Thursday, January 21st, 2021
I had hoped the incoming administration would hit the ground running. Well, within the first 24 hours of taking office President Joe Biden has signed 27 executive orders, directives and memoranda on issues ranging from pandemic response through economic recovery and climate change. He has appointed staff not requiring Senate approval and Vice President Kamal Harris has begun swearing them in.
The day President Biden took office he began to work on curbing the pandemic. Unlike the previous administration this one understands that no reopening of schools and economic recovery will be possible, unless the virus is brought under control. To do so, Biden has signed 10 executive orders focusing on mask wearing (now mandatory in all Federal Buildings and land), improved testing, tracing and treatment as well as centrally managed vaccine rollout. This indicates there is indeed a link between politics and health! This of course has not stopped right wing media from blaming Biden for the 415k dead the day he took office, claiming the administration was not doing enough to stop the spread. Well, you can squarely dump the responsibility for those dead people at the GoP's door step. And add to that the next 100k. The current administration's actions can only be measured after 100 days, so give them a break!
But of course tehy will not. Not twenty-four hours into office the right wing media are already all over President Biden condemning him for not wearing a mask on Federal Grounds (excuse me, he was giving a speech to the nation and other than the cameras at a distance, there was no one). Claiming rejoining the PAris climate accord will cost Americans jobs and so on.
In the meantime, President Biden has begun cleaning house of Trump appointees to administrative positions. Those who do not go or cannot be fired are send on administrative leave. Also a number of bills, previously discussed with democratic lawmakers in the House and the Senate are on their way. Of course, the GoP is as obstrutive as can be, but I have faith that the tiniest of majorities in the Senate will be enough to curb their ambitions. Ideally no filibuster in exchange for delaying Trump's impeachmetn trail until early February (apparently his lawyers need time to prepare).
Laudably, the administation is clearly not wasting time.
Other than following the news today has been a busy day at work with my only respite being the daily trip to the pool. They let us start early so I got 25 minutes of free, and 5 minutes each of back- and breaststroke. Happy day!
In addition to my daily swim I stacked a half cord of wood yesterday. Today I know I am not build for physical labor!
While cases continue to increase at a rate of roughly 200k new infections per day in the US to reach a total of 25.1 million and 419k people have died, there is some good news on the vaccination front. Recent studies indicating that the vaccines are also effective against the new virus strands.
In relation to vaccines reports of people who have received the shot, but still get infected are spreading. This can easily result in increased suspicion of the vaccine itself. I read an article by a doctor who explains how the narrative to the general public needs to be changed as it is highly likely that people may have been infected prior to getting their shot or in the period between the two shots. Ideally I think the general public should be advised to isolate for five to ten days prior to getting their shot of at all possible and to the. Continue to wear masks and be vigilant until at least three weeks after the second shot to ensure there is sufficient time for antibodies to build.
Also, the USA has rejoined the WHO where Dr Fauci will represent the nation.
The USA is back on the world stage!