This is a picture that I liked, representing the Assumption of Mary. It is from a church in Brazil, but I was unable to find the name of the artist.
Since the feast day fell on a Monday, it isn't a day of obligation, at least in our archdiocese. Our parish had a Mass for the school kids this morning. My husband was assisting with it, so I went also. All the schools in town started last week. Seems a bit early!
Oops. Went to the lake because we forgot. If there was a pass for today we didn't get the word. I'm doomed, but sorry I didn't remibd Raber.
ReplyDeleteFather posted the same picture on the parish FB page. He is high on angels. The artist is Juan de Jesus Munera Ochoa.
Thanks for the name of the artist. Going to the lake sounds nice. Haven't been to our lake in awhile, maybe when it gets cooler.
DeleteOff topic. My husband and I are dealing with a very stressful situation right now. Could you please pray that the situation will soon be resolved for us? I know - I’m the don’t believe in intercessory prayer person, but I’m coming around. We’re in a bit of a foxhole right now. So I’m praying and hoping that someone really does listen.
ReplyDeleteOh no. Sorry to hear that. I'll make a special trip to church tomorrow.
DeletePrayers ascending. We're all in the foxhole together.
DeleteSo sorry to hear that, Anne! Of course I will pray.
DeletePraying right now
DeleteThank you . I’m a bit embarrassed that I asked for prayers for a situation that does not involve a serious health issue or similar danger. It is simply high stress, involving a lot of anxiety and missed sleep. But thank you anyway. I pray for each of you daily and hope that someone is listening. We all face private fears, anxieties we keep private, worries about friends and family. So I pray that all receive guidance, strength, and comfort as we deal with our private fears and worries.
ReplyDeleteThe BCP has a prayer for quiet confidence. I use that a lot.
DeleteO God of peace, who hast taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be our strength. By the might of thy Spirit lift us, we pray thee, to thy presence, where we may be still and know that thou art God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Sadly, there is no prayer for people without a filter. 35 years of being married to a German has only made me somewhat guilty for my tendency to blurt, but hasn't curbed my tongue. I sometimes pray to St Jerome, who also ran his mouth too much:
Dear St Jerome, your big mouth and strong opinions created strife you often had to apologize for. Teach me to guard my tongue and give me the discernment to know when to speak and when to keep my trap shut. Help me speak from my head and heart in ways that reflect God's love and mercy, and not from my spleen. Amen.
Anne, don't be embarrassed about asking for prayers for a stressful situation. Stress is real suffering, and sometimes it affects one's physical health in addition to the mental aspect. Hoping and praying for a successful resolution of the situation soon.
DeleteThank you all. Jean, I love the prayers, both of them! Jack, could you provide the link again to the Daily Office site that you use? Thanks. Katherine, you are always supportive - thank you too.
DeleteThanks to Stanley and Jim too. I didn’t see your comments at first. I think you all are helping. I feel somewhat less anxiety and have been able to sleep the last couple of nights. Praying for all of you too.
DeleteMay God come to your assistance.
ReplyDeleteMay the Lord make haste to help you.
(Opening verses of each hour of the Liturgy of the Hours).
As Katherine noted, because the solemnity fell on a Monday, it wasn't obligatory. (Of course, all mass-attendance obligations are still suspended in the Chicago Archdiocese in any case). So the only mass on offer at our parish was the regular morning mass. Back in the pre-COVID days, we'd also offer an evening mass on these so-called Holy Days of Obligation. I'm going to suggest we resume the practice. Even if there is no obligation, there are people in the parish who love Mary and, I think, would come if we offered the mass.
ReplyDeleteYes, I used to pray the rosary at the local parish in May and Oct, and I liked the evening Assumption Mass. Father has added an ever changing array of new devotions. I would be inclined to go to some because not a lot of people are there and it's easier to distance. But they change on a monthly basis, and I can't keep them straight.
DeleteAmerica Mag had an article on restarting the wine cup. Wow, that stirred it up. I don't know why they don't go to separate minicups. I don't have a problem with single cup but I can see how some do. It might be prudent to wait some more. It seems that some exposure to germs is a good thing. Our immune systems like that.
DeleteStanley, yeah I read that article. I thought the comments got a little mean. If your parish is back to doing the cup and you don't want to, just receive the Host. That is perfectly okay. Our parish has never done the cup for the congregation unless it's Holy Week. The parish across town does every Sunday. Doesn't mean either place is right or wrong.
