Black Days In July (and August)

Katie Ledecky won the first women's metric-mile freestyle swim race at the Olympics as well as a silver in the 400m free.  And I'm glad.  Suni Lee won the gold medals in women's all-around gymnastics.  And I'm happy to hear that.  I was also pleased to see that Caeleb Dressel set new world's record in the men's 100m butterfly.  But there's a reason why my response are so low-key they end in periods rather than exclamation points.   

It's COVID, of course.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is obviously not living up to its name of late has declared that the delta corona is spreading as fast as chickenpox, meaning that one person can infect eight.  And even though most vaccinated people don't get breakthrough infections. those who do can spread COVID to the unvaccinated . . . and also vaccinated people.  Therefore, the CDC has recommended that everyone in counties, parishes (in deference to Louisiana) and boroughs (in deference to Alaska) that have substantial or high COVID spread ought to wear face coverings (FCs) in public indoor spaces.

That translates into 75 percent of counties, parishes and boroughs where you have to start dressing like a ninja warrior again.  Even if you're at an event where the unvaccinated aren't allowed. 

And to think President Biden declared independence from the virus at the start of the month. This was like what would have happened if President Abraham Lincoln had declared that the Union won the Civil War after Grant won at Shiloh but just before McClellan got his butt kicked by Lee and Jackson at the gates of Richmond.

Oh, yeah, there's another reason my mood is dark and getting darker.  While the hurricane predicted by the Old Farmer's Almanac for next week is obviously not going to come to pass, we had the next worst thing in my area - a tornado.  A tornado warning was issued for my county in New Jersey, and we had to spend an hour in the basement before the warning expired. A tornado in a town two miles away was later confirmed.  I went there on my bicycle yesterday.  There's a house there that may have to be demolished. 

The world is going to hell, and America will get there first.

As far as COVID goes, well, having the privilege of pre-pandemic life was fun while it lasted, but the fun's over . . . possibly for longer than the thirteen months of my state's original FC mandate.  That means . . . back to the drive-thru at the bank to avoid a possible robbery.  And I'll be damned if I go to the 2021 New York auto show when I don't have to. 

At this point, who really cares about the Olympics? 😢