I find myself between a clinic and several variants. What to do? There's not a single vaccine appointment left in Florida. I face a daunting task: keep working unvaccinated, or catch it and die. Not the best outlook, considering that Florida now has 500 confirmed British variant cases.
The DOH in FL tests one of every 450 cases. Soooo...Let's take a wild guess. Multiply 450 times 500 and what do you get? 255,000 cases. And that's the high end. The possibility that there could be even half of that running around Florida is mind-boggling. 100,000 cases could each infect up to 6 people. So now you're looking at 600,000...and they could infect 6 more. Each day it gets worse.
I've done the math. By the first week of March we'll be seeing a spike arise from this like no other. It's going to get bad. By March 15, when unemployment for Floridians is due to run out, we'll be in the thick of it. Coincidentally, the new stimulus check should be sent out by then. $1400 that everyone needs...right in time to see mass mayhem erupt.
I'm already planning to pay down my credit cards, pay off my loans, and maybe buy a new bike. What I really need is carpeting for my house...two new doors,...and a new phone. But those may have to wait.
At least I know that my manager has my back. When she asked about last year I spake the truth: I hated it. I was the crabbiest, meanest, cranky bitch. She was amazed. "Well," she said, "That's refreshing! The unvarnished truth!" She acted as though everyone else in the place had been lying their teeth off, and I'll bet they had. She gave me a 27 cent an hour raise. That brings me .27 cents above Biden's projected minimum wage. Some economist website said that if the minimum wage had kept up properly with inflation, it'd be $24 an hour. Yup. That's what I made at Globix in 1999. Screwed up.
As you can see I'm pretty befuddled. I don't know what to make of the face of mortality that's staring me down. I guess I'll just have to muddle on.
