“People assume that time is a strict progression from cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it’s more like a big ball of wibbly–wobbly, timey–wimey stuff.”
The Doctor, Series 3, episode 10, Blink
Howdy readers! Has it felt like time has become an exotic concept where the days of the week/month/year/decade all blend together? Well you aren’t alone! Which is why we’ve been in blog hibernation the last couple of months. But now spring has sprung and the possibility of a Covid 19 free future feels less like science fiction that it has since 2019. So let’s try and get up and running again!
The Vaccines are Here! The Vaccines are Here!
More than 40 states say they will meet or beat President Biden’s May 1st goal to have every adult eligible for a Covid 19 vaccine. Which is awesome, but we should still be cautious…
At the White House virus briefing on Wednesday, federal health officials, including Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, again urged caution about the national level of new cases. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the C.D.C. director, said she was enthusiastic about the pace of vaccinations, but worried about people vacationing for spring break.
With new cases plateauing, “I don’t think you can declare ‘victory’ and say you’ve turned the corner,” said Dr. Fauci, who is the nation’s top infectious disease expert and a pandemic adviser to Mr. Biden. “You’ve got to continue to do what we’re doing: more vaccinations and continue to do public health measures until we actually do turn the corner.”
By Brandon Dupré, Michael Gold, Allyson Waller and Madeleine Ngo
If you haven’t gotten yours yet, the CDC is happy to help
I got my first dose of Covid juice! And I got on the TeeVee!!!
We in the skeptic community have long fought back against the anti-vaccination movement, including all of us here at Grounded Parents and Skepchick. But the Covid crisis has opened up a new front in the war against vaccine misinformation, a political battle egged by none other than the Cheeto Tinted Tyrant himself…
This is where Trump comes in. Why are all these Republicans—especially men—refusing to be shot up with one of the approved vaccines? A huge part of the answer is related to the political culture on the right. Trump has spent years pushing specific conspiracy theories and playing footsie with others. He has a history of vaccine skepticism, and a 2020 study, published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, found that Trump voters in 2016 were particularly prone to anti-vaccination attitudes and that Trump’s tweets in some cases intensified these sentiments. Throughout the COVID crisis, Trump’s supporters have attacked public health experts, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, and accused him and others of nefariously using the pandemic to limit Americans’ freedoms or to further even more diabolical plots. Big-time conspiracy peddler Alex Jones, who was a VIP guest at the GOP’s 2016 convention, has claimed the coronavirus crisis was a “globalist scheme” to impose one-world government. If you couldn’t trust Fauci and his fellow scientists about masks—and Trump indicated he didn’t—why should you trust them now about the vaccine?
Donald Trump is Still a Public Health Threat, David Corn, Mother Jones
Back to Back to School!
Kids are heading back to school around the country, here’s some advice on how to help kids prepare.
“It’s important to think about the way we parent, and very often, we don’t. We think about it when our kids are in trouble instead of preparing,” Koplewicz says. Parents should, he said, be the “scaffold” that protects and guides children as they grow, but “not impede learning and risk-taking as they grow up.”
At the same time, keep your own anxieties in check. “Kids are very impressionable and going to follow your lead. You shouldn’t transmit your own fears, but empower children with the tools they need to stay safe in school,” Berger says, by making sure they know the proper guidance on masks, dividers and social distancing. “Then when they get to school, those tools are there, and they can stay safe. Kids are awesome and they make it happen.”
Washington Post On Parenting, By Amy Joyce
We’ll be back with more, and hopefully more often. Here’s something fun to go out on. I have been devouring these A.V. Undercover’s all week. I’ll share a couple here.
Featured Image: We went hiking in the Smokies, Blotz Photo Arts.