DeleteThe problem with individual cups is purification. Either people have to rinse them with water and drink it , like the priest or deacon does, or someone has to do the dishes in the sacristy and make sure the wash water gets poured down the sink that just drains into the soil, and not the one that goes into the city sewer.
I am an EMHC who is "on" about three months out of the year, which meant that I received out of the cup when I was serving. I do miss that. I know you don't get more or less Jesus by drinking the consecrated wine, but it adds *something*, I can't quite explain what. Of course for Holy Thursday the EMHCs had to consume what was left in their chalice after the congregation had had their turn. Didn't much enjoy that but tried not to think about germs and did it anyway. I think we were all happier when we weren't so germ conscious, but it is what it is.
I am still an EMHC, but the parish hasn't gone back to anyone receiving the consecrated wine but the priest and deacons.
DeleteKatherine, I've been back to dancing. I've attended group lessons where I've rotated with 50 partners. Very few wear masks. And, of course, there's the gym where nobody wipes down the equipment anymore. So the cup doesn't worry me that much either.
DeleteI know many people of all ages who contacted COVID and were OK. However the death statistics are still worse than a bad flu.
Our priests still drink from the cup (as they must). When COVID first hit and we revised all our procedures, the first thought was that the priest would consecrate two chalices, one for himself and a separate one for the deacon (none for the people). I couldn't think of a reason I should be able to receive from the cup if the people can't, so I asked them not to set out a cup for me. So now the priest is the only one who receives from the cup. I ask each priest to go ahead and do the post-communion ritual purification of his cup himself, so he is the only one who needs to drink from it.
DeleteKatherine I agree with you that something is missing, even if, technically/theologically, nothing is missing. Sacraments are more than concepts and ideas, they are reality that is both spiritual and material. They are simultaneously real and symbolic.
At this point most people have dropped precautions. I still mask up when I go inside. No theaters or church because people are packed in too close. I have gone to a restaurant a couple times at off hours.
DeleteRaber never wears a mask anymore, and I am not going to add that to the list of things to bicker over.
Not sure how much good my own precautions do given his m.o., but I guess that reducing occasions for exposure are supposed to help. It's just kind of habit for me now.
Does the RCC still teach that missing mass on Sunday or on a Holy day of “ obligation “ is a mortal sin and warrants an eternity in hell? How much pre- Vatican II teaching has come back?
ReplyDeleteNone, officially, though the CCC doesn't talk about mortal and venial sins any more. You are still supposed to confess non attendance at obligatory celebrations unless you couldn't get there for some reason beyond your control.
DeleteI think not showing up is its own punishment--people feel increasingly awkward and disconnected and miss their connection with God and others.
I accept that the unchurched have other ways of connecting that God, if not the Church, may recognize.
I also think people need to break and reassess what's going on when parish life irritates them so much that they can't come to worship with an open heart.
I remember the old Baltimore catechism illustration of your soul as a milk bottle. It showed a white bottle for a soul in the state of grace, and a blacked out one for a soul in mortal sin. I think most people realize that sin is on a continuum, not so black and white.
DeleteAnne - yes, the most simple answer to your question is, the teaching hasn't changed. (What's more, if I intentionally skip Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer, even a single time, that's a mortal sin, too. A whole bunch of deacons would be well-served by taking that one a little more seriously.)
DeleteOn the other hand, there are the qualifications and caveats that Jean and Katherine called out. I suspect, if someone asked Francis your question, he'd smile and tell the person not to worry; they should focus on serving others and working for justice.
I believe the question is perennial: if a teaching isn't taught, is it still a teaching?
We need "Catholic Answers"! Didn't Greg Popcak from the old Commonweal blog run that on the radio? He was always hawking that book of his about how NFP gave everybody toe-curling sex.
DeletePope Francis is a Jesuit, I'm pretty sure he takes his Divine Office prayers seriously. But we need a different way to talk about our obligations and responsibilities (which can also be seen as priveleges) than the mortal sin/ venial sin duality. For one thing, mortal sin is a rejection of our relationship with God, a deal breaker. Do we really suppose that neglect of prayers, even prayers that one has a canonical obligation for, is a rejection of God and puts us in danger of forfeiting salvation? On the other hand anything that puts distance between ourselves and God, and is a step along the wrong road, deserves to be taken seriously.
