Saturday, September 4, 2021

At least August is over

September is very, very welcome this year. I can't tell you how happy I am to see the back of August. It was a particularly bad one, and then it felt like it dragged on and on and on. I didn't have it in me to post very much.

Everything seems to be all pandemic, all the time again. The delta variant of this virus is running rampant in this state and our local community. At my school, the principal, his family, the bookkeeper, her family, about a third of the teachers, and dozens of students have gotten sick. And every time a student tests positive several others who have desks near him/her have to go home and quarantine for 10 days. That really pisses parents off, as some kids are on their third quarantine after just a month of school! The nurses get cussed out at least once a day. They're so overworked and worn out that I'm surprised they're still showing up, honestly. Anti-mask parents have been protesting at the district office and at the schools while we do the best we can to keep ourselves and our students safe. Two parents acted so crazy in the office this week (one of whom was a big redneck dad with what looked like prison tats on his neck and arms who took the mask I tried to hand him, threw it to the floor, folded his big meaty arms, and glared at me threateningly) that I felt the need to call for the school resource office to come down there and lend me the support of his presence. People have lost their damn minds. 

And you know what's scary? Most of the staff that have gotten sick in the last two weeks are fully vaccinated. Granted, they're not in the hospital and they're not deadly ill, but they feel like they've caught a bad case of flu. It's beginning to feel like a matter of when, not if, I get sick myself. My friend Karen from book club caught this delta variant despite being vaccinated. She tested positive last weekend after running high fevers for a couple of days. Things are so bad in this area that we're canceling book club meetings for the next couple of months out of an abundance of caution. A couple of days last week South Carolina surpassed Florida for per-capita new infections and deaths. Florida! One of the hotspots of the country!

Meanwhile, over half the people in this community act as if nothing is happening. They're off traveling over this Labor Day weekend, and the town next to mine, Darlington, is hosting their annual big drag race weekend which will bring over 40,000 people to the area. The beaches are packed. Most of the people participating in this stuff are anti maskers and anti vaxxers, of course. They don't give a damn about anyone but themselves. Last week, my husband came close to quitting his job over the fact that most of his coworkers refuse to wear masks and the owner of the business won't do anything about it. Honestly, we were both so fed up with the state of things last week that we both wanted to quit our jobs. 

Here's hoping that September will mean the return to virtual school, at least for a while, and I can work from home again. Everyone in the district think it's a matter of time. At least the weather's nice. We've started off the month with a small dip in temperature and a big dip in the humidity, and those are very welcome developments. Also, it's a much needed three day holiday weekend. I'll try not to think about what all the holiday travel is going to mean for our numbers in the next couple of weeks.

Stay safe, friends. 


30 comments:

  1. Oh, Jennifer, I am so sorry to hear this. How awful for you and your school! You are to be commended for continuing to show up and do your job. How hard it must be to make yourself go to work each day when you are surrounded by so much trouble. I sure hope you get to go virtual soon so you can be safe. I hope your husband stays safe too.

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    1. It's been rough for everyone who works in schools but I guess it could be worse....we could work in healthcare...

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  2. I've been told it's like the Chicken Pox, everyone will get it unless they're vaccinated. I also know I work with a lot of people who claim to be vaccinated, but aren't. Weather wise, our August has been rain storm after rain storm, mostly the remnants of hurricanes. I'm sick of that. Hang in there, things will improve.

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    1. I don't understand people that not only won't get vaccinated, but then they lie about it.

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  3. Can't imagine what it is like for the people who believe in science but live in a state where suddenly science counts for nothing. I am sorry!

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  4. Oh for a magic wand to make it all go away. I never envisaged my later life being so affected by disease and fear of my fellow man.

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    1. Isn't it just bizarre? It's been almost 2 years of weirdness now.

