On December 2, Worldometer's database counted 2,833 COVID-19 deaths in the United States, bringing the total number of deaths in the pandemic in the USA to 279,867. Hospitals are scrambling to find bed space, and, more importantly, staff to provide care for skyrocketing numbers of COVID-19 patients. The County Judge of El Paso (the rough equivalent of an elected county mayor) imposed strict restrictions, challenging the state's Governor to a showdown as his county faces a true public health emergency.
In Washington, the picture is bleak. The President issued a 40-minute video in which he rambled again about election fraud which his lawyers apparently can't find evidence of to present to court after court. His convicted and pardoned former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, suggested yesterday that the President should impose martial law and hold new elections supervised by the military. Republicans on Capitol Hill refuse to speak out against such calls for a military coup, and continue to refuse to provide disaster relief to millions of Americans suffering under COVID-19 economic stress.
Flynn's remarks were made to some group in Ohio with words like constitution and freedom in their clever name, and many other similar groups seem to be springing up around the country. We have one locally here in Haywood County which is planning to meet and call for rolling back mask mandates and business restrictions, in the name of liberty.
And news came yesterday that the United Kingdom's health agency had given emergency approval for the COVID-19 vaccine developed in Germany by BioNTech/Pfizer. That prompted a call from White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to the head of the FDA, no doubt to put pressure on the American regulator to hurry things along.
Instead of hunkering down in what could be the worst December in modern history, Americans seem to be ignoring the experts, giving a stiff middle finger to local and state officials, and trying to show the rest of the world just how daft we are.
No comments:
Post a Comment