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(Originally posted to my GoFundMe earlier today, so I didn't bother to change the timestamp. This is basically copied verbatim (modulo formatting), including the fundraising stuff at the end; I *was* posting to GoFundMe after all. Feel free to ignore those bits if you want. Link to the fundraiser will be provided in the comments and upon request.)
Well, 2020 is officially over and those of us that survived it are pretty much still here if the worse for wear. After the totally predictable spike in infections following the Thanksgiving holiday "travel period" in the USA, when so many people who should not have gone anywhere did so anyway, many states tightened their restrictions for the Xmas-New Years holiday period that is coming to a close this weekend. Many other states should have tightened up but didn't, and we are starting to see the reasons why they should have, which will only get worse over the next couple of weeks. Other areas of the world are also seeing spikes in infections, it's not limited to the USA. Anyway, the last half of December in COVID-19 news was mostly about more vaccine approvals and the resulting rollouts, which are less of a "big news story" than the initial ones earlier in December. Perhaps because more traditional holiday and end-of-year stuff tends to take over the airwaves and newspapers and blogosphere this time of year. So I feel perfectly justified in taking a bit of a break myself from the "SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 related PSA / traditional weblogging and usual begging post mashup" last week. Even our friendly pharma-chemist blogger Derek Lowe takes a holiday break, so two out of five links from the second half of December are holiday food recipes.
Here are the two recipe links:
Holiday Recipe: Banana Bread
Recipe: Peruvian Roast Chicken
And here are the three actual news links:
Antibody-Dependent Enhancement
The New Mutations
Vaccine Roundup, Late December
And from the Entirely Predictable Things Department, it is now time for the usual PSA-and-begging part of this post. If this isn't your first time reading one of these types of posts, you know what comes next: the plea for those of you who are able to SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES. Some businesses were essential and never closed during the lockdowns. Others, after having opened back up, are now trying to stay open to what extent they can as the various phases of "reopening" are more and more getting rolled back to more restrictive levels as the pandemic surges with the onset of cold weather. What they have in common is that locally owned and operated businesses give better "bang for the buck" when it comes to keeping the local economy moving. So please do what you can to help keep your local economy a little bit more afloat. Locally owned businesses are, and will continue to be, struggling to survive and get back on their feet, so please patronize them as much as you can. BUY LOCAL. Please however, do so in a safe manner. Keep on wearing masks and other protective equipment when going shopping in person, continue social distancing. Act intelligently, because I know you can.
( Rest of the begging stuff is behind the cut. )
Well, 2020 is officially over and those of us that survived it are pretty much still here if the worse for wear. After the totally predictable spike in infections following the Thanksgiving holiday "travel period" in the USA, when so many people who should not have gone anywhere did so anyway, many states tightened their restrictions for the Xmas-New Years holiday period that is coming to a close this weekend. Many other states should have tightened up but didn't, and we are starting to see the reasons why they should have, which will only get worse over the next couple of weeks. Other areas of the world are also seeing spikes in infections, it's not limited to the USA. Anyway, the last half of December in COVID-19 news was mostly about more vaccine approvals and the resulting rollouts, which are less of a "big news story" than the initial ones earlier in December. Perhaps because more traditional holiday and end-of-year stuff tends to take over the airwaves and newspapers and blogosphere this time of year. So I feel perfectly justified in taking a bit of a break myself from the "SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 related PSA / traditional weblogging and usual begging post mashup" last week. Even our friendly pharma-chemist blogger Derek Lowe takes a holiday break, so two out of five links from the second half of December are holiday food recipes.
Here are the two recipe links:
Holiday Recipe: Banana Bread
Recipe: Peruvian Roast Chicken
And here are the three actual news links:
Antibody-Dependent Enhancement
The New Mutations
Vaccine Roundup, Late December
And from the Entirely Predictable Things Department, it is now time for the usual PSA-and-begging part of this post. If this isn't your first time reading one of these types of posts, you know what comes next: the plea for those of you who are able to SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES. Some businesses were essential and never closed during the lockdowns. Others, after having opened back up, are now trying to stay open to what extent they can as the various phases of "reopening" are more and more getting rolled back to more restrictive levels as the pandemic surges with the onset of cold weather. What they have in common is that locally owned and operated businesses give better "bang for the buck" when it comes to keeping the local economy moving. So please do what you can to help keep your local economy a little bit more afloat. Locally owned businesses are, and will continue to be, struggling to survive and get back on their feet, so please patronize them as much as you can. BUY LOCAL. Please however, do so in a safe manner. Keep on wearing masks and other protective equipment when going shopping in person, continue social distancing. Act intelligently, because I know you can.
( Rest of the begging stuff is behind the cut. )
