The winter solstice – The omicron variant begins to expand in the U.S. – A new cure from QAnon – A family determined to stay together – Evening statistics
It is the winter solstice today. I am reminded of a matter that has puzzled me for some time: unlike so many other cultures and religions, Judaism has nothing to commemorate it. (“But what about Hanukkah?” I can hear some readers saying. Hanukkah, I’m afraid, is quite a minor holiday, created in response to an event that is recorded in the Apocrypha, not in the Torah or even in any of the other books incorporated into the Scriptures; and it was thrust into prominence only in recent times, when American Jews felt impelled to set up some sort of celebration to counterbalance the national Christmas festivities. The present-day Hanukkah is not quite as artificial a construct as Kwanzaa, but it comes close to being so.) It is rather strange. Judaism, of course, uses a lunar calendar that is ill-adapted to observances of solar phenomena. But Pesach, Shavuot, and Succoth correspond roughly to the vernal equinox, summer solstice, and autumnal equinox respectively and probably these holidays to some extent originated were connected with them. Succoth in particular certainly began as a harvest festival. Why the winter solstice is omitted from such commemorations I do not know. Perhaps the priestly authorities wished to dissociate themselves from the wildness that some of the celebrations from other cultures on this occasion tended to produce. It seems a pity. I always feel a sense of lightening as we enter the time of “Sunreturn” (to use Ursula K. Leguin’s wonderful term for the winter solstice observances in her “Earthsea” series) and it seems to me that the beginning of the lengthening of daylight hours is as good an occasion as any for rendering up prayers of gratitude. But such matters are not for me to decide.
It seems likely that the next several weeks will be difficult ones. The COVID virus, among its other characteristics, is seasonal and it spreads more quickly during winter. The omicron variant is gaining headway in this country and while it now appears to be less severe than other variants it is far from benign. Already it has accounted for about 73% of the new infections over the past week. The first reported death in the U.S. from the omicron variant has been reported today. The person concerned, a man from Texas in his 50s, had underlying medical conditions and he was unvaccinated as well.
An unnamed woman abandoned her husband and children in Delaware to follow QAnon leader Michael Brian Protzman to Dallas. Her behavior afterwards suggests that her relatives have undergone no great loss as a result of her departure. She has been proudly serving a mixture in the communal punch bowl to which she has added chlorine dioxide before distributing it among the group she has joined. Chlorine dioxide is mainly used as bleach and (using carefully limited amounts) for water purification. It is totally worthless as a treatment for the disease (although it has been illicitly sold as a cure for many others besides COVID, including autism, cancer, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and flu) but it does possess an abundance of harmful side effects, such as respiratory failure, abnormal heart rhythms, life-threatening low blood pressure, acute liver failure, and the rapid destruction of red blood cells. She and the others in her group, being of course determined anti-vaxxers, gulp down her festive wassail with pleasure, in the conviction that they have found the perfect preventative; and it may be said with some assurance that if the disease does not carry them off, this remedy will.
Here is a story that is both sad and inspiriting. Cindy Dawkins, an immigrant from the Bahamas on the verge of receiving American citizenship, died of COVID at age 50 in August. She was a single parent and she left behind four children, varying in ages from 12 to 24. The two elder siblings wished to live with their younger sisters and look after them, and a judge in the Palm Beach County Family Court recently approved the request of Jenny Dawkins, the eldest of the four, to be the legal guardian of Zoe and Sierra, the younger sisters, while Tre (aged 20) is also living with them and contributing to support of the household. It is easy to forget, in concentrating merely on those who have been afflicted with the disease and have died from it or become permanently disabled, the numerous bereaved who are left behind, and of the number of orphans in particular. It has been estimated that COVID has caused 167,000 American children to lose a parent or in-home caretaker. Moreover, various racial and ethnic groups have been disproportionately affected. For every one white American child orphaned as a result of COVID, there are 2.5 Black and Hispanic American children suffering the loss of a caretaker. These children are primarily young, with 70% aged 13 or younger. In this particular case, Jenny and Tre are coping with the situation with a resolution that most people of mature years might envy. They have entry-level jobs – Jenny is a dental assistant, Tre is in telemarketing – and it is a struggle for them to pay their bills; but nonetheless they were elated by the court decision that enabled them to stay together. “Knowing we aren’t going to be separated — it’s a huge weight off my shoulders,” said Jenny. “Mom used to say she didn’t care if we lived in one bedroom, as long as we were together.”
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 276,566,933; # of deaths worldwide: 5,384,619; # of cases U.S.: 52,253,848; # of deaths; U.S.: 830,990.