DeleteCatholic Answers tells us that Missing Mass Is Deadly and elsewhere answers the question Why Is It a Mortal Sin to Miss Mass? When I get into discussions over at Strange Notions (now all but dead) I use Catholic Answers when I am looking for orthodox (but very conservative) answers to Catholic questions. (I have not read or listened to the two articles I give links to.) The old (1912), online Catholic Encyclopedia is sometimes a helpful source, although it is sometimes embarrassingly (even hilariously) dated. Here's an unfortunate example:
DeleteThe negro has a religious nature. His docile, cheerful, and emotional disposition is much influenced by his immediate environment, whether those surroundings be good or evil. Catholic faith and discipline are known to have a wholesome effect on the race. Observing men and judges of courts have remarked on the law-abiding spirit existing in Catholic coloured communities. Some elements of the white man's civilization do not always tend to elevate the morality of the negro. The negro is naturally gregarious, and the dissipations and conditions of city life in many instances corrupt the native simplicity of the younger generation to the sorrow of their more conservative elders. (For a view of religion in these later times among the blacks in the native African home of the race, see AFRICA.) Contrary to a prevalent opinion, the negro, when well grounded in the Catholic faith, is tenacious of it.
Gosh, and here I thought that white culture elevated everyone.
DeleteKatherine, I mostly agree with you, but if RCIA is any indication, nobody talks about sin in terms of venial and mortal categories. The idea we were given is that persistence in minor sins can become grave sins.
DeleteI think it is more productive to look at behavior and to try to move yourself toward whatever helps you live out the Great Comission. That was my guide until I converted and they sent me home with the CCC, and then I worried about sin so much I felt paralyzed. Now I just assume the Church is right, I'm going to Hell, and I might as well go back to my original m.o.
I wish that the Church had more commentary on humor. In my experience, being able to recognize the ridiculous can be a saving grace.
On the New Evangelization, From the Joy of the Gospel by Pope Francis
ReplyDeleteIn first place, we can mention the area of ordinary pastoral ministry, which is “animated by the fire of the Spirit, so as to inflame the hearts of the faithful who regularly take part in community worship and gather on the Lord’s day to be nourished by his word and by the bread of eternal life”.[11]
In this category we can also include those members of faithful who preserve a deep and sincere faith, expressing it in different ways, but seldom taking part in worship. Ordinary pastoral ministry seeks to help believers to grow spiritually so that they can respond to God’s love ever more fully in their lives.
A second area is that of “the baptized whose lives do not reflect the demands of Baptism”,[12] who lack a meaningful relationship to the Church and no longer experience the consolation born of faith. The Church, in her maternal concern, tries to help them experience a conversion which will restore the joy of faith to their hearts and inspire a commitment to the Gospel.
Lastly, we cannot forget that evangelization is first and foremost about preaching the Gospel to those who do not know Jesus Christ or who have always rejected him. Many of these are quietly seeking God, led by a yearning to see his face, even in countries of ancient Christian tradition. All of them have a right to receive the Gospel. Christians have the duty to proclaim the Gospel without excluding anyone. Instead of seeming to impose new obligations, they should appear as people who wish to share their joy, who point to a horizon of beauty and who invite others to a delicious banquet. It is not by proselytizing that the Church grows, but “by attraction."
Evidently Francis places those members of faithful who preserve a deep and sincere faith, expressing it in different ways, but seldom taking part in worship in a different category than the baptized whose lives do not reflect the demands of Baptism”,[12] who lack a meaningful relationship to the Church and no longer experience the consolation born of faith.
Sounds to me that he thinks a person can have a meaningful relationship to the Church and experience the consolation born of faith but seldom come to worship!!!
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DeleteSince about sixty percent of Catholics pray daily but only about forty percent worship weekly or close to it, seems that there are a lot of Catholics who have a daily relationship with God without coming regularly to worship.
DeleteShould we be hinky about stats that rely on self-reporting about prayer?
DeleteThey are likely overestimated to the same degree as those about church attendance. Typically, self-reports tell us what people usually do. If we ask them what they did yesterday and average that data over time, we get a lower number. We turn out not to be very good computers. Our minds give us the big picture without the details.
DeleteThe figures about prayer tend to correlate well with questions about the importance of God, and other spiritual experiences. Actually, church attendance might be related more to social disability. There are some people who attend church regularly who do not pray daily, and do not consider themselves spiritual, or that God is important in their lives. Church attendance also tends to correlate more strongly with other socially desirable responses.
