The McLean Loop hike – Dr. Fauci makes a shrewd diagnosis – Possible peaking of the omicron variant – An unusual alternative proposed for vaccines – Evening statistics
I led the McLean Loop hike for the Vigorous Hikers. I had begun the hike with very low expectations, for I had seen some of the streams yesterday and they were filled to overflowing as a result of the rainfall on Sunday and the subsequent snowmelt. I did not take into account, however, that if these little creeks fill up very quickly, they recede with equal quickness; and today the water levels were much lower than I had anticipated, to my great relief. We were blessed with ideal weather as well: sunny, clear, almost windless, and best of all, temperatures that never rose above freezing, which made nearly all of the muddy areas firm underfoot. There were ten of us in all, and we kept up a good pace together, starting after 8:30 and ending before 3:30, with a half-hour break for lunch, and covering 17 miles in all. The does not feature any long extended climbs or rock scrambles, but it is fairly challenging – surprisingly so, for a hike set within densely populated suburbs. I did note in my hike report to the PATC afterwards, however, that the crossings at Scott’s Run and Pimmit Run are virtually non-existent and constitute a hazard in inclement weather; these stream crossings have been washed out for some time and there are all sorts of nebulous plans for reinstating them, but to date nothing has come of them.
There was more entertainment than usual during a Senate hearing in which Senator Roger Marshall (R‑KS) accused Dr. Fauci of failing to provide public financial disclosure. Fauci reminded Marshall that his finances were readily available, and had been “for the last 37 years or so.” He added that Marshall, who blamed “the big tech giants” for concealing Fauci’s finances, simply had to file a public information act request to view his disclosures. “You are so misinformed that it’s extraordinary,” he added. As Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) shut Marshall down and regained control of the proceedings, Fauci could be heard on a hot mic muttering to himself, “What a moron. Jesus Christ.” It’s reassuring to know that even in an emotionally wrought Senate hearing Dr. Fauci retains his habit of scientific precision. Senator Marshall opposes face mask mandates even while conceding that masks are effective in halting the spread of the virus, has promoted conspiracy theories that falsely suggest that the CDC are inflating coronavirus death numbers (leading to Facebook to removing his posts as a violation of its rule against “harmful misinformation”), and promotes hydroxychloroquine as a COVID preventative. All in all, I would say that “moron” is a pretty accurate description of him.
The omicron variant may already have peaked in Great Britain and perhaps even in the East Coast as well. The variant is so wildly contagious that it simply is running out of people to infect. The U.S. has recently seen an average of more than 668,000 new cases every day, a six-fold increase from just five weeks ago. Several medical experts, however, say that this surge could end soon. One of these, Dr. Ashish Jha of Brown University, stated “I expect this surge to peak in the next couple of weeks. It will peak at different places in America at different times, but once we get into February, I really do expect much, much lower case numbers.” Alessandro Vespignani, director of the Network Science Institute and Sternberg Family Distinguished Professor at Northeastern, agrees: “Omicron was fast and furious in its growth and will be fast – hopefully not furious – but very fast also in its decline. It should be receding sooner than other waves that we experienced in the past.” Vespignani predicts that the bulk of infections will occur in mid-January and begin to decline in the second half of January.
Anti-vaxxer Christopher Key has come up with an alternate method for combatting the virus, which, however, is not likely to win widespread acceptance: drinking one’s own urine. After railing against the COVID vaccines, he launched out in fervent praise of “urine therapy”: “This vaccine is the worst bioweapon I have ever seen! I drink my own urine!” Perhaps the most appropriate response came from TV host Jimmy Kimmel: “If this guy’s kids ever set up a lemonade stand in your neighborhood, run.”
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 313,900,612; # of deaths worldwide: 5,520,673; # of cases U.S.: 63,352,955; # of deaths; U.S.: 863,828.