It was refreshing to awaken and not immediately wonder who had tweeted what or executively ordered something else. The front pages provide extensive coverage of yesterday's inaugural events, as well they should. The pandemic will now gain ground in the news cycle and, I hope, be taken more seriously. If it's not, we may never get out of it. I just finished a letter to a friend in which I opined that it could well be 2022 before some new normal appears and conditions aren't changing from day to day.
On the home front, I do not expect an invitation to schedule a vaccination any time soon. It seems that the local health district will now receive just under 3,000 doses each week, and those doses must be split between five or six counties and one city. At least my mom got her first shot today. Long-term care facilities are in the highest-priority group, which I hope means that their doses are allocated separately.
It turns out that Xpot and his minions had no coronavirus plan at all, meaning that Mr. Biden and his associates (Mr., Biden does not have minions) start from scratch in their efforts to handle it. We will remain in Xpot's darkness for quite some time, I'm afraid, before the dawn starts to break. I wonder what other areas Xpot will have left untouched. I know he's planted some land mines in terms of getting cronies hired to top-level civil service positions not requiring Senate confirmation. In other words, these folks can't be fired in the transition from one administration to another. Mr. Biden has signed 10 executive orders related to the coronavirus pandemic. Besides mandating that masks be work in federal buildings and on federal land, masks must now be worn by interstate travelers at airports and on buses, planes, and trains.
The US set another record for covid deaths in one day yesterday, topping 4,400. As Mr. Biden noted in remarks made while signing executive actions, it's going to get worse before it gets better. It is nice to have someone at the top who respects the science and isn't expecting the virus to just disappear. We will pass 500,000 deaths all too soon, and probably 600,00 or more before things start to get any better. While I'm more optimistic with Mr. Biden overseeing things, I still feel pessimism may be the better route. If I'm pessimistic, I can't be disappointed if things don't improve. If I'm an optimist, it could all go to hell at any moment opening the door to abject disappointment.
As for how 2021 will compare to 2020, there are new wildfires in California at a time of year there are not usually such fires. Much of the state is under red flag warnings, the highest level of caution. Said one official, "We're not seeing 'fire season' any more. It's just one big fire year." What's next? A very late hurricane or a very early tornado?
1 comment:
Look, there's a President getting stuff done, not standing on a box shouting about it. After four years you forget what normal looks like.
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