It is interesting that while most clergy get very upset about the 20% to 30% of the population who are spiritual but not religious, they do not tend to get upset about the 5% to 15% who are religious but not spiritual. The important question for most clergy is are they in the pews on Sunday.
Francis on the other hand is a good Jesuit who is very concerned about a person's relationship to God, and the experience of consolation and desolation. He is a little skeptical of behavior, especially the potential for spiritual worldliness, the pursuit of money, power, and status under the guise of being religious.
"There are some people who attend church regularly who do not pray daily, and do not consider themselves spiritual, or that God is important in their lives."
DeleteYep - the religious-but-not-spirituals. I've known some. I've been one at various times in my life.
Thanks for the Francis quote, Jack. If the RCC acted and taught as Francis does, I would even consider returning.
DeleteOver the course of a lifetime, I think it's pretty common to run the spiritual/religious gamut. A lot of it depends on your circumstances. I find it's easy to have faith when you have plenty of money, good health, and your kids are a credit to you. I presume that's why most White Christians are Republicans.
DeleteTake away that stuff, and your friends drop you, you feel ashamed, and your devotions flag when the property tax bill comes and you have to choose between getting the the next round of oral surgery or getting the sewer line replaced.
For my part, I think it's easier to be spiritual when your physical part is behaving itself. I've been lucky so far in that department but having to tend more and more to the squeaks and creaks makes me wonder if I'll eventually become just a self-supporting physical thing with no time for the spiritual.
DeleteBut , yes, we are all on our own in this civilization. It's not natural. I think the very concepts of private property and money were gifts of the Snake.
I tend to be like the atheists in foxholes - I get very big into prayer when trouble rears it’s head. So I make a deliberate point of practicing gratitude when things are ok and I drift away from prayer.
DeleteOne thing I’ve realized since dealing with the darkness of extreme doubt for years now is that belief in a loving God is very comforting when the going gets tougher. Not believing is so very hard. Extreme doubt is so very hard.
So I really want to believe, as I did for most of my life. Now it’s a constant battle to choose belief, to choose faith because my intellect tells me that religion is man- made. Human beings have questioned the whys and hows of creation for thousands of years. They have always had the meaning of life questions - why am i here? What am i supposed to do with my life? - the struggle with understanding evil, the struggle with understanding tragedies. So religions developed as people grappled with these things, usually led by the few extremely deep thinkers of their cultures.
I was born into a Christian family in a Christian culture. So I am confining my struggle to Christian beliefs and teachings. But that doesn’t mean that I accept fundamental Christian teachings about the incarnation, the Trinity, the physical resurrection of Jesus. I try to follow the teachings of Jesus, knowing that the gospels, the entire Bible, reflects the understandings of frail human minds and the limitations of recording what Jesus taught, and the stories in the Bible. Can you imagine the scene - Jesus in a boat offshore speaking to thousands gathered on a hillside. Without loud speakers. So it was probably only those in the front row seats who actually heard the words Jesus spoke. No scribes or tape or video recorders to capture every word.
While religious observance in church buildings has failed to speak to my doubts, or to my soul, spirituality does speak to my soul, and brings me closer to religion also, to praying. So I try to do CP, I pray with Pray as You Go and other Jesuit spiritual resources, and others I find online. I just resumed Morning Prayer online at the Washington National Cathedral. It’s the best I can do right now.
RCC parishes might find that they need to go beyond small group Bible study, rosaries and other traditional devotional practices. They work very well for many, but not for all. Not for people like me. So add the Divine Office, as Jack suggests, Centering Prayer, Lectio, Ignatian Spirituality,which was offered online last spring through the EC parish, working with Holy Trinity in Georgetown. There are others. Our former RC parish offers a number of traditional worship and saints day celebrations found in several Hispanic cultures of central and South America - not just the feast of Guadalupe.
I have trouble with formal religious beliefs but do believe in a creator that I call God. But believing that God is good, that God is love, is something I have to actively choose because a lot of the time the evidence in our world seems to contradict that belief
DeleteI was talking with a friend last evening and the subject came up of how difficult it had been spiritually during the the strictest part of the Covid lockdown in 2020, which for us was about 11 weeks. Of course as a church and individuals we had never been through an experience like that during our lifetimes.. I didn't feel that the church ( as far as the diocese) had done a very good job of thinking outside the box..Seemed like the emphasis was more on what we couldn't do than what we could do. Notably we were restricted from anything like drive up Communion services, pretty much zero opportunities to receive the Eucharist unless you were dying, and maybe not even then. Individual priests found ways to reach out to their congregations, but over all it wasn't too good. The people and clergy are doing better now, but still trying to fight our way back to a new normal.
