Pandemic, Week 29 (Only Average)

A lot happened this week. On Sunday the Nats were eliminated from the playoffs and the New York Times revealed that Trump had paid only $750 in federal taxes in for 2016 and 2017, and no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years. On Tuesday, the Presidential candidates met in Ohio for what was advertised as a debate but has been generally described as a "shit show" with near constant interruptions, and name calling. Most alarming, during the debate, the President refused to denounce a white supremacist group, instead asking them to "stand by." A tape was released of the First Lady complaining about planning White House Christmas Decorations and criticism about detained migrant children. On Thursday, Presidential aid Hope Hicks was diagnosed with COVID-19. Later that evening, the President, announced that both he and the first lady had COVID. The President has been subsequently hospitalized and has been given an experimental antibody treatment. The Amy Coney Barrett nomination ceremony appears to have been a super spreader event.

This week there were a reported 35.5 million COVID-19 cases in the world and over one million deaths. In the U.S. there have been 7.6 million cases – including the President, the First Lady, Senators Thom Tillis, Mike Lee and Ron Johnson, former Governor Chris Christie, the President of Notre Dame, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, several White House aids including Kelly-Ann Conway and three reporters – and 214,000 deaths, which means that the U.S. which accounts for 4 percent of the world population has been responsible fro 20 percent of all COVID-19 deaths.

But while a lot happened at the national level, it was actually a pretty quiet week for us. We skipped the debate but enjoyed Enola Holmes for family movie night. Boris, the microwave repairman, made a house call, despite John's absence, and grudgingly not only fixed our microwave, but taught Allen how (since "it's not rocket science") so that he never has to do it again. Owen enjoyed the Minecraft live reveal. Nora painted a rock and got a shoutout at the Stuart-Hobson sixth grade Town Hall for her September birthday. She also taught herself to use flipbook in order to create a video for one of her recent songs which kind of characterized the whole week.

But while this week was largely "only average," next week looks far more promising as we spent Saturday driving out to Saint Michaels for a week of bubbling with the Telfair-Chas on the Chesapeake.

(To see this week's pictures, click here.)