The fourth wave continues – Increase in vaccinations – The eleventh hour repentance of one state governor – Belarus and Iran both defied at the Olympics – Evening statistics
It has been relatively uneventful the past few days, both on a personal and on a national level. The vaccination rate has increased a bit as a result of the fear of the delta variant. At this point 50% of all Americans are fully vaccinated, while 60.9% of all adults and 80.3% of all seniors are fully vaccinated. This recent flurry of vaccinations will require some time to take effect. Those who are receiving their first dose will have to wait 2-3 weeks before receiving their second (unless they receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is a single dose only) and after that it will take at least an additional two weeks for the immunity to develop. In the meantime we are receiving over 100,000 new infections on a daily basis. It should be added that our mortality rate is considerably lower than it was at this time last year – at this point it is about 0.6%. The prevalence of vaccines has made it unlikely that the so-called “break-through” cases will require hospitalization and our therapeutic treatment of the disease has greatly improved. Still, we have been losing several hundred every day for the past few weeks.
At least one state governor has abandoned his hardline stance against mask mandates, albeit rather late in the day. Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas publically announced that he now regrets having banned the mandate in April. Unfortunately, the ban has passed into law and therefore will have to be overturned before he can put such a mandate into effect – a troublesome and time-consuming process, even assuming that the state legislature will cooperate, which is by no means certain. In the meantime, Arkansas has seen an increase of 517% in cases between April and July. Hutchinson is an exception among state governors of his party. Ron DeSantis (Florida), Greg Abbott (Texas), Pete Ricketts (Nebraska), Kim Reynolds (Iowa), Doug Ducey (Arizona), and Kristi Noem (South Dakota) have all ridiculed the CDC recommendations for mask-wearing and declared that they will do nothing to enforce them.
Belarus continues to make headlines. The International Olympics Committee has revoked the accreditation of athletics head coach Yuri Moisevich and team official Artur Shumak, who were directed to leave the Olympic village. Moisevich and Shumak had attempted to force sprint runner Krystsina Tsimanouskaya against her will to go to the airport to take a flight back to Kyiv, the Belarus capital. But Tsimanouskaya had already been advised, through private communication with her grandmother, of repercussions if she were to return home and she had made up her mind to get away from Lukashenko’s loving embrace at any cost. She managed to elude this undesired escort, to obtain the protection of the Tokyo police, and eventually to find her way to the Polish embassy, where she was granted asylum. In response to the IOC’s action, Moisevich and Shumak slunk away from Tokyo and returned to Belarus by plane this evening, their departure being regretted by no one.
Tsimanouskaya is not the only athlete at the games who has used them as an opportunity to defy a repressive regime. Saeid Mollaei, who won the silver medal in judo, is originally from Iran, although he has left the country and is currently a citizen of Mongolia. He dedicated his medal to Israel. He had left Iran two years earlier when the government directed him to lose a match at the 2019 World Judo Championships to ensure he wouldn’t have to face the Israeli champion Sagi Muki in the final. He and Muki subsequently became close friends and were frequently to be seen cheering each other on in various judo competitions. When Mollaei, with Muki’s encouragement, competed at an international judo competition in Tel Aviv in February, he lauded the hospitality of the Israeli people. It is unclear how he wound up settling in Mongolia, but I have no doubt that it is a haven of freedom in comparison to the country he left behind him.
Tomorrow promises to be more interesting, from my point of view at least. It will see the first official hike of the Capital Hiking Club since the hikes were suspended nearly a year and a half ago. The slots available for signing up were taken rather quickly, but I and a couple of other members of the Board will be on the bus to ensure that everything goes according to plan.
Yesterday’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 201,630,503; # of deaths worldwide: 4,279,243; # of cases U.S.: 36,297,583; # of deaths; U.S.: 631,859. Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 202,345,271; # of deaths worldwide: 4,289,579; # of cases U.S.: 36,438,182; # of deaths; U.S.: 632,627.