DeleteThe post-covid response (an oxymoron, since covid is still with us) by parishes has mostly been to go back to the way things were. I think the National Cathedral has had periodic memorials for those who have died of covid. But as with the 1918 flu pandemic, people just want to bury the memories. It will be interesting to see if All Souls memorials take on any special cast.
DeleteSadly, mentioning the hardships and losses of covid stirs up a lot of political acrimony and arguing over lockdown policies, vaccinations, masks, and the stimulus package. I think most priests and parish leaders have their own differing views and would prefer not to deal with that. No point in talking about what we've come through as a nation when half the nation believes covid was a hoax.
Prayers, please, for The Boy. He tested positive for the covid Tuesday. Figured it was just a matter of time before he got it what with working in customer service. Says he has a sore throat, feels like a bad cold. He called the covid clinic, which said that the vaccines are not doing much against the current strain, which is contagious but relatively mild in younger people. The clinic is confirming diagnoses, triaging, and issuing treatment as necessary. We are on standby to run food etc down there and push it thru the door as needed, but so far he is riding it out OK.
ReplyDeletePrayers sent, hopefully he will recover without problems. Yeah it's hard not to catch it if you are in customer service.
DeleteYes, Jean. Of course. I'll pray for him. Vaccinated people seem to fare well with the recent variants. Sore throat and cold symptoms seem to be common.
DeleteJean, I’m sorry to hear this. But I’m sure food and sleep will help a fast recovery. I do hope that he has sick leave though. In our family of sons, their wives, seven grandchildren, including me and my husband, everyone except for me and one daughter in law have gotten Covid, with the first cases being my youngest son, his wife, and their three young children last November. I’m trying to keep dodging it until the new Moderna vaccine is approved - it fights omicron as well as the previous versions. It was just approved in the UK so it gives us a month or two to be sure there are no unexpected side effects in England. It’s now four months since our second boosters so I’m sure it’s wearing off now. Prayer’s ascending.
ReplyDeleteIn our family, my two sisters have had it, but not the brothers or their wives. One daughter in law and the three granddaughters have had it. Of course the DIL is the mom of the three girls, hard to take care of kids who have something contagious and not get it yourself.
DeleteGood to hear there is an updated vax on the way.
The place gives people six paid sick/vac/personal days, but they don't fire employees if they need longer to recover from covid. The shortage of service workers mitigates against their firing people willy nilly.
DeleteMy mom is COVID positive now, too. And two of my kids were, a couple of weeks back. The kids bounced back just fine. Keeping an eye on my mom, who is in her 80s. Prayers welcome.
DeletePrayers for your mom, Jim. I am sorry to hear it.
DeletePraying for your mother.
DeletePraying for your mom, Jim. Didn't she have a previous bout with it a few months back? So many people have had a second go-round. Are they still using the monoclonal antibody drugs for high risk people?
DeletePrayers ascending, Jim.
DeleteKatherine, my 81 year old husband was treated with monoclonal antibodies last Christmas when he was fairly sick with Covid. At that time only one of the monoclonal antibody infusions w as effective against covid - it was omicron the first. It turned him around in 24 hours. So it worked. But I have read that there are now no monoclonal antibody infusions that work against omicron the fifth, or whatever the current variant is called.
DeleteDoes he work for a sole proprietor? I can’t believe that his combined sick and vacation days are only six days. Maybe he needs to look around. Even the fast food chains around here are starting at $15/ hour with paid 5 days min sick leave AND two weeks vacation to start, plus health insurance and even tuition benefits. The big grocery store chains are offering even more, because the workers are union. The son of a close friend is on the autism spectrum, lives in a mildly depressed town ( former mill town) in Connecticut and works for one of the big grocery store chains, closer to Hartford, but less than an hour commute. He started in the back, unloading product, then shelving, finally the cash register. He has good benefits and a decent hourly wage, far above minimum wage.
