Continued suspended animation – A depressing political conversation – Evening statistics
We continue to remain in limbo. The numbers of new infections and deaths may be slowing, but they are still high: more than 87,000 new cases today and nearly 1700 deaths. Yet the stores I visit no longer have waiting lines to get in, people are becoming more careless about wearing masks, and in general everyone seems to be acting on the assumption that the virus is less of a threat than it had been in the past. It is true that this region is relatively less afflicted. Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia rank 46th, 43rd, and 47th respectively in the list of states with new cases and 36th, 40th, and 37th in state mortality rates. Maryland has fully vaccinated over 65% of its population (it ranks 7th on the list of states by percentage of fully vaccinated population) and Virginia and DC each has fully vaccinated nearly 62%, tieing for 13th and 14th place.
I had a rather curious conversation yesterday with JN, my friend in New Jersey who has voted Democratic all of his list but is becoming increasingly disaffected by the Democratic Party. I, on the other hand, though an independent, tended to vote Republican more frequently in the past than Democratic – until the advent of Trump, which promptly extinguished any affiliation I may have felt for that entity. So for a while our exchange consisted of an ex-Republican denouncing the influence of Trump and the craven submission of the party leaders to him, while a disenchanted Democrat was decrying Biden’s incompetent handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan and his strange irresponsibility in admitting thousands of illegal aliens over our southern border. JN also spoke angrily of the Far Left’s attempt to denigrate everything that the nation has accomplished and cited, as an instance, the recent attempt by Bill de Blasio to remove the statue of Jefferson from New York’s City Hall. (Yes, Thomas Jefferson’s character was very imperfect; yes, his conduct as a slave-owner was reprehensible. But against this we must outweigh his outstanding achievements, including such pivotal ones as the Declaration of Independence and the Louisiana Purchase.) We did, however, agree in lamenting that there is no political party at this point that is centrist. The Democrats have fallen increasingly under the sway of the Far Left and the Republicans have become what some call a “zombie party,” having thoroughly jettisoned any kind of cohesive viewpoint in favor of fawning sycophancy for anything that Trump says or does. Each of the parties has surrendered to a small, but exceedingly vocal minority, leaving the concerns of the vast majority of the populace by the wayside. Even though we two were in basic agreement, it was a rather depressing conversation on the whole.
But it is difficult to remain depressed for long as preparations are made for a solid week of hiking in one of the loveliest areas of the state. Burkes Garden, which I visited last year with several friends, beckons. And I will be staying with the same set of friends and we will actually be in the same place we stayed last year, the wonderful rambling house that once served as the parsonage for the local church.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 240,796,671; # of deaths worldwide: 4,904,045; # of cases U.S.: 45,733,113; # of deaths; U.S.: 743,841.