Harbingers of an early spring – COVID-created recluses – Trump’s attempt to denigrate DeSantis backfires – Evening statistics
The little purple crocuses, the first flowering of the year, appeared on my lawn today, indicating that spring will come early. The weather continues to be considerably warmer than the average and the snowfall to date has been insignificant, even though we are now in the eighth week of winter. Stream water levels will be lower than usual once the spring thaw begins in earnest, for there will be little snowmelt to augment them. Even on the tops of the mountains in the Blue Ridge and Massanutten ranges hardly any snow has been seen all winter.
I received a rather sad letter from a married couple I know. I had reached out to them in hopes of setting up a visit. They wrote back to explain that they were still leading quite a restricted life as a result of COVID. The husband has immune deficiencies and in an effort to minimize his coming down with the disease they have seen hardly anyone since the pandemic began. Their visitors are confined to the sole surviving parent of the two spouses, and two close friends in the neighborhood, but outside of that they have been in seclusion. They are hoping to end their self-imposed isolation by the summer of 2023, provided that they can overcome their phobia (and they used that word in their communication to me). For their own sake I hope so as well. This continued shunning of society must in the long run be as detrimental as possible risks to exposure might be. I have no doubt that their fears must be multiplied among hundreds or even thousands of other households, transforming many into hermits even now, when the pandemic is waning. It may not be easy for them to resume social activity again, even after they emerge from hiding, after a three-year hiatus of interacting with others.
Donald Trump appears to be seriously rattled by the competition provided by Ron DeSantis, since he has gone to the lengths of posting a 20-year old photo of the latter when DeSantis was a high school teacher, apparently sharing alcohol with three high school girls. The photo doesn’t actually show him drinking, but it does show one of the young women holding up a brown glass bottle, whose contents are presumably alcoholic. This maneuver does not appear to have been very effective. Several alumnae recalled that DeSantis went to parties with the seniors without any particular mishap. Two students said that DeSantis attended two parties where alcohol was served, though they added it was after graduation. They weren’t bothered by it at the time and his behavior appears to have been unexceptionable. “It was his first job out of Yale, he was cute. We didn’t really think too much about it,” one of the former students said. One can imagine the chagrin of Trump upon hearing this reaction, particularly since his own past is associated with advances towards numerous ladies younger than himself, including at least 26 who have accused him of sexual harassment, and not one of whom would ever have dreamed of calling him cute.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 676,772,170; # of deaths worldwide: 6,775,720; # of cases U.S.: 104,575,714; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,137,528.