Pandemic, Week 90 (Out and About)

This week, the Supreme Court hear oral arguments on the Mississippi case, Dobbs vs Jackson Women's Health Organization, which attempts to ban abortions after 15 weeks (despite fetus's not being viable at the time). Based on the questions posed by the majority of justices, it appears that abortion access secured by Roe v Wade is very much at risk. Former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has agreed to provide documents and a deposition for the Select January 6th Committee. The US government averted a shutdown after passing a CR keeping the government funded through February 18th. Television personality and health supplement hawker, Dr. Mehmet Oz, announced his candidacy for Pennsylvania's open Senate seat, even though he's been a resident of New Jersey for thirty years. A Michigan teenager and his parents were arrested after the 15 year old killed four students and wounded seven more – with a gun purchased by his parents the previous week as an early Christmas present – the same day that his parents refused to remove him from school following a conference with administrators regarding disturbing notes and threats they had discovered that morning. The parents subsequently fled the area after being charged with manslaughter, though they were eventually apprehended. Barbados declared itself a republic, ending its colonial relationship with Great Britain.

The world reached 265.7 million COVID cases and 5.3 million deaths this week, of which the US accounted for 49.9 million cases and 809,000 deaths. 235 million Americans (71 percent) have received at least one does of the vaccine, with 199 million (60 percent) fully vaccinated and  45 million (23 percent of those fully vaccinated) have received boosters, which as of this week includes Allen and myself. President Biden issued travel restrictions to seven African nations following outbreaks of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. A federal judge in Texas blocked the President's nationwide vaccine mandate for healthcare workers arguing that it would require approval by Congress.

We had a busy week. Allen attended a conference all week, via Zoom, that started each day at 7:00 am. Wednesday, Allen and I went to our first live show in over two years, catching the New Pornographers at the 9:30 Club playing their entire first album, Mass Romantic (fun fact, the show we saw in November 2019? The New Pornographers at the 9:30 Club). The next day, I got my COVID booster, Jacqui arrived, and Allen and I were joined by Brad & Marlo for our second live show in over two years, the New Pornographer playing their entire third album, Twin Cinema, at the 9:30 Club (after Owen gave Brad a live cello performance). On Friday, Allen got his COVID booster while I muddled through work and crashed heartedly at 5:00 pm. On Saturday morning, Nora and I headed to DCYOP while Allen and Owen ran errands and picked up Gabriel for some morning Minecraft. After Nora and I returned, the whole crew headed to Meeting to participate in the annual Shoebox Project (which this year was actually backpacks because, COVID). Three hours and 140 backpacks later, we dropped Gabriel off at his house and Owen decided to join him, which meant he missed pâté and cheese with John and Jacqui, but got some extra Minecraft in, so...

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