Today marks 52 weeks or one year of blogging this amazing pandemic. The newspapers of the last couple of days have been full of retrospectives on that year in relation to all sorts of things--sports, travel, schools, work, food, and more. Had I not kept this journal of my own, or my family's, passage through the past year, I'd be kicking myself now. I know it. I was trying to figure out recently why it often seems as if there are not enough hours in my day to do the various things I'd like to or think I need to do. It did occur to me that by the time I troll various news sources writing notes in paper volumes (I'm in my third random booklet) each morning and then sit down in the late afternoon to wrangle those notes into sentences with my own mental wanderings added, that's more than a couple of hours each day. I don't regret taking that time, though. The daily writing has been good for me, and who knows, at some future time, when looking back, I may need to come here and see just when we did something or what we did in response to some event.
Before we move to the pandemic, let's talk Chocolate Peanut Butter pie. Here it is with the chocolate ganache added.
Son #1 said that there was not enough chocolate. If I make this again, I think I'll swap the graham cracker crust in the recipe for a crust made from crushed chocolate wafers as is in the recipe I have for mocha pie. I might also make extra ganache and put a layer on top of the crust as well as on top of the pie. I probably have to agree with Son #1. The peanut butter taste does overwhelm the chocolate taste right now.
This pie is sweet and rich, too sweet and rich to end up being eaten mostly by two people, The Professor and me. Son #1 only ate what he did last night because after he runs 50 miles, he'll eat anything and everything. I would make this again to take to a potluck or if we were having friends over for dinner, but I would not make it just for the two of us.
Yes, it is Pi Day. I had thoughts of making a square pie but decided that given the existence of half of the above round pie in the refrigerator, we did notalso need a square pi. Maybe next year. Or maybe next month, just for the hell of it.
Dr. Fauci made the rounds of morning news shows today. He made the intriguing comment that the CDC is aware of growing data that suggest three feet of social distancing are okay "under certain circumstances." If that is true and the CDC relaxes its suggested social distance, schools would be able to put more students into a single classroom and relax the distance kids are supposed to keep when in line. Both of those seem to be good things.
Dr. Fauci is also worried about the number of states relaxing restrictions such as mask mandates and restaurant capacities, noting that as long as the virus spreads, the more opportunities it has to mutate which in the worst-case scenario could take us back to square one. It would also scuttle POTUS's hope that more gatherings might be safer for the July 4 holiday. Responding to the news that half of Republican men have no plans to get vaccinated, Dr. Fauci expressed hope that XPot might urge his supporters to get vaccinated. After all, XPot himself was vaccinated. (I really wanted to type "XPot himself was shot," but decided that I really shouldn't).
The other major pandemic news that caught my eye was the continuing discussion of the lack of vaccines in developing countries. The US, for example, has purchased enough vaccine to vaccinate the entire eligible population twice but continues to resist sharing, the excuse being that we need to be "over-prepared" and "over-supplied" just in case. We have purchased enough Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson vaccine to vaccinate 500 million people. There are currently 267 million eligible Americans. Even if children became eligible for vaccinations, the 500 million figure is more than enough. We also hold the rights to 100 million AstraZeneca doses, a vaccine not yet approved for use here but which is being used in some other countries.
The Quad--the US, Japan, Australia, and India--want to increase vaccine manufacturing with the goal of sending one billion doses to Asian and Pacific Island nations by 2022, or a year from now. China and Russia are using vaccines to gain a strategic advantage. China has pledged half a billion doses to 45 countries. China has also promised enough vaccine to cover all the Olympic athletes and officials should the Tokyo Olympics really happen in July.
Estimates are that middle income countries will have vaccinated most of their populations by the end of 2022, while 84 of the world's poorest countries will likely still be vaccinating their citizens until at least 2024 and may never reach herd immunity. Given the relative ease of international travel, this may note bode well. While I hope that we will know before then what boosters might be needed when, if we don't then we remain open to re-infection from abroad. I cannot imagine the developed countries closing borders to anyone for a country still doing initial vaccinations. While I understand POTUS's concern that we be prepared for the unexpected in terms of the virus and vaccinations, I would hope that before too much more time passes we actively engage in getting shots in the arms of people in countries that do not have the resources to take care of themselves when it comes to the coronavirus. Do we really want to be the bullies on the global playground saying that we have something others don't?
2 comments:
I would have thought that the reason for stockpiling vaccine, especially of multiple types, is that no-one knows what the future will hold. Next week there may be a spread of a variant that is stopped in its tracks by vaccine A but less affected by vaccine B. If you have stocks of three you're spreading the risk. It maybe that the perfect vaccine for rural areas doesn't yet exist, single shot and capable of dealing with wide temperature variations. There's no point delivering a Ferrari when what is needed is a Land Rover.
I am not a fan of peanuts or peanut butter. I would not appreciate your cake.
So, have you thought of crunching up some oreo cookies - sans the filling - for a truly chocolatey taste?
As for the Birthday Bash on July 4th and hoarding (stockpiling) vaccine - Other sensible presidents have made promises/decisions they had no control over. Some have been wise/come true, others have not! We shall see!
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