Pandemic, Week 44 (Waiting to Exhale)

This week, the House impeached Trump for the second time, with 10 Republicans, including the Conference Chair, Lynn Cheney, voting for impeachment. The Senate will not schedule a vote on removal until after Biden has been inaugurated. Three members contracted COVID after they had to shelter-in-place with other members that refused to don masks. A Capitol Police Officer committed suicide following the insurrection. GAO and the IG of the Capitol Police are opening investigations as to whether any members were complicit in the mob attack. Up to 25,000 National Guardsmen are to be deployed in DC due to additional threats of violence during the transfer of power. In addition to the Capitol, the Supreme Court and the National Mall have been fenced off and closed to visitors. Streets within four blocks of the Capitol are closed to traffic and residents of the cordoned off streets require proof to enter the area. Four bridges between DC and Virginia have been closed. Airbnb has cancelled all reservations in the DC metro area. 14 Metro stations will be closed. Members of Congress are now required to go through metal detectors in order to enter the House Floor (multiple members have ignored the mandate). Twitter blocked 70,000 QAnon accounts resulting in conservatives leaders complaining about lost followers. Parler, the social media site used to plan much of the insurrection, has been effectively banned, with Amazon refusing to host its website and Apple and Google removing the app from their app stores.

In other news, the former Governor of Michigan and eight others are criminally charged for the Flint water crisis. New England Patriots' Coach Bill Belichick declined to receive from Trump the Presidential Medal of Freedom. President-elect Biden revealed his $1.9 trillion Covid relief package. The NRA declared bankruptcy. Alabama beat Ohio State for the National Championship.

There have been 95.0 million COVID-19 cases worldwide and over 2.0 million deaths. This week the U.S. reached 24.3 million cases and 405,000 deaths. The more contagious strain of COVID has reached the DC area, resulting in a spike in cases.

And Grandpa Fawcett got his first round of the vaccine.

For the last week we've essentially been living in a war zone without many bright spots in these dark, dark days. But on Monday, Allen somehow managed to schedule a vaccine appointment for John, and by 2:30 that afternoon, he'd had his first inoculation. John's not immune (yet) and he still needs the second shot, but it's a relief that in a month he'll be fully vaccinated.

But in the meantime, we thought it best to leave town before then next incursion starts...