn’t started; unworried about my dad having another stroke, or about my mom just suddenly up and dying out of nowhere, or cancer, or whether my hairline is changing, or the fact that my heart has been skipping a beat sometimes lately, or whether my friends who I speak to on the phone were getting sick of me, or whether I am too graphic when I describe symptoms I am afraid mean I might have cancer, or whether my apartment neighbors will keep me up with their noise again tonight, or whether the tooth sensitivity I feel drinking cold water lately means I need to risk a dentist visit during a pandemic, or whether I will be able to have healthier boundaries with my parents whenever I return to the northeast, or whether I’ll ever feel truly satisfied and content, or whether I’ll ever feel actual joy some day, or whether my hang-ups, and anxieties, and fears, and regrets about my personal and professional choices will end up all ganging up on me at once, or, of course, whether at any given moment, I might have cancer.

My attitude going into the classes was that I would disregard whatever grades I got and simply aim for as much comprehension as possible. But about halfway through the semester, I lost my nerve and began to think of my grades as a direct indicator of my level of understanding. So I started fretting about my grades, and on days of Calc III exams during the second half of the semester, I took vacation time so I could spend the whole day working on them.

It got a little crazy toward the end, but finally, it was over, and I managed to get all As. That made me happy, even if I knew that that kind of satisfaction is a bit immature. But I felt like I was making up for some of the sins I had committed as a college student, my laziness and my previous lack of appreciation for education finally, in a small way, absolved.

I spent Christmas here in Texas. When I think back on Christmases from previous years I find that I can remember the past two years very well because I flew home and packed a lot of family and friend time into a few short days. Before 2018, though, I can’t remember any specific Christmas well enough to recount anything that happened on the day.

But when I was a little kid, I remembered each Christmas perfectly, mainly due to the gifts I got and the room where we put the Christmas tree—where “Christmas happened”: in 1990, it was in the back room and we got a magic set, and also my brother pretended to faint when he saw he’d gotten Reebok Pumps. In 1991, it was in the family room, and my brother and I got the Nintendo game “Base Wars.” In 1992, it was in the living room and we got a Sega Genesis along with the game “Sonic 2.” In 1993, it was in the family room again, and I got a Hot Wheels Key Force car, and my brother got the Genesis game “Hard Ball 3 With Al Michaels.”

In 1994, my grandfather died a few weeks before Christmas, and we got a Sega CD. That was the year I became aware that the Christmas spirit was vulnerable to external forces, one’s first experience with death being the most offensive of those forces, and after a few months I also became aware that a hot new gaming console like the Sega CD could “fail,” slipping into obscurity with a small and unremarkable library of games. As a result, the indestructible-seeming sheen of Christmas fell away, leaving behind a better idea of what Christmas really is: a bare, thin-glassed lightbulb plugged into the middle of the year’s darkest period. After 1994, I can’t really remember what happened each Christmas.

This past Christmas will always be memorable, though, because I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day pretty much doing one of three things: playing Quake (yes, that hobby still refuses to die), watching something Star Wars-related, or video chatting with my family. At any time when I wasn’t speaking to family, I had Christmas music playing in the background, including while Star Wars was on. I turned the heat up in my apartment to 75 degrees and enjoyed how money-wastingly hot it was getting, until my nose started to bleed from the dry air.

I want to take this opportunity to say that I much prefer Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. Christmas Eve is generally all anticipation and guest arrivals, buoying the mood long into the falling night. From the viewpoint of Christmas Eve, any miracle might happen the following morning. But then after a late, over-buttered breakfast on Christmas Day, there’s nothing much else to do except think about cleaning up and regret how much you’ve eaten. The “anything could happen” feeling is now all gone, collapsed from a dazzling infinity’s worth of possibilities down to one homely outcome.

I hadn’t put up any decorations for my apartment, unless the Christmas music can be considered a decoration. This ended up being a good thing, though, since I didn’t have to take anything down once the holiday was over.

I started taking walks pretty early in the pandemic, my first walk happening after about one week of lockdown. That day there was a surprisingly large amount of people also walking. We all stayed far away from one another, since none of us were wearing masks—the width of even a modest suburban Texas street is still impressively wide, so there was no safety issue. I always took the initiative to be the one who crossed the street if I saw someone, exaggeratedly swinging my arms as I crossed so the person walking toward me could see my intentions even from far away. I did this because I figured it would be harder for the dog-walkers to wrangle their dog across the street and get out of my way, and the people without dogs were either old or were walking in a group.

In the beginning I was walking maybe twice a week, which then became three times, which became five. It held at five times a week during the fall semester because I’d have to be on Zoom from 6:30-8:30 PM Tuesdays and Thursdays, which took up the whole span of time in which I would usually walk. Nowadays, no longer taking classes, I walk every night.

For a while, I tried to get home before sunset, because I’m afraid of being hit by a car in the dark. After the clocks shifted back, I had to choose between walking earlier, during rush hour when everyone was arriving back at their houses from work, or waiting to walk until after the sun has set. I ended up buying one of those reflective construction worker’s vests for $8 on Amazon and waiting for nighttime. I feel like a dork when I wear the vest, but most of the people walking at night who I see are also wearing reflective clothes. Theirs are more chic than my vest, though, looking like they were ordered through an expensive fitness-wear catalogue. I’d buy the same type, but to me, walking is a meditative, solitary act, and I don’t want to feel that I’m catering to externalities like looking stylish while I’m trying to feel solitary. It also acts as a tacit acknowledgement that I’m not a criminal: “I’m making myself as visible as possible! I’m not casing your houses to break into them later on!”

Even though the focus of COVID is on the transmission of disease through shared, respired air, I still pay a lot of attention to contaminated surfaces. When I go out anywhere, I have a routine: first, I put on my going-out clothes (newly clean), then my shoes, which are possibly dirty, since I have to re-tie them sometimes with unwashed hands, so before I touch anything else after tying my shoes, I wash my hands. Then, I put on a mask, turn off all the lights except the one at the front door, pick up my keys with my right hand, slip my phone into my left pocket, and walk to the door. I put my keys in my right pocket (my wallet is already there), open the door with my right hand, turn out the light, step out the door, and take the keys out of my pocket to lock the door with, again, only my right hand.

I use my right hand pretty much everywhere outside—to push or pull open doors, to open my car to retrieve something from it, to open my mailbox and carry my mail in—because I know that if I use my left hand, my phone-operating hand, I’m going to have to put the phone into a little UV light phone-sterilizing box that I bought when I get home. And for some reason, I feel like it’s a small moral failure to have to use that UV box, so I try to keep my left hand from touching anything except for the phone. But I know that if I drive anywhere, all bets are off—both my hands touch the steering wheel, my left hand touches the car door handle while getting out, and I push open doors with both hands whenever I get somewhere. I’m sure that my left hand ends up touching something that may have SARS-CoV-2 on it as I carry out an errand, and therefore into the UV box my phone must go when I get home. But, when I go out to walk, there’s a good chance that I won’t need to touch anything with my left hand between leaving the apartment and coming back. If that’s the case, I can use my phone freely while walking if I want to, but when I get home, I can still just take it from my pocket and place it on my desk, no ultraviolet sterilizing waves needed. But of course then I still have to wash my right hand.

The walk is the same route every night now. It’s a vaguely circular, level 2.7 miles, starting northbound, bearing west, south, then east. It takes about forty minutes for me to walk the whole thing, plus or minus four minutes, depending on how warmed up I get while walking. My heart rate generally goes up to about 115 beats per minute for most of the walk, according to my watch, then spikes to 135 as I climb the stairs to my fourth floor apartment at the end.

Insulated by the sound of music or an audiobook on my headphones, and with my hands stuck in my pockets, actually holding onto the cloth pocket linings themselves, I feel less like a person on a walk and more like someone steering a large, inertia-filled thing—a sailboat that I have to tack against an unfavorable wind, or a bobsled whose blades I have to turn out of deep ruts on the ice. But despite feeling bodily awkward, I find suburbia to be a soothing place to move through. I really don’t understand how some people think of the suburbs as some kind of dystopia, to be honest. My neighborhood has wide streets, as I mentioned, and the houses are almost all ranch-style. The trees, like the houses, are shorter than they are in the northeast. Some of the trees look more like very tall shrubbery. As for the ground, the blades of grass are wider, and the soil is just a bit sandier. Sometimes, I see two-inch-long cockroaches, what people back home would call “water bugs,” creeping across the sidewalks.

I can’t remember the names of the streets on the walk, except for Forrest Street, which I noticed once when I saw the street sign while I was running and it made me think of “Run, Forrest, run!” and Kenilworth Street, which has the same name as a street back at home. Other than those, I only know points along the route by the informal names I’ve assigned to them. There’s a road where it changes direction from heading north to heading east, and it looks over a little park. The lack of houses there gives an unobstructed view of the western horizon. For that reason, I call that part of the route “Sunset Bend.” At another point on the route there is a house where, in the beginning of lockdown last spring, a family was always outside, the parents sitting motionless in Adirondack chairs while their kids all went nuts on the front lawn, playing with the sprinkler, or doing hopscotch, or sitting at one of those tiny plastic picnic tables, playing some board game. That part of the walk I called “Kidville.”

There were other houses that were always so inactive, so abandoned-seeming—the blinds were always closed and there wasn’t a car in the driveway—that I started to wonder if anyone lived there at all, and whether maybe the neighborhood association was mowing its lawn to stave off the shabbiness. But after the switch from walking in daylight to nighttime, I saw that some of those houses, while still shut up and silent, had lights on inside in rooms not facing the street. Looking at those houses is like staring into the vents of a space heater in a dark room.

Eventually I started thinking about how the walk is exactly 2.7 miles. Then, idly, I realized that if you multiply 2.7 by 30, you get 81. That number of years, eighty-one, seems like a decent amount of years to hope to live—it’s not greedy, you’re not asking for a hundred years, for example—but also, maybe when I get closer to 81, there will be better medical treatments and 81 will seem younger. Assuming that doesn’t happen, though, I think of 81 years as more or less “a complete life.” It is very sad, but not exactly a tragedy, to die at 81.

With this in mind, I started translating the distance along my walk to human ages. For instance, 1.0 miles into the walk, times 30, would equal 30 years. And 1.2 miles times 30 would equal 36 years, which is how old I am now. Since by the time I’d discovered this “conversion formula,” the walk was already so familiar to me that I had a very good perspective on how far into the walk any given point felt—the precise moment when I sense that I’m transitioning from the middle to the end phase of the walk, for example. So when I came up with the multiply-by-30 conversion formula, I was interested to see exactly what part of the walk 1.2 miles, or 36 years old, corresponded to.

The answer is that it was later in the walk than I’d hoped. The moment I reach 1.2 miles is long past the most scenic parts of the route; it’s just after a left turn that puts me on a long straightaway of modest houses leading to an arterial road, known to me as the hook-around part of the circuit where in past walks, I had thought, “Now I’m on my way back home.”

Over the next few evenings, I noted other points, ones that had come before the 1.2 mile marker, and compared them to parts of my already-lived life: I graduated high school at 0.6 miles into the walk, which was the beginning of Sunset Bend. I got my master’s degree in a spot where, at nighttime, a streetlight shines through the leaves on a tree, giving the street a dance hall, disco-ball kind of lighting (hence, “Disco Point”). That friendly, lighted patch of street, with a jaunty-looking house standing next to it, makes it my favorite part of the walk. As for points I have not yet reached: still ahead of my current age distance, at around 1.5 miles, is Kidville, but I haven’t seen anyone in the front yard there in months now.

