Christmas Comes Just Once a Year

 ...and I thank the Lord for that! Particularly this year, as circumstances seem to be re-arranging our plans on an almost daily basis. 

Travel plans for our kids seem to be in constant flux, even now, just three days before Christmas Eve, mostly due to pandemic concerns. Plans for what to do when they get here are also unresolved as of right now. We'd planned to go out for dinner Christmas Eve, but at least one child is wary of the lack of mandated precautions in our area. We'd considered going to see a movie on Christmas Day (most likely West Side Story), but the same wariness seems to have scotched that idea as well.

Still, Christmas remains one of my favorite holidays--probably my favorite--despite all the planning and re-planning required.

Vaccine Truths

 There has been a lot of panic news about the increase in COVID infections and hospitalizations since Thanksgiving, but I think the media are generally ignoring the real story. Every story reporting on this should include--in the first paragraph, if not the first sentence--that the vast majority of new infections and new hospitalizations have been among the unvaccinated. Unvaccinated patients make up about 90 percent of all new infections and about 99 percent of all hospitalizations.

Yes, most stories get that information in, but usually not until the third or fourth paragraph (and in a TV report, not until just before the end)--and, frankly, most readers never get that deep into a story.

As a medical expert bluntly said on MSNBC's Deadline: White House on Wednesday, these people are simply "stupid". And he repeated it. Yes, there is a very small percentage of adults for whom a vaccination might be life-threatening due to allergies or some underlying condition. But about 40 percent of Americans over the age of 18 are not vaccinated...and the number who have a true medical reason to skip vaccination is simply nowhere near that amount.

This is, for many of these people, a purely political statement. Recent data indicate that lack of vaccination is much more likely among Republicans than Democrats or independents; that it is far higher in counties that voted for Donald Trump in 2020. 

What does it get you to "own the libs" by risking your own health?

To Protect and Serve? Not So Much

 To protect and serve. It's the motto of many police departments in this country, emblazoned on their vehicles from coast to coast. But it seems protecting the public from COVID-19 is something many cops are unwilling to do.

Cities all over have mandated vaccinations for their employees, and most of those government workers have complied--often before the mandates were announced or went into effect. The largest contingent fighting vaccine mandates seems to be police officers--strange since they are perhaps the largest group, save for teachers, to regularly come in close contact with the public. You'd think they would want to protect themselves from the virus, if not everyone else.

And it's not just the rank-and-file who are taking this stance; they are being backed up by their unions. My first thought was that they were making it a contract issue--that such directives needed to be part of collective bargaining. But it seems that is not the case.

One of the most outspoken of the police union leaders is John Catanzara, the president of Chicago's Fraternal Order of Police, who is telling his members they do not have to comply with the city's mandate. "This vaccine has no studies for long-term side effects or consequences," he told the Chicago Sun Times. "None. To mandate anybody to get that vaccine, without that data as a baseline, amongst other issues, is a 'hell no' for us."

One has to wonder how the forensic scientists who work with police regularly in solving crimes react to that. "Do you have the same doubt about our findings as you do those of the CDC, NIH, and FDA," I imagine them asking these cops. If I were a police scientist, I would refuse to allow any unvaccinated cop anywhere near my lab.

Marching to a Different Drummer

 Last night I did something I haven't done in about 15 years--I went to a high school marching band competition. Ridley was holding its "home comp" and I thought it would be interesting to see what's happening in the area after so long away.

Mostly what's happening is that participation is declining--not in number of schools (there were about 20 competing), but in numbers of students in each band. Even schools that once filled the field with marching players are now struggling to have 100 or so. One school had only about a dozen.

Spectators I talked to chalked it up to the pandemic--the loss of a marching band season at all last year and lingering concerns about social distancing, etc. I think it might also simply be because fewer kids are interested in this kind of instruments--they are mostly attracted to guitar and keyboards, and when drums are the focus, rock drum kits, not marching snares.

I hope it comes back...marching band was a big part and a big influence on both my sons.

Laboring Under a Delusion?

 Labor Day--culturally, the end of summer... and what a summer it has been!

