The View from the Hermitage, Day 360

One in 10 Americans is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. The world's richer nations are administering one vaccine dose every second. Yes, every second.  Meanwhile, most of the world's poorest nations have yet to receive a single dose. Papua New Guinea, for example, will get their first doses of vaccine next month, never mind that they are in crisis mode now. At one hospital, 40 percent of new mothers test positive for covid, but there is no way to isolate them from the other new mothers. Because testing is limited, the 40 percent may well be an under-count. Health officials are worried about the burial of the country's first prime minister turning into a super-spreader event.

Elsewhere in the world, the health systems in most of Brazil's largest cities are close to collapse. Over 80 percent of ICU beds are occupied in 25 out of 27 states. Shades of XPot, Presdient Jair Bolsonaro, who had covid at the same time as his wife, has told Brazilians to "stop whining." I do not see things ending well down there.

Interest in getting vaccinated is growing in Texas with the end of the mask mandate. The reaction of some Texans leaves me shaking my head in wonder. A vaccinated nurse who is anti-mask said, "I'm happy about the governor's decision. The masks impeded the herd immunity we need. Now they want to vax so fast." I'm really not sure that the best way to herd immunity is letting everyone get sick. Let's ask Sweden about that. And a bar patron argued, "It's survival of the fittest. My BMI is higher than normal. Obese people are more susceptible to corona, but it's been over a year. I would have gotten it already." I'm not even sure what a smart remark to answer that would be. 

The Democrats in the US Congress are calling for increased funding for the National Institutes of Mental Health to assist in dealing with the mental health implications of the pandemic. I imagine the mental illness problems run the gamut of possibilities and afflict all ages, from children to elderly. Germany has been struggling with mental health issues more during the second lockdown than they did during the first. I can see how thinking the worst is over and then being slapped in the face with the news that it isn't might cause some problems. 

From his new home at Mar-a-Lago, XPot requested a mail-in ballot for a municipal election. Because he requested it one week past the deadline, he could not mail it back but had to return it to  a voting location. Because he never appeared himself, it appears the he had someone turn it in for him. Funny how when other people do it, there must be fraud involved, but XPot can do it himself and not find any. He did say in the wake of the November election that Florida handled absentee ballots honestly as opposed to some other states. I wonder what he would have said had POTUS won Florida as well as Georgia.

Finally, if you happen to be a trophy wife, make sure you're not a mere participation trophy. That's right, a preacher in southeastern Missouri has gone on leave after giving a sermon in which he admonished wives who gained weight after marriage that it was important that their husbands think they looked "hot." He continued, "I'm not saying every woman can be the epic--the epic--trophy wife of all time like Melania Trump. Most women can't be trophy wives, but you know . . . maybe you're a participation trophy." His church is affiliated with the General Baptist Council of Associations which released a statement saying, "General Baptists believe that every woman was created in the image of God, and they should be valued for that reason." Women in the image of God? Damn! God is a woman after all.