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Everything Has Gone to Hell Again

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | August 6, 2021 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | August 6, 2021 |

GettyImages-1332538177.jpg

Yesterday, the United States reported 120,000 new COVID-19 infections, which was actually better than the 141,000 cases reported on Tuesday. We are now averaging 100,000 new cases a day, and thanks to the Delta variant, those cases are surging. We lead the world, again, in new cases (nearly triple what the numbers are in India right now). U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

Last summer, when things looked particularly grim, we peaked at 70,000 cases. At this point, we are where we were last November before things got really bad, and it’s still unclear if things will go in that direction again. The number of cases is not slowing down.

Granted, it’s much better in some (vaccinated) places than others, but that’s hardly comforting for parents who have to send their kids back to school in a hot spot later this month, potentially without a mask. If you live in Florida — home of fully 25 percent of all hospitalizations in the United States — or a number of other Southern states (especially Louisiana), God help you. In Florida, Ron DeSantis is overseeing the state’s worst numbers during the entire pandemic while also threatening to pull funding from schools that mandate masks. Pride is a hell of a drug. But ask DeSantis, and he’ll blame … people coming over the border, which Florida does not have.

This man has no brain, and he’s being applauded by other men who have no brains, and if you live in Florida, there’s nothing you can do. Remember that helpless feeling many of us had at the outset of the pandemic? It’s creeping back, and this time it’s worse: We did our jobs. We wore our masks. We got our shots. But we are helpless to do anything about the 90 million Americans who still haven’t gotten their shot, and now the world is such that many of us have to interact with them. Moms and dads (but mostly moms) are going to have to leave their jobs again because with numbers this high, school shutdowns — at least temporarily — are all but inevitable, and if you sent your kids to camp this summer, there’s a decent chance you’ve already dealt with a disruption.

For the record, you’re better off in a border state than in a non-border state.

Meanwhile, we have anti-maskers out there sh*tting in their masks and claiming they don’t work.

Elsewhere, a Republican who is suing Nancy Pelosi over her mask mandate in Congress now has Covid.

The good news is, there were 864,000 vaccinations in the last 24 hours, more than any 24-hour period since July 3rd. Meanwhile, Biden is threatening to withhold federal funding from institutions that do not require vaccinations of their employees, and some states are taking similar steps. CNN sent a loud message, firing three unvaccinated employees who showed up to work. United Airlines also became the first (of what I expect will be many) airlines to require its employees to be vaccinated (now do passengers!).

This is great and will be very helpful for the next inevitable wave of COVID, but it takes 4-5 weeks to gain full immunity. So even if all 90 million eligible unvaccinated Americans get their vaccines tomorrow, it’s not going to stop this surge, which is not expected to fade until around Labor Day, according to some experts.

But there will be another one, and we won’t have the benefit of nice weather in much of the country when it arrives. We’re all sitting ducks, so the only thing left to do, apparently, is surround ourselves with plexiglass.

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Dustin is the founder and co-owner of Pajiba. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba.


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