Four months ago, on Memorial Day, we thought we were on the verge of putting the pandemic behind us--the vaccines had been approved, vaccination rates were on the rise, hospitalizations were in decline. And then we hit the wall of vaccine hesitators, deniers, and flat-out liars. And now, we're back to seeing numbers like the ones we saw last March and, what's worse, the same people who put us in this position are the ones who refuse the mitigation steps that will improve the situation--egged on by politicians and media mavens who see all this as a step to power.

As if the health crisis were not enough, we have had repeated natural disasters--fires, storms, and floods, including in areas ill-prepared for them because such events rarely if ever occur in those locations. I have lived in the Northeast my entire life, and I have never before found myself under a tornado warning--let alone three in the same night. Yet, many of the same people and politicians who try to convince us that the pandemic isn't really that bad are arguing that there is no climate change going on.

There was a time when even the most right-wing conservatives accepted what science was telling them...where have those people gone?

The Battle of New Orleans

 The Crescent City, home to Mardi Gras and jazz, faces a double-barrelled threat now--the destruction caused by Hurricane Ida and the continuing surge in COVID cases. It is not being aided--nor is the rest of Louisiana--by the recalcitrance of the state's Republican-dominated legislature, which fights Gov. John Bel Edwards (a Democrat) on every measure he puts in place to combat the pandemic. Though they have not rescinded his mask mandate, they readily support those of their constituents who suggest nonsense such as "masks don't work" and proposals to prevent hospital over-crowding by promoting "healthier living".

Of course, now, with the power grid destroyed in New Orleans, those hospitals still operating are doing so on generators...and they can only continue as long as fuel for the generators holds out. Given the conditions of the roads, there's no new fuel being delivered, either.

While there's little any politician could do to prevent the devestation of a Cat 4 hurricane, there's much they could have done in the past year to have put the state's hospitals in a better position to deal with the aftermath of a natural disaster...and you would think anyone living Louisiana would realize the likelihood of such a disaster occurring.

What Does He Mean by "Science"?

 The following paragraph is from a letter written by a teacher to my local paper, The Delaware County Times. arguing against mask mandates in schools:

While Delco got some publicity and took some shots for its portrayal in HBO’s television series Mare of Eastown, one thing many Delco residents do have is common sense. It doesn’t take a lot of it to see that, in this case, the needs of our children should supersede the recommendations of “science”. The extremely minor health risks don’t outweigh the risks of what another abnormal year could do to our children, our families and our communities. I would need to write another letter to detail the damage done in Delco’s poorer districts, where students who needed the constant of school the most were deprived of it for more than an entire school year.

It appalls me to see a teacher put scare quotes around the word "science" while arguing against a policy recommended by the CDC, the AMA, the teachers' unions, and many other responsible and expert organizations.  What greater needs do our children have than to be kept safe from a highly contagious disease?

Follow-Ups

 On Monday, I spoke here of the former military and foreign affairs advisers who are saying that President Biden's decision to withdraw from the two-decade conflict in Aghanistan was ill-conceived at best and disastrous at worst. I described it as "asking the guy who set the fire to criticize the firefighters who are failing to put it out."

Well, it just continues in the aftermath of yesterday's tragic attack--not by the Taliban, let me remind you--at the Kabul airport. Leading the charge was H.R. McMaster,  President Trump's former National Security Advisor and a former commander in virtually all of our "anti-terrorist" campaigns in the Middle East and central Asia. He actually argued that, even with the withdrawal, the US should have maintained control of Bagram Air Force Base, in perpetuity. This strikes me as setting up the central Asia version of Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba: an island of US forces surrounded by...and under siege by...the enemy, where the only way out is by air, and the enemy have the clear capability to take down any plane taking off or landing.

That any military "expert" could support such a plan strikes me as ludicrous.

Then, on Wednesday, I explained why I have given up on any thoughts of being on a school board, because of the rancor being expressed at local meetings over COVID regulations. As an example of that rancor, I offer the following report on a school board meeting earlier this week:

Mask protests in Garnet Valley resulted in police being called to the August School Board meeting on Tuesday evening.

A group of 30-40 parents protesting the district’s mask plans for the fall appeared in person at the meeting which was held both in-person and on the meeting app Zoom.

One resident, who identified herself as Leah Hoopes of Glen Mills, took the microphone in the boardroom and read her comments to the residents in the audience.

Hoopes said what she called “scientistism” is being used when it fits the board’s narrative and she questioned the changing recommendations about masking during the pandemic. She said families had done what they were asked to do over the past 18 months but the continued masking requirements are in her opinion not about safety, just liability and compliance.

