omicron, and the state of things generally

My doctor's office has just advised us all to wear N95 or KN95s, and not cloth masks, noting that the CDC is still recommending medical masks.

This is in a message about "emergency office protocols for the week of Dec. 27," asking people to use MyChart if possible rather than phoning , because half the front-office/non-medical staff are currently out sick.

The message also reiterates the value of vaccines and boosters, and talks about treatments if you do get sick, including the monoclonal antibodies. They specifically advise against ivermectin, which suggests people have been asking them about it.

Despite Omicron, my doctor thinks the overall trend of the disease is positive, because we have some treatments and will have more.

Meanwhile, I'm hoping I at least have some useful T cells from being vaccinated -- two doses plus a booster, and my neurologist says I should get a fourth dose, timed around my MS medication. That's on the agenda for when I talk to my doctor on the 11th.

ETA: The part of this that is likely to make a difference to me is the advice that cloth masks aren't good enough in crowd situations. I will probably use them to keep my face and breath warm when I go for walks on cold days, because they're more comfortable than the medical masks.

excellent chat with @liv

I spent about an hour on the phone with liv this morning (her afternoon), as a (small) part of her birthday celebration, given that conditions didn't allow for a serious in-person party.

It was an excellent conversation, including catching up on each other's lives ion more detail than on Dreamwidth, including some about her work,some personal life stuff, and (inevitably, given the context) some pandemic-related topics. We agreed (unsurprisingly) that little nominally outdoor tents near restaurants are inferior to eating either inside the restaurant building, or outdoors on a patio.

Now that we know we both like this kind of conversation, we're going to try to do this again, and not wait for a birthday (either hers, or mine,which is most of a year away.

At her suggestion, I downloaded whatsapp so we could use that for a voice call, international phone rates being what they are.