Hiking in Lake Fairfax Park with friends – The impending impeachment – A new strain of COVID in South Africa – Lockdowns in Hubei Province and Brisbane – Trump loses honorary degrees – Evening statistics
A lovely day today, and what better way to spend it than to hike with friends? I led a hike along the Lake Fairfax Loop that I scouted on Thursday. There were 11 of us in all, including several whom I have not been able to see for months. We started at 9:00 AM from Lake Fairfax and went along the route I scouted previously, stopping for lunch at the waystation on the W&OD Trail near the junction with Buckthorn Rd. The first part of the hike was less muddy than it was on Thursday, partly because the temperature had not warmed up and many muddy areas were still frozen. By the time we reached the return to Lake Fairfax Park, however, it was quite slippery, even more so than it had been on Thursday. I had hoped that a few days of dry weather would improve the conditions; probably the fact that several bikers used the trails within the park over the weekend loosened the soil on the trails a bit. But we enjoyed ourselves greatly all the same and were very glad of the opportunity to meet again after what in some cases had been a very long interval indeed. KA and SM were among the group; they are very knowledgeable bird watchers and they pointed out species that I never would have been able to identify myself, such as a pine siskin and a hermit thrush. When we returned to our cars we snacked and chatted together in the manner of the aftermath of previous Wanderbirds hikes. The weather reports for today had not been promising earlier in the hike, the original forecasts having been for a rather gray and dull day; but they proved to be beautifully wrong and we reveled under azure skies with temperatures reaching into the mid-40s.
As has happened so often in the course of the past several months, a cheerful diversion of this description presents a great contrast to the national and international mood at large. When we discussed the events of the past week, as we could hardly fail to do, MJ, who has considerable knowledge about political matters, said that we must expect more rioting on the 20th, the day of the inauguration. Indeed, defense authorities are currently discussing temporary removal of the restrictions on the National Guard that prohibit their carrying batons and guns in preparation against the anticipated violence. In addition, the drafting of the articles of impeachment will probably be ready tomorrow. However, the actual motion to impeach the President may be delayed so as not to hinder the first 100 days of Biden’s administration. If that proves to be the case, Trump will be the only President to be impeached after he left office, as well as the only President to be impeached twice. His name will go down in history books forever on account of this double distinction, which certainly ought to satisfy him.
A new strain of the COVID virus has emerged from South Africa. The health experts are fairly optimistic with respect to the vaccine, which they say should be as effective against the new strain as it is against the original virus, but of course it is impossible to be certain. This mutation is even more dangerous than the original one, affecting a greater number of young people without any underlying conditions.
A flare-up of the virus in China has caused its government to impose a lockdown on 11 million people in the Hubei province. For residents of the provincial capital, Shijiazhuang, travel out of the city is barred and gatherings banned. Schools are closed down, while flights and trains are cancelled and the main bus terminal shut. In general, the East Asian nations, and Australia as well, have imposed new lockdown restrictions when outbreaks of the virus recur much more readily than European ones. When a single case of the mutated version of the virus originally discovered in the U.K. was reported in Brisbane, for instance, the city entered a three-day lockdown that began this past Friday.
At this point the health experts have recommended seven preventative measures against the virus: wearing a mask, practicing social distancing, avoiding crowds, avoiding bars, ordering takeout or sitting out of doors at restaurants, washing one’s hands frequently and attending to personal hygiene, and conducting more activities out of doors than inside. If that is correct, my chances of getting the virus should remain low. I put on a mask automatically now whenever I go out of the house (or any rate take one with me to the car if I’m driving to put it on when I leave the car); I see friends infrequently and we always keep at a distance when we meet; I’ve never loved crowds, so avoiding them is no hardship; I have a positive distaste for bars, with their loud music, glaring lights, and chatter amplified to the extent that one must shout to ensure that the most ordinary remarks can be heard; I’ve been cooking most of my own meals; I’ve always been rather finicky about personal hygiene; and, as this journal should attest, I go out of doors whenever I can.
Robert Gordon University, Lehigh College, and Wagner College have all rescinded the degrees they bestowed upon Donald Trump. Robert Gordon University rescinded its degree in 2015, before Trump became President, on account of his call for preventing Muslims from emigrating to the United States. Lehigh College and Wagner College, however, were goaded to action by the events of Wednesday, the first removing its degree on Thursday and the second on Friday. Now only the two of the five honorary degrees he originally received, both of them from Liberty University, remain intact. Will Heaven never cease to persecute that suffering saint?
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 90,672,307; # of deaths worldwide: 1,942,545; # of cases U.S.: 22,913,428; # of deaths; U.S.: 383,275.