“This has become psychological warfare on developing children,” said Hoopes. “Fact. masks don’t work. My son’s civil liberties, my parental discretion, are not suspended because of a virus.”

Delaware County Daily Times, Thursday, August 26

 

A Job I No Longer Want

 There was a time, about 15 years ago, when I seriously considered running to be a member of the local school board. I had been a frequent and vocal attendee at board meetings, especially during the two-year-long battle to build a new high school, and I thought I had something to offer to a group that seemed relatively calm and reasoned, even in the face of sometimes irrational opposition.

Though I continued to think about it after my kids graduated, the events of the past 18 months have changed my mind. Our board has, thankfully, faced little of the violent confrontations over COVID regulations, critical race theory, or any of the other controversies that have come before other school boards in the area, but I fear it is only a matter of time before the crazies descend on us. An example is the Black Lives Matter gatherings in our town last summer--we were inundated by outsiders during those events, people who came from neighboring communities to use our peaceful demonstrations as a way to spark unrest.

Although only residents of our school district can speak at a board meeting, it is not unlikely that outsiders could populate the audience or form a protest outside the meeting instead. I'm waiting for the school year to start with trepidation.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jig

 Jill and I spent a lovely three-day (plus a little more) weekend at one of our favorite places, the Eden Resort hotel in Lancaster, PA. We first started going there when our friend Cat Calhoun organized a relaxacon called Grangecon there. (The con was cancelled the past two years for all the obvious reasons). We were joined for our stay by one of my oldest and best friends, Rich Kolker--best man at our wedding and godfather to our elder child. Cat also dropped by for a visit, as did Stephanie Allen (they are both local to Lancaster).

We had some wonderful meals together and it was great to see people face-to-face and talk without screens and microphones and headphones as accessories. We are all fully vaccinated and felt safe and secure.

Misunderstanding Science 2

 Speaking of misunderstanding science, this morning I heard one of the dumbest things I've ever heard, in an interview with one of the un-masked, unvaccinated attendees of the motorcycle rally in Sturgis, ND:

"If they can cure COVID so fast, why haven't they cured cancer?"

Wrong on so many levels, I don't know where to begin. First, the vaccines don't "cure" COVID, they prevent serious infection. Second, cancer is not just one thing...it is caused by a multitude of things, depending on the kind of cancer--some of them are viral, but mostly it's runaway mutation in the cells, caused by radiation, infection from toxins, natural aging, and some stuff doctors are still not sure about. I just had my prostate removed because of cancer--when I asked my doctor why I got prostate cancer, he answered, quite honestly, "We still don't know what causes it, other than the aging process in some men."

Comparing COVID research to cancer research is like asking "If we can put men on the moon, why can't we end disease?" It's a fundamental lack of understanding about the process.

Misunderstanding Science

 What is it that causes anger over the COVID restrictions? I don't think it's the restrictions themselves, for the most part--they simply are not that onerous. (Of course, there is a part of the populace that will object to any attempt to control or police their behavior--there are still people who refuse to use seat belts in their cars!) No, I think it's confusion, caused by the constantly changing nature of the rules--especially when those rules seem to backtrack on themselves.

And that's because so many people do not understand the nature of scientific investigation. It's not something you do once and come up with a solution...it's an ongoing, ever-changing process. Want an example? The first polio vaccine was released to the public in 1954; by 1956 a better vaccine was created and released; an enhanced version was approved in 1987. With COVID, a virus that is far newer than polio was in the early 1950s, researchers are still discovering its effects and its development. Each new thing they learn can mean a change in the recommendations to the public.

We're far better off now than we were a year ago; the recommendations coming out now are a precaution against losing the successes of the past 12 months.

WWSD?

 This may seem frivolous or facetious, but it's aimed at my comics fan friends:

What Would Superman Do?

Confronted by something like the corona virus (and assuming it was of an origin such that he was as susceptible to it as normal humans), what would Clark Kent/Kal-el do? He'd get the vaccine, of course (he'd have to have someway to do it without injection, but you get the idea). And, in his guise as a reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, he'd publish articles that urged everyone else to do it as well. He'd make public appearances at vaccine clinics; he'd do TV spots for them; he'd supply transportation for anyone who couldn't get there on their own.

