“Fully Vaccinated”
I like the aberrant literalism of today’s xkcd.
Seven vs. eight
Jon Gruber juxtaposes Jon events.
“It’s pathetic”
Here’s an anonymous resident of Villa Grove, Illinois, quoted in the Chicago Sun Times. She’s speaking of life in the town where a bar opening in February 2021 was linked to forty-six cases of COVID-19 and a two-week-long school closing.
Katalin Kariko
The New York Times reports on Katalin “Kati” Kariko, whose work with colleagues on messenger RNA became the foundation for the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.
COVID-19 in Douglas County
Forty-six cases from one bar opening. This story is now everywhere, with “rural Illinois” or, at best, Douglas County given as the location. A local news source has identified the bar in question.
“Mitigated”?
Deborah Birx, saying it less than plainly.
Vaccination
It makes me happy whenever I hear that someone I know has received a COVID-19 vaccine. Yay, says I, every time.
Euphemism in higher ed
“Recruitment parties for selective living groups.”
Inside
On Friday, March 13, 2020, my life on pause began. Elaine and I went out to eat at our favorite restaurant that night (Thai food) and made a quick run to the supermarket, where I took a photo of an aisle emptied of paper towels and toilet paper. I remember that empty aisle as a sign of strange times.
FML in colledge
A student at my university attended a party in violation of COVID-19 protocols, an unmasked off-campus party to mark “Unofficial” — that is, Unofficial Saint Patrick’s Day. After testing positive for COVID-19, he posted a photograph of his test result to Snapchat with the caption “FML.” What a perfect me-centric way of seeing the situation.
A movie to watch right now
Made for these times: The Killer That Stalked New York (dir. Earl McEvoy, 1950), a fictionalized semi-documentary treatment of the 1947 smallpox outbreak in New York City.
More about masks
From NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday and The Atlantic.
Double-masking
“Double-masking is a sensible and easy way to lower your risk, especially if circumstances require you to spend more time around others — like in a taxi, on a train or plane, or at an inauguration.”
Mary Miller in the news
Representative Seth Moulton (D, Massachusetts-6) reports that when he took a photograph of Republican members of Congress “proudly refusing to wear masks” while sheltering in place in the Capitol Building, “a freshman Trump acolyte, Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois, ran over and started screaming in my face.”
Trump* tonight
“David Perdue — where’s David?”
Steam heat
“Turn-of-the-century faith in ventilation to combat disease pushed engineers to design steam heating systems that still overheat apartments today.”
2020
Sometimes, I just stare at the stars on a cold, wintry night and pretend 2020 never happened”: from today’s Zippy.
One, two, three ...
From The New York Times, “Three Steps for Safe Living.” And from The Washington Post, “Eight facts about the coronavirus to combat common misinformation.”
Here’s where I live
“WE RECOMMEND YOU TO HAVE A MASK WITH YOU FOR SAFETY BUT NOT REQUIRED. HOPE TO SEE EVERYONE OUT ABOUT THIS WEEKEND AND LETS HAVE SOME FUN.” No, let’s not.
A message from NYC Health
Stay safe, stay home!
Staying put
I think John Gruber’s words deserve to be shared: “If you’re planning a ‘small’ family get-together for Thanksgiving, it’s every bit as irresponsible as planning a ‘short’ drunk drive.
Sidebar revision
The “I” in my sidebar now wears a mask and is socially distanced.
COVID follies
In Illinois’s Region 6, things are bad. And yet — a nearby restaurant is offering an indoor Thanksgiving buffet.
Even Dr. Birx has her limit, sort of
I hope you, too, remember Dr. Birx’s transparently ridiculous praise of Donald Trump* in late March: “He’s been so attentive to the scientific literature and the details and the data.”
“Free Letters”
The New York Times reports on a theater professor’s COVID-era letter-writing service.
The death tour, continued
“A group of Stanford University economists who created a statistical model estimate that there have been at least 30,000 coronavirus infections and 700 deaths as a result of 18 campaign rallies President Trump held from June to September.”
“You’re gonna get better”
That anyone still cheers for this shambles of a human being amazes me.
Bob Woodward, insightful
“I honestly think this gets to a point where there’s a moral dimension to it.” Gosh, ya think?
“This isn’t Wal-Mart!”
At a local business today, the owner attempted to put us at ease: “You don’t have to wear your mask. This isn’t Wal-Mart!” Elaine decided to mess with him: “We may have been exposed.”
The death tour
USA Today: "The president has participated in nearly three dozen rallies since mid-August, all but two at airport hangars. A USA Today analysis shows COVID-19 cases grew at a faster rate than before after at least five of those rallies in the following counties: Blue Earth, Minnesota; Lackawanna, Pennsylvania; Marathon, Wisconsin; Dauphin, Pennsylvania; and Beltrami, Minnesota."