Toward the end, almost back home, there’s a large school property. I’ve never seen anyone on the grounds, except for the occasional person who sneaks onto the running track to jog it. Along one of the fences that borders the school, in springtime last year, someone started zip-tying laminated sheets of paper with jokes written on them to the chain links. The jokes are all clean, and pretty lame—these days it seems like almost all kid-friendly jokes are just puns, like “How did the farmer find his wife? He tractor down!”

One time, I saw a kid about ten years old on his bike, riding along the sidewalk and stopping to read each joke. The fence ends at a small park for toddlers. There’s a big plastic sign at the entrance of the park, faded but still legible, that has a boy’s name displayed on it. Below his name is written a tragically short span of years, and below that, a message: “This park is dedicated to the memory of (the boy’s name), and to all of the little tykes of (the neighborhood).” Whoever it was putting up jokes on the schoolyard fence stopped replacing them with new ones some time during the fall, and I walk too late to ever see anyone playing at the playground. Well, that’s not quite true: very rarely, around 9 PM on warm nights, I might see what appears to be a young mother scrutinizing her phone as her kid swings in the dark.

I haven’t been to the gym to lift any weights since lockdown started. I’ve been able to do cardio in my apartment, but the result of all the cardio and all the walking is that I’ve lost a decent amount of lifting strength, as well as about ten pounds. This is consistent with how life in general has evolved: I have also reduced the list of spaces I travel to, leaving my apartment only to go to work, to pick up groceries, and to walk through my neighborhood. My body, and the edges of my life, have gone through a great miniaturization, but my perspective has adapted with it—each feature within this smaller space seems more detailed, and the day’s moments are of a finer grain. Inside my apartment, I have realized how much the lighting affects the atmosphere, and as a result the mood, so I can change which lights are on when to reflect the mood of each time of day. When I walk at night, sometimes I have the same feeling I did the week before I moved here from New Jersey, a sort of farewell feeling. That feeling started in the fall as a dessert-like flipside to my happy mornings spent doing math homework. Those evenings, I also felt like I was saying goodbye, to a more insecure, more ignorant version of myself, I guess. Nowadays, I get the feeling that I’m saying goodbye to the person who had, until now, always feared that he was missing out on things.

There will be a time, closer to now than now is to the beginning of the pandemic, when I will leave Texas. I will be happy and relieved to return home, whenever that is. But at the same time, there’s a new feeling that is starting to take root, and it’s a weird one: for all the hardship that the pandemic has presented to me, the anxiety for my family and the limitations it’s put on my mobility, social life, and career, for more than ten months now, its most memorable effect, unless I’m affected by the illness itself, will be that it made me love my neighborhood. I have walked more than 500 miles of it over the months, and scores of miles remain to be walked before I move away. I’ve walked during steaming afternoons, during cloudy sunsets, in pre-dawn twilight on cool mornings, and during soft, breezy evenings. It’s always picturesque, pleasant, very green. The houses look inviting, and the dog-walkers wave to me. I listen to music that suits my mood and do the geographical equivalent of palm reading. That’s all, really.

Can a person love a place? Feel gratitude toward landscaping, houses, parked cars, and people viewed only from a distance? Can someone feel affinity to a fox seen in a churchyard and streetlights shining through leaves in the night? Affection for lawn mower exhaust, for the noise of an approaching SUV slowly carving out a bend? Love for landmarks that correspond to moments in one’s past, or to moments that one might encounter in the future?

There will be a time, I hope, when my years in Texas are far in the past. But some day, I will hear a song, or see a house with a certain architecture, or smell a variety of grass, and Texas will return to me. At the same time, I also hope that it isn’t too overwhelming. I’ve found that I can never tell how potent a memory of a particular time or place will be until there’s a lot of distance between me and it. Sometimes, a memory will come gently, settling on me like a haze, ready to be indulged, even laughed at. In such cases I turn up the music that brought the memory, or take a luxuriating whiff of the scent, and I think back on the time, feeling only a little bit sad.

But other memories swoop down like some kind of predatory bird, and in those cases, the nostalgia feels more like the punch of the bird’s talons in the back of my neck. The sense of missing is so strong that it feels less like nostalgia and more like a distilled, portable homesickness. Ridiculously, I’ll even want to return to the memory’s time and place, despite knowing that in reality it had been fraught with pain or unease. Which makes the sneaking feeling growing during this time, at this place, all the more uncanny. I mean, all that this span of time has been, is me, and some terrain, and the wind, and the light of the sun or the moon. No one else. My nostalgia for anything before this was always about times and places with other people. So who will I be missing?

Someone once said, Wherever you go, there you are. But now, I wonder: is that really true?

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k-itsmaywriting · 4 years

Text

Adrift in the Snow (1/2) : One Month

Content warning: vomit mention

They arrived at Starlight Gate when the sun was at its highest.

The journey back from the last house in the northern region of Clarines was not rushed. Though it was tiring, horse-riding for long days and sleeping in unfamiliar beds for longer nights, Shirayuki, Obi and Ryuu weren’t close to dozing off on the last leg of their travels to Wistal.

Shirayuki could only hope the others wouldn’t realise she was stalling.

She had been anticipating that day for a long time – one where she held her head high in front of Izana, the fruits of her hard work over the years beared before him. At times she imagined Obi and Ryuu with her, at others it’d be Zen. It was his side she worked to stand by for so long, after all. And for years that ambition was as clear as day, and if she had to prove herself to a king, then she would.

But when she stood in his Majesty Izana’s office, blinding sun spilling through the tall windows, only grey clouds filled her head.

Izana gently flicked through the final pages of their report, speaking as he read. “Each house you’ve visited in the north has agreed to the plantation of Phostyrias before the start of the next winter.” With a small smile on his lips, he looked up at them as he laid it on his desk. “Congratulations, you’ve successfully completed your mission.”

Shirayuki’s heart lifted, and for a moment she could focus on the joy. “Thank you,” she breathed. “We couldn’t have done it without all the people who believe in the Phostyrias as much as we do.”

Perhaps she was projecting, or maybe the sun was too bright, but she swore she could see Izana’s smile warm.

“Miss and Little Ryuu convinced them first,” said Obi. There was a lightness in his voice that made him sound so gentle that Shirayuki couldn’t help but look at him. “That was the whole point.”

Ryuu stood up straighter. “It was the three of us, together,” he said. “Obi was chosen for a reason too.”

Shirayuki wanted that moment to last forever. The three of them, standing together after all they’ve been through. She had felt so strong then with their support.

Yet so weak, knowing it wasn’t going to last.

“But speaking of Ryuu and Shirayuki specifically,” Izana interjected, “this does bring up our next discussion, and that’s regarding both of your transfers to Wilant Castle as Royal Pharmacists.”

Both, he had said. And Shirayuki’s stomach dropped to the floor.

Izana looked at Ryuu first. “You initially deferred your transfer in order to accompany Shirayuki and Obi on their mission around the north. Now that that has been successful, I expect that you will be transferring within the next month.”

Ryuu nodded firmly. “Yes, your Majesty.”

Izana then looked back at her. “And Shirayuki.”

The skin of Shirayuki’s neck broke into sweat. It was the moment she’d been dreading. The decision. One she thought she already made up her mind on for long but…

If Izana noticed anything, it did not stop him. “Since your first time in Lilias, I have been impressed with your work, your dedication and your potential. And with the success of the Phostyrias throughout its entire process, I believe you’ve proven yourself to me enough.”

It was as though the room centred in on her, caging her, as he said, “I trust that you will do well, as you have here in Wistal and in Lilias. You will be going with him.”

She expected nothing different from his Majesty, Shirayuki thought, that it wasn’t a question. He gave nothing away – neither what he knew nor what he didn’t. All she could give him then, like the first time she ever met him, was honesty, even if it meant those who ever doubted her might’ve been right.

Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth and…

--------------------

“One meatball and one cabbage soup?”

Shirayuki sits a little straighter and smiles as the waitress sets the bowls on the table. She glances across her towards Suzu, who is already eating the cabbage with his eyes, and stifles a laugh.

Suzu deadpans at her when the waitress leaves. “What?”

“Nothing.” Her grin widens as she picks up her spoon. “I’ve just never seen you look at cabbage so intensely.”

“After the amount of vomiting that went on all afternoon, I do not want anything hearty sloshing around in my guts.”

Shirayuki grimaces, but she tries not to let the image ruin her meatball soup. She deserves this. It’s been a long day and they’re in for a cold night. It’s just too bad the amount of complaints from stomach bugs and food poisoning meant the university kitchens would be closed for the night while they figured out what went wrong.

The town swelled with a sudden influx of hungry scholars searching for dinner. But with the snowy winds outside, she and Suzu settled for speed-walking across the town into an inn restaurant they didn’t know instead of waiting in line.

At least there’s a big fireplace, Shirayuki thinks while she lifts the spoon to her mouth. And decent soup. Obi would like it, if he was there.

In-between slow bites, she looks out the window next to her. They’re past the town square, but not so far that the streets aren’t lively. There are a few shop names she recognises from Yuzuri and Kirito’s recommendations. Then, further out and around the corner there’s an inn larger than the others. She sees the sign out front and—

Her heart drops, though it doesn’t have very far to fall. It feels more like tripping up a stair and hitting her knees on the next. Short, but still with a tang of bitterness in her mouth. It makes her frown.

“What are you looking at?”

Shirayuki rests her chin on her hand, gaze still out the window. “That inn across the road. Zen and I got stranded there in a snowstorm that time he came to visit.”

Suzu leans over the table and peeks outside. “Oh.” Then he slowly plops back down awkwardly in his chair. “Haven’t heard about him in a while. I don’t really know what happened after that, but…”

What happened was that Zen’s jealousy got…Shirayuki shakes her head and doesn’t finish the thought. There’s no use going down that road again, thinking about the trespassing and the close calls that almost cost her reputation and the Phostyrias mission. She can only be glad now that neither of those things were lost. But still, in all the years of aiming to stand by his side, thankful for the kind hand he reached out to her that very first morning by the border of Clarines, she didn’t think he’d be a reason for it all to almost come toppling down.

She would be lying if she said she wasn’t grateful for Zen. She doesn’t know where she’d be if he hadn’t helped her. But even though they agreed that they’re still important and dear to each other and could still be close friends, they still haven’t written to each other. It was sobering to realise that wasn’t actually new. It made her wonder, underneath all those secret kisses hidden away in forests and between great pillars, whether faith without real communication or trust was all they had. And how long ago it had become that way.

“Maybe after being away from each other for so long,” she says, “he could only remember what I was to him, but not who I was. Like he forgot what it meant for me to stand on my own feet and walk my own path.” Or to fight her own battles and emerge victorious through sincerity that blooms hopes into bright futures, the way she always has and always will.

“Was that the deal breaker?”

Shirayuki turns to look at Suzu’s blank face. He’s not judging, just curious because he cares. So, she nods.

Suzu nods back. “That’s fair.” And he continues eating like the conversation never happened. “So, has Ryuu written from Wilant yet?”

--------------------

“No.”

The air in the room dropped two degrees. Silent. She couldn’t look anywhere but at Izana, surprise flashing across his face for a moment. But she still had much rather looked at him than either of the people beside her.

Izana smooths his expression into neutrality. “No?”

“I…” Shirayuki looked down at her hands. “I don’t…I don’t know…”

“Miss?”

She knew it was a mistake to look up at him before she even did it. Her heart wrenched.

Obi’s eyes were wide with disbelief, holding his breath the same way Shirayuki’s was trapped in her chest and clawing at her lungs. “You’re really…?”

