November 19-20, 2021

Foreign protests – A small-scale and somewhat muddle-headed local protest – Unexpectedly good new from Brazil – Evening statistics

The U.S. is not the only country with virulent anti-vaxxers.  Protests have been erupting over the anti-COVID regulations in various European nations.  Austria’s regulations that restrict unvaccinated people’s movements caused 35,000 protestors to take to the streets of Vienna.  Croatia has similar regulations (unvaccinated people cannot enter public buildings at this point), causing a crowd of demonstrators in Zagreb that necessitated 1300 soldiers to be dispatched in order to prevent the crowd from rioting.  Similar demonstrations are occurring in Amsterdam, Belfast, and Rome.  In Rotterdam police opened fire on protestors, resulting in seven people being injured. 

And yesterday, I regret to say, I saw a small crowd of protestors against the vaccine mandates waving their signs on a couple of street corners in Fairfax.  There were not many of them and they had chosen a rather odd place for their demonstration:  they were situated near some of the buildings that are used for community events (such as the city library) but which do not house any administrative offices.  The City Hall and other administrative functions are about a half-mile away from where they were staging their protest.  That suggests that they are not very familiar with the layout of the city and that they consist mainly of intruders from the outside.  I certainly wasn’t about to set them right as to the most effective location to stage their protest.

There is good news from Brazil, of all places:  the rolling 14-day average of COVID deaths has fallen to 228 a day, the lowest since April 26, 2020.  Vaccination has been progressing at a much faster rate than here.  As of ten days ago at least 75% of all Brazilians have received at least one dose and 57.6% are fully vaccinated.  The number of fully vaccinated may be over 60% by now.  The anti-vaccination movement in that country is practically non-existent, despite Bolsonaro’s posturing.  Even his supporters have hastened to receive the vaccine.  In the words of Natalia Pasternak, a microbiologist and president of Instituto Questão da Ciência, “Brazilians have a long tradition of getting vaccinated, for free, and the vaccinations are seen as a right, not a duty.”

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 257,408,440; # of deaths worldwide: 5,163,072; # of cases U.S.: 48,558,229; # of deaths; U.S.: 793,539.