Another beautiful day – The virus spreads at accelerating rates – Vaccines – Judges react to Trump’s lawsuits – Evening statistics
One could not ask for a greater contrast between yesterday and today. The gray, shadowy skies and oppressively heavy atmosphere have given way to a day almost without clouds and with fresh, dry air. Generally the sky appears clearer after a rainfall ends, but there is no question that the great reduction of traffic emissions as a result of the virus has been a factor as well. The past several months have given us some of the clearest skies in the area that I can remember – even during the summer, which usually is much hazier, with the tint of the sky being bleached to the extent of its becoming more white than blue.
It is a pleasure rather dearly bought, for the COVID virus continues to expand at an alarming rate. We surpassed 11 million cases just three days ago, and today we already have more than 500,000 additional cases total. Both Texas and California have more than 1,000,000 cases apiece – rather more than Mexico. As a basis of comparison, Mexico’s population is over 129 million, whereas Texas and California have 29 and 40 million respectively. At this point Dr. Fauci recommends abstaining from bars, nightclubs, indoor restaurant dining, non-essential travel, and large social gatherings, including family gatherings such as those traditional during the Thanksgiving holidays. About 70,000 COVID patients have checked into hospitals, which are undergoing a strain similar to that which occurred during this past spring. One medical worker, Dr. Brandon Webb from Intermountain Healthcare, said in reference to his workplace, “I have seen more human suffering in the hospital in the last month than I’ve seen in my career.” In certain places, such as El Paso, Texas, coroners as well as hospital workers are overwhelmed; prison inmates are being used to load bodies into mobile morgues.
Two vaccines have been developed and are awaiting approval for distribution, one by Pfizer and one by Moderna. They may become available as early as December.
In the meantime our nation is still undergoing a blight of a very different character. The virus, at least, is impersonal. The continued refusal of Trump to concede and to clog the legal system with lawsuits is a combination of obstinacy, duplicity, temerity, greed, and sheer unadulterated spite. Judges have expressed their exasperation with lawsuits that have come to them with no justification, whether they are Republican or Democratic appointees. Of the eighteen suits filed to date, only two have been accepted; the remainder have been dismissed – and not only dismissed, but the judges have in many instances chastised the litigants, which is highly unusual. But then again, the lack of evidence in the cases brought to the courts is unusual as well. The sharpest words probably came from Judge Timothy Kenny who, in dismissing the case that requested blocking the certification of the results in Michigan, said that the GOP poll watchers’ “interpretation” of events inside the Detroit counting facility at the TFC Center was “incorrect and not credible.”
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide 55,340,037; # of deaths worldwide: 1,331,731; # of cases U.S.: 11,538,057; # of deaths; U.S.: 252,651.