She couldn’t tear her eyes from Obi’s. It was torture, watching the thoughts of what went wrong and how and what it meant rushing through his head when the decision was hers and hers alone. “If I were to leave for Wilant tomorrow,” she said, “I wouldn’t be able to tell you that that is what I truly want right now."

“You do realise, Shirayuki, that I unfortunately cannot wait for you forever,” Izana said calmly. “And unlike Ryuu, there was no current mission that you can undertake that will allow you to defer your offer.”

The storm still brewed inside her head. She didn’t know which decision would ease the turbulence, but she nodded solemnly regardless. Choosing one. “Yes, your Majesty. I understand that fully.”

They left Izana’s office in silence.

Obi lingered by the door as it closed behind them. “Is it because of Master?”

Shirayuki stopped. As she stared into no particular space in front of her, Ryuu excused himself and left in the direction of the pharmacy.

It was a lie to say no, but yes wasn’t entirely accurate either. There was more to it that she couldn’t explain.

“I thought that even though your understanding is over,” Obi murmured, “you’re still important to each other. That’s what you said, didn’t you?”

Shirayuki turned around. “We did. It’s just…It’s just that things have changed. I can’t act like I know for certain that what I want now is the same as before, as if I love Zen like I used to. Because I…” She looked down at the ground, defeated. “I’m sorry, Obi. I know you wished for our happiness for all these years.”

Obi’s footsteps drew closer, his shadow right behind. When Shirayuki looked up at him, he was smiling at her sadly.

“But above all else, Miss, I wish for yours.”

--------------------

It’s been a month since then.

Ryuu’s absence is deafening. Shirayuki still looks to her side, searching for his thoughts written in the way he furrows his eyebrows and the sharp focus of his gaze.

She never really talked to Obi about her decision, neither before nor after that morning in Izana’s office. She feels like a bad friend for not. She wants to, if only she can fully explain with words the heavy confusion that rolls inside her gut.

She’s been wandering back-and-forth through the halls of Lilias like a ghost. Without any new research to undertake, she’s been picking up extra shifts in the pharmacy and spending long nights in the library studying. But it doesn’t fill the void she’s trapped in. It’s as though there are cracks in the mirror where she sees herself, a whole piece that’s gone missing right where her eyes are supposed to be. Where she now finds nothing when she tries to look forward.

--------------------

The front door to the dormitories shuts out the snowy winds. As they catch their breath, Shirayuki and Suzu shake the snow out of their hair and off their coats. She can feel the warmth of the lanterns in the hallway seeping into her skin, little by little.

Suzu unwraps his scarf from his neck. “Well, I’m heading straight to bed. I’ll see you at the pharmacy tomorrow morning?”

Shirayuki smiles and nods. “Yeah. See you. And thanks for inviting me out today.”

“No problem,” he says, backing towards the left hallway that leads to his room.

Then Shirayuki is alone again, storm raging on and all.

--------------------

She draws her hand away from Obi’s door.

She worries her lip and steps back. She feels so…silly, turning up at his door again at night. She just wants to feel like things are normal, like they can talk for hours and sleep in the same bed when it’s cold. Like there’s nothing she’s keeping from him.

Why is it suddenly so hard?

She huffs and turns away, tugging the ends of her nightgown sleeves over her hands. He’s sleeping, she thinks. But she takes two steps down the hall when suddenly the door clicks and creaks open. “Miss?”

Obi’s voice is but a husk, and Shirayuki turns around again, apology already on her tongue. “I’m sorry, I know you have an early morning tomorrow so just…forget that I—”

“You know that I don’t mind, Miss.” he says softly. “All you have to do is knock.”

Obi steps back as Shirayuki enters his room. Pitch black envelops it as he closes the door behind her, but even though she can’t see, it’s only a matter of seconds before she crawls onto the bed and snuggles into his blankets.

In the darkness, Obi’s laugh is a low rumble, warm like summer lightning. “You know, a man’s going to get ideas when you keep turning up to his room late at night like this.”

The bed dips next to her. Obi is barely under the blankets when Shirayuki instinctively entwines their ankles, and he wraps an arm around her shoulder. His body is a furnace – Shirayuki’s close to falling asleep right then and there, but she fights it. She wants to tell him. She wants him to know. “Obi?”

Her eyes are still adjusting to the dark, but she can see that Obi opens his and looks at her. Waiting patiently.

He’s always so good to her it…it almost doesn’t feel fair anymore. “Can I be honest with you about something?”

His breathing stills. “What is it?”

Even though they’re so close now, she can’t help but think about how far away from him she felt in that morning inside Izana’s office. When she had told him no. And the way Obi had looked at her…

“I feel like I’ve made a mistake, telling Izana I didn’t want to go to Wilant,” she says. “Not because I want to go now, but…” She breathes deep, lets the air slowly fill her chest. “I spent so long working, trying to prove myself to people so that I could stand by Zen’s side because I…I loved him. But now I don’t and I just…don’t know what to do next.”

She feels like she’s floating in a dark void, not knowing where she is or how she can move. She hates the way it makes her feel. Like she’s…

It hits her. And she whispers, “I feel lost because it’s only about me now. Not me and Zen, just me.”

Shirayuki’s eyes flicker up to Obi’s. He’s staring back at her, eyes as wide as hers.

Suddenly it seems so obvious that Shirayuki can’t help but laugh at herself. “Goodness, how was that so hard? It’s been years since I only needed to think about what I wanted, and what was good for me. But now that I’m not chasing Zen, I’ve turned away the exact thing I came here for in the first place and now I’m just…lost.”

“And I’m sorry I haven’t talked about it with you until now,” she blurts. “I knew you were upset about Zen and me. I just felt like…” Her voice lowers. The shakiness in it is one she doesn’t recognise. “I was afraid that you were going to be disappointed in me.”

“No, no – I’d never…” he breathes. “I didn’t know it was going to change your decision. But like I told you then, I wish for your happiness more than anything else. I didn’t want you to be sad alone.”

Tears prick at Shirayuki’s eyes. She blinks them away, but her heart swells regardless as she rests her forehead against his chest. “Thank you.”

A hitch catches in Obi’s throat. But with a slow exhale, he softens against her. “We don’t always know where we’re going, but sometimes we end up staying in places we never thought we would.”

“I may had worked to prove myself to Izana,” she says, “but I also worked to prove myself here, in Lilias. I’ve made friends for a lifetime and been challenged in ways I never would’ve imagined when I was back in Tanbarun.”

She feels Obi smile into her hair. “Yeah. Exactly.”

His heart beats softly against the palm of her hand. If she moves it up, she’d touch the scar on his chest. But instead she wraps her arm around his side and pulls herself closer to his chest, breathes deeply of the smell of warm, brown earth, sighing.

Closer now, Obi’s fingers are still against her back. But slowly, he exhales, fingers shyly playing with the long strands of her hair.

“I know you don’t talk about Tanbarun much,” Obi murmurs. “But what things did you look forward to back then?”

Shirayuki hums, pondering. “I would just try to help the customers who came in each day. I made sure I had the supplies and the money to make it to the next one. It wasn’t anything big, but it was already enough to keep me busy.”

“But were you happy?”

She thinks about the open fields on the outskirts of town, of wildflowers and the deep forests of her childhood, of the smiles of the villagers and their good health. Of healing.

The thoughts make her smile from somewhere light, deep in her heart. “Yeah.”

She supposes that it’s not all different from back then. Instead of breezy winds, she wakes up to snow under the soles of her boots and sees colour return to the faces of soldiers and exhausted academics. Her forests have been replaced with libraries. Solitude with company.

She doesn’t have to run forward to reach for the next place in her life just yet. For now, she can just be.

--------------------

The storm has calmed by the next morning.

Shirayuki cracks her eyes open one at a time, waking up wrapped in blankets and Obi’s limbs. It’s a little brighter than expected for this time of year, but she’s not complaining.

Outside, Lilias’ bell tower chimes throughout the campus. She counts the great tones under her breath, letting the sound wake her.

When there’s one more bell than there should be, she gasps and starts furiously tapping Obi’s shoulder. “Obi, wake up!”

He groans. “Five more minutes, Miss…”

“We can’t, it’s already eight!” She snakes out of Obi’s arms and out of the bed, padding towards his window to throw open the curtains. Sunlight spills into the room. Obi rolls onto his back and throws an arm over his eyes, groaning more. To an exaggerated degree, even.

She turns around and crawls back onto the bed next to him. “We might be able to get breakfast if we hurry, Obi.”

In one smooth motion, Obi sits up. He droops forward and lets his head fall, bringing a hand up to scratch his endearingly messy bedhead. “Surely the trainees know what to do without me telling them at this point.”

Shirayuki sighs, rolling her eyes in an attempt to hold in the smile that threatens her.

“Alright, I got it, Miss,” Obi turns his head to her and grins widely—

But not before Shirayuki grabs his face in both her hands and promptly kisses his nose.

When she pulls back, Obi is stunned to silence. The tips of his ears are searing red.

“Come on, Obi,” she says, sliding off the bed. “We’ve made it to today. Let’s do our best.”

#obiyukikissdraft #obiyuki #akagami no shirayukihime #'WOW THIS IS MY LAST FIC FOR 2019' i say as though i've written more than 5 things this year #also does tumblr not do those line breaks anymore btwn paragraphs or am i tripping #akagami no shirayuki hime #kiss on the nose

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une-nuit-pour-se-souvenir · 4 years

Text

Russia Visit Balance

I flew on Lufhtansa four times. Very nice company as usual, no problems. Nice catering and support. Very nice pilot and copilot and crew that invited me to check out cockpit. I study this stuff so of course this was quite a treat and gave me an extra boost to finally finish this doctorate once and for all.

EXCEPT Frankfurt. All fine with the check and stuff (annoying and slow, but understandable). But the dumb arsehole on boarding gate ewww. I was told I couldn't take my cabin trolley and it had to be taken with heavy luggage. I had already flown with it in that company that week thrice, it had the right weight. I asked why, he wouldn't explain. "It sometimes happens." Why? He didn't answer. I insisted as that is my right, I wanted to know why only me and he told me he already explained 10x times. 10m on this. Until his boss came and said the reason. It's because of the weight distribution on the airplane and cabin was already full. I study this shit for a living, hell there is a course where we learn to calculate it BY HAND. I looked like a standard tourist so boarding dumb employee fancied himself not needing to explain. This pisses me off. For me, because I had the right to know and I was refused to, as well as all the "ignorant" who also ad the right to know but this dumbarse thinks himself unnacountable to these people either. At leat he got chewed off. Arsehole.

Saint Petersburg

I want to live a couple of months of the year there forever. 😭😭😭

A beautiful city, the "centre" feels like stopped in time, the old architecture and decorations, yet modern enough for you to feel its modern times. Wi-Fi everywhere. It sucks because you need to provide mobile phone and I'd have to pay roaming. At least that's what I got.

Near summer solstice (~21/06) the days are the biggest and nights the shortest, the sun went down at 22:30 and got up at 3:00. Its the contrary in he winter solstice (~21/12). This is why May to September is tourist season so it's packed full. The temperature was warm enough 12C - 20C, supposedly it rain here a lot but it never did. I wonder if visiting it in March / April would be too cold and rainy... I like cold and rain though.

Saint Petersburg looks like Venice, rivers and bridges. The Neva river and all the others smell "nice". I cannot say the same for other cities with rivers running through them (* looks at my own country *). Whole place was spotless clean, not a single piece of garbage floor. YOU CANNOT DRINK TAP WATER. There are "free" washrooms which are very clean. You ask for toilette like the French.

