A hike of significance – Unwanted advice – SNL on the Senate – Hopeful prediction with regard to COVID – Evening statistics
The weather was damp and even wet at times today, but I went out nonetheless with AD, RH, and JK on the Trico Fire Road Loop, about 8½ miles, with 1900 feet of elevation gain. It was misty throughout, but not unpleasantly so, and at times the sky above was not quite overcast – not at all gray but white, with a kind of subdued luminousness perceptible behind the cloud cover. Although in appearance the hike was of the same format as many others I have done over the past several months that AD and RH have organized, this one had a special significance. This weekend provided the first official hikes under Wanderbirds auspices since they had been suspended in March, 2020. The club will be leading hikes every weekend now (I will be leading one myself in November), and at long last the club, having remained dormant for nineteen months, has come to life again. Eventually, as the pandemic recedes, the club will revert to using a chartered bus again, but even in this abbreviated format its return is very welcome.
The Mayo Clinic has issued a warning for seniors over 65 to avoid soft cheeses such as Brie, camembert, and so on. I am reminded of the incident in which Queen Elizabeth I of England was rebuked by a bishop for her love of finery, to which she promptly retorted that he was not to mention the subject again, lest he reach Heaven before his time. I am generally amenable to medical advice from a reputable source; but If the good doctors at the Mayo Clinic wish to preserve their health, they will do well not to separate me from my cheeses.
The recent case of a whistleblower accusing Facebook of having gotten out of control as a result of its determination to extract the maximum amount of profit from its customers has inspired a Saturday Night Live sketch in which Frances Haugen, the aforesaid whistleblower (played by Heidi Gartner) is interrogated by various senators. The sketch turns out to be not so much a parody of the Facebook case as of the U. S. Senate. The senators, as played by various SNL cast members, display a staggering lack of knowledge of social media, a reflection of the fact that our current Senate is by far the oldest in American history. It echoes, in short, an impression of my own that has been repeated in many entries, that both parties are showing signs of exhaustion and that its most prominent representatives are now frozen into their position, having had no experience of any profession outside of politics for their entire lives – mandarins, as I call them.
A hopeful note was sounded recently by Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, who says that the U.S. may reach 90% immunity by the end of Thanksgiving. At this point 66% of the population 12 years or older are fully vaccinated, while an additional 35 million (more than 10% of the population) have contracted the virus and have recovered, thereby acquiring antibodies. Now that vaccines have been authorized on an EUA basis for children, the pace of vaccinations is increasing. “I don’t think we’re going to reach true herd immunity where this just disappears,” he added, “but it’s certainly not going spread at the kind of levels we’re seeing right now. The prevalence will decline.”
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 238,624,744; # of deaths worldwide: 4,866,866; # of cases U.S.: 45,201,382; # of deaths; U.S.: 733,568.