Hiatus in journal entries – Overturning of Roe vs. Wade – Weekend hiking – The July 4th festivities – The Fulton County investigation – COVID still to be reckoned with – Evening statistics
After my return from the trip to Iceland I was immediately engrossed in private and personal concerns, allowing me little time to follow the news – including making preparations for leading two hikes this past weekend. In my defense, little appears to have changed during my absence. The war in Ukraine continues to wreak havoc in Eastern Europe; Donald Trump’s violations of the law during the events that led up to the attack on the Capitol are repeatedly exposed, but never seem to lead to any sort of penalty being imposed on him; COVID continues to wane in severity but still falls short of the endemic phase because we cannot predict with any degree of certainty whether new variants will be more virulent than the current ones.
One significant development, of course, occurred during my stay in Iceland. I refer, of course, to the over-turning of Roe vs. Wade by the Supreme Court on June 24th. The effects of this development are too complicated to be summed up in a single entry or indeed in a series of entries. For the present it may be sufficient to observe that the maternal mortality rate in the United States is one of the highest of those of all developed countries, and that the overturning of Roe vs. Wade will make this rate even higher, perhaps exponentially so. Whatever the adherents of the so-called pro-life party might say, preservation of human life is not high on their list of priorities.
My weekend was very much filled up with leading a hike for the Capital Hiking Club on Saturday at Sugarloaf Mountain and a second hike for Wanderbirds at Elkwallow Wayside in Shenandoah National Park. Both hikes went well. The weather on Saturday was very sultry and it was not a surprise when, after polling the hikers before the moderate and long hikers diverged, that only four hikers wished to take the long hike. But we stuck together and went at a brisk pace, and arrived at the bus before several of those taking the less strenuous hike returned.
I had expected the hike on Sunday to be something of a fiasco. Originally the scheduled hike had been designed as the first bus hike for the Wanderbirds. But there was a delay in setting up the contract with the bus company and as a result we had no bus available that day. I was forced to fall back on a round trip hike along the Appalachian Trail, which seemed to me an inadequate substitute. But it went over quite well, and the weather in the higher elevations was blissfully cooler and far less humid than that of the day before. Elkwallow Wayside is a very pleasant place to terminate a hike: it contains many places for sitting in the shade, sheltered restrooms, and a store that sells various snacks and also some very good ice cream.
Yesterday, as well, struck a note of cheerfulness: it was the Fourth of July, and the celebrations this year presented a great contrast to those of the past two years. In 2020 there were no celebrations at all. In 2021, there was an attempt to set up the celebrations of previous years, but they were so half-hearted and so restricted that it would have been wiser to have left the matter alone. But this year we had fireworks and a street fair and the traditional parade, with numerous floats and groups of celebrants representing various civic and professional organizations. To my surprise, and that of many others, the governor made an appearance. I do not know why he elected to come to Fairfax instead of remaining in Richmond for the Fourth of July festivities. Fairfax, however, is – despite being an incorporated city, one that is independent of county government – is also the county seat of Fairfax County (an odd arrangement, but by no means unique in Virginia, which has more incorporated cities than any other state), and Fairfax County is the most populous county in the state. That is the only explanation I could devise, but perhaps he may have other motives. I do not pretend to understand him, but it must be admitted that Governor Youngkin has managed to steer clear of the extreme partisans of Donald Trump without openly defying the ex-President and thereby alienating his devotees. I pay my respects to his shrewdness and powers of judgment, though I like him not.
A rather promising development occurred today: various key figures of the attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election have been subpoenaed by the investigation in Atlanta led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. I had long believed this effort to be dead or at least moribund, but it has sprung to life at last. The persons involved include Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, devisors of the plan to assemble alternate slates of electors, as well various other figures drunk upon the Kool-Aid with which Donald Trump so liberally supplies his followers, such as Lindsay Graham. The investigation is following up claims, among other things, from election workers in Georgia who were threatened by Trump’s and Giuliani’s thugs – no, no (begging their pardon), officials. “Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States target you?” said Ruby Freeman, one of the election workers. “The president of the United States is supposed to represent every American, not to target one. But he targeted me.”
This is all to the good, and no one will be delighted than I if Willis succeeds in obtaining some jail time for these gentlemen. But it still raises the issue: when is some form of retribution going to overtake Donald Trump himself? Time is running out; he is expected to make an announcement of running for President in the 2024 election within the next month or so, which would complicate any attempt to bring criminal charges against him.
Although COVID may appear to have taken a back seat amongst the various headlines of more recent months, it remains the third-leading cause of death in the United States, at any rate up to October, 2021. Only heart disease and cancer exceeded it in mortality. It should be borne in mind that both “heart disease” and “cancer” are somewhat vague terms that in fact each describe a multiplicity of different diseases, whereas COVID is a single disease. At all events, COVID accounted for one of every eight deaths in the U.S. in the period between March, 2020 and October, 2021.
Undoubtedly the lack of emphasis upon the disease has led people to become complacent. I myself am guilty of this. I am less meticulous about donning masks when entering stores than I have been in the past. I still wear them continually whenever I use public transit, although I see many passengers who do not. I do not use them in restaurants, because I would have to remove them in any case when I begin eating. And I have been attending restaurants much more frequently in recent weeks than I have previously, chiefly on account of being on travel and thus unable to prepare my own food. Stores, hotels, indoor malls, trains, buses, planes – in all of these facemasks are becoming the exception, not the norm. This change is not limited to the U.S. In Iceland facemasks are rarely worn at all. It needs to be emphasized that COVID is still a threat. The death toll may be declining, but it is still significant, and the long-term effects of the virus still remain to be gauged. Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 556,136,401; # of deaths worldwide: 6,364,008; # of cases U.S.: 89,663,336; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,043,694. It’s been another long interval since I’ve tracked COVID statistics: more than three weeks. One encouraging factor that is steadily emerging: the mortality rate continues to decline. The U.S. aggregate mortality rate is 1.2%; today’s rate is 0.04%.