Red State

Heading back near LaRose into the rising sun.

Well, the Delta variant, aka SARS-CoV-3 B.1.617.2, has been spreading like wildfire (apologies to the state of California on the analogy) around here. I know more vaccinated people who have tested positive in the past few weeks than all of those, vaccinated or unvaccinated, who tested positive prior to that. It almost feels like getting infected with this variant is inevitable. 

So frustrating.....

On the plus side, practically everyone who was previously vaccinated is mounting a successful response and therefore suffering mild, or no, symptoms. We've been back under a local, and then statewide masking mandate for a few days, which is kind of like closing the barn door after the horses are out, but I guess better than nothing. My own data are showing state, city, and university rolling % positive numbers levelling off for the past few days, but of course hospitalization numbers are still trending dramatically upward. Meanwhile, we have masters nationals coming up that I hope won't get cancelled, but you never know. Robert just posted the initial announcement for the September 11-12 races up in Brandon, MS, and there's word of another Crit on the drawing board for the Shreveport area. We can only hope things are more under control by then.

Today's numbers

This morning Scott, who is one of the regulars on the morning levee rides, told us he just tested positive with mild flu-like symptoms. He was vaccinated back in February around the same time I was and tested negative just a week ago. There are at least a couple of other people who I ride with who have also tested positive lately, plus one of my co-workers. 

This morning the temperature up on the levee seemed quite a bit cooler than it's been, and even if the actual difference was small, the difference in humidity was very noticeable. No doubt as a result of the relatively nice weather we had a good-sized group for the ride. Also, and for the same reason, there were a lot of non-regular other people out there, some of whom had clearly not yet been properly trained about how to avoid getting plowed down by a paceline of riders. We had one guy on a bike who suddenly wandered across the bike path just as we were approaching, causing everyone to hit the brakes. The rider, of course, was spooked and over-corrected into the grass. I was fully expecting him to crash when he tried to ride back onto the asphalt just as I went past, but luckily we both survived. It was actually a pretty fast ride this morning. The cooler air and mild wind kept everyone a little more motivated than usual, I guess.