Pandemic, Week 96 (Duckin' Out)

This week, President Biden gave a speech in support of changing the filibuster rules in order to pass voting rights legislation, only to have Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema announce that while she fully supports the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, she just can't support allowing legislation to pass with less than 60 votes. The Supreme Court ruled against the vaccine mandate for employees at large businesses, though the mandate for most health care workers was upheld. The US Mint released new quarters featuring writer and activist Maya Angelou, the first Black woman to be featured on the currency. Actor and comedian Bob Saget died.

The world reached a total of 326.8 million COVID cases and 5.6 million deaths this week, with the U.S. accounting for 66.7 million cases and 873,000 deaths. 249 million Americans (75 percent) have received at least on dose of the vaccine with 209 million (63 percent) being fully vaccinated. COVID hospitalizations have doubled over the past two weeks in DC, Puerto Rico and 15 other states. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and West Virginia Governor Jim Justice both announced they had COVID.

This week, after a spate of negative rapid tests, both children returned to school for a full week of public education (for Owen it seemed like even more, since Omicron has resulted in a shortage of metro workers which in turn meant that metro resorted to its weekend schedule, which in turn meant that Owen spent a lot of extra time either waiting around for buses or just walking from Duke to Dupont Station). To brighten our spirits, Ducky returned for a visit while Katherine acclimates her new foster dog Zena. And to get away from Ducky (and get in some east coast skiing before our big trip to Mt. Hood next month), Allen and Owen headed out to West Virginia on Friday night to join the Sodermans, the Pitter/Changs, and Megan at a lovely mountain lodge before returning on Sunday ahead of Snomicron II (while Nora and I hunkered down with a puzzle, some amateur electrician-ry, and a "10k" – as opposed to a marathon – of The Crown).

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