Pandemic, Week 49 (Polar Expressed)

The polar vortex turned deadly this week as several states suffered freezing temperatures, power outages, and water supplies were turned off. Texas was hit particularly hard, as it famously has an independent power grid (which means it can't use power from neighboring states when its sources are down) and a largely unregulated energy sector resulting in much of its power sources not being weatherized for historic lows. Governor Greg Abbott and several republican congresspeople oddly blamed the "Green New Deal" (which hasn't been enacted) as the cause of the suffering, arguing that frozen wind turbines in the state failed to deliver the necessary power. But as wind only accounts for 10 percent of Texas energy, they were later forced to acknowledge that frozen gas lines and coal-fired power lines that had not been fully winterized were the primary culprits. President Biden declared much of the state a disaster, allowing it access to federal aid as the Texas Insurance Council estimates claims from the event would exceed that from Hurricane Harvey in 2017. 

In the midst of it all, Senator Ted Cruz left the state with his wife and children for an impromptu trip to Cancun, Mexico to escape the cold. During a Pandemic. Once news of Cruz's departure leaked, he claimed that the trip was at the behest of his daughters and he was simply dropping them off before returning the next day to help the good people of Texas. His itinerary, a group chat of his wife's, and his staff appeared to disagree.

Meanwhile, Perseverance landed on the surface of Mars. The U.S. officially rejoined the Paris Agreement. The Trump Plaza Casino in Atlantic City, NJ was demolished. Rush Limbaugh died. 

The world reached 111.6 million COVID cases and 2.5 million deaths this week. The U.S. accounted for 28.7 million cases and 510,000 deaths. COVID infections actually fell 16 percent world-wide and 23 percent in the U.S. this week. 12.6 percent of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of the vaccine and 5.1 percent of the population has received both doses.

But while much of the country hunkered down amid the freezing temperatures and power losses, Allen embraced it. He and the rest of the  "Quaking Quakers" met at the Meeting House to don their swimsuits, pour ice buckets on each other and raised over $14,000 to support the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and #KeepWinterCold. Afterwards, Nora and I made gnocchi to warm Allen back up -- hopefully a warm front will do so for the rest of the country.

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