Thank you for the support of family and friends through my planning and post-op; I have not been lonely, hungry or run out of dark chocolate. How great to know that as I returned home from the hospital I would be met with such caring friends (luckily one is a Nurse Practitioner). Nice to have a fresh brewed cup of coffee delivered to my room with an ice pack for… Read more
I hear that many of our dads had a great father’s day celebrating with family and friends: fishing trips with laughter but no fish on the line, special meals in local restaurants, special meals prepared by our dads for the family, zoom and facetime meetings with smiles all around and of course many backyard bar-b-ques. Despite continued high gas prices and continued covid-19 cases most with much lighter symptoms it… Read more
Welcome to summer (almost), a time of graduation parties, college kids returning home, planned vacations, walking barefoot on the beach again and fingers crossed that those seedlings take off… barefoot on the beach finally planted! I am hoping you have some great plans, enjoy your weekend. WEEKLY TAKE-AWAY Sometimes less is more; the most common items in garden stores are 3 or 4 packs, and many weekend gardeners, me included… Read more
As we do our weekly shopping we see prices steadily increasing. The USDA says grocery and supermarket food prices are already 8.6% higher now than a year ago and inflation remains at near 40-year highs. I am hoping to finally plant the seedlings I purchased mother’s day weekend, maybe add a few more of those I am cultivating from seeds and then enjoy my organic garden this summer. I keep thinking… Read more
It feels like prices are increasing faster than the inflation index shows; we are experiencing “sticker shock” daily as we shop for personal and business needs. Some businesses increase their prices in ways that may not seem so obvious; have you noticed those ice cream containers are shrinking or that services are reduced? The Labor Department’s consumer-price index measures how much consumers pay for goods and services and includes some of… Read more
It is being reported that a new strain of the Omicron variant has emerged just as the Omicron surge appears to be peaking in the U.S. The new strain, called BA.2, is said to be more contagious than its sibling Omicron variant, BA.1, but is also less likely to cause severe disease compared with the Delta variant. The new variant is spreading quickly in Denmark, England, and Germany, and has also been… Read more
It is being reported that the rapidly spreading Omicron variant is causing worker shortages across the entire economy as employees are out sick or quarantining. At Delta Airlines, 8,000 employees contracted COVID-19 recently, contributing to more than 2,200 cancelled flights. Grocery stores and many other businesses are cutting back on their product lines. A shortage of truck drivers means shipments are delayed, so store shelves are empty. Children are taking public buses… Read more
Yet again, some people are seeing bare shelves in grocery stores. Our just-in-time supply chain depends on synchrony in all links to keep shelves stocked, but a combination of factors is disrupting the timing. The fast-spreading omicron variant means grocery store workers are calling in sick, as are workers at food producers. Besides workers who are temporarily out sick, grocery stores are dealing with a labor shortage, as people quit over the… Read more
Even if you’re fully vaccinated and have your COVID-19 boosters up to date, there is a possibility you’ll still get a breakthrough case of COVID-19. Vox has a list of things you can do now to prepare: get a booster and a flu shot figure out how you can most easily get tested, including possibly purchasing an at-home test kit continue wearing your mask, and consider upgrading to a more… Read more
What happens to the people who don’t quit or retire during the “Great Resignation?” Those left behind may be picking up additional responsibilities, earning bonuses, while putting in those extra hours. Over time, managers begin to see the extra hours and work that their team puts in as the norm. This may also lead to burnout and the loss of knowledge from the workplace as people with specific skill sets are not… Read more
Over the weekend, several countries reported their first cases of the new Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus. While little is known about the new variant, genetic sequencing indicates it has at least 30 mutations on the spike protein, which it uses to bind to human cells, so it could be even more easily spread than the Delta variant. In response to the uncertainty, Israel has banned all foreigners from entry, while… Read more
Just a few weeks ago, it appeared that the Delta variant was on the wane in the US. However, cases are climbing, in pockets of the Midwest, Southwest, and Northeast, and just ahead of the holiday travel season. Minnesota is experiencing its highest average daily case counts since April, at 3,500 per day, overwhelming some hospitals. In response, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has enlisted the National Guard to staff temporary sites… Read more
On November 8, the U.S. will open borders to foreign travelers, marking a new and exciting stage in the pandemic. The Delta variant surge seems to be easing, vaccinations and boosters are available to more people, and mask mandates are being dropped. Case counts appear to be decreasing, and hospitalizations are declining in most parts of the country. However, worker shortages – particularly in restaurants – persist as a reminder that… Read more
What does it cost to be hospitalized for COVID-19? A study by The Wall Street Journal found the cost can vary by tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the hospital and the insurance policy. While most insurers waived out-of-pocket costs for patients for most of the pandemic, many patients are now receiving bills for hospital stays, which can depend on rates negotiated between hospitals and insurers. For example, at one… Read more
Even before the pandemic, some restaurant owners were challenging the model of paying servers only $2.13 an hour and depending on tips from customers to make them whole. Today, as restaurants and bars struggle to find enough workers to stay open, a few are making further changes to their business model. Some are raising wages and offering sign-on bonuses. Others are adding service charges to every bill, and others are simply… Read more
The recent announcement by the Biden administration of a plan that mandates COVID vaccinations or weekly testing has drawn both phrase and critizim from the business community. Some business leaders applaud the plan as a way to keep the surge in COVID cases from hurting the economy, although smaller employers may find the mandate difficult to enforce. Expanding testing may not be possible unless capacity is also significantly increased. Some business leaders… Read more
The FDA has now granted Pfizer and BioNTech full approval of their COVID-19 vaccine for persons aged 16 and up. This means this vaccine has met the agency’s standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality. This approval was based on close examination of six-months of follow-up which revealed no additional long-term safety concerns. This approval may now spur major companies to require employees to be vaccinated. Based on clinical studies, this vaccine… Read more
What sets the Delta variant apart from other strains of the COVID-19 coronavirus is the amount of virus produced by those infected, a measure called viral load. One recent study found that people with the Delta variant had viral loads up to 1,260 times as high as the original strain. Higher viral loads make the Delta variant more transmissible and can also make infected people sicker. However, the CDC has also… Read more
The Delta variant is more contagious than other virus variants, which is changing the public-health advice on preventing its spread. With the previous strains, a rule of thumb was that it took 15 minutes of close contact with an infected person to become infected. With the Delta variant, infection may happen in less than five minutes, and possibly with only fleeting contact, such as in an elevator. Recent studies show the… Read more
Three weeks ago, new COVID-19 cases were averaging about 11,300 new cases a day, but that rate has now doubled to 23,000 cases per day. According to the CDC, nearly all recent COVID-19 cases and deaths have been among unvaccinated people. The more contagious Delta variant is now the dominant strain in the US, and appears to be more severe. A Scottish study found that the hospitalization rate is about… Read more