It looks like the rain is going to go visit somewhere else for a while. Hopefully, the rain will go to the western US; as they need rain a lot more than we do. We have had no rain for the the last two days, and we are supposed to go another three or four without any, but then heavy storms are predicted again. Zürichsee has avoided the flooding, but the water level is at least two feet above normal. There are some places that sidewalks next to the rivers or the lake have been closed because of water, but hat has been the extent of the flooding here.
Julie and I went back to the Zoo Sunday. That took a little bit getting used to. We have not really been around any kind of crowd for over a year. We found ourselves not visiting some of the attractions, due to the number of people jammed into small places. I would say about 25% of the people are still taking threats of COVID seriously. About 1 in 4 people would wear a mask when you could not separate from other people. Speaking of COVID.
From what I am reading the rest of the world is starting to see the number of cases rising. I was reading, though, that we are a long way from going back to lockdowns and restrictions. The health ministry spelled out the criteria that will lead to more restrictions.
- The first is new cases. Infections must remain below 600 cases for 100,000 people. Right now we are at 53 cases. At our peak during the pandemic the case load was over 7,800 per 100,000.
- Intensive care hospitalizations: If we reach over 300 at any given time. At this point we are at 37.
I would assume there are more, but those are the criteria I could find. Just like the US, the number of cases are primarily happening with people that choose to not be vaccinated. People in the hospital is the same. Apparently, over 95% of the people admitted to the hospital for Covid, have chosen to not take advantage of the vaccination. Here is my one SNARKY thought for the day. I do not have much sympathy for the people choosing to not be vaccinated. I find it very ironic that these are also the same people that complain the most about the restrictions, yet they are unwilling to do the ONE thing they could do to ensure we do not go into restrictions again. The Swiss are counting on people being vaccinated instead of restrictions. Right now we have about 66% of the adult population with at least their first dose. About 55% of the adult population is fully vaccinated I do think the vaccine passports are playing a part of this success. We can now go anywhere in the EU, and we do not have to quarantine upon return. IF you are vaccinated.
For a few weeks we could travel to many countries and not have to quarantine on return even if we did not have the jabs, but as cases have started climbing in other countries the ability to travel is being lessened without the vaccine. I saw in the news paper yesterday, that Greenland is the first country that is tying public transportation to the vaccine. I do not think they will be the last, and that could have a major impact if all of Europe went to that plan. I also saw that France is tying their immunization records to more social activities. Beginning in August, you have to provide the COVID health pass if you are going into a restaurant, bar, long distance train, or shopping center. That announcement led to over 2 million vaccine appointments being made. Germany has had a system like that in place for over a month, now. The difference being that Germany does allow entrance with a test done within 24 or 48 hours.
Enough about COVID.
So since the rain has held off I have been able to get on my bike a couple of times this week, but that ended this morning. I got about 1 mile or so away from the house, and I think a bearing broke in the crank. I am either going to have to start jogging again, or get out my leisure bike vs the road bike. What I find very irritating about the bike going belly up, is that I just spent money on new tires and re-taped the handle bars all because I knew the rain was going to stop this week! Why this could not have happened two weeks ago, when I was only able to ride on the balcony is beyond me. Oh well, it is probably past time to really start training for the St Jude anyway! I even bought some new running shoes to get in the right frame of mind. The older and fatter I get, the more important the running shoes become!
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count down to seeing the kids:
George : 11 Days
kaylee: 30 days
Julie and I are just a LITTLE bit excited to see the kids again.