I visited half of the big places too quickly to really appreciate it but enough to entice me to return on my own. My favourites were the historic centre (buildings, rivers, bridges), Hermitage (not the 8116627228283762 Chinese groups though) and Summer Palace (also not the Chinese they were everywhere, I've travelled plenty and I've never seen so many or so much disrespectful). The other half was closed for repairs. What a tease.

Can get scammed in both street sellers (sometimes they trick you, they sold me matrioska with 3 instead of 5 like promised) as well as legitimate souvenir shops (double the price from the streets). I got the best deals in the streets though, so keep an eye on them as they have the same stuff but at half price. I highly recommend "summary" books in your language (they sell them "everywhere") for about 10€ or 500p (I got them outside for 5€). Here I was not scammed and I made really good deals. This will change of course, but carry a calculator as exchange is easy. Rubles divided by "70" to get € (I believe "60" to get $). On the other hand, multiply € /$ for "70" or "60". Check exchange and not that some will be more anal retentive about the exchange rate than others. About half of the places accept € / $ but charge slightly more. If you have VISA you can withdraw from ATM (most have English version) and the tax isn't high. Exchange rate is more favourable in Russian soil.

There are markets open "24/7" or close to it. I know this because I had to go search for super glue at six in the morning and there was one open. Another thing worth knowing is pharmacy > ANTEKA and the traditional green cross, there are many of them. "NOBODY" anywhere except museumz speaks english but they will usually try to help (no matter the age). Take mobile with Google translate, photos, or something to draw. Improvise too. I got them to understand caviar by bringing fish and eggs together.

I want to hate Holiday Inn because of an incident with my football team. I've spent several times in different ones and yet I could not hate it, yet again. Damn them. Recommend. I found their "interpretation" of my national dishes hilarious, this is something recurrent because there were French and Italians laughing about the same.

Lots of salads, which I'm a fan of. Also soup made of salad apparently. Small doses (blasphemy for my country). Very soft meat but not much fish (understandable). Huge mugs for weak coffee they drink anytime and everywhere, as well as black tea. I like my strong espresso like any shameless Mediterranean dweller. There was a machine at the hotels but nowhere else.

Good Vodka every meal, except for one which not only was awful made me cry because it was the last meal I had there. I was offered a Vodka bottle for my sadness which I'm already chugging. There was one with Gin and Lemon(?). Please someone give the recipe if you know what it is. I almost died from how good it was.

Moscow

Moscow is opposite. Very cosmopolite, its like three cities in one. The old one (like Petersburg), the random urban jungle one, and the futuristic one. The guide said, Petersburg was more artsy and Moscow more economical.

Moscow very beautiful at night. The lights really make the place "shine" (urgh). Saw much less there because if was raining like the end of the world. I saw an old religious peregrine place (if you're not Protestant you will find their churches breathtaking), Kremlim and Red Square (its not red), as well as everything else there (Basil, Lenin).

There was some fancy mall (GUM which had limited edition dior makeup where I spent all my pocket money). I also bought a cute Moscow umbrella with monuments and a Gargarin t-shirt (first human in space) which I'd chose over all the makeup no matter if if cost 10x less. Sometimes it's the little things. I also wanted to buy shirtless Putin mounted on a bear flag but I was afraid I'd be arrested. I was very tempted in buying a shirt with Putin with Trump behind him with the word "friends' over it. Again,what if I was arrested.

There were also oil canvas 30x20 sold in souvenir shops in both cities (150€ each) and an interesting "matrioska" with all the Russian presidents since Lenin (on of them had a defect). My heart broke and a bit stayed with them as I couldn't bring them with me.

Hotel this time was Marriott. Veryyy good and veryyy bad. Rooms were better, food was worse, the reception girls were super nice but some employee stole stuff from several rooms as well (money, "lame" souvenirs - da fuq, fur hat / stoles / coats, sunglasses, even some fancy face creams). I always shove everything inside the safe and bags with secret code so I was good but I still spent one hour waiting for an engineer to come SUBSTITUTE the whole safe door because they were that determined in opening it.

Taxis have unfortunate reputations on every country. Apparently Russian taxis are cool because they are government issued. I cannot confirm. I paid 200€ for a drive and the ones that came after us paid 70€. This is of course impossible. I'd rather go on subway (I recommend checking the ones on Moscow, some are beautiful) bit I was with old people who were afraid of getting lost (how hard could it be srly). Well then. Something got lost alright.

Highly recommend!

#russia

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chateau-sehun-blog · 4 years

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climate table australia: climate, weather and temperature of australia

Legal particularities

Now that the big rush of tourists is finally over, the prices for rental cars, caravans and accommodation are often reduced by half compared to the high season. With September temperatures rise and the New Zealand spring sets in. September shines with temperatures around 17 degrees Celsius per day. The ski season ends, the snow melts and winter sports enthusiasts leave the ski regions.

Which medicines can I bring into New Zealand?

New Zealand is in the Southern Hemisphere. As a result, the seasons of New Zealand are opposite to those in Europe and North America. Thus, summer is from December to February, autumn from March to May, winter from June to August and spring from September to November.

Where it is beautiful (warm and dry) even in the low season

But this is only something for die-hard bicycle fans, as there are a lot of ups and downs, especially in the South Island. The medical care in New Zealand has a high standard. Don't forget to take out an overseas health insurance policy that covers the costs of treatment in case of illness. If you travel to New Zealand, you do not need any special vaccinations. On the north and north-east coast, poisonous jellyfish (Box Jelly Fish) appear from December to March, which make bathing near the coast impossible. Save money on flights, accommodation and with discounts. Or simply improve your travel budget on site as a Work & Traveller. A longer trip through the USA does not have to be very expensive. There are many ways for Work & Travellers to travel cheaply in the USA. In Australia and New Zealand, you can get cough medicine, sore throat, sunburn or for wound healing without a prescription in large supermarkets, drugstores and pharmacies.

When is the best time to travel to Australia?

We recommend that the best times to travel to Australia are mid-April to mid-June and mid-August to mid-October. With about 20 national parks, various hiking trails and great wine regions it has a lot to offer its visitors. In general it is much cooler on the island than in the southern regions of the continent, as the island is located a little further towards Antarctica. In the winter months of July and August it can be very cold in Tasmania, snow falls and you can warm up comfortably at crackling open fires.

We recommend the spring or autumn months as the ideal time to visit the southern regions of Australia. Then the temperatures are most pleasant with an average of 21 to 24 degrees and the Australian animals are most active. Even if you want to combine trips to the south and north, it is best to do this in the Australian spring or autumn. Read more about campervan hire New Zealand here. In summer, temperatures in this area average between 25 and 36 degrees Celsius. Perfect beach weather and many festivals and events in the cities.

#best time to travel new zealand roundtrip

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salem-hadfield-blog · 4 years

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safety new zealand

> All these items must be declared on arrival. There is a rule that if you are not sure about anything, you should declare it and then discuss it with the biosecurity staff. They are already used to it and will ask you routine questions, so you don't have to be afraid. As there are not all medicines available in New Zealand, it is recommended to bring urgently needed medication with you. You will receive an electronic entry permit NZeTA on October 2019. These are Polynesians who landed with their canoes a long time ago (the exact date is unknown) on the islands they call Aotearoa ("land of the long white cloud"). Throughout the country, you will encounter their culture, which is rich in legends and traditions. The best way to get to know them is to visit a Marae, as the Maori gathering places are called.

Medicines from New Zealand may only be brought into Germany in limited quantities. Each person is allowed to bring a maximum of three months' worth of medication for private use. Please check with your health insurance company or health insurance provider whether there is an adequate health insurance cover for your trip abroad, which also covers the costs of a rescue flight to Germany. |}

Also, please remember that in the case of products made from animals of protected species (e.g. caviar from sturgeon species), the species protection regulations must also be observed.

{

The import of writings, media or other material harmful to young people into Germany is prohibited.can get over-the-counter medicines - such as flu, diarrhoea or painkillers - in Australia or New Zealand in all large supermarkets and pharmacies ("Drugstores"/"Pharmacies").

Take a mobile phone with you, but do not expect to receive it outside populated areas.

>>/ul>

You can find the service centre of the customs authorities responsible for you here. Training You are a school leaver and have graduated or are about to graduate? Do you want to make a career in an administration with a wide range of applications? Find the right office for your personal needs. Due to its remoteness, New Zealand's flora and fauna is very sensitive to foreign influences, which is why import regulations to New Zealand are very strict. Read more about campervan hire New Zealand here.

leaflet Travel with pet birds

Where can you smoke in New Zealand?

New Zealand Climate The north of the North Island lies in the subtropics. Here, very mild winters and relatively warm summers prevail. In the coastal areas of New

#food import new zealand

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memberforlifetime5 · 4 years

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New Zealand: Risks and dangers

>>In New Zealand you can find places to relax almost everywhere. The city of Auckland is a great place to start. There you can join dolphin and whaleboat tours and visit the famous Kelly Tarlton Sea Life Aquarium. A must for your wishes would be Rotorua, the area offers health spas, as well as geothermal natural spectacles, such as geysers, and thermal parks, such as Hells Gate.

New Zealand Climate

Read more about campervan hire New Zealand here.

the ERV offer apps that provide compact information on nearby hospitals and pharmacies With appropriate translations, the apps also help you to find medication abroad. Further and detailed information on the introduction of medicines can be found on the official websites of the respective governments of Australia and New Zealand. In the end, it is always an individual matter what may be imported and exported, but we hope this article will give you a rough overview.

We ourselves did not have this capital on hand, as it was planned that I would work there.

The contact with the responsible diplomatic or consular representation of the destination country is therefore recommended.

Also in case of internet orders from New Zealand, the value of goods must be considered in order to avoid customs duties.

A detailed list of things that are not allowed to be imported can be found on the website of the New Zealand customs authority.

What dangerous animals are there in New Zealand?

New Zealand Climate The north of the North Island lies in the subtropics. Here, very mild winters and relatively warm summers prevail. In the coastal areas of New Zealand, the average annual temperatures are 15 Â°C in the north and 9 Â°C in the extreme south. The warmest months are January and February.

As a general rule, fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and fish may not be imported. Conversely, commercially packaged food (e.g. chocolate, biscuits, etc.) may be imported, but these must still be durable and unopened. Nevertheless, all food must be declared, including that which may be imported. During the biosecurity check you will be asked specifically what you are importing, after which it will be assessed whether the import is permitted or not. The rule is that if you are not sure about something, you should declare it and discuss it with the biosecurity staff. It's basically just a matter of not having masses of people traveling to New Zealand with virtually no money. (This would cause a lot of problems for New Zealand). Apart from that, I personally think that a normal bank statement is sufficient. We (and all the other backpackers I asked) were never asked for it on our trip.

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earguruindia-blog · 5 years

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4 Basic Ear Care Tips Everyone Can Follow

Human beings, just like other living beings have self-sustaining. Our bodies healand repair itself over time. Nature has gifted our body with the natural ability to take care and heal itself. We all know that proper diet, exercise and cleanliness can go a long way in staying healthy. We generally take care of certain areas like weight, diabetes and cardiovascular health.We do tend to take some areas for granted. The most common example is the human ear. The ability to Hear is one of the five important basic senses.We start paying attention to them when we have earwax, infections or ear pressure issues. Our ears have aself-cleaning and self-protecting mechanism.Some basic care and protective habits can go a long way to give us a good hearing life.

