Flower Friday. : : Hyacinth

My flower Friday shot proves the point that there is dog hair in everything around here. This hyacinth was given to us by Ruta and Neville and the girls, our visitors (our only visitors in a year) of last week. We decided to plant it in a pot on the porch which we can see from inside the house, despite freezing temperatures. Our garden book said it could survive sub freezing temperature. I'm not sure that applies to blooming specimens, however it has warmed up now and it seems to have done fine. 

Trail House is open again and part of our group met there this morning. Some of the younger workers tested positive for Covid so they closed down to quarantine and disinfect. 

I feel a rant coming on...well more of a speculative musing....but please feel free to skip it if you are fed up to the back teeth with the whole subject. If I'm way off base, please feel free to correct me.

I have a couple of thoughts on the current omicron version of Covid that is sweeping the world. I know only what I am able to glean from various reliable news outlets, but it seems to me that perhaps there is a level of hysteria around it that doesn't seem warranted. The facts I have at my disposal are:
a)omicron is far more infectious, but far less severe except for those who
  are not vaccinated or who have underlying health issues.
b) They have just this week approved booster vaccinations for young         people 12 to 15. Many of them have not even reached eligibility for a   booster because they have only recently completed. the first two shots. 
c) mandated vaccinations and even masking are being fought tooth and    nail by 30% of our population who think it is a 'personal decision'. It's     also a political decision. What I mean by this is that the anti-vaccination   sentiment is being driven by cynical politically motivated politicians who   think  power and money is more important than the health and well   being of the people they represent. They should be educating those   people rather than feeding their paranoia with more misinformation.

If I were a benevolent dictator I would do a couple of things. I would mandate proof of vaccination for all. It's a personal decision not to get vaccinated but it doesn't have to be a decision that infects others. Or one that provides a feeding ground for variants.....

The news is full of hysterical stories about hospitals overflowing in a new surge which is certainly not desirable under any circumstances. What they don't say is how many of the people in hospital have been vaccinated (I suspect it is very few of them) nor do they give much data on how ill people testing positive for omicron actually are. 

This seems to be a variant that is not much more severe than the flu for the vaccinated. I suspect that we are going to have to learn to live with this virus in some form, and that lowering the level of hysteria and making fact based decisions about it might be a  good idea. Also if you're going to require testing for going to school then have enough test kits for everybody to do that.