The top link today is not about the spectacle on Capitol Hill, as tempting as that might be.
Nope, it’s back to our old friend, Covid-19.
In many ways, my newsletter’s origin was due to the pandemic, but it was never the virus itself that concerned me. It was much more the impact that fear of the virus on our lives and our society.
As I wrote in the early days of the pandemic, isolation is a disease every bit as dangerous as Covid and it kills just as surely as SARS-CoV-2. By disrupting our normal patterns of relating to one another out of fear of infecting one another, we inadvertently spread another hazard that weakens the human spirit and the sense of inter-connectedness we all need to sustain ourselves emotionally.
Meanwhile, of course, there’s a news hook here. Yet another subvariant is garnering headlines. You can read all about it if that you wish. And yes, it may be even more transmissible than the previous mutations.
But does any of that actually matter? We’ve always known that the coronavirus would continue to mutate and outwit our vaccines, which in turn will continue to evolve to resist it. So none of this is new or surprising.
Besides, that’s simply the scientific end of the issue. I’m much more concerned with Covid’s social and political aftermath, including the twin epidemics of loneliness and alienation that plague our society, with dangerously high rates of depression, addiction, suicide, and social dysfunction the inevitable result.
Way too many people have grown accustomed to using the virus as an excuse to hide behind their masks, real or virtual, and they are spreading misery in the process.
What we need now are ways to fix that problem.
LINKS:
How We Learned to Be Lonely — In the early days of the pandemic, many of us got used to solitude. It’s a habit we need to break. (Atlantic)
Lacking a Speaker, One Part of Government Ceases to Function (NYT)
Speaker fight stagnates as House Republicans fail to find consensus (WP)
What History Tells Us About Kevin McCarthy’s Chances (Politico)
Ukrainian officials reported heavy fighting in eastern regions as Kyiv's forces tried to push back Russian troops, while President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the West to provide his army with heavy tanks. (Reuters)
Putin orders a temporary cease-fire in Ukraine (NPR)
For Russian Troops, Cellphone Use Is a Persistent, Lethal Danger (NYT)
U.S. edges closer to sending armored weaponry to Ukraine (WP)
Afghanistan's Taliban administration in oil extraction deal with Chinese company (Reuters)
South Carolina Supreme Court strikes down state abortion ban (AP)
Bed Bath and Beyond says it may not survive (CNN)
Investigators reveal new information tying Idaho murders to Bryan Kohlberger (NPR)
DNA left on knife sheath used to link Bryan Kohberger with Idaho slayings, court documents show (NBC)
The United States plans to accept up to 30,000 migrants per month from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela under a program paired with expulsions of people from those countries caught at the U.S.-Mexico border, U.S. and Mexican officials said. (Reuters)
Volker Türk: the man charged with protecting the world’s human rights (Guardian)
Powerful Storm Hits California, as Residents Brace for More Flooding (NYT)
California declares state of emergency as another massive deluge hits (WP)
California's water reservoirs still have a lot of room, even after the series of storms (CBS)
About 600 people alive today can’t have children because California’s government sterilized them either against their will or without their knowledge. Now the state is trying to find them so it can pay them reparations. (AP)
Damar Hamlin Appears Neurologically Intact After Collapse (WSJ)
How serious is the threat of new Covid-19 variants? (FT)
China defended its handling of its raging COVID-19 outbreak after U.S. President Joe Biden voiced concern and the World Health Organisation said Beijing was under-reporting virus deaths. (Reuters)
Rate of scientific breakthroughs slowing over time (Phys.org)
Stone Age humans stepped out in cave bear fur 300,000 years ago (CNN)
Amateur archaeologist uncovers ice age ‘writing’ system (Guardian)
What causes your brain to procrastinate and how to face it (WP)
Grocery List Depressing (The Onion)
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