The current Fourth of July and the previous one – Hiking in Shenandoah National Park and Prince Williams County Park – Not quite up to the 70% goal – Surprising dress code of the Ukrainian army – Evening statistics
What a contrast this Fourth of July weekend makes to the last one! Last year at this time there were no parades, no musical events, no fireworks; now all of the usual festivities have been restored, while the muted and melancholy atmosphere associated with the previous Fourth of July has been utterly dissipated. The parade took place on Saturday and the fireworks took place this evening. With respect to this latter event I have seen numerous messages on Facebook from various grave personages discoursing about the heinousness of imposing trauma on various animals by such a display, including birds and dogs (cats, apparently, being able to take the matter in stride and shrug it off as one of the many peculiarities of the odd human creatures they live with). These amiable moralists profess great anxiety over the welfare of species other than our own and a profound concern for the environment generally, and they possess, in fact, a genuine aversion towards anything resembling ease and enjoyment. For the present, at least, their reproaches have had no effect. Firework displays have been held across the nation, to the delight of the spectators and to children in particular, all the more intense for having been deprived of this pleasure during the previous year.
It seems a shame to forego the greater part of such amusements after so many people went to the trouble of organizing them, but I have been inactive for several days on account of the heat of the past week, and I felt the want of exercise and getting out of doors. I therefore elected to go hiking with AD and RH both yesterday and today. On Saturday we started from Jenkins Gap in Shenandoah National Park, taking a there-and-back along the Mount Marshall and Bluff Trails to Big Devils Stairs. The view is somewhat less extensive than it was in March, when I last visited the overlook, since the foliage is now in full leaf. Nonetheless it remains a splendid view of the gorge below and of the numerous ranges in the distance. The temperature was astonishingly mild for the time of year. Even in the lower elevations the temperature never rose above 80 degrees, while in the Jenkins Gap area it was quite cool during the morning and the temperature probably never rose to more than 71 or 72 degrees at the most. Today we went to Prince William County Park and went on a 13-mile loop from the Visitor Center. The park does not boast extensive panoramic views, but it goes through dense forest that perhaps shows to its greatest advantage at this time of year. There is a particularly exhilarating quality from the mosaic-like effect of the chinks of blue sky dappled here and there with fluffy cumulus clouds appearing in the background of the lace-like patterns created by the leaves of the tree canopy arching about the trails. It was considerably warmer today, without any of the cooling breezes we enjoyed yesterday, but it was well-shaded and – again quite surprisingly – there were very few insects, considering the warmth of the day and the fact that many small streams course through the park. Lest my choice of activity for the weekend seems unpatriotic, I should add that many others decided to celebrate the holiday in the same fashion: during the return drive from Jenkins Gap to the park entrance every parking area that I passed was completely full, and I meet numerous other hikers on the trails in Prince Williams County Park today.
I had been feeling somewhat out of sorts on Saturday, quite tired and listless even after I arose in the morning; and although I perked up a bit after the first substantial climb on the Bluff Trail, I still was tired and disinclined to do much after I returned home. But the hike did me good, for I rested well the preceding night and today I felt much more active, being able to cover the full circuit of today’s hike without feeling any particular fatigue.
As of today, 67.1% of American adults have received at least one vaccine dose and 55.4% have been completely vaccinated. We are thus somewhat short of the goal Biden set on May 4 of having 70% of American adults receive one dose of the vaccine. When Biden announced this goal, Americans were being vaccinated at the rate of 820,000 per day. Had this rate been kept up over the past two months, we would have reached the goal easily, but as of today the daily rate of vaccination is barely 300,000. Younger people between 18 and 24 have been particularly reluctant to get the vaccine – which is rather surprising; one would have expected an older generation to be more conservative and hidebound in such matters. A considerable number of the unvaccinated told pollsters that they would be more likely to get the shots if they were required to return to their normal lives, such as flying on an airplane or attending large gatherings. But few businesses are able to levy more than cursory checks to verify if customers are fully vaccinated. The immunization records across the nation are a disjointed patchwork, making it all but impossible to issue so-called “vaccination passports” even if state governors were willing to enforce them – and of course most of them are not. Both Pfizer and Moderna have begun their Biologics License Applications (BLAs) to obtain full approval from the FDA and promote the vaccines from their current emergency status. That circumstance may encourage some of the unvaccinated to accept the vaccines as safe. Typically BLAs require eight months to be completed, but the FDA has indicated its willingness to expedite the process in this instance. There is precedence for accelerated BLAs as a consequence of national outbreaks: in 2014, for instance, an outbreak of meningococcal B prompted the FDA to complete the BLAs for the vaccines manufactured for this disease in roughly 3-4 months.
The Ukraine has imposed a somewhat unusual uniform regulation upon their female troops. Commentators erupted with wonder, not unmingled with disapproval, when the Ukrainian ministry published photos on its Facebook page of their women soldiers marching in camouflaged pants, shirts, hats, and – high heels. What strategic whiz among the top brass came up with this bizarre fashion statement? And how exactly will they deploy these troops should the latter be called upon to participate in an actual battle? Will they be expected to walk down a runway that leads into the main battleground and dazzle their opponents with the latest military chic as conceived by Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Tom Ford, and Estée Lauder? The residents of Crimea must be frantically brushing up on their fluency in Russian after discovering this latest development among the army that is supposedly defending them from invasion.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 184,546,101; # of deaths worldwide: 3,993,035; # of cases U.S.: 34,592,076; # of deaths; U.S.: 621,293. The death toll was only 38 today, at least officially. It sounds like a suspiciously low figure but even in India the death toll was well under 800. The numbers of new infections and deaths worldwide are under 325,000 and under 6,000 respectively, so the virus does appear to be receding on a global level. The U.S. is now 15th on the list of nations with the highest infection rates and 20th on the nations with the highest mortality rates, a great improvement since January.