If you soak yourselves in the news day after day, certain instincts start coming into play. These are partly due to your own inherent pattern-recognition skills (everyone has them) but may also be triggered by the particular story at hand.
So my instincts have been flashing red warning lights ever since the first news of this new variant of Covid-19 appeared. Although much of the coverage so far has been reassuring -- that the vaccines will work against it, that countries are acting aggressively to contain it -- other indications are more unsettling.
What if the virus is just mutating everywhere, essentially spontaneously, and it turns out we are as helpless against it as the original version of this horrible disease? What if it has new, as-yet undiagnosed symptoms and consequences?
What if everything is about to become very much worse?
Normally, you would assume a person raising such questions is a cynic, a pessimist, a Cassandra. But remember, I'm the optimistic guy.
It's just that everything about this virus has been shocking in unprecedented ways, so I'm trying to prepare myself for the worst. I didn't do that last time and look what happened.
But this time, let's hope my instincts are irrevocably wrong.
***
After sunset Wednesday night, as we were drifting slowly away from San Francisco's ferry landing, with the low roar of the boat's engine and the soft swaying of the sea celebrating our departure, I left my relatively large family group of 11 and chose to sit inside alone.
The rest of them sat up top on the deck in the open air with the better view.
As the boat slowly flanked and vectored toward Oakland under the great and mighty Bay Bridge, a handmade sign flickered from the shore, lit up in one of the buildings.
It read: "Thank you, Dr. Fauci."
Amidst all the bad things that 2020 visited upon us, Fauci is an exception -- one of the very good things. Plus, at age 80, he had been here for a long time; most of us just didn't realize that we had him. Among my New Year's resolutions is a wish -- may he live to 100, at least.
And another hope is that we discover more human treasures among us like Anthony Fauci.
***
Happy New Year! Let the news begin...
* Wall Street soared in 2020 as millions were hungry or out of work -- Despite the ongoing public health and economic crises, the markets’ comeback has further enriched the wealthy, all while a deadly pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 340,000 Americans and left millions jobless and without enough to eat. (WashPo)
* Discovery of Virus Variant in Colorado and California Alarms Scientists -- A more contagious version of the coronavirus may alter the course of the pandemic in the United States, researchers said. (NYT)
* VACCINE ROLLOUT IS WAY BEHIND SCHEDULE Trump administration officials were saying just a few weeks ago that 20 million Americans could be vaccinated against COVID-19 by year’s end. Now here we are, and only 2.1 million people have gotten shots. Meanwhile, elderly Floridians have been camping out overnight in line for the vaccine. [HuffPost]
* Vaccines Are Safe, No Matter What Bobby Kennedy Says (Kerry Kennedy Meltzer/NYT)
* Vaccines issued slowly as federal officials leave final steps to beleaguered states (WashPo)
* Local funding crisis threatens U.S. vaccine rollout (Reuters)
* Schools in India have been closed since March. The costs to children are mounting. (WashPo)
* The Canadian government said passengers must have a negative COVID-19 test taken within three days before they arrive in the country. Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said the measure will be implemented in the next few days. Canada already requires those entering the country to self-isolate for 14 days, and has banned flights from the United Kingdom because of the new COVID-19 mutation spreading there. [AP]
* U.K. Authorizes Covid-19 Vaccine From Oxford and AstraZeneca -- Health officials hope to soon vaccinate up to two million people per week as the country’s hospitals are overwhelmed by cases of a new, more contagious coronavirus variant. (NYT)
* The leading U.S. infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said on Wednesday he foresees America achieving enough collective COVID-19 immunity through vaccinations to regain "some semblance of normality" by autumn 2021, despite early setbacks in the vaccine rollout. (Reuters)
* Trump is inciting chaos on Jan. 6, both in and outside the Capitol (WashPo)
* Woman Coaches in NBA and Makes History (WSJ)
* New Year’s Eve got off to a rocky start early Thursday as a 3.6 magnitude struck along the San Andreas Fault just south of Muir Beach and was felt widely in San Francisco and Marin County. (CBS)
* The Democrats have opened leads in Georgia; Ossoff by 1% and Warnock by 1.9%. (538)
* The city and county of San Francisco will be extending its stay-at-home order and mandatory 10-day quarantine requirement amid the ongoing coronavirus surge, officials announced in a news release on Thursday. (CNN)
* "One of the stranger aspects of 2020 has been the way the pandemic has made time feel more elastic. Months passed in what felt like days. Days felt like eternities." (Jill Cowan/NYT)
* "We all want 2020 to end." (Gavin Newsom, yesterday / Twitter) Update @ 12:01 a.m. It did. (DW)
* Jubilant Reaction To Trump Defeat Quickly Soured By News Of Biden Win (The Onion)
***
I see trees of green Red roses too I see them bloom For me and you And I think to myself What a wonderful world I see skies of blue And clouds of white The bright blessed day The dark sacred night And I think to myself What a wonderful world The colors of the rainbow So pretty in the sky Are also on the faces Of people going by I see friends shaking hands Saying how do you do They're really saying I love you I hear babies cry I watch them grow They'll learn much more Than I'll ever know And I think to myself What a wonderful world Yes, I think to myself What a wonderful world Ooh, yes
-- Louis Armstrong (Composers: Bob Thiele / George David Weiss)
-30-
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