Here are some tips and precautions.Everyone should followthese for problem free ears and better hearing.

Our work conditions and daily commute subject our ears to varying levels of noise. Noise-induced hearing loss is one of the most common cause of Hearing Loss. It affects a large percentage of the population in every country. This eventually causes Sensorineural Hearing loss. Though its age-related Sensorineural Hearing Loss is unavoidable. Noise-induced Hearing loss can be easily prevented.

Basic Ear Care Tips

1. Noise and Loudness Protection

One may frequent clubs, music venues or loud parties as a part of daily life. While one should not compromise with the lifestyle. We can surely take precautions such as using earplugs. Earplugs lower the intensity of the noise.So that the loud music does not harm or damage our eardrums or the inner ear hair cells known as cilia. The polyurethane foam earplugs are very cheap and are available at any pharmacy. People exposed to daily noise during commuting or working at a construction site shoulduse earplugs. Those who have already damaged their inner ear shouldconsult an Audiologist. They should seriously consider using digital Hearing aids. Use of Hearing aids helps one to smoothly follow the daily routine.

2. Headphones

Headphones enhance the music listening experience.But they also harm our ears in the long term. According to estimates by the World Health Organization, nearly 1.1 billion teenagers and young adults worldwide are at risk of noise-induced hearing loss. Mostly from unsafe use of personal audio devices.

There are some simple steps that can be taken to reduce stress caused by headphones to our ear mechanism. First of all, we should not listen to anything at high volumes. A moderate volume is the best way to listen to music or podcasts. We should try to minimise or totally eliminate the use of in-ear headphones. In-ear headphones cause more damage. Over-ear headphones are a better choice.

While it is too impractical to suggest the total elimination of headphone use in general.A cautious approach in using them will definitely save our ears.We should always take a break if using them for an extended period. Follow the 60:60 rule. Rest your ears for 60 minutes after every 60 minutes of use.

3. General Protection

One can use special earplugs while swimming. These earplugs reduce damage caused by changes in ear pressure and ear infections. Use of Earplugs during air travel is advisable. Constant engine noise and extreme ear pressure harm the ears.

Use of Ear muffs during winters is advisable. This lessens the effects of extreme cold or harsh winds.

4. Cleaning your Ears

Generally, ear cleaning is not necessary for most humans. Cleaning earwax is only necessary if one secretes excessive earwax. However, if we do need to clean our ears do remember that cotton swabs or cotton buds are not recommended. Cotton buds end up pushing the ear wax further up the canal. This can lead to temporary hearing loss or infections. We should not insert any sharp-edged object inside our ears in case we need to do any cleaning or scratching.

Take the help of trained paramedical professional or a Doctor. You can also read about the Home methods to clean earwax.

#health

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vimdrugs · 5 months

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Pharmacy's Guide to Winter Travel Health: Top Tips and Essentials!

Considering traveling during the winter? Regardless of whether you're traveling to a chilly or snowy region, your health should come first. We'll give you professional pharmaceutical advice for winter travel in our extensive guide, so you can travel worry-free and stay well.

Let's talk about some important statistics first, then go over the best advice for traveling in the winter: -

The papers state that increased respiratory fluid loss in cold conditions might lead to dehydration.

The World Health Organization states that those who live at heights higher than 8,000 feet may experience health problems due to altitude.

The American Lung Association has noted that respiratory discomfort during the winter might be caused by dry indoor air.

Pharmacy Tips for Traveling in the Cold! Top Tips!

With the fresh, energizing air and snow-covered sceneries, winter travel may be fascinating. But there are certain health risks associated with the cold weather as well. Here are our best pharmaceutical suggestions for traveling in cold weather to make sure your winter travels are not only pleasurable but also health-conscious.

Make Smart Bundles

It's cold enough to wear more than a bulky coat. Choosing your layers carefully is essential when dealing with chilly temperatures. To keep your feet warm and dry, start with thermal clothing that is near to your body, layer on insulated coats for extra warmth, and don't forget to wear waterproof boots.

Hydrate yourself thoroughly

You are nevertheless susceptible to dehydration in colder climates. In fact, the cold can actually conceal the symptoms of dehydration, which makes it much more important to be cautious. Make sure you consume enough liquids, even warm ones, to keep your body properly hydrated and operating at its best.

Boost Your Defenses

In colder climates, strengthening your immune system becomes essential. Increase your body's defenses by including foods high in vitamins in your diet. If you want to give your immune system an extra push against wintertime illnesses, think about taking supplements like zinc and vitamin C that are recommended by pharmacists.

Stay Active Indoors

When outdoor activities are limited due to harsh weather conditions, it's essential to find ways to stay active indoors. Engage in exercises that keep your body moving, promoting circulation and overall health. This is particularly crucial during winter travel to counterbalance potential sedentary periods.

Protect Your Skin

Your skin may not be nice to the cold. Applying lip balms and moisturizers consistently will help prevent chapping and dryness. Despite the harsh weather, you can keep your skin healthy and avoid irritation with this easy skincare routine.

Recognize Your Drugs

When using prescription drugs, careful preparation is essential. Make sure you have enough to last the whole time you're traveling. Speak with your pharmacist about the right amount to take along with advice on how to store medications properly for travel so that their effectiveness is maintained.

Make a Plan for Altitude Adjustments

Altitude variations are common in winter places, and these might have an adverse effect on your health. Know about possible side effects, like altitude sickness, and talk to your pharmacist about preventative measures. They can offer customized guidance to guarantee a seamless transition to different elevations.

Make a First Aid Kit for Travel.

Unexpected minor health problems can happen, therefore it's best to be ready for them. A complete first aid bag should include bandages, painkillers, and other personal prescriptions you may require. This proactive strategy guarantees that you can quickly handle minor health issues.

Be Mindful of Winter Allergies

Cold climates can trigger allergies that may catch you off guard. Consult with your pharmacist beforehand to identify suitable antihistamines and allergy relief medications. Being proactive can prevent allergies from dampening your winter travel experience.

Prioritize Sleep

Traveling itself can disrupt your sleep patterns, and the cold may exacerbate this challenge. Create a restful environment wherever you go, and prioritize getting adequate sleep. Quality rest contributes significantly to your overall well-being, ensuring you're ready to embrace each day of your winter journey.

Continue Reading: https://vimdrugs.com/index.php/blog/post/pharmacys-guide-to-winter-travel-health-top-tips-and-essentials

#Winter travel health #Winter travel health checklist #Snow destination health tips #Winter travel health tips #Pharmacy advice for winter travel #Cold weather travel precautions #Stay healthy during winter trips #Traveling in the winter safely #Pharmacist's guide to winter travel health #Winter travel wellness tips #Protecting your health while traveling in winter #Snowy vacation health tips #Winter travel essentials for health #Cold climate travel health advice #Pharmacy recommendations for winter travel #Avoiding winter illnesses while traveling #Health precautions for winter vacations #Staying well on winter journeys #Pharmacy tips for traveling in the cold

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jmwvicary-blog · 2 years

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What services are provided under travel vaccination clinic?

It is insufficient to have a strong immune system. It must be nurtured, protected, and kept safe from dangerous diseases. If you are planning to travel abroad, you must be vaccinated in accordance with the country you will be visiting. If you're traveling to Africa, Central America, or South America, for example, you'll need the yellow fever vaccine, which you can get from our Haddenham yellow fever vaccination center.

Before leaving the UK, it is critical that you are aware of all necessary parameters. If you are not, our Haddenham Travel Vaccination Centre is just a phone call away. Residents in and around Haddenham can get a variety of travel vaccinations, including Meningitis, Yellow Fever, Anti-Malarias, and more.

The type of travel vaccination you need will ultimately be determined by your travel destination, which we can help you with during a consultation.

Because of our pharmacy's convenient location, residents of Thame can easily access our travel vaccination clinic.

So, if you're planning a trip soon, come to JMW Vicary's Thame Travel Vaccination Clinic first for all your travel vaccination needs. We recommend that all customers visit at least two months before their trip, as some immunisations require a booster shot, while others must be taken months ahead of time.

The flu vaccine is now available.

Vaccination against meningitis (ACWY Visa requirement) Patient Information Leaflet for Influenza Vaccination A flu vaccine can be given to you or your child over the age of 13 by your pharmacist. For a year, this will help protect you from flu infection. The service is available to people of all ages and backgrounds, not just the elderly or those with medical issues. This is a for-profit service that is not supported by the NHS. Your pharmacy will charge you a fee for flu vaccination.

Influenza is a virus that causes illness (flu)

Infections with the flu are most common between October and March. Sudden fever, muscle aches and pains, sweating, exhaustion and the need to lie down, dry, chesty cough, and sneezing are some of the symptoms. It's more than a dreadful cold.

Vaccination against the flu

Vaccinations are administered from September to March. A vaccine given in the autumn will protect you through the winter and spring. The vaccine takes about 14 days to take effect. The flu vaccine provides 60 to 70% protection. Some people still get the flu after getting vaccinated, though it is usually milder.

#Travel clinic servicesHaddenham Travel Vaccination CentreTravel Pharmacy servicesTravel vaccination service

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omgstupendousbouquetbasement · 3 years

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US Panel Urges COVID Shots for Ages 5-11, Final OK Likely Soon

An influential advisory panel on Tuesday recommended kid-size doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, putting the U.S. on the brink of a major expansion of vaccinations. A final decision was expected within hours. The Food and Drug Administration has OK'd the kid-size doses — they are one-third of the amount given to teens and adults — as safe and effective for the younger age group. But the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention formally recommends who should receive FDA-cleared vaccines — and its advisers unanimously decided Pfizer's shots should be opened to 28 million youngsters. If the CDC's director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, signs off as expected, it will mark the first opportunity for Americans younger than 12 to get any COVID-19 vaccine. "Today is a monumental day in the course of this pandemic," Walensky told the advisory panel as it began its deliberations earlier Tuesday. She said while the risk of severe disease and death is lower in young children than adults, it is real — and that COVID-19 has had a profound social, mental health and educational impact on youngsters, including widening disparities in learning. "There are children in the second grade who have never experienced a normal school year," Walensky said. "Pediatric vaccination has the power to help us change all of that." Pediatricians in parts of the country are ready to start getting shots into little arms as soon as they get the final OK. Pfizer has begun shipping millions of doses to states, doctors' offices and pharmacies. Many pediatricians and parents have clamored for protection for youngsters so they can resume normal childhood activities without risking their own health — or fear bringing the virus home to a more vulnerable family member. And several panelists who've cared for hospitalized youngsters said they want parents with questions to know the shots are safe and far better than gambling their child will escape a coronavirus infection. "I have vaccinated my kids," said CDC adviser Dr. Helen Keipp Talbot of Vanderbilt University, saying she wouldn't recommend something for other families unless she was comfortable with it for her own. "We have seen the devastation of this disease." In the U.S., there have been more than 8,300 hospitalizations of kids ages 5 to 11, about a third requiring intensive care, according to government data. The CDC has recorded at least 94 deaths in that age group, with additional reports under investigation. And while the U.S. has seen a recent downturn in COVID-19 cases, experts are worried about another uptick with holiday travel and as winter sends more activity indoors where it's easier for the coronavirus to spread. Pfizer's kid shots contain a third of the vaccine dose that's already been used to vaccinate millions of people 12 and older. The 5- to 11-year-olds will receive two shots, three weeks apart, the same schedule as everyone else, but a smaller amount in each shot, using a smaller needle. A study of 2,268 youngsters found the kid-size vaccine is nearly 91% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19, based on 16 diagnoses among kids given dummy shots compared with three who got the real vaccination. CDC officials calculated that for every 500,000 kids this age vaccinated, between 18,000 and 58,000 COVID-19 cases would be prevented, and prevent anywhere from 80 to 226 hospitalizations. The FDA examined more children, a total of 3,100 who were vaccinated, in concluding the shots are safe. The younger children experienced similar or fewer reactions, such as sore arms, fever or achiness, than teens or young adults get after larger doses. That study wasn't large enough to detect any extremely rare side effects, such as the heart inflammation that occasionally occurs after the second full-strength dose, mostly in young men and teen boys. Regulators ultimately decided the benefits from vaccination outweigh the potential that younger kids getting a smaller dose also might experience that rare risk. Some of CDC's advisers said for some parents, deciding to get their children vaccinated may hinge on that small but scary risk. "The risk of some sort of bad heart involvement is much higher if you get COVID than if you get this vaccine," Dr. Matthew Oster, a pediatric cardiologist at Emory University, told the panel. "COVID is much riskier to the heart." Last week, FDA's advisers struggled with whether every young child needed a vaccine. Youngsters hospitalized with COVID-19 are more likely to have high-risk conditions such as obesity or diabetes, but otherwise healthy children can get seriously ill, too, and the CDC's advisers ultimately recommended the shots for all of them. from Blogger https://ift.tt/3ByRRIE via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Blogger

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fainamarco · 3 years

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How To Use The VivaSlim Supplement?

