Hubs and I decided yesterday that we will no longer physically go into our grocery store anymore. That’s about the only place I would have gone in to anyway. Hubby does make occasional trips to the hardware store or the animal feed stores. All of that is about to change.

According to this recent article from Vox (click here) because of the new mutant strain of the coronavirus, going out in public just got a whole lot more dangerous. You may need to wear a better mask (perhaps two of them simultaneously) and avoid optional trips to the grocery store or pharmacy, if possible. You’re better off getting inside a grocery store for just 5 minutes vs 30 minutes and then exiting ASAP!

The virus appears to be getting even better at infecting us. Since at least December, new, more contagious variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19 have been outcompeting earlier versions of the virus in countries as far and wide as Brazil, the UK, and South Africa. The advantage the new variants carry seems to be that in any given situation where people are gathered, they’ll infect more people — an estimated 30 to 70 percent more people in the case of the B.1.1.7 variant first identified in Britain, which has now been identified in 50 countries.

I’ve been stockpiling our food supply specifically for this reason, as such as to what is currently unfolding. Should hubby or I need milk, I have boxed cartons of milk. Should we need eggs, I have freeze dried varieties. Should we need bread, I’ve stockpiled different types of flour and yeast. Granted yes, I could hire someone to do our shopping (DoorDash or Instacart) but each time I have tried those companies, it has been a disaster. Also, because we live so remotely, it’s near impossible to get any fresh food delivered.

It’s time to avoid other people, even at the grocery store (if possible).

More cases mean more really sick people, more strain on hospitals and health workers, more rationing of health care — and more deaths, including the entirely preventable ones now firmly linked to ICU bed shortages. More cases will also give the virus more opportunities to mutate further and potentially escape our vaccines, perpetuating the cycle of doom.

It’s been near impossible to set up an appointment for the vaccine here where we live. Neither one of our GPs will take on giving the vaccine to their patients. My personal doctor wouldn’t even write out a prescription for me for an epie pen, knowing full well how allergic I am to so many things. I can only get the vaccine at a hospital now because should I get an allergic reaction to the vaccine, I don’t think anyone in an auditorium or stadium (where the vaccines are now being doled out) will be able to save my life should I start suffocating to death.

Right now, the best thing for us to do is continue to hunker down at home and wait. And wait and wait and wait.