First Tuesday of the year

MC sisters gather donations

 Back again on the blog. It's been a busy start of the new week ... New Year. It's paying the salary time ... and for 2 days I've been busy meeting with our Human Resource people to discuss each of our workers. Several have been laid off so they can claim govt. aid. Others who are not Israeli citizens must work, but we have to confirm their work permits and juggle with the mandatory limit of 50% workforce. Then there were medical insurances to check ... to see if the workers are entitled for corona vaccination. It has been a very hectic 2 days.

And lots of people have been coming to collect donations especially clothes for winter. Though it's technically warmer today ... 14 degrees minimum ... it still feels dreadfully cold indoors. Like 4 degrees. Many poor people cannot pay for heating so wearing more clothes is necessary to keep warm.

Despite Israel being the leading country in vaccinations, over 1 million in a week, the infection rate has surged to beyond 8000. And many who had their vaccinations have caught the virus before the vaccine could work. There is panic in the Health Ministry. The govt is considering a total and strict lockdown. The reaction was swift ... shop-owners in Tel Aviv immediately marched into the streets to protest. It must have been violent as we read from the newspapers ... police had to fire stun grenades. I can understand the merchants' plight ... but it won't do them any good if everyone is sick. Who will go buy new clothes when they have coronavirus?   https://www.ynetnews.com/article/Hk36S311Av?fbclid=IwAR0kRPeHki__urIGuEAUuoaRhTMGeApy94f8yjPdgWWcReVKgWvIwW1S_Qo

An upload on FB mentioned of the writer's allergy to Optalgin, a very strong painkiller. The side-effects on some people are severe. Now I know why my docs insist that I must never take Optalgin. Then again yesterday my docs ... and I got a 2nd opinion which agreed ... that I must not be vaccinated as I'd likely get an anaphylactic shock. Yesterday an Israeli suffered such an attack but was luckily saved. There had been 4 deaths of people who received the vaccine a few hours earlier ... though it's emphasised that there was no connection. They all had pre-existing health issues. Still I'm not taking any chances.