We give you 13 beauty tips that should be kept in mind to incorporate them into our daily care routine

Having radiant skin is not achieved overnight, it is the result of a beauty routine that must be followed constantly and rigorously. We all know the basics: getting enough sleep, avoiding stress, exercising, and eating a balanced and varied diet. These ingredients of a healthy life, together with the use of products adapted for your skin, is the best recipe to show off your best face.

January is the month of making resolutions. We start the year and we want to change the less healthy habits of our day to day. To the classics of quitting smoking or joining the gym, from Vozpópuli we encourage you to add the following purposes that, if you comply, will give their results in a few days.

I will cleanse the skin every night (and in the morning)

Cleaning is the most important step in the beauty routine, if the skin is not clean, you will not get it to be radiant and beautiful. At night, if you have used makeup, it is best to do a double cleaning. The first would be with an oil-based product that removes the remains of cosmetics. Then we would carry out a new cleaning with another water-based product.

Cleaning in the morning can be much faster, just use a micellar water before using our daily cream.

I will use a good tonic

Toner is always important, but even more so if you have sensitive skin. With it we will be able to balance the PH and avoid that uncomfortable feeling of tightness that many people suffer after cleaning. The cosmetic expert Rocío Escalante, owner of Arbosana Farmacia and co-founder of Laghum Cosmetics, advises applying it by tapping, even with your fingers, leaving it for a few seconds and continuing with the usual treatment.

I'll look at the eye area

The skin around the eyes is thinner and more sensitive, and that is why, from the age of 25-30 it is advisable to use a specific product for this area. It must be used morning and evening and is applied gently with the ring finger to stimulate microcirculation in this area.

The first wrinkles to appear are crow's feet

Keep in mind that the first wrinkles that appear are crow's feet due to the special sensitivity of this area, so do not think that fighting wrinkles is something only for mature people and start using eye contour before reaching the age of 30.

I will choose a special serum for my skin

The serum is not an essential product in our beauty routine, but if we want to achieve the best skin it is totally recommended. We are going to find many types in the market, so we must first be clear about what we are looking for with their use. If you want to protect your skin from free radicals, you will need to use a vitamin C serum in the morning. If your skin is dry and you want to strengthen the skin barrier, add a hydrating serum. If you have flaccidity, there are serums with a lifting effect. For stains, a depigmenting agent. For oily or combination skin prone to acne, a sebum-regulating serum, etc. It is best to consult with a specialist to recommend which one is perfect for your skin type.

I will hydrate my skin daily

Hydration is the step that will help you have healthy, beautiful, luminous and radiant skin. In addition, hydration helps prevent skin aging, especially the appearance of wrinkles. You have to choose a cream that is suitable for your skin, so that it does not cause shine throughout the day or you do not notice uncomfortable skin as the hours go by. There are a lot of moisturizing creams, and also some offer a plus, for example, they have sun filters or a contribution of color that help you look good in one step.

Hydration has to go beyond our face, apply cream all over your body after showering and always carry a travel product with you in case you need an extra contribution throughout the day.

I will protect myself from the sun

Sun protection is mandatory all year round; all we have to do is adapt to each moment. It is not the same protection that we will use in winter as on our beach vacations; It will not be the same if our work forces us to be abroad as if we do it in an office.

Smartphone light is also harmful to our skin

Whatever your case, the sun is responsible for 80% of skin aging, so fighting its harmful effects is more than important. In addition, the latest studies are revealing that it is not the only harmful light for our face. The damages of blue light, emitted by computers or smartphones, are also harmful to our skin.

I will pamper my skin at night

While we sleep, our body is resting but our cells do not stop working regenerating our skin. That is why the night is one of the best times to dedicate ourselves to our skin and perform beauty treatments. The most important thing is to detect the problem that worries us the most, acne, wrinkles, spots, etc., and ask specialists for the best treatment to combat it.

I will reserve a day for special care

There are products whose use is not necessary on a daily basis; such as masks or scrubs. Therefore, it is best to choose a day of the week and reserve it to apply these extra products for our skin.

I will use conditioner or mask

The hair, like the face, needs extra hydration in winter, since the low temperatures, the heating and the use of dryers and straighteners make it dry more. After washing it, use a hair mask at least once a week. Remember to always apply it from medium to ends. On days that you don't use a mask, apply conditioner, especially if you have long hair and it tends to tangle easily.

I will take care of my hands

Do not forget that hands are, next to the face, our calling card, and if they are not well cared for, they immediately reveal age due to spots and wrinkles. Use a hand cream regularly and especially in winter since the cold is a very aggressive agent for them.

I will eat more fruits and vegetables

Your body and skin need vitamins and the foods that are full of them are fruits and vegetables. Experts recommend five daily intakes, that means that you should include a piece of fruit and / or a serving of vegetables in all main meals.

I'll drink (more) water

The human body is made up of 60% water, which is why it is so important to hydrate. Water or infusions are the drinks that provide us with the most hydration. The advice of our expert Rocío Escalante is that you never leave the house without bringing a bottle of water with you.

I will do sports

You have to lead an active life and exercise daily. But sport does not always have to be linked to the gym, choose an activity that you like like dancing, swimming or yoga. If that doesn't convince you either, there are many tricks to activate our body such as not using the elevator or getting off one stop earlier and walking the last stretch of the way to work.

As we are flooded with brands and beauty products, we always recommend that you let yourself be advised by an expert. If the problem is significant, such as rosacea, acne or dermatitis, you should go to a dermatologist. If you don't have any serious problems, a visit to the pharmacy is enough.

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#VivaSlim

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9087miles · 3 years

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La France avant la folie 🇫🇷 Revisiting France in March 2020 🇫🇷 Partie un de quatre

It started a lot like any other dinner party with Carol and Andy. A couple of pints of beer, onto wine, and then Tom and Andy drunk booking a trip away. Although this time it was for Tom and Andy’s birthdays, as opposed to the regular trips we’ve taken to celebrate mine and Carol’s birthdays, which are only a few days apart. Having raved about our trip to the Gers the year before, the boys had booked a flight to Toulouse. At a follow-up dinner party in the winter, we concreted our plans and booked accommodation. Andy had watched a documentary about a fortified medieval city in the South of France and only an hour or so from Toulouse. Our itinerary was set for an action-packed long-long-weekend:

Fly from Bristol to Toulouse

Drive to Carcassonne for a night and a day

Drive to Valence-sur-Basie for two nights and two days

Back to Bristol

It was a bit touch and go ahead of the trip, with the news reporting an outbreak of something called Coronavirus in China. We researched the travel advice in the lead-up to departure and everything seemed okay, so we all stocked up on antibacterial wipes and threw caution to the wind and boarded the flight.

At Toulouse airport, we waited for Tom to hire the car for what felt like an age. By the time he got back, he looked like he’d already had enough of the French. We found the car and hit the road, with Andy driving, Tom navigating and Carol and I passenging in the back.

It was dusk as we crested a hill and saw the majesty of Carcassonne. Some of the city lights twinkled up to the summit of the hill, watched over by an impressive-looking castle. By the time we made it into the city limits, the sun had set and the road closed in around us as it began to lightly rain.

Airbnb listings are notoriously difficult to find, but Tom had set the postcode and was guiding Andy along the busy streets. We took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in a pharmacy car park. Things got a bit tense, but we eventually made it to the street we were staying on. With no parking in sight, Andy pulled over onto the side of the road and Carol and I got out with the suitcases to try and find the building. The boys carried on to find the closest possible parking.

On the street, the rain had picked up and there was a bitter wind. I had anticipated better weather, given the warmth of the day, and was a little underdressed. Pulling our cotton scarfs over our heads and shivering, Carol and I took shelter under the eves of a shop selling fancy ponchos and handbags. We window-shopped and chatted as we waited for the boys. All the while, I was trying to make sense of the Airbnb reservation to determine the building we were supposed to find. I worked it out at precisely the moment that the boys arrived, less than impressed with their walk in the rain and the preceding commute. We found the door key in a locked box and made our way upstairs.

The apartment was très chic. It had an open plan kitchen / dining / living area and large bedrooms with with views of the castle - even the toilet had a view! Tom and I took the room with the balcony so that we could smoke. Despite the rain and wind, we all stood on the balcony for a little while to admire the view and take a few happy snaps.

On the dining table were a few bottles of wine, but Andy and Tom decided to head out for more and to reccy possible dinner venues. Carol and I snooped around the kitchen before pouring a glass of wine and settling down in the living area. We chatted for about half an hour and finished a glass of wine, when the boys finally arrived back with more in tow. They had been all around the surrounding blocks looking for it, only to discover that they could buy takeaways from the little restaurant directly opposite the apartment. They’d booked us a table with enough time for another glass of wine beforehand.

By the time we crossed the road to Barrière truffes I was feeling a little bit merry. The restaurant was busy and the windows were opaque with the warmth of informal dining and the promise of more merriment inside. We were seated at the bar and treated like VIPs by monsieur Philippe Barrière, who recommended the best wines and beer to go along with a most delightful spread of truffle-laden dishes. A few of the highlights were a charcuterie plate served with fresh sliced baguette and truffle butter, the smelliest (which also means the most delicious) soft cheese you can imagine with a vein of truffle down the centre, and a mini casserole dish filled with roast duck and mashed potato - buried under a thick layer of grated truffle. Lifting the lid on the last dish was a moment of sensory enlightenment - when my life eventually flashes before my eyes, this moment will be in the top ten!

As we come down from our truffled cloud, the regulars on the surrounding tables all started to shuffle out, wishing monsieur Barrière bonne nuit. We stayed for an aperitif, Carol and I opting for creme de menthe, Andy some kind of transparent fire water and Tom choosing something deep yellow and medicinal - apparently a local speciality. We sipped away, purchased a couple of bottles of aperitif as souvenirs and bid Philippe adieu to get back to the apartment for a long-awaited rest. Of course, we got another wine in before bed, because it was rude not to enjoy our first evening away together.

