against the urgency of normal

[mellowtigger]

I'm on vacation for the rest of this month, but I just peeked at my work email this morning.  My employer has gone "mask optional" in the workplace.  That's finally the last proverbial straw.  I'll spend today writing my resignation letter, so I have it ready when I return.

As a reminder, 2019 December 01 is when the first known person developed symptoms of COVID-19, leading a pandemic caused by what is now known as the SARS-CoV-2 virus.  That was 830 days ago.  During those 830 days, we already have evidence of:

1. "viral persistence", meaning that people who get infected may very well remain infected for life.  The longest duration known so far is 230 days.
2. airborne transmission, meaning that this virus (more specifically, some of its variants) is more contagious than other diseases we know.
3. widespread clotting, meaning that people who are infected develop blood clots in organs throughout the body.
4. persistent clotting, meaning that even after initial infection there is a huge 55% greater risk of clotting events like heart attack, stroke, and death.  (reminder: see #1 above)
5. immune suppression, meaning that people who are infected develop a greater risk of infection by any agent. 
6. asymptomatic infection, meaning that 40% of people with primary infection wouldn't know they are infected and spreading disease.

That's the disastrous news we have after only 830 days.  I expect this pandemic will lead to a "slow burn", just like the insignificant HIV-1 infection led several years later to the tragedy of widespread AIDS.  I already had a DVT (deep-vein thrombosis) back in 2013.  I am a high-risk person in regards to covid.  I should not be an "essential worker" who has to enter office space with people who can spread this disease.  Biden's command to "return to the office" is now equally as idiotic and incompetent as Trump's lies that "it's like the flu" and  "it'll go down to zero".

I wish I could afford to immediately retire and hide.  The world has gone insane.  Well, except for China which seems to be the only country still taking this pandemic seriously.  Where is the bunker, the safe commune, for the people still left uninfected who want to remain that way?

Sorry, I know I promised to avoid this topic for 6 months, and I didn't even make it 1 full month.  I did say I'd write if I was personally affected before the expiration, and turning my workspace into a viral risk chamber does qualify as something that affects me personally.