Hiking in the Frederick Watershed and on the Catoctin Trail – The struggle to resume normal social activities – Anti-vaxxers of my acquaintance – State governors expressing resentment towards the unvaccinated – Mask mandate in Louisiana – An unexpected proponent of federal anti-COVID measures – Evening statistics
I met up today with various hiking friends in the Frederick Watershed, where we roamed on one of its numerous unnamed trails until we came to the intersection with the Catoctin Trail, and went south for a few miles before turning back. The Frederick Watershed Cooperative Wildlife Management Area (CWMA) contains about 7,000 acres of forest surrounding the county reservoir and its trails are popular with mountain bikers, of whom we encountered several. It tends, however, to be less frequented by hikers and we spent the greater part of the hike without seeing anyone else on foot. Even though the day was hot and nearly cloudless, the paths were well-shaded and frequently breezy, and the hiking conditions were thus quite comfortable. The portion of the Catoctin Trail that we covered lies between the steeper areas just outside of Gambrill State Park and in the vicinity of the Cunningham Manor; nonetheless, the various ups and downs totaled to about 1170 feet of elevation gain. The group who attended the hike today was fairly large, more than 15 in all. Afterwards we ate and drank and conversed together.
One topic that arose was the subject of future plans for Wanderbirds hikes, since AD, the organizer of the hikes I’ve been participating in during the weekends, is a member of the club and one of the Wanderbirds Board of Directors, while most of the participants are Wanderbirds members as well. This club’s approach is somewhat more cautious than that of the Capital Hiking Club and it will not be re-instituting bus hikes for some time. Instead, it will set up carpool hikes. The Board is currently working out the guidelines for the leaders of such activities. There are several issues to be resolved, such as how to ensure that the participants of any given hike are vaccinated and whether the hikers should regroup at junctions instead of, as in the past, go each one of his or her individual pace from beginning to end. By degrees these two clubs, along with many other social groups, are attempting to reweave the social fabric that has been unraveled by the pandemic; but it is a difficult and uncertain process, thanks to the fourth wave created by the spread of the delta variant.
The number of hospitalizations among Americans from the COVID virus is now over 50,000, as opposed to 16,000 only one month earlier. The pace of vaccinations has increased; nonetheless, at the current rate it will take until mid-February before all of the people eligible for vaccinations will receive at least one dose. I myself know several people who still refuse to get one. One has had the disease and believes that such immunity as he has acquired has made the vaccine unnecessary for him. Another has rejected it because he feels that the likelihood of his being afflicted with the disease is minimal, since he lives in an area with a low rate of infection and is in excellent health. It’s impossible to argue with them on this point. They know better. It must be so, for they have said so themselves.
I can readily enter with the frustration expressed by Spencer Cox, governor of Utah. He has said outright that he is “fed up” with those who resist the vaccines. Neither he nor the state school system has the authority to issue a mask mandate – in Utah such decisions are made on a county-by-county basis. But he has not been slow to voice his resentment towards those who have had the opportunity to receive the vaccines but who have refused to accept them. “I’m not really excited,” he said, “to have to sacrifice to protect someone who doesn’t seem to care.” Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey went further, lashing out at a group of anti-vaxxer protestors by calling them “ultimate knuckleheads” and adding “because of what you are saying and standing for, people are losing their life!”
Cox, incidentally, is Republican, but on this point he is certainly diverging from the mainstream of his political party. However, it appears that others have been shaken by the recent surge as well. Governor Bel Edwards of Louisiana has reinstated his state’s mask mandate for all people ages 5 and older, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, in indoor public places. The mandate goes into effect Wednesday. The number of COVID-related hospitalizations in Louisiana was 2,119 on Thursday, a new record for the state. Of these, 222 are on ventilators.
And there certainly is one curious example of a notable GOP statesman who has indicated that the current administration has not taken a sufficiently militant stance against the pandemic: namely, Donald Trump. During an interview yesterday with Fox News’ Dan Bongino he said: “Could you imagine if I were president right now and we had this massive attack from the coronavirus?”
Well, actually, it doesn’t require any great stretch of the imagination to envision such a scenario, because it already happened. There are a great number of records itemizing Trump’s numerous blunders during the last year of his presidency in his handling of the COVID crisis, among which this journal of mine may be included.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 203,404,398; # of deaths worldwide: 4,306,942; # of cases U.S.: 36,543,338; # of deaths; U.S.: 633,116.