The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 221 (721)

The UK has seen a large rise in long-term illnesses since the pandemic began. Among the causes are long covid, breathing difficulties, and mental-health problems. Some 14.2 million people aged 16 to 64 said that they had had a health condition lasting 12 months or more in 2021, up 1.2 million from the year before. This suggests that the "average" level of health could be decreasing. 

The vehicle convoys--the truck convoy has expanded to include recreational vehicles and cars as well as trucks--are gathering in Hagerstown, Maryland, about 70 miles northwest of the District of Columbia. It is not clear what their plans are after at least one rally at the Hagerstown Speedway. The head of the DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency says that the convoys have said that they will stay out of the District. It's not clear if that is true; one source did say a group might be heading to the Capital Beltway.

The mayor of Boise, Idaho says that she has faced "real and grave" threats including protesters with torches and pitchforks outside her home over her support of covid restrictions. She said that some other city officials had resigned due to the threats. She now has a protective details and has changed her routines including canceling her morning trail runs. Health regulations have been especially divisive in Idaho, not surprising considering only 53 percent of residents are fully vaccinated.

You may have seen photos of Vladimir Putin meeting with people. Putin sits at one end of a massively long table, and the other person sits at the other end. The Federal Protective Service has maintained a virus-free bubble in which Putin stays, protection far stronger than most other world leaders have maintained. At Putin's residence and the Kremlin, all visitors must pass through disinfectant tunnels to enter. All world leaders visiting with Putin must quarantine for two weeks or tests negative on a PCR test. Some world leaders have refused the PCR test if Russian doctors conduct it; they don't want the Russians to have the sample of their DNA that a PCR test would provide. 

In a small online poll of 1,250 Americans in February, 56 percent reported having medical debt. Thirty percent of the group with medical debt said that it was from covid treatment. Such treatment was typically provided free of charge in the early days of the pandemic, but no longer is. 

Finally, Spain is dropping many of its covid restrictions and telling people to act responsibly. I still wrestle with how many people will be and just how responsible they will be. It's on them, though. I can only really control my own behavior on this front.  

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 210 (710)

The FDA is considering a second booster shot; some other countries have already started giving one. The concern is that antibody levels wane over time. It is easy to measure antibody levels, but they are far from the only active part of the immune system. B cells and T cells may actually offer years of protection. One expert suggested viewing antibodies as front-line soldiers while the B and T cells are backup defenses. B cells make more antibodies, and T cells can destroy infected cells. People exposed to SARS, an earlier coronavirus, in 2003 have T cells that have persisted for more than 17 years.

White-tail deer have been highlighted as an animal that can catch covid and potentially return it to humans. There are 540 animals considered "most likely" to catch covid; a "short list" includes deer mice, red foxes, and feral cats. Some experts advise developing better systems for monitoring pathogens in other species and better understanding of the link between our health and that of animals. Right now, we give covid to animals more than they give it to us. We need to hope that does not change.

Almost 60 percent of New York voters want more data before the school mask mandate is lifted. Forty-five percent say that the state should have kept in place requiring masks or proof of full vaccination in indoor public spaces, while 31 percent say that mandate should have ended earlier. One-fifth say that the timing is right. I find it interesting that people without children at home are most likely to agree with the plan to review school data in March before making a decision. It would be interesting to know the split for people with children between removing the mask mandate earlier and extending it longer. 

Canada has broken up its trucker protest, but one is still going on in Wellington, New Zealand, a protest described as "increasingly ominous." The protest is entering a third week. Officials have blasted Barry Manilow and James Blunt to try to drive protesters out; protesters have responded with Twisted Sister. A rumor about a US truck convoy has prompted the Department of Defense to approve the use of 700 National Guard personnel and 50 tactical vehicles. Rumor has it that the convoy will be timed to coincide with POTUS's State of the Union address on March 1. 

The European Council has recommended that member nations end testing and quarantine requirements for visitors who have received vaccines authorized by the EU or approved by WHO. They have also recommended relaxing the rules for deciding the "safe travel" status of other countries. The new guideline would be a two-week average of fewer than 100 new cases daily for every 100,000 people. The current ceiling is 75. Given that the US rate is 27, travel from here to Europe should be just fine.

WHO's special envoy for covid worries that Britain's decision to drop all rules including general testing is "a line that is against the public health consensus" and could "create a bit of a domino effect around the world." Finally, WHO now considers BA.2 as a variant of concern and will for now continue to classify it as a form of Omicron.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 260

As I typed the "260," I thought how close I'm getting to there only being 100 days left to get to one year. At times, it does not seem as if the hermitage has been occupied for as long as it has been. I've actually had days--and climate change isn't helping here--that I have to remind myself that it is not still summer, that it is, in fact, a month that ends in "ber." I'm getting better at knowing which day of the week it is; I guess the next accomplishment will be knowing which month it is. I certainly hope I don't have a head injury that means medical personnel will be asking me what the date is.

Dr. Deborah Birx of the White House's coronavirus task force basically said that Americans who gathered for Thanksgiving, especially if that gathering was in a large group, should assume they've been infected and get tested. That's not going to help the looming shortage of testing supplies. Can we please go back to the mentality we had in March or April, before corona fatigue set in, back to the days when people respected the virus? I wonder if corona fatigue started to set in with the suggestion that people wear masks, or was it about the time governors started reopening their economies. Did it hurt or help that the NBA, WNBA, NHL, and MLB were able to bubble and finish their seasons? I don't think the NFL read the after-action reports on those seasons to see what a difference the bubble made. It's not clear to me that the NFL will finish its season all the way through the playoffs and Super Bowl, and if so how big the asterisk will be by the name of the 2020-21Super Bowl winner. 

The number of new covid-19 cases and the seven-day rolling average in Virginia actually went down in the numbers posted overnight even as the percent positivity rose to 7.5 percent. Statistics from the local university have never seemed legitimate, and they may be more so now that students have left campus not to return until spring classes start on February 1. 

As for the federal executions mentioned in a previous post, I read today that there were only three federal executions in the previous 50 years. I know one was Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, but I have no idea who the other two were. The Lame Duck's administration, though, has managed to carry out eight executions in less than five months and are looking to carry out five more before the Duck's term ends. I'm not sure what the rationale is here. Does it make The Lame Duck feel as if he accomplished something real? Something there is no question about--the person was alive before the execution and dead after, no ifs, ands, or buts about it? If I had more time and were so inclined, I would see if I could find out whether the push for five more executions before January 21 was made before or after November 3. As Arte Johnson used to say on Laugh In, that's very interesting.

A volcano erupted in eastern Indonesia. I don't think there were any casualties. Does this omen foretell the earthquake and tsunami coming as icing on the cow-pie cake that is 2020. I really should put the earthquake and tsunami out of my mind before I will them into existence. 

On a more interesting and possibly humorous note, there have been anti-government rallies in Thailand lately. The symbol of the resistance is a giant yellow rubber duck. A discussion of how that came to be as well as how Ralph the Rex t-rex costumes figure can be found here. Somehow, rubber ducks seem a better thing for protestors to carry than bricks or Molotov cocktails. They also add a layer of levity at least when viewed from afar.

I continue to receive multiple daily text and email messages seeking funds for Democratic or left-wing political purposes, chiefly to help support the Democrats in the Senate run-off races in Georgia. We made several political donations during the fall, some to election winners and others, not. Can we have a moment of silence, please?