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It's Covid advice weekend

Partnering with the post below, this article warns us of 6 places we still should not go if we want to steer clear of potential Covid germs. I'm a sucker for this sort of thing and these 6 things basically mean not going anywhere. They run the gamut of everything from crowded indoor events to in-door dining to bars, theaters, churches and public transportation.

About the only thing we've done is go to church and I doubt we will stop going. The others, well, we miss going out to dinner but haven't yet.

How to tell the difference

This article tells us how to tell the difference between a cold or allergies and Covid. This comes at the right time since Fall is a big time for allergies what with leaves drying and falling and other summer plants dying and giving off mold etc. The other day I was pulling out euonymous vines and it wasn't until I'd finished that I remembered in past years I was really allergic to this plant. So I worried I may get set upon again and not know if it was the allergy or Covid. Or, maybe what would people around me think. Thankfully nothing happened this time.

But, the main difference in symptoms is with Covid you quickly lose you sense of smell and/or taste while with a cold or allergies most often not.  The article advises that if you aren't sure, do the smell test. Go around the house/fridge and smell stuff.

Odd, but advice is often that way.

How many of us in Southwest Illinois have been vaccinated

A very interesting round-up of vaccination percentages by city/town on the Illinois side of St. Louis. This is a fairly complete listing of all the towns. The worst percentage is in East St. Louis and towns in that vicinity. All in the 20's percentile. The highest percentages are in St. Libory, New Memphis, Radom,Hamel, and Maryville, all in the 60's percentile.

Collinsville is at 47 percent, sort of in the middle.

When it comes to advice they can't get their act together

Last week a medical report from the American Heart Association concluded that drinking 3 glasses of red wine a day can help maintain healthy blood pressure levels as well as other health benefits.

This morning this from Dr. Gregory Marcus, a professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology at the University of California San Francisco: "Having one glass of wine or a can of beer immediately raises the risk of experiencing atrial fibrillation, or AFib, an irregular heartbeat that can sometimes be fatal, a new study shows."

So which is it guys? And the medical experts often wonder why we are skeptical.

A Doctor's Warning

Now here is a headline that had me reading the entire article. "I'm a Doctor and Warn You Not to Go Here Anymore".

That "I'm a Doctor" business is rather arrogant and is used to make us more likely to follow this advice. The problem is, his warning pretty much makes it impossible to go anywhere. His list of places to avoid mean we can't do anything. Here is what he wrote:

Don't go to...

Indoor dining

Avoid Public transportation

Avoid Churches

Nail salons

Don't do in person shopping

 

 

Covid. Where does Illinois and everyone else stand

Illinois' Covid infection rate is slightly higher than the national average.   Since the first known case of COVID-19 was reported in Illinois on Jan. 24, 2020, there have been 1,499,022 total infections in the state — or 11,765 for every 100,000 people. Of all 50 states and Washington D.C., Illinois ranks No. 28 by cumulative COVID-19 cases, adjusted for population.

Just as COVID-19 infections are more concentrated in Illinois, so too are deaths. So far, there have been 26,335 COVID-19 related deaths in Illinois, or 207 for every 100,000 people. Meanwhile, the national COVID-19 death rate stands at 192 per 100,000 Americans.

Not that far off from the rest of the states, but here we go again with another Virus outbreak. This is serious since we had big hopes that a month ago things were improving.  My guess is judging by all the news stories and photos of large groups of people out and about again. Baseball games, picnics, wedding receptions, all sorts of events we are seeing with lots of people, most without masks.

Maybe the villain in the new outbreaks was the ending of the mask mandates coupled with so many people refusing to get vaccinated.

I confess all of the new infections popping up panics me. It's hard to know what to do or where to go or who to be with.

This link shows the counties in Illinois with their infection rates and whether they are trending up or down. Madison is trending up with more cases. St. Clair is trending down. Interesting.

Now this is good health news

The American Heart Association now recommends drinking 3 glasses of red wine each day! I am all for this good news since I have red wine almost every day in the late afternoon and during dinner. That does not mean I polish off a whole bottle, but a couple of glasses over that length of time.

