March 15, 2022
Viruses are forever?
Dear RCers,
The effects of the COVID pandemic continue across the world, still causing widespread illness and death to large numbers of people. The rates are currently much lower than in the waves of harm caused by each of earlier variants that have developed. We have lost millions of lives to this virus, and we have gotten numbed and oddly accepting of the ongoing losses. It is impossible to predict with assurance that this damage will continue to lessen, since there are still so many currently infected that there are many opportunities for a new variant to develop. It has appeared possible that it would soon be safe enough for us to consider being in close contact with each other again.
A new variant, BA.2, is spreading quickly, however, in many parts of the world, and so rates are rising swiftly again in many places. This is closely related to Omicron and does not seem more dangerous. Another variant has also been found, which appears to be a mixture of Delta and Omicron, but little is known about it, yet.
As before, each person and each community needs to gather information and think about their particular situation. There are great variations in many factors across the International RC Community - the great inequalities due to colonialism, racism, and capitalism among them. The current local rates of vaccination and of infection are important parts of these considerations.
In this period many governments are removing at least some of their requirements for masking and social distancing. The effects of these changes on the infection rates won’t be clear for two or three weeks after these steps. These effects should tell us a great deal. I think it will be wise to use both the effects of these moves and developing information about the spread of the new variants in considering our own next steps.
I would like local Communities to once again have online gatherings for discharge, think-and-listens, and discussions so that they can reach an agreement about how their Community can move forward and when. As always, people also get to make their own personal decisions about how they will handle their own lives and interactions with others.
With love and appreciation,
Tim