Sunday, February 28th, 2021
Today was a miserable grey and rainy day. It never really did get light, a perfect excuse for a lounging around the house.
An extended breakfast in bed, then a call with a friend in Vienna, a call with mum before pottering around the house for a little, just to retire back to bed with Barack Obama’s “Promised Land”.
I have completed the first 130 pages! This feels like a major achievement as it is a rather dense, though very enjoyable read. One can hear his voice as one reads. He is such an articulate man, even if slightly longwinded. A reminder to self to not have to explain every detail and focus on what matters. Longwindedness I think is a problem only people face who want to be sure others can follow their train of thought. Oh well. Now fire, then sleep.
News on the Coronavirus is generally upbeat though health experts are concerned at numbers are plateauing at a relatively high level (73k seven day average for the USA) as many States are opening up and relaxing restriction while more vicious variants are circulating and before the majority of people are vaccinate. I sympathize with these concerns, even though only 45k new cases were reported over the past twenty-four hours.
Chile is emerging as one of the leaders in Vaccine roll out. It is on track to have 80% of its population inoculated by June. Meanwhile 1.4 million unused vaccine shots sit on German shelves as people simply do not show up for their shots amid concerns about the Oxfordvaccine, which of course the general populace is highly qualified to judge (sarcasm). At the same time the government is suggesting to extent the very strict lock down until mid-April. This is not acceptable. The incompetence of the government to get shots into peoples arms combined with very poor messaging around saftey, efficacy and equity of different shots, should not be an excuse to lock people up longer. The government certainly is to be faulted for the covenants they placed on the Oxford vaccine, rousing suspicions in the general populace.
If restrictions on movement were extended with the goal to have the majority of the population vaccinated by mid/ end-April or May to minimize the spread of new strains, maybe people would understand, but this would need to come with a progress in vaccine roll out. People would also understand fines for all those who have made an appointment and do not show up for their shot, as such behavior extends lock downs and the pain inflicted on the economy. What people do not understand or tolerate is vaccination incompetence with evergreening lock downs. The damage done needs to be addressed. One way to do so is vaccinate he entire cabinet and the president with the Oxford shot.
Who would have thought? The most likely place to catch COVID according to Dr. Fauci, are:
Theaters
Restaurants
Gyms
Religious ceremonies
Bars
Sporting events
Indoor gatherings at home
Concerts
None of these we do, so we should be safe.