NEW YORK — The number of passengers screened for flights in the U.S. topped nearly 1.2 million Wednesday for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, but it’s still about 38.5% below the same Wednesday last year, by far the smallest percentage decline since March.
It’s clear we’re just going to stay in this death spiral until most of us get vaccinated. Even then a significant number will refuse vaccination and the pandemic will rage on in America while other countries will move on from it. Sigh.
A few days ago, NPR’s London correspondent began a report about the new, even-more-virulent strain of COVID sweeping across the UK for weeks with, “I was out Christmas shopping yesterday, and…”
So, apparently, idiocy is not entirely limited to America.
The prediction is that 80 million Americans will travel during the holiday season. Some people may have to, and some may be very careful while traveling, but that’s 1/4 of the nation’s population moving around, and there’s just no way that the virus doesn’t spread when there are already so many people who are infected and asymptomatic out there. It’s more than traveled at Thanksgiving, and that has led us to record high case and death counts (and the wave isn’t complete from that yet), so this is going to be far worse.
The larger wave of death will ramp up before Trump leaves office, but will continue to rise as Biden takes over. The politics of that, well, we will have to see…if the Biden team can start to turn things around and cases go down they will get a lot of credit for it, outside of Republican circles at least. In the end, it’s really the Republican leadership’s fault that things are so bad…if Trump had made mask wearing patriotic then we wouldn’t be here.
This whole episode just makes me sad, and makes me wonder if this is how things are going to be, where a large part of the nation forgoes even basic safety measures because of their selfishness and politics. We can only hope that Biden really can get through to most Americans and break that fever, at least somewhat, otherwise the nation is in for a period of severe turmoil.
I’m sure they’re entirely comprised of only the 1 million who have received the COVID vaccine so far.
Anything else would be foolhardy…
I’ve forgotten the totals now, but it was over a million that flew in the US over Friday-Sunday. Just can’t believe how many stupid people are in the US.
This is all going to go very well.
I’ve given up on people getting a clue. If the danger has not registered with people, I really don’t think it’s going to.
We listen to NPR, have BBC on our phones and subscribe to “The Economist”.
Idiocy rules the world.
True. But I think we perfected it.
This headline yesterday (San Antonio) gets to me.
30 percent of San Antonio’s COVID-19 cases (106,793) have been reported in December
I would consider that a hell of a Thanksgiving bump that is pretty hard to deny. And now it is Christmas.
These people have no idea of sacrifice, no idea of that working together makes the job easier and faster, so here we are and this is why we can’t have nice things.
At least 74 million.
As well as trademarked it, got the patent on it, and are selling franchises.
And produced the documentary, a decade in advance.
Disaster. Trump has completely undermined any sense of collective responsibility for one another.
Did you notice the guy in the backwards baseball cap holding his baby? He thinks he’s invincible. Hopefully the baby is.
You mean making America great again?
Apparently more than 70 million.
The phrase “tough love” is passing through my mind of late. I associate the phrase with conservatism - longer and more incarceration; 3 strikes and you’re out; less of a social safety net, etc.
But now here we are. Its the progressives and liberals which are asking everyone to stay home; don’t visit with the mom and the extended family this holiday season and wear a mask.
In other words, we are asking others to find their spine and show some “tough love” and its the anti-science leaning crowd which is loudly complaining about it.