#stories #ricky #tom #France #carcassonne

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techcrunchappcom · 4 years

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New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/covid-19-live-updates-u-s-airports-see-rise-in-travelers/

Covid-19 Live Updates: U.S. Airports See Rise in Travelers

Here’s what you need to know:

People walking through a terminal at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago on Friday.Credit…Teresa Crawford/Associated Press

The nation’s health experts on Sunday pleaded with Americans to stay home over the Thanksgiving holiday and forgo any plans to travel or celebrate at large family gatherings, even as airports have recorded a significant rise in passengers.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease specialist, and other health experts relayed a clear message on Sunday morning news shows: with coronavirus cases surging to record levels across the country, turning nearly every state into a hot zone of transmission, the risk of getting infected, whether in transit or in even small indoor gatherings, is high.

Up to 50 million people could be traveling on roads and through airports in the United States over Thanksgiving this year, according to AAA, the biggest travel surge since the pandemic began, despite strong cautions from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health authorities. A video of a packed airport in Phoenix has been circulating widely on social media. As of Sunday, 47 states — all but Vermont, Maine and Hawaii — were considered high-risk zones for viral transmission, and nationwide hospitalizations were at a record 83,227.

I’m an ER doctor in Arizona and our hospitals are being overwhelmed with COVID19. 7.4 million people & only 174 ICU beds left with healthcare workers calling out sick. Our pleas for help have fallen on selfish deaf ears – this is Phoenix airport @dougduceypic.twitter.com/7iLbngxHNp

— Cleavon MD (@Cleavon_MD) November 21, 2020

“Please seriously consider decisions that you make,” Dr. Fauci said on the CBS show “Face the Nation.” Encountering large numbers of people in airports and on planes is particularly dangerous, he said. Although airlines have invested in air circulation and ventilation systems to minimize viral transmission, Dr. Fauci said, “sometimes when you get a crowded plane, or you’re in a crowded airport, you’re lining up, not everybody’s wearing masks — that puts yourself at risk.”

And gathering indoors, whether you travel or not, carries risk. “When you’re eating and drinking, obviously, you have to take your mask off,” Dr. Fauci said. “We know now that those are the kinds of situations that are leading to outbreaks.”

Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said on Fox News Sunday that because about half of infections are spread by people who don’t have any symptoms, “you can’t assume that you don’t have the virus, and you can’t assume that the people whose home you’re about to enter don’t have the virus, at this point in our pandemic.”

He recommended celebrating Thanksgiving only with the people you live with. People who choose to visit others’ homes should spend as much time as possible outdoors and “should be wearing masks indoors when they’re together, and only removing them when they’re eating.”

Dr. Fauci and others warned that Americans’ behavior over Thanksgiving will have critical implications for the coming weeks of the winter season, including risks to people gathering to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s, because the country is still months away from having wide access to vaccines and therapeutics and the cold weather drives more people indoors.

“We’re going to have to, you know, hunker down, reduce our interactions,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former Trump administration Food and Drug Administration commissioner, said on Face the Nation.

As an example of the risk, he said that in a state like North Dakota, where case levels are high, there’s a 50 percent chance that someone in a group of 10 people has Covid-19. “That’s the kind of risk we’re facing individually right now,” he said. “And that’s only going to get worse.”

The first Americans to receive the vaccine are likely to be frontline medical workers and residents of nursing homes.Credit…Pfizer, via Reuters

In the wake of results suggesting that two prospective coronavirus vaccines are remarkably effective, the official in charge of the federal coronavirus vaccine program explained on Sunday news shows how the vaccines might be distributed to Americans as early as next month.

Dr. Moncef Slaoui, head of the administration’s Operation Warp Speed, said that within 24 hours after the Food and Drug Administration approves a vaccine, doses will be shipped to states to be distributed. “Within 48 hours from approval,” the first people would likely receive injections, Dr. Slaoui said on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

Two companies, Pfizer and Moderna, announced this month that their vaccines were about 95 percent effective, and Pfizer formally submitted an application to the F.D.A. for emergency approval. Regulators at the agency will spend about three weeks reviewing the application. On Dec. 10, an outside advisory board on vaccines will meet to discuss the application, and the agency is expected to make a decision shortly after that meeting. Moderna is expected to submit its own application soon.

Even if the first vaccine is authorized in mid-December, officials and company representatives have estimated that there will only be enough doses available to treat about 22.5 million Americans by January. Each vaccine requires two doses, separated by several weeks.

Dr. Slaoui said vaccines would be shipped to states, proportioned according to their population, and that states would decide how and where to distribute the doses. He said that likely within a day after a vaccine receives F.D.A. authorization, a committee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will issue recommendations for which groups should be first to receive a vaccine.

High-priority groups are likely to include frontline medical workers and residents of nursing homes. Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former F.D.A. commissioner, said on the CBS show “Face the Nation” that those groups would likely be followed by other older adults and then expanded to younger adults in the spring. Both he and Dr. Slaoui estimated that tens of millions of adults could be vaccinated by sometime in May.

Immunizations for children would follow. Dr. Slaoui said on the CNN show “State of the Union” that the youngest participants in the clinical trials so far have been 12 to 14 years old and that approval for younger children and toddlers would likely not occur until late in 2021, after clinical trials for those age groups are conducted.

On “Face the Nation,” Larry Merlo, the chief executive of CVS Health, said that pharmacists and other medical staff from CVS plan to immunize residents of more than 25,000 long-term care facilities, beginning about 48 hours after a vaccine is approved. He said that for several years, CVS has been going to nursing homes to administer the seasonal flu vaccine, so “we have the systems, we have the processes, and we have built the logistics directly for the Covid vaccine.”

Mr. Merlo, whose company runs 10,000 pharmacies across the country, also said as the supply of the vaccines increase, they would be administered by CVS pharmacies and also by kiosks and mobile trailers that have been doing coronavirus testing in underserved communities.

Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s chief executive, agreed to team up with the federal government to develop a vaccine, a partnership that managed to sidestep the political meddling from the White House that had bedeviled other efforts to confront the virus.Credit…Cody O’Loughlin for The New York Times

This month, two very different companies — the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and the biotech upstart Moderna — reported spectacular results from high-stakes clinical trials of their experimental coronavirus vaccines. It was a remarkable feat: developing a vaccine that appears safe and effective in a matter of months, rather than the years or decades that such developments usually take.

A team of Times reporters — Sharon LaFraniere, Katie Thomas, Noah Weiland, David Gelles, Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Denise Grady — tracked how the extraordinary race unfolded, with so much at stake and such a complex backdrop. At play were not just commercial rivalries and scientific challenges but an ambitious plan to put the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed — and an often toxic political atmosphere created by President Trump — in the middle of the effort.

Pfizer’s chief executive, Dr. Albert Bourla, had vowed to avoid the political minefield but was forced to maneuver through it nonetheless. After promising a timetable that seemed to support Mr. Trump’s prediction of a breakthrough before Election Day, Dr. Bourla pushed back the schedule in late October, fearing his firm’s clinical trial results would otherwise not be convincing enough for federal regulators to grant emergency approval of its vaccine.

Dr. Bourla had chosen from the start to keep Pfizer and its research partner, the German firm BioNTech, at arms length from the government, declining research and development money from Operation Warp Speed.

But Pfizer’s main rival, Moderna, made the opposite bet, embracing the assistance of a government led by a science-denying president. Moderna got nearly $2.5 billion to develop, manufacture and sell its vaccine to the federal government and teamed up with the National Institutes of Health on the scientific work, a highly successful partnership that managed to sidestep the political meddling by Mr. Trump and his aides that had bedeviled other efforts to confront the virus.

Both companies were aided by a confluence of three factors. A new method of developing vaccines was already waiting to be tested, with the coronavirus a perfect target. Sky-high infection rates accelerated the pace of clinical trials, the most time-consuming part of the process. And the government was willing to spend whatever it took, eliminating financial risks and bureaucratic roadblocks and allowing mass production to begin even before the trials were done.

Their apparent success showed that in an era of polarized politics, science was able to break down barriers between government, countries and industry to produce one of the few pieces of good news in a year of suffering and division.

People waiting in line outside a Sam’s Club in Albuquerque this month. Supermarkets in New Mexico are being ordered to close if employees contract the virus, leaving shoppers with little recourse.Credit…Adria Malcolm for The New York Times

Whether behind the cash register, stocking milk or unloading shipments of toilet paper, grocery store employees have for months been risking their safety to earn a paycheck and make necessities available to Americans, even as the hazard pay that some companies once offered has dwindled and government benefits dry up.

But as more workers fall ill, more supermarkets may be forced to close. In New Mexico this month, health officials have ordered 23 stores and restaurants to close for two weeks because of sick workers.

Walmart, Albertsons, Target and McDonald’s stores have all been affected. Some have stayed open after being ordered to close, The Albuquerque Journal reported. And in some places, lines are growing.

“I think everybody’s a little like, ‘Oh no, we got to go get our groceries. Everything’s going to close down,’” Anna Hagele told the newspaper. She was waiting in line with about 40 other people outside of an Albertsons.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, defended the unpopular closures at a virtual news conference this week. Some shoppers have complained to the local news media about long lines of panicking buyers at the stores that remain open.

“You can’t have a grocery store or another big box store that sells groceries if all of their employees — or the vast majority of them — have Covid,” Ms. Lujan Grisham said. “There’s so much of this infection that it’s inside the very places need to access.”

The state is ordering shops to close for two weeks if they have four separate instances of an employee testing positive for the virus in a two-week period. At least 14 businesses are under closure orders, including some which will not be allowed to reopen until Dec. 2.

A sharp jump in virus cases in New Mexico — the number of average cases reported each day this week is up 127 percent from the week before — has led the state to issue some of the tightest restrictions of any state in recent weeks.

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‘Staten Island Is a Serious Problem,’ Cuomo Says as Virus Cases Rise

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York warned that the borough’s coronavirus positivity rates are on track to overburden hospitals and push it into the highest lockdown level in the state, where cases are spiking.

“Parts of Staten Island will go into an orange zone. Parts of Staten Island will go into a red zone at the current rate. Staten Island is a serious problem. Staten Island is also a problem in terms of overburdening hospitals. And we’re running into a hospital capacity issue on Staten Island that we have to be dealing with over these next few days. Parts of the City of Syracuse will go into an orange zone at this rate. Parts of the City of Rochester will go into an orange zone. Upper Manhattan will go into a yellow zone. Parts of Nassau will go into a yellow zone. Parts of Suffolk will go into a yellow zone. How much weight will I put on over the holidays? How high will the infection rate go? Depends on what we do. You have a trajectory where it goes so high, the whole scale changes. You know, we’re now down there as the fourth state of three. You see those other states — 20, 30, 40. You could see our whole scale change by the time this is over. I would not be shocked if they said on Jan. 10, Jan. 15, we’re up at 7, 8, 9, 10%. That could very easily happen if we are irresponsible.”

Parts of Staten Island are on track to have all of their nonessential businesses closed later this week and all mass gatherings banned, as the rising positivity rate for the coronavirus pushes the New York City borough into the state’s highest level of lockdown.

“Staten Island is a serious problem,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a press briefing on Sunday. Several communities on the island, including Great Kills, Bay Terrace and Tottenville, have test positivity rates above 5 percent, roughly double the city’s average. The hospitals in the borough, the governor warned, are also becoming overburdened.

“We are running into a hospital capacity issue on Staten Island,” he said.

Mr. Cuomo said that other communities across the state were also likely to face varying levels of new restrictions this week unless they dramatically turned their situations around. But such a reversal, he warned, was unlikely given increased social activity around the holidays.

