Latest COVID situation in Howard County

 From the County Executive Ball:

"To date in Howard County, we’ve had 20,827 cases of COVID-19 and 259 deaths. As of 9:00am today, our 7-day average positivity rate is 3.85% and our 7-day average case rate per 100,000 of our population is 14.87. There are currently 11 COVID-19 patients in both ICU and Acute Care units.

Case rates in Howard County have increased since the end of July and a majority of new cases are among unvaccinated persons. Howard County has “substantial” community spread according to the CDC. At this time, public health officials recommend everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wears masks in public indoor settings.

If you have been exposed to COVID-19, regardless of vaccination status, you should get tested. To find a testing location near you, please visit: https://www.howardcountymd.gov/covid-19-testing

According to the Maryland Department of Health, 87.9% of Howard County residents 12+ have received at least one dose and 82.6% are fully vaccinated. Howard County continues to lead the state with our vaccination progress, but we are still working to ensure everyone who wants a vaccine can receive one.

Getting vaccinated is the single most effective way to prevent hospitalization or death from COVID-19. If you haven't already received your shot - now's the time. Encourage your family and friends to visit vaccine.howardcountymd.gov to find a clinic nearby. Let’s protect ourselves and our loved ones."

#hocoblogs

Another COVID reality

    As I hear news reports daily that American hospitals, especially in the South, are filling up with unvaccinated COVID patients I keep waiting to hear that hospitals are filling up with vaccinated patients after taking a vaccine that was rushed to approval.  I imagine those vaccine skeptics are still waiting for this future epidemic of hospitalized vaccinated patients.

It all starts with the men

P.S.

    Maybe this is a reality that could be directed at the United States that after more than 250 years of existence hasn't identified a woman qualified to be elected President.

Weekend Funnies

Annual tree giveaway

 

Live Green Howard Keeps You Updated on Howard County Sustainability News and Events.  Follow us on social media for even more info.  ‌  ‌  ‌ The Annual Tree Giveaway is Coming Up!  Sign ups open on Aug 30th at 9 am.  Trees improve the environment in terms of climate, stormwater and energy savings. They also increase economic value for homeowners. And did you know? Fall is actually the best time of year to plant a tree! Reserve up to two trees to plant on your property! There are 2,000 trees available this year but we expect them to go fast. Choose between four species of trees and select one of two pick up dates and times (Thursday, September 23rd from 2-7pm and Saturday, September 25 from 10am to 2pm) and two locations. Click below for more information and to reserve your trees on August 30th. The Annual Tree Giveaway is a project of Howard County Government led by Recreation and Parks and assisted by the Office of Community Sustainability. Learn More About the Trees Start thinking about which two trees you want! There are 4 native species to choose from: Black Gum, Red Maple, Flowering Dogwood, and Redbud. Each tree will be in a 5 gallon container for pick up and will be about 5-8 feet tall. Residents are responsible for loading the trees into their vehicles. #hocoblogs

Another take on the vaccine resistant

    From birth, children perceive of the world as revolving around them.  Parents and others protect the young until they move past this immature view of how the world operates until they begin to understand that this self-center view doesn't work in the adult world.  Recognizing a new view where your actions have consequences for others is important for becoming a mature adult.  Unfortunately, many adults never mature to the point of developing a social conscience.

   We see this immaturity in flags like the one shown above that convey the message that my individual rights are the only ones that matter.  Viruses in a pandemic love to have an opportunity to thrive in such an immature population.  Welcome to many parts of our country in 2021.

What desperation looks like

 Unlucky ones outside

Lucky ones who got in

P.S.

American Taliban??

P.S. 2

Weekend funnies

Merriweather Post Pavilion requiring COVID vaccinations for people attending events

    The days of paying people to get vaccinated are over.  Now it is the "stick" of restricting access if you don't want to get vaccinated.  This was posted on the Columbia Patch:

"Effective Sunday, all patrons attending events at Merriweather Post Pavilion must show proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative test taken within the past 72 hours, along with a matching photo ID. This policy applies to those sitting inside the pavilion and those sitting outside on the lawn. While the entertainment venue isn't requiring masks, it states on its website masks are appreciated.  Food and beverage concession stands will be cashless and accept only credit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Guests with fevers or exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 should stay home. All patrons are encouraged to use mobile ticketing."

