Pandemic, Week 73 (By the Sea and Sand)

This week, the CDC and the Biden Administration announced a two-month extension to the eviction moratorium in areas with high COVID rates after member of Congress slept outside Capitol in protest of its expiration (the extension is expected to be challenged in court). The economy added 943,000 jobs in July as the unemployment rate fell to 5.4 percent, down from the Pandemic high of 14.8 percent in April 2020. Olympic high jumpers Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy decided to share the gold medal instead of resorting to a jump off. Barak Obama turned sixty, but had a much smaller party than planned due to the Pandemic.

The world reached 202.9 million COVID cases and 4.3 million deaths. US is now average 100,000 new COVID-19 cases per day, resulting in 36.5 million total cases and 633,000 deaths. The rise in cases has resulted in an increase in vaccinations, with 194 million (59 percent of the total population) having received at least one dose, but only 166 million (50 percent of the population) being fully vaccinated. Florida's Governor has threatened to pull funding from school districts that defy the ban on mask mandates he issued, despite increased pediatric hospitalizations in the state. Texas has similarly declared that they will not require contact tracing or parental notification if a child's classmate is diagnosed with COVID (though they will be notified if that classmate has lice). In contrast, Arkansas's Governor announced he regretted previously signing a law banning local mask mandates and called for a special session of the state legislature to change the law. 

Meanwhile, we headed to the Outer Banks for the fourth time during this Pandemic. This time it was for our annual family trip to Duck, which was a week earlier than usual (first Sunday of August came early this year...), and involved flash flooding on both the first and last days (and a fair amount of rain in between). Still, we managed to get a lot in.

There was beach time and hot tub time and a lot of family time (and cocktails!). Owen and Grandpa Don went golfing. Allen claimed he saw a spinner shark jump out of the ocean. Owen and I watched some fisherman reel in an actual shark – which they then released back to the ocean from whence it came and where we all swam.  

We dined unfashionably early at the restaurant Mom Mom & Katherine first christened three years ago (and they made the Facebook page again!). Lee and Katherine ran into one of Lee's former teammates from both Virginia Tech and the Browns while admiring his sandcastles handiwork. 

There was cornhole and marbles and walks on the beach. There was welcomed pummeling in the ocean, and some unintended consequences. There was a lot of food. And while the weather was a bit of a bummer, it did allow us to play more indoor games than usual which resulted in a dark horse winning the Pelican Prize this year – congratulations Nora!

We're hoping next year doesn't involve a Pandemic. Or thunderstorm warnings. Or more sharks. But I bet will have a good time anyway...

(To see all of our pictures (and some of Katherine's), click here.)