Corona Log. Entry - 3/12/21

Corona Log Report- Friday, December 3, 2021

                It was a sunny and delightfully cool (58 F)  morning here in SW Florida. We watched the news programs, tracking the latest viral monster, code named Omicron, emerge. A trip to Publix, for groceries, preceded a pleasant breakfast at the old Survey Café in Bonita Springs.

                 “Omicron” is the name of the latest  Covid-19 variant. It first reared its ugly head in the Republic of South Africa. The United States, and several dozen other countries, immediately banned all travel from RSA. Of course, the “horse had already left the barn.” Omicron soon started showing up in all of the countries fleeing from it. I am reminded of Edgar Allen Poe’s eerie tale, “The Mask of Red Death.”

                  The strain is so new that there is very little scientific information available, on the strain and its effects. Will the series of three vaccinations, that most of us have undertaken, protect us from the newest scourge? No one yet knows. President Biden, in a nationally televised press conference, offered his “Omicron Plan.” It features increased urging of the populations to get booster shots, Mask wearing on all public forms of transportation, the formation of sixty medical “urgent care” teams to be available for all localities whose medical facilities suffer an over whelming surge of the virus and an increase of viral, home-testing kits to be made available in late January of 2022. He urged immediate action and care but cautioned that  there is no reason to panic. We have the medical tools, facilities and staff to deal with this new threat.

            Predictably, the Dow Jones Financial Index dropped a few per -centage points after hearing of the newest threat. Our commercial sector has not yet dealt with the whole “supply chain miasma.” Those shortages, real or artificially-induced, have caused inflationary spirals in many fields. Food costs, dining and professional services, real estate prices and many other sectors of the economy have been impacted. Shortages, in available staff for many businesses, also contributes to the difficulties.

            The President also authorized the release of fifty million barrels of oil, from the U.S strategic reserve, in an effort to knock down higher prices in fuel costs. OPEC and other charmers still have a strangle-hold on the world’s oil supply. The best effect, though unintended, of this price fixing cartel is to continue to force America and other nations into the production of electric vehicles and the use of alternative energy modes. There may come a day, in the not too distant future, when a barrel of oil may be worth less that a barrel of fresh water.

           In Washington, the U.S.Congress is again wrangling with itself. A financial shut down of the nation was averted when the Republicans dropped their demands for a halt, on any enforced mandates about Covid-19 prevention. I think the whole fantasy fable, of Nero playing the fiddle, while Rome burned, has some relevance here. Still to come is the epic battle over the President’s “Build Back Better” Bill. It is an expensive package of social programs that many people think is too expensive for the country to bear, after incurring six trillion dollars of costs fighting the Covid-19 virus. In legal circles prosecutors always first ask “Cui Bono?” (Who benefits from the crime) In this case,  many Senators are asking “Qui Reddit?” (who pays for all of this?)

         Internationally, many nations are buckling down for another Covid-19 surge, when populations head indoors during the cold Winter Months. Weary hospital personnel ready themselves for another surge of viral patients. It is also again noted that most of the newly infected and at-risk people are from the ranks of the unvaccinated. It is also noted that while a large amount, of the developed countries, have vaccination levels in the seventy per centile range, Africa, South America and the “third world countries haven’t even made a dent in vaccinating their populations. Who knows what future viral variants may spring from this morass of the unvaccinated?

          The Merck and Pfizer drug companies are readying oral tablets for FDA approval. The doses would treat people already infected with the disease and hopefully mitigate some of the symptoms, avoiding hospitalization and death. Curiously, there is still substantial push back, mostly from political officials, to mandated vaccinations and even mask wearing. Somehow the whole notion of “Freedom” has invaded the discourse. I think freedom from death, by getting vaccinated, would trump this argument, but apparently not. The Republican Party is also urging the various states to argue that they alone, according to Article Ten of the U.S Constitution, have the “police power” to issue health mandates. The matter will eventually reach the Supreme Court for a decision. A current case, from the State of Mississippi, is already challenging and seeking to over-turn the Court’s fifty-year-old ruling in Roe Versus Wade, protecting a woman’s right to an abortion. Many of us remind our brethren, that we already had this disagreement, somewhat violently, one hundred and fifty years ago. (American Civil War)

            In Florida, the current Governor is also running for President in 2024, so there is a constant progression of challenges issued by the present Governor, seeking national attention in opposing anything the President Biden attempts to accomplish. Many of us weary of this whole crowd of self-serving politicians, who care about two things only. The first is getting elected. The second is remembering the first item.

          I think the nation and the world are weary of battling the Coivd-19 Virus. Unfortunately, the virus doesn’t care. Like most biological organisms, it seeks to survive. It will do so by continuing to spread itself to the unvaccinated.

          We will get through this Pandemic, I know, like we have many other calamities, one day at a time. It would be nice however, if the world could catch a break once in a while.

          On a positive note, many theaters in the United States, have re-opened. The population now has more entertainment and dining venues available. We are seeing the dramatic production “Come From Away” tomorrow. It commemorates a small community in NE Canada  that housed and entertained several thousand guests, air passengers stranded  immediately after the 9/11 attacks. The valor, decency and courage, displayed by these hardy Canadians, inspires us all. Our Thanks to this great neighbor of ours to the North.

                                                    -30-

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                                       Joseph Xavier Martin