Is Biden Declaring ‘Independence From the Virus’ Too Soon?
The president and Jill Biden, the first lady, have invited 1,000 military personnel and essential workers to an Independence Day bash on the South Lawn of the White House. Mr. Biden and his advisers, eager to claim credit for the virus’s retreat in the United States, are talking about a “summer of joy and freedom.”Mr. Biden will visit Traverse City, Mich., on Saturday as part of what the White House calls the “America’s Back Together” celebration. Dr. Biden will also take to the road, as will Vice President Kamala Harris, her husband, Doug Emhoff, and various cabinet officials who will attend festivals, parades and cookouts around the nation.
In an era when vaccination has become a subject of fierce political debate, White House officials are not requiring guests at the July 4 party to be vaccinated. But they will be asked to present evidence of a negative Covid-19 test taken within three days of the event, and the White House has advised those who are unvaccinated that they “should wear a mask,” Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said this week.
Remember Trumps infamous Rose Garden celebration of the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett which resulted in a super spreader event which the NYT documented over the next couple of weeks in which person after person got the disease including Trump himself.
I have been tracking the downward course of the virus nationally, in Ohio, and in my own county.
Nationally things continued to fall even after June 1st when many places including Ohio lifted their mask and social distancing rules. However, on June 17th the new cases entered into a plateau slightly above 10,000 reported new cases a day. That is certainly better than the 31698 cases on May 17th and the 16040 cases on June 1st. However I always multiple these numbers times ten to get a idea of how bad the unreported rate might be (in this case above 100,000). The data since June 17 has been very bouncy much like when things stalled out back in March. Today the NYT reported that the 14 day change had gone from a negative percent to a positive percent, i.e. we are going back up rather than continuing to go down.
In Ohio, after leveling off at new cases in the 200s, today it suddenly bounced up 579. We have not had a figure near to that since June 1st. A little ominous.
Here in my county figures have plateaued around 2-4 new cases per day since June 1st with occasional upward bounces in the single digits. However for three days in Mid June we had 20 cases per day. A little super spreader event? That was very ominous and made me adopt 30 days at zero cases per day as my criterion for returning to church.
With things already beginning to deteriorate, and July 4th celebrations coming up we will be lucky if we have a plateau at around 15,000 to 20,000 cases, We might be back up at the 30,000 cases as we were in May which was my worst scenario.
Unfortunately politicians and government agencies have not acquired the humility yet that is necessary. The Biden administration nationally and the DeWine administration here in Ohio have put all their eggs in the vaccine basket. The epidemiologists were right that we needed to kept a lot of masking and social distancing in effect at least through summer.
I have been disappointed at all the irrational optimism that is going on around me. It was refreshing the other day when I went in for my dental cleaning after a year rather than six months. These hygienists are on the front lines. A lot of aerosols are created during dental cleaning. She said she was going to enjoy the summer outdoors but plan for the worst. She asked me if I wanted a six months appointment. I said go ahead but we were both skeptical that we would really see each other in December. Next June is a more likely date.
New COVID Wave Feared by Half of Americans Ahead of July 4 Celebrations, Poll Reveals
While most were reported to be dining at restaurants (78 percent) and visiting family and friends who haven't been vaccinated (75 percent), "Americans are not as willing to participate in larger gatherings," according to the survey.A majority are also not going to bars (69 percent), attending live concerts or sporting events (65 percent), or attending in-person religious services (54 percent), the poll showed.The seven-day average of cases across the country has declined from about mid-April and it flattened out from mid-June, hovering at around 13,000 new infections per day, according to data from Worldometer.
"Unfortunately politicians and government agencies have not acquired the humility yet that is necessary"
ReplyDeleteHumility and politicians in the same sentence? Pretty much those are contradictions by definition. Yes, of course it is too soon to declare a victory. As you pointed out in a previous thread, we are basically not going to be rid of this virus.
Under a "politicians lack humility but they're also stupid" category, one of the things Trump could justly claim (some) credit for was "operation Warp Speed" to develop vaccines. But then he sabotaged his own administration's efforts by politicizing getting the vaccines. Apparently "my body, my choice" is now a MAGA mantra. The NC colkege baseball team, the Wolves, just forfeited their place in the College World Series (which takes place in Omaha) because some team members tested positive for Covid. Their coach said he hadn't insisted they be vaccinated prior to the series because he "didn't want to force his opinion on them". Isn't that what coaches do, like all the time? And then our governor has the gall to criticize the decision of the CWS commission, that teams whose members test positive are out of the series.
Speaking of our governor, he is term limited, and is starting his lame duck period early. He is now going around to town hall meetings ginning up opposition to critical race theory and gender theory. Of course he is aiming for further political office. Senator Deb Fisher is up for re-election next time. She has indicated she has no plans to step aside. I don't think Ricketts will primary her since she is a loyal party operative. But I look for behind the scenes pressure to be brought to bear on her to drop out and let the "superstar in his own mind" have his rightful place. After all he's from a billionaire family and that entitles him.
Right now the unvaccinated are our greatest weakness as a nation.
DeleteAs the virus continues to mutate we will have no choice but to deal with this weakness.
We have to be honest with unvaccinated that their only real choice is to get vaccinated by a vaccine or by the virus itself.
We have to be honest with the unvaccinated that they are a danger to everyone even the vaccinated.
As a vaccinated person I only want to interact with vaccinated people. I carry a sign around my neck like an I voted sign that tells people that I am vaccinated. It indirectly also encourages them to get vaccinated. It also offers me the opportunity to open a conversation with any unknown person about their vaccination status. I plan to say "sorry because of my vulnerable health status I don't interact with unvaccinated persons." I have a mask in my pocket that I will pull out if the conversation seems to require that continue to interact with the person.
I have asked my two local parishes to not only encourage people to become vaccinated but provide parish stickers that people can wear to Mass for those who want to voluntarily show to others they are vaccinated. The parishes told me it was alright for me to wear my sign but they were not going to "weaponize" vaccination by making those who chose not to be vaccinated "unwelcome."
The unvaccinated who come to Mass are a danger to themselves and others. The parish needs to honest with them and everybody else about that.
The unwillingness of the parishes to be responsible on the matter of vaccination has underlined for me that they are dangerous places where I should not worship in person.
I'm down in Cape Hatteras after a stopover in Virginia Beach. At VA Beach, masks on front desk personnel. Everyone must wear masks on public transportation. Down in Cape Hatteras, no masks to speak of. Having been vaccinated, I consider my chances of contracting the virus low and my dying from it negligible but not zero. Similar to the risk vs. benefit when I get on a plane. I will conform to whatever standards are imposed by the governments but nothing beyond that. I was committed to cooperating in any way to stop the virus.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid that adolescent-level libertarianism, capitalism, and national rivalries will insure the virus will continue. It got a good head start since , at the onset, we had the stupidest man possible (I hope) in the presidency. We have an amazing arsenal of medical tools and knowledge we did not have thirty years ago. But people as people are even less equipped to defeat the virus.