A new study published in the American Heart Association journal, Hypertension, determined that drinking three glasses of red wine a day can help maintain healthy blood pressure levels. Over time, regular consumption of flavonoids induces persistent changes in the community of bacteria that live in our stomachs called the gut microbiome. These changes affect various cardiovascular functions, including blood pressure regulation.

According to this illustrious organization, "red wine is rich in flavonoids, which are plant pigments that have anti-inflammatory properties. 

So put down the guilt unless you have other medical reasons for staying away from red wine.

I tend towards the French Pinot Noirs and Spanish Tempranillos blended with a bit of Garnacha. This is my favorite and got it at Parker's Table wine shop near the seminary. But they have been out of it for a while. Total Wine and More stores have this blend. I find California red wines taste a bit too much like wood. Some people like that, I do not. I did find a nice Oregon pinot noir at our local Schnucks of all places. It's a Smith & Perry 2017.  Other local people must have discovered this wine because it has had to be restocked several times since it appeared this summer.

The Collinsville Schnucks seems overloaded with cheaper American wines unlike other Schnucks stores which do carry wines from France, Germany and Italy. Here, they are a very small, unappealing, after thought and just sit on the shelf going no where.

 

Cheers!

A long way to go just for a free item

This made me laugh this morning. An article with the headline: How to collect your free, surgical, N95 Mask from Thursday.

We have begun wearing masks more frequently these days and have given up on the cloth ones because suddenly they are said to be not as effective as the disposable N95's. I can get the N 95's at Ace Hardware and Home Depot. We aren't running around to medical stores for these.

Anyway, free sounded good. But. To get the free N95 masks starting Thursday you have to go to Singapore!

Sorry, free isn't always free.

Traveling during the Virus days

We spent- the past week at our daughter's home in Rockville Maryland. This visit meant having to travel, something we have not done in almost two years. We prepared ourselves with a mental list of things we would not do or places we would not go in order to avoid contact as many strangers as possible. This due to the Covid virus and knowing half the people in this country have not been vaccinated.

Our first step into the unknown came when we had to go into one of the highway rest areas, this one somewhere in western Ohio. I was more nervous than Dale, but once inside we found the place immaculate and with few people around. We always wore a mask and I was gratified to see that anyone else in this place did the same.

Most of the time and most of the places we went into had people in masks, too often about 50-50. We could live with this since we were masked up and had hand sanitizer in the car. The highway place we used most of the time was a gas station/store combination named Sheetz. They are located in mostly eastern states and all look the same and are all (mostly) extremely clean and friendly. The people who work in Sheetz's all wore masks as did most of the customers. To be honest, for all the years we've gone out to the DC area, we've laughed at this name, but have come to really respect this company.

This pictures are from 3 different Sheetz's. They have a fresh food area which actually produced really good ready made sandwiches and wrap, fruit, etc.

But I have to say, the absolute worst place we stopped as far as feeling safe from other people was our last stop on the way home. It was an Effingham, Illinois, gas/store type place named Petro Travel Center. While Dale pumped gas I walked into the attached store which had many things in food and other things and it was very clean. However, I was immediately appalled and kind of frightened when I noticed no one, I mean no one, was wearing a mask. Not even the people working there. There was even a notice on the door that masks were not needed.  Other shoppers gave me mean looks when they saw my mask. I just wanted to get the heck out of there.

We hear on the news about certain parts of the country where people won't get vaccinated or wear masks. I sure found one of those areas and it's right here in Illinois. And here I thought our governor was again promoting the use of masks. I guess not in Effingham.

 

Masks, are we there again?

Yesterday afternoon while in the Collinsville Schnucks I suddenly realized many other shoppers were wearing masks. It got me to wondering if the St. Louis County mandate for grocery stores had the Schnucks company applying it to all their stores. Or, maybe I missed a Madison County edict.

I still don't know the answer, but there is a part of me is rather glad to see this mask wearing again especially with the growing numbers of people with the new variance. Our country is in a crazy time once again with anger, frustration and just plain exhaustion with the Covid which will just not go away.

I still believe the problems came when those who would not be vaccinated took off their masks at the same time those who were vaccinated were allowed to do this. This action should not have been implemented until there was doable way to check this easily at any venue.