Pandemic, Week 80 (Seeking and Striving)

This week President Biden addressed the U.N. General Assembly where he focused on climate change and COVID-19. The House passed a bill to avoid a government shutdown next week and raise the debt ceiling, but Senate republicans have threatened to filibuster the bill while democrats are tying it to disaster relief in the hopes of forcing republicans from states hit by recent hurricanes to vote for the package. Roughly 15,000 asylum seekers, mostly from Haiti, were cleared out of an encampment in Del Rio, TX by the Department of Homeland Security, and while some are being allowed to press their claims for asylum in the US, most were being returned to Haiti – which is still dealing with the assassination of its President and a recent hurricane and earthquake – and Mexico. Disney is suing former Marvel Comics artists over rights over various superheroes, including Iron Man and Thor. Actor Matthew McConaughey is considering a run for Texas Governor.

The world reached 232.2 million total COVID cases and 4.8 million deaths this week, of which the US accounted for 43.7 million and 706,000 respectively. 213 million Americans (64 percent) have received at least one vaccine dose and 183 million (55 percent) are fully vaccinated – including Nora! Pfizer announced it had demonstrated a strong immune response for children age 5-11, suggesting that a vaccine might be available to children beginning in October. DC announced a vaccine mandate for any adult that works in a school or childcare facility. Florida announced a new state Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, who doesn't support vaccine mandates. The FDA approved booster shots for older Americans as well as those with underlying health conditions or with certain at-risk jobs.

We continued to enjoy our visit with Audra and took in the Van Gogh immersion exhibit, which involved a gallery, immersion room, coloring and virtual reality. We all really enjoyed the exhibit and most of the bike ride, until Nora was distracted by a mural on the Metropolitan Branch Trail, and crashed (there was blood, some bad scrapes and tears, but no stitches were required and they even managed to bike the rest of the way home). Once Audra headed back to Michigan, the rest of the week was devoted to getting Nora fully inoculated, two separate (with varying degrees of success) back-to-school nights, one major climate analysis, a happy hour with an old friend, and a few Ducky food fails (where our temporary houseguest managed to abscond with some tacos, pizza and a ginger-lemon biscuit – emphasis on "temporary").

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