P.S.

#hocoblogs

What you get when a virus is smarter than many Americans

Land of the free and home of the ???

   

     For all of my adult life, I have tolerated the tyranny of having a government forcing me to stop at red lights.  I don't believe that scientists have proven, to my satisfaction, that stopping at red lights prevents accidents.  Until I see the data that hasn't been rushed in studies I plan to not stop at red lights as my right as a free citizen of the United States.  I know the fake media has shown accidents at red lights nightly on its newscasts but friends on my Facebook page have posted that I am more likely to die in a rear-end collision after stopping at a red light than I am by running through the red light.  I have found out that you can easily use the translating feature of Facebook which helps with the posts from my newly found Russian Facebook friends.  These friends have created new pages like "Stop the Red Light Tyranny."  I am not going to let any intellectual, latte-drinking, communist, atheist ruin Red, White, and Blue.

P.S.

      I have stopped wearing a seatbelt as I have read on the internet that seat belts kill people by strangling them after sudden stops.    Have we become a "nation of sheep???"  I may have graduated from the "school of hard knocks" but I ain't no dummy. 

Are the 1850s going to be repeated in the United States in the 2020s

   

     The issue of slavery in the 1850s finally came to a head after a series of compromises and measures designed to postpone the Country from coming to terms with its divided existence with regards to slavery.  Each side on the slavery issue saw their basic existence linked to the issue.  When an issue is seen in those existential terms, compromise becomes impossible.  The Civil War was the outcome when the South saw their existence threatened with the election of Abraham Lincoln.

 

    As we proceed in the early part of this decade we see a Republican party and its supporters that feel their existence as a white majority threatened by the changing demographics of our Country.  Race is once again the factor causing this division in our Country.   This intensity was stoked by their leader, Donald Trump, to attempt a violent overthrow of our government on January 6th with its attack on the US Capitol.  The Trump supporters saw themselves like the soldiers fighting the British in the Revolutionary War.  When your very existence is threatened your response is not in normal political discourse and trying to win new voters to your position but in violent actions that are far removed from democratic efforts.  Just remember that January 6th showed us that many Trump supporters are weaponized and ready for combat.  So would the election or defeat of Donald Trump in 2024 be the trigger for a new civil war?  Would the Country survive another election that had Donald Trump in it?  If the Trump supporters were willing to attack the Capitol this time with his defeat what would they be willing to do next time?  What actions would the anti-Trump faction take if he were ever elected again? Would some states seriously consider secession either way?  Trump is only the demagogue that is spearheading those who would violently respond to their threatened existence as a white majority.

     After January 6th another civil war in some form in the United States is not a remote possibility as we move through the 2020s.

P.S.

     Lincoln's "A House Divided" speech

Cutting off your nose to spite your face--a pandemic of the unvaccinated

 

     We all had trouble understanding how a cult figure like Jim Jones in 1978 could get his followers to drink poisoned Kool-Aid.  Little did we know that someday we would draw parallels to an American president.  Now we see our current cult figure, Donald Trump, and his Republican followers, resisting getting vaccinated or wear a mask that will end up killing some of his cult followers.  Jim Jones killed a couple hundred of his followers, far fewer than the hundreds of thousands of Americans who died because of how Trump mishandled the COVID virus.  Belonging to a cult means giving up your independent mind.  You could call it the "lazy-mind" syndrome.  Don't expect COVID anti-vaccination cult followers to change their minds.  They have an easier time accepting death.

P.S.

     Another similarity between Trump and Jim Jones is that when they felt attacked they sent their followers to kill the people that they saw as their enemies.

P.S. 1

Land of the crazies.