ReplyDeleteSometimes things do change for the better. When I started in 1995 at the same place where I am still working part time, you had to be there a year before you got any vacation or sick days, and 90 days before you could get insurance. After a year you got a weeks vacation, it was five years to get two weeks. I lost my perfect attendance free day because I went to my brother- in law's funeral ( in-laws weren't covered under bereavement leave). It isn't a sole proprietor, it's a big corporation. Now (since like 20 years ago) you start out with two weeks vacation and also sick days right off the bat, and no waiting period for insurance. Why did they change? Basically because they had to, to retain employees.
DeleteAnne, the kid is sick right now, and I'd like to concentrate on helping him get thru that. I don't need people telling me he should take more initiative to better himself. And I don't need inspirational stories about another kid on the spectrum in different state who is doing so much better than my kid after 20 years. It is insensitive and shaming.
DeletePlease accept my apology, Jean. I didn’t think it through because my concern is that this country does not ensure minimal benefits for ALL workers, in ALL sectors of the economy. I certainly was not suggesting that he get up from his sickbed to go job hunting. I overstepped.
DeleteThank you.
DeleteMichigan, unlike Connecticut, is a "right to work" state, and I believe that "employment at will" exceptions are also tighter in Connecticut. This gives Conn workers a marginal edge in job security and conditions over those in Michigan. Michigan's unemployment rate is also higher than Connecticut's by about a percentage point.
No, we aren't able to brag about The Boy's fabulous wealth, career, education, or vacations to exotic locales. We taught him to be focused, thrifty, and kind, to stay informed, and to recognize his talents. I'm sure you taught your kids the same.
He has lived independently since age 20, has never asked us for money (though we have shared small windfalls with him when we can), and he takes responsibility for himself and others. As do we.
If you are low-income in America, even if you are sustaining yourself with honest work, you are somehow fair game for suggestions about how to better yourself by people with more wealth and status. It gets wearing.
I am heartened by service workers unionizing. Believe me, it is planting ideas in the heads of younger workers disenchanted with the price of higher ed.
DeleteA lot of 20-somethings want a job to support them at a modest level with enough leisure time to run some kind of side gig.
The Boy is involved with some musicians who jam at a grotty warehouse club and network freelance music jobs. They've done everything from writing music for video games and indie films to buskering and doing DJ at hipster parties. Most of them got thru the pandemic doing digital sound work at home.
He turned his spare bedroom into a ragtag sound studio that he runs on some type of co-op basis. The kids seem to pay each other in kind a lot. I think that's how he got his davenport.
I didn’t even have right to work state v union state cross my mind. I just looked at a map of the country with the right to work states shaded one color and the others another color. There are more right to work states. - 27. You could lay that map over a 2020 red/ blue state map and it would be (almost) a perfect match.
DeleteBut from what you say, the cost of living difference between Michigan and Connecticut must be fairly significant. You mention that your son has a spare bedroom - so two bedrooms? My friend’s son in Connecticut lives in a small studio apt, about 400-500 sq ft. That’s the most he can afford even on his union wage.
It’s wonderful that your son is musically talented. Being able to play an instrument or sing makes some people a bit happier. I envy all who can do this.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteKatherine,
ReplyDeletehttps://www.gov.uk/government/news/first-bivalent-covid-19-booster-vaccine-approved-by-uk-medicines-regulator
That's interesting. Hopefully it will be available in the US.
DeleteAnother possibility farther down the road is the nasal spray vaccine: https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2022/08/08/nasal-covid-19-vaccines-help-the-body-prepare-for-infection-right-where-it-starts-in-your-nose-and-throat/
This would be an advantage because it establishes an immune response where the virus enters the body. Also it would be easier and cheaper to administer.
Paxlovid is said to be effective against omicron. But some people (notably Dr. Fauci and President Biden) had a rebound after they finished their course of Paxlovid. I have read that they were recommending increasing the course from five days to ten. Don't know if that will make a difference.
DeleteAs you may remember in past surges, I often made straight line predictions of their end once several weeks of consistent data were available. The last four weeks here In Lake County (and Ohio generally) have shown a consistent downward trend.
ReplyDeleteHowever, its rate is only one percent per day. That is half the rate of two percent per day of the original virus (i.e. before any vaccines or natural immunity) and far less than the three, four, or five percent in far more infectious variants.
At this rate it is going to take until New Years before we see some of the low rates of inflection that occurred between surges. By that time another variant and wave will likely be in the making.
This situation of many people going about and getting infected and reinfected with a mild virus is very bad for people with suppressed immune systems. Almost worse than the original virus because then people were trying to avoid the virus, and one could feel somewhat safe with people who were vaccinated, isolating, etc.