Yesterday was a joyful day for those who supported President Biden, and a mournful day for the few who support Former President Trump. However, the reality still remains that COVID-19 is a major concern, even though we have recently seen a new President of the United States sworn in.
In the United States, we learned on Tuesday that we have surpassed 400,000 deaths. That is a sobering number, and there’s no way to spin it. I remember when many of us were shocked of the talk of the potential for 100,000 deaths from the pandemic, and now we are at a death toll four times that.
In my neighborhood, the COVID positivity rate has ticked down slightly, but has remained way too high for comfort. The positivity rate is now just over 13% in my zip code, which is down from the 15% or so we were at as of last week but nevertheless uncomfortably high. Furthermore, data seems to indicate that Jamaica Hospital in Queens–the hospital closest to where I live, continues to be under immense stress from COVID-19 patients.
Also of concern is that, at least according to our mayor, New York City is going to run out of COVID vaccines by the end of this week.[1] We are now to the point that New York City is canceling vaccine appointments due to the shortages.[2] So that is concerning, particularly for those vulnerable to experiencing severe consequences from the virus.
The one sliver of hope is that the Biden administration will employ the Defense Production Act in order to ensure a quicker vaccine rollout.[3] Seeing the impacts of the Defense Production Act on vaccine distribution in New York City, and nationwide, cannot come soon enough.[4]
[2] https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2021/01/20/vaccine-appointments-cancelled-in-new-york-city
[4] You can read an explanation of the Defense Production Act here: https://www.fema.gov/disasters/defense-production-act
Blind Injustice 
Biden’s in for a tough slog! I think he and the rest of them can do it though!
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I certainly hope so!!!
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The next several months will be difficult but thank God adults are back in charge!
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Agreed. Hopefully with adults in charge, doing necessary, common-sense measures to get us through this, we can start to turn a corner.
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Reblogged this on By Hook Or By Book and commented:
Here’s Brendan’s latest COVID-19 update from NYC. Like the majority of the country, including my state of AL, the news is not great. I do take a certain amount of comfort though in that rational adults are back in charge.
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Wishing you a safe and pleasant weekend, Brendan. Thanks for this update.
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Thanks, and same to you. Stay healthy.
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Here we are still in the first phase of people that are getting vaccinated. Gillette stadium and Fenway Park have been put to use as mass vaccination sites. My husband is in the next phase to start in February, maybe manufacturing will begin to keep pace. I am hopeful, we need to be. This is going to be a long, hard road but if we work together I think we can come out of it stronger. The fact that we have lost so many is heartbreaking and even more so because it has been just accepted. You are right we were aghast at the beginning when it was 100,000, have we become numb.
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It will be a long road ahead, but I am hoping that with an adult in the room now, we will be able to move ahead more efficiently than we were. We can only hope…
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