Life Spans

Viral Musings:  Cases of coronavirus and related deaths are declining almost everywhere though experts aren’t sure exactly why or if the decline is temporary. It’s too early to fully attribute the drop to the roll out of the vaccines because with the exception of a few places like Israel and convalescent and senior homes, it’s unlikely that the vaccines are responsible for more than a small portion of the decline.  The consensus, to the extent there is one, attributes the decline to a combination of  seasonality, better adherence to masking and distancing guidelines, the vaccine rollouts and undertesting. In any case, its too early to celebrate the trend as early indications are that the vaccines, which are remarkably effective against most variants are less effective against that troubling one from South Africa.  Don’t panic yet, both Pfizer and Moderna say their vaccines neutralizes the South African strain in the lab but both companies are moving forward with plans to adapt their vaccines and/or provide boosters. On the testing front, Biden announced that he’ll be spending $1.6 billion for the expansion of testing in K – 8 schools and underserved communities, bridge funding until the passage of his $1.9 trillion virus relief legislation which includes $50 billion specifically for expanded testing. In addition, the CDC plans to invest $200 million to identify and track emerging COVID strains through genome sequencing, something we haven’t been doing even though we should have been. And remember last year around this time when that Other Guy told us that the coronavirus was no bigly deal, well as we all know that was off the charts wrong, so wrong that this morning it was reported that average life expectancy dropped one year during the first half of 2020, more for Blacks and Hispanics who have been disproportionately impacted by the virus.    

Politicians on the Edge:  That Other Guy is back.  He called into all of his favorite right wing media channels ostensibly to mourn the passing of his good friend Rush Limbaugh who was last seen crossing the river Styx yesterday from lung cancer but probably also because he misses all that adoration.  Of course since it’s always about him, the OG said one of the things he loved about Rush was that he too believed that the election had been stolen by the Democrats.  The OG went on to complain that his supporters hadn’t been violent enough on January 6^th asserting that had Republicans stolen the election from Democrats, they would have been more violent. Enough said about him.  With Texas frozen and its politicians blaming everyone but themselves and their independence from Federal regulation and an over reliance on market forces, people in the state are suffering, without heat, food and potable water although none of that seems to concern former Governor/Energy Secretary Rick Perry who said Texans are okay with going without electricity for as long as it takes to keep the federal government out of their business.  He like a number of other Texas Republicans stuck with their “blame the windmills” strategy for the disaster while also attacking socialism, AOC and the Green New Deal, their favorite bugaboos. Florida’s Governor DeSantis is another one who wants nothing to do with socialism, he does, however want to make sure that his friends and contributors get their vaccines.  He’s come under fire for setting up a pop-up vaccination site in a largely white, affluent Manatee Country neighborhood chock full of his donors.  His response to criticism from Manatee County officials was to threaten to move the County’s vaccine allotment somewhere else in the state.  It’s not just Republicans on the edge.  Some in California are trying to recall Governor Newsom, a strategy that worked once before when voters recalled then Governor Gray Davis.  The state’s demographics have changed since then so recalling Newsome is less likely to happen but still, who wants to govern under that cloud.  Certainly, not NY’s Governor Cuomo, last Spring’s virus hero which might explain why he got into it on a phone call with fellow Democrat State Assemblyman Ron Kim.  Kim says Cuomo threatened him, Cuomo says that he didn’t but whatever happened Kim’s accusation is just providing more fuel to Cuomo’s adversaries.  Last night it was widely reported that the Brooklyn US Attorney and the FBI are investigating the way Cuomo’s administration handled data about nursing homes and related COVID deaths as if that was breaking news, it’s not, we’ve known about that investigation as well as another one opened by State Attorney General Letitia James for a while.  That said, Cuomo needs to chill, maybe a trip to Texas, or Buffalo is in order.   

Et Cetera:  Then Defense Secretary Esper revealed that he and Secretary of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milly held up advancing the promotions of Air Force General Jacqueline Van Ovost and Army Lt General Laura Richardson to the four star commands that they deserved over concerns that their nominations would “hit a roadblock” at that Other Guy’s White House.  Apparently the concern was that the OG wouldn’t sign off on the promotion of any candidates other than white men.  Recommendations for the promotions of the two officers are now being sent to the White House. Though virus relief legislation hasn’t been passed yet, Biden has already started on his next plan, immigration legislation.

490,717

56,281,827 shots in arms (lower increase due to weather delays)