Instead of regional or statewide shutdowns, Mr. Cuomo has opted for a “micro-cluster” strategy that targets communities where positivity rates are particularly high. Areas can be given a yellow, orange or red designation, with red the most restrictive. The state already has 23 zones under various levels of restrictions.

In addition to parts of Staten Island likely becoming either red or orange zones, Mr. Cuomo said, parts of Syracuse and Rochester are on track to become orange zones. Some areas of Upper Manhattan were likely to become a yellow zone, as well as parts of Suffolk and Nassau Counties.

The area around Buffalo currently has the highest test positivity rate in the state, with some suburbs hovering at around 9 percent.

New York City and New York State both agree that a test positivity rate of 3 percent must trigger new restrictions. Indeed, Mayor Bill de Blasio closed the city’s schools when, by the city’s accounting, it hit the threshold. But the city and state use different methods to calculate the figure, leading to friction and disagreements.

On Sunday, Mr. Cuomo said that the city’s calculations were largely “irrelevant,” and that key closure decisions would be made according to his metrics. According to the state, the city currently has a seven-day average positivity rate of 2.5 percent; the city says it is 3.09 percent.

Waikiki beach is seeing far fewer tourists during the coronavirus pandemic.Credit…Michelle Mishina-Kunz for The New York Times

With coronavirus cases rising in every other state, Hawaii stands alone with a gradual decline in new cases in November.

Hawaii is averaging 80 cases per day on its collection of islands, a decrease of about a quarter from two weeks earlier. Hospitalizations have fallen by a similar amount.

So how has Hawaii managed to keep its caseload in check?

“Being surrounded by ocean has helped,” said Brooks Baehr, a spokesman for the Hawaii State Department of Health. “Hawaii has more control over interstate and international travel than other states.”

The recent decline in Hawaii cases has come amid an influx of several thousand more daily visitors since the authorities removed a 14-day quarantine requirement for travel to the state in mid-October. Rather than quarantining, everyone entering Hawaii must now obtain a negative test result from a verified lab in the 72 hours before arriving.

The restrictions have helped slow the travel-related rates of the coronavirus — most cases are from community spread — but they have come at a steep cost. Hawaii’s tourism industry, which accounts for 21 percent of the state’s total economy, has all but come to a standstill. In the first nine months of 2020, visitor arrivals were down 71.6 percent compared with the same period a year ago.

For residents, this meant many businesses closed and jobs lost. In the particularly fraught seven-week period between late March and early May, new unemployment claims averaged more than 30,000 per week; the same period in 2019 had a weekly average of around 1,200.

With cases exploding across the mainland and in other parts of the world, Hawaii is once again bolstering its protections.

Starting Tuesday, if an inbound air traveler’s negative test result is not available before boarding — even if that is because of a laboratory delay, as has often been the case lately — a quarantine becomes mandatory.

Also last week, Gov. David Ige issued the first statewide mask mandate, which requires everyone over age 5 to wear a face covering in public or risk penalties that include a $5,000 fine or up to a year in jail.

Covent Garden in London on Sunday, with England still under tough restrictions.Credit…Tolga Akmen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain is expected to announce a plan on Monday to return to a system of locally tailored pandemic restrictions after a broader lockdown lifts on Dec. 2, fueling frictions with lawmakers in his own party who have been feuding with him.

Under the current measures, which were imposed early this month, people throughout England may leave home only for essential reasons, including exercise and seeking medical care; most retail stores have closed, but schools and universities remain open. Before the lockdown was imposed earlier this month, the strictest rules were in place in north and northwest England, where the outbreak was worst, while less stringent limits were in effect elsewhere.

(Rules for England are set directly by the national government; in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, regional parliaments are involved and somewhat different restrictions are in effect.)

Mr. Johnson’s plans for England after the lockdown include a three-tiered local system similar to but stronger than the one in place before the lockdown, the prime minister’s office said on Sunday, adding that it will include a blueprint for seeing loved ones over the December holidays. Science experts are expected to publish papers on Monday saying the pre-lockdown localized restrictions were too soft.

Mr. Johnson’s cabinet was still deliberating over the details on Sunday.

A government spokeswoman said regional restrictions would still be necessary after the lockdown lifts and before a vaccine becomes widely available; otherwise, she said, the virus could run out of control again and put intolerable pressure on the National Health Service.

But a group of around 70 lawmakers from Mr. Johnson’s Conservative Party who are worried about the economic and health impact have asked for a “full cost-benefit analysis” of the proposed regional restrictions. “The lockdown cure prescribed runs the very real risk of being worse than the disease,” the lawmakers said in a letter to the prime minister. “Restrictions should be removed immediately if it cannot be shown that they are saving more lives than they cost.”

Mr. Johnson’s plan is expected to face a vote in Parliament before the lockdown lifts. If the restive Conservative lawmakers refuse to support Mr. Johnson, he may have to rely on lawmakers from the opposition Labour Party, an awkward arrangement.

The debate comes as a second surge of infections in Britain has flattened, and officials have held out hope for some socializing around Christmas. They have already hinted that some rules, including a 10 p.m. curfew for pubs and restaurants, could be relaxed. “It’s definitely something that we’re looking at,” Rishi Sunak, Britain’s finance chief, told the BBC on Sunday.

Britain has suffered Europe’s worst toll from the pandemic, with 54,626 reported deaths as of Sunday morning and at least 1.4 million coronavirus cases in all, according to a Times database.

Protesters marched during a demonstration against German coronavirus restrictions in Berlin on Sunday.Credit…Alexander Becher/EPA, via Shutterstock

A young woman who compared her struggle against German government measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus to that of a student executed in 1943 for resisting the Nazis sparked ridicule and outrage for downplaying the Holocaust.

A video of the woman giving a speech at a protest of several hundred people in Hanover on Saturday quickly went viral. Hundreds of people pointed out that unlike Sophie Scholl, who founded the White Rose resistance in Munich, the woman at the protest was allowed to speak her mind freely without facing repercussions.

The video shows the woman, who identified herself only as Jana from Kassel, saying, “I feel like Sophie Scholl since I have been active in the resistance, giving speeches, going to protest, distributing fliers.” There is scattered applause.

The speech was the latest instance of protesters or conspiracy theorists opposing the coronavirus measures equating the government’s efforts to save lives to the Nazis’ oppression of Jewish people. As the German government has further restricted public life in an effort to tamp down a surge in the number of infections since the middle of October, protests have grown larger, bolder and more violent. From the outset, they have been backed by neo-Nazis and members of far-right groups.

Last week an 11-year-old girl told a crowd that she felt like Anne Frank because she had to hold her birthday party in secret, fearing her neighbors would report the gathering. Several demonstrators have donned yellow stars of David resembling those forced upon Jews in Nazi Germany, stamped with “unvaccinated” in place of “Jude.”

“Whoever compares themselves today to Sophie Scholl or Anne Frank mocks the courage that it took to stand up to the Nazis,” Heiko Maas, Germany’s foreign minister, said on Twitter on Sunday. “This downplays the Holocaust and shows an unacceptable forgetfulness about history.”

“Nothing connects the corona protesters with resistance fighters,” he added. “Nothing!”

The Hanover video also shows that, after the woman spoke of Sophie Scholl at Saturday’s protest, a man in an orange vest approached the stage, saying he had been working as a security guard but was quitting, calling her statement “idiotic” and a “belittlement of the Holocaust.” Two police officers then escorted him from the area as the woman threw down her script and the microphone, burst into tears and fled the stage.

Local media reported on Sunday the man belonged to a leftist organization that had sought to counter the protest against the coronavirus measures.

In another video uploaded about 30 minutes after the initial clip, the same woman could be seen returning to the stage, repeating her statement.

Global Roundup

Slaughtered minks being transported for processing at a mink farm near Naestved, Denmark, earlier this month, after evidence emerged of a mutated virus passing from minks to humans. Infected minks have been found in other countries as well, most recently France.Credit…Mads Claus Rasmussen/EPA, via Shutterstock

The French agriculture ministry said on Sunday that 1,000 minks had been slaughtered at a farm south of Paris after some of the animals tested positive, and that minks were being tested at two other farms.

France is the second European country, after Denmark, to cull farmed mink because of the virus. Unlike with other infected animals, minks have been shown to be able to transmit the virus to humans. In Denmark, mutations to the virus discovered in minks were also detected in 12 people, raising concerns about the possible spread of a version of the virus that would be less susceptible to vaccines under development.

Denmark is the world’s leading producer of minks, which are related to the weasel and raised for their fur. The Danish government’s order earlier this month to kill all 15 million to 17 million minks in the country led to a political crisis. The agriculture minister, who objected to the order, was forced to step down, but public sentiment was with him and support for the government fell sharply. Officials then halted the nationwide slaughter midway, and concentrated instead on minks in the vicinity of the outbreak.

French officials said they had seen no sign that the virus had passed from minks to humans in France. But the agriculture ministry said minks at the farm, west of Chartres, had tested positive and posed a threat.

“As soon as it learned of these results, the ministries concerned immediately ordered the slaughter of the entire population of 1,000 animals on the farm, and the destruction of all products from these animals, in order to protect public health,” the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

In other international news:

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain said on Sunday that his government was ready to distribute a Covid-19 vaccine as early as January, using 13,000 centers in the country where the vaccine will be administered. “The national health system, in terms of being able to vaccinate in little time, is frankly outstanding,” Mr. Sánchez said at a televised news conference. “We will guarantee that all priority groups will have access to the vaccine.” Mr. Sánchez also announced plans to add 10,000 more doctors and nurses to the state health system.

Infections are climbing quickly in Japan and South Korea, two countries that had long managed to avoid the worst of the pandemic. Japan has had its worst-ever jump, breaking records on four consecutive days, with at least 2,508 new cases on Sunday. South Korea has had five straight days of more than 300 cases. A South Korean health official warned that the latest surge could become the county’s worst if it is not quickly brought under control. Last week new restrictions were announced for Seoul and surrounding areas, including limiting the number of people in mass events such as concerts, conferences and festivals to 100.

Turkey recorded 6,017 diagnoses of Covid-19 on Sunday, a record number for a second day, and 139 related deaths, The Associated Press reported, citing the country’s health ministry. The country doesn’t publicly report confirmed coronavirus cases in people without symptoms, a policy that has been criticized for masking the true scope of the national outbreak. Evening lockdowns were introduced over the weekend for the first time since June, with businesses including restaurants and bars ordered to close.

At a market in Tokyo on Saturday.Credit…Charly Triballeau/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Coronavirus cases are climbing quickly in Japan and South Korea, two countries that have managed to avoid the worst of the pandemic.

Japan has had its worst-ever jump in new cases, breaking records on four consecutive days, with at least 2,508 new cases on Sunday. Its previous worst spike dropped off after peaking at nearly 2,000 cases in early August.

On Saturday Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced that government-funded domestic travel stipends intended to help kick-start the economy would be suspended for some of the hardest hit areas of the country.

South Korea has had a smaller increase, with five straight days of more than 300 cases. Last week new restrictions were announced for Seoul and surrounding areas, including limiting the number of people in mass events such as concerts, conferences and festivals to 100.

South Korea was particularly hard hit at the beginning of the pandemic in February and March. On March 1 it peaked at more than 1,000 new cases. Since then the country has earned praise for bringing its outbreak under control, before enduring another surge in late August.

A South Korean health official warned that the latest surge could become the county’s worst if it is not quickly brought under control.

“We are at a crossroads as we experience a huge nationwide wave that may outclass the previous tides,” Lim Sook-young, a Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency official, said Saturday, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

More than 500 people have died in the outbreak in South Korea this year.

#covid #World

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