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  5. I am so sorry you are having to deal with all this Jennifer! I am just sick of all these people that get so hateful about the masks. We also have the Delta version all over our state and even though the hospitals are all full (many with children) there are still people that act like it's not real. We are under another mask mandate and this time I have seen more people like that man you mentioned that just plain refuse to wear a mask at all. My 19 year old grandson had Covid a few weeks ago and was really sick for two weeks and still has after effects from it. We are just trying to stay in as much as possible. It feels like this will never end!

    Please, you and your husband take care and stay well!

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    1. Thank you so much, dear Bonnie! You take care and stay well TOO!

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  6. The pig-headed ignorance of so many in the States is shocking. More bad news every day. I can’t imagine having live like that.

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    1. Ugh. I'm glad you don't have to live here right now.

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  7. Over here, numbers have steadily been rising as well, and it worries me; I know a few people myself who have caught the virus in spite of being fully vaccined. It is not as crazy as in your area, but does not bode well for autumn and winter.
    I can very well understand that under the circumstances, both you and Gregg were/are thinking about quitting your jobs.

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    1. I hate being in the position where some days I feel unsafe at my job. I suppose lots of people around the world feel the same way these days, though.

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  8. Man, Jennifer, what a mess. So awful to think of you being threatened but, sadly, not hard to imagine given the number of neanderthals (mentally and physically) who have crawled out from under the rocks these past five years--unleashed by the idiot. Do keep your phone on you at all times and don't hesitate to call the resource officer or police if threatened again. School started here this week--so I dread to see what the numbers will look like over the next month. You and Greg stay as safe as you can.

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    1. I can't believe how much of a decline in civility and basic decency we've seen over the last few years.

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  9. I cannot understand why people who don't have health problems that would cause the vaccine to be problematic for them, refuse to get the vaccine. If people would have acted so stupidly about the polio vaccine, we would still be fearing that disease. What has happened to peoples' thinking ability? The person who most of them try to emulate has even told them they should get vaccinated. So many anti-vaxxers think that they are too healthy to get covid, or that they have good resistance to illness, or that they are protected by their religious beliefs, or that the Government is just trying to interfere in their lives.

    Something is going to have to be done so that other people will still be able to be treated at hospitals for other emergencies: heart attacks, strokes, appendicitis, automobile accidents, other accidents, and all sorts of emergency health problems that arise. This is crazy that the anti-vaxxers have just about crowded all others out of the use of medical care because they chose not to have a vaccination.

    Something is going to have to change.

    I worry so much about the children and workers at schools where there is no mask mandate. My grandson goes to a school where most of the kids don't wear masks. He does. His school is in one of the nicest upper middle class areas in our state. I would never have thought there were so many ignorant adults living there.

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    1. Sadly, upper middle class people are some of the worst from what I've seen so far. They feel too entitled to their regular lifestyle to be inconvenienced by the pandemic. Of course, they can afford decent health care when they need it. It's all terribly frustrating.

      Best of luck to you grandson. I hope he stays well through this mess.

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  10. This thing has shot my belief in people. Seriously- it has. While doctors and hospitals plead for people to mask, to get vaccinated, to follow basic rules of distance, things like drag racing events are still happening. What's going to happen when the virus mutates again and again, staying ahead of the science as people absolutely deny its very existence?
    For your sake, for everyone's sake, I hope that school becomes virtual again. Not just there but here too.
    Stay as safe as you can, Jennifer.

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    1. The first paragraph of this comment sums up my fears and frustrations nicely, Mary.

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  11. Let's hope things start looking up (finally) in September! Or at least sometime this autumn.

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    1. I sure hope so, Debra. Thanks for stopping by!

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  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. A red haired doll? That sounds like fun! Thank you, I will drop you a line in the morning!

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    3. Hi, Jennifer! I just did a google search for my gmail and it turned up in my comments here--I don't want it to lead to my blog (work stuff), so I deleted these--nothing to do with you!
      I hope Wren is having fun with you!
      XO

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  13. All the same they did the right thing to get vaccinated.
    May your September be a better one for you.

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  14. I don't think it's going to get better.

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