Lol, love the long-winded rants! I'm very much not a math person so I really admire the capacity other people have

I'm hoping the monkeypox thing isn't as contagious as Covid, which is what most health officials are saying. Then again, they've been wrong before. And it's hard to imagine the disease isn't airborne and super contagious if it's spread so quickly in a couple of events... At least it seems to be the lower-fatality variant. We'll see what happens. And as you said, if it's not this one, the next one might just be that terrible superflu.

Covid is so predictable, especially if you're outside of the US. I follow what happens there and in Europe pretty closely, and I always know a couple of weeks before a new wave begins here.

I just came home from a Covid test, I've been having a cold for several days so I got the test as a precaution. The truth is, I wouldn't be surprised if it was, the pandemic isn't even registering with people here anymore. I go to work on public transportation where we have a mask mandate, but you can see a lot of masks hanging under people's chins. At work we just had several cases, as well. At least this time it feels like a common cold and not the incredible body aches of the first one. Here's hoping it'll go by quickly!