So, folks--why aren't you on Superman's side in this?

Require the Vax

 I truly do not understand how anyone who works in the healthcare industry, from a distinguished doctor down to the porters and maintenance workers, would refuse to be vaccinated for COVID. I mean, these people have seen, first hand, what the disease can do. Are they blind?

Further, I do not understand why any healthcare facility does not require its employees to be vaccinated. I mean if Disney, Broadway theaters, and other entertainment venues are doing it, why isn't the healthcare sector?

Broadway and Vax

 Here's an important piece of news for anyone with an interest in theater:

Theatregoers eager to return to Broadway will need to show proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 before the curtain rises. The Broadway League, the trade association representing producers, theatre owners, and more, announced that all 41 Broadway venues will require vaccines for audience members. Masks will also be required inside the theatre, per current CDC recommendations in the wake of the Delta variant.

The news follows the release of safety procedures made in agreement between the League and Actors’ Equity, the union representing stage performers and stage managers. Those protocols include, among others, that companies are “Fully Vaccinated.”

https://www.playbill.com/article/broadway-will-require-covid-vaccines-for-audiences 

 Now my next question for anyone running local professional or community theaters: If the Broadway League, whose members have a high stake risk in the profitability of their productions, can make this requirement, why can't you?

Return to Theater

 Later today I am attending the read-through for a production of A Few Good Men, the first stage work I will have done since February of 2020, save for a one-time outdoor show last fall. Not sure what I'm doing for this one (as the show is already cast), but the director asked me to come by.

More in a later post.

Is Vaccine Hesitancy Driven by Bigotry?

 I may take some flack for this, but it's been on my mind for a while.

I wonder if some part of the vaccine reluctance among the conservative population--particularly the rabid Trump supporters--is that a significant number of the experts (both governmental and private) are people of color. The Surgeon General is of South Asian heritage, as are quite a few of the medical experts frequently interviewed on the TV news. Although she is not a person of color, the head of the CDC is a woman and Jewish.

Is that enough to make some portion of the right-wing populace discount what they say? These are people who disparaged a previous president simply for his family heritage and who consider the current vice-president illegitimate, in part because of her background and gender (not to mention their attitude toward the Congressional representatives they call "the Squad").

I fear it may be.

Back to Work--Or Not

 I retired just over a year ago--in the middle of the pandemic--so this doesn't affect me directly, but it's interesting to read the many speculations on why hiring people has become so problematic in recent months.

You'll hear that unemployment payments are too high, that wages are too low, that people are still concerned about the virus, that they do not have reliable child-care. I suspect that, depending on the individual and the job, any one of those might be the reason. On the other hand, if an extra $300 a week in unemployment pay is enough to keep people from taking a job with your company, maybe you were never paying a sufficient salary in the first place. If your prospective employees are still concerned about getting sick, maybe your workplace precautions are not good enough...or maybe you should be looking at what you offer in terms of health insurance. And if child-care is an issue for a sufficient number of your applicants, either you should be thinking about offering flex-time, or expanding the pool of candidates into people for whom that won't matter.

Just a few thoughts.

Why July to Me?

 Sorry, couldn't resist the wordplay!

One year ago today, we were lamenting the loss of Independence Day fireworks to the pandemic, and wondering if we would be out of the woods in time for Labor Day. Well, we know how that turned out. Today, in most communities, we are looking forward to a relatively normal July Fourth--provided we are vaccinated--with socially distanced fireworks displays and even parades in some places. And it looks like things will be even better by Labor Day.

Oddly enough, the places least likely to be able to safely celebrate Independence Day are in the sections of the country who would normally be making the biggest patriotic fuss...and all because their "conservative" mindset has them rejecting the sound advice from medical science about masks and vaccines.

Does demonstrating your "independence" that way make any sense?

Bearding the Weather

 I grew a pandemic beard--in part because I just didn't see the point of shaving constantly when a mask was covering the lower half of my face. But now, with warm humid weather having hit the Philly area, I am seriously considering going clean-shaven again.

I trimmed the beard this morning and immediately noticed a difference. Of course, if I go without the beard, it will complicate my daily routine. I won't have to shave every day--my beard is almost entirely white and not particularly dense, but I will have to keep an eye on not looking overly scruffy.

Something to think about.