Hey, something happening today.
The US set records for covid hospitalizations for the 8th day in a row.
Covid related deaths broke the 300,000 mark.
BUT two Good Things:
1. The first person in the USA received a vaccine for Covid-19. It is terribly exciting and quite emotional to watch the nurses and doctors on TV getting the first shots. (I want to do another post about the folly the vaccine: reflections on how Mother Nature is communicating her displeasure for human activity, how we should be listening and changing our polluting ways and not just relying on science to get us our of this time and and time again...but for the moment I'll let science have this moment, and express my deep gratitude for all the amazing scientists who developed this vaccine. I cannot wait to get mine!)
2. The electoral college voted and Joe Biden was officially declared President Elect of the US. While some legal offices were closed due to legitimate threats of violence from Trump supporters, it still feels like a huge victory for democracy today. Personally, I still have fears for violence around inauguration day, and Trump is even ramping up his "corrupt election" campaign with a new round of ads. But Biden's address tonight felt comforting, and unifying, and for the first time in months, I feel hopeful.
I have not written in a long time.
Teaching right now is no joke. Many essential workers have it much, much harder than I do, and I don't want to whine. But every time I feel an idea for a blog bubbling up, the chaos and exhaustion and stress of life takes over and I can't manage to get myself here! I feel like I should be writing some intelligent, on point commentary from a front line teacher point of view...but I honestly just don't have the brain power or energy!
A quick personal update: The week before Thanksgiving our governor put some new restrictions in place that have been hard. Vermont started seeing a surge, and to avoid a Thanksgiving surge on top of it, strict new guidelines were put in place (chiefly no mingling with anyone outside of your household). It has been killing me, and I wonder how we did this for so long this spring. As a bright spot, schools have stayed open and Vermont did not see a jump in cases after Thanksgiving, but everyone is hoping that restrictions will relax after the New Year. It is tough not being able to see friends, while on TV we see others flying all over the country and playing football with no masks.
My school had its first ever confirmed case of Covid last week. Fortunately, it was a person who had traveled for Thanksgiving and then quarantined upon return to VT. So, while we had a confirmed case, the person was never in the building while sick, and to date we have still kept covid out of our school building, which is just incredible. Here we are, mid December, with schools open and only 1 case. I never thought it would go this well. It is a huge testament to all of our community members who are doing the right thing. This is a bright spot worth celebrating, too.
To end, even though living with so much uncertainty is wearing me down and work is exhausting and the pandemic fatigue is real, I feel fortunate to have some things to celebrate today! Hope you can find some too.
December 14th
US cases: 16.5 Million
VT cases: 5,857
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