Santa Vaccinated

Posted on by Thor

Kids across the country are concerned that Chris Kringle, or Santa might not show up this year due to COVID-19.

Dr. Anthony Fauci was on the case.  “I took care of that for you, because I was worried that you’d all be upset,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said. “So what I did a little while ago: I took a trip up there to the North Pole, I went there and I vaccinated Santa Claus myself.”

“I measured his level of immunity, and he is good to go,” Fauci added. “He can come down the chimney, he can leave the presents, he can leave, and you have nothing to worry about.”

If you want to visit Santa at a local mall, that is not a good idea. To practice social distancing, there are virtual options and drive by options should you want to visit Santa.

My concern is weather every Santa in America will be moved to the front of the line to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Are Santa’s considered essential workers as Christmas approaches? There are rumors that the wealthy are hoping to jump to the front of the line by offering bribes. Tens of thousands of dollars are being offered to get a needle jab. Healthcare workers and nursing home residents, are first in line then essential workers and those with chronic health conditions, then, finally, everyone else. Since Santa is 1750 years old he is likely a nursing home resident and at the front of the line regardless.

A new mutation of the COVID-19 virus in England is more contagious and caused Prime Minister Boris Johnson to say, “It is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you we cannot proceed with Christmas as planned.” “There’s no evidence to suggest it is more lethal or causes more severe illness,” the prime minister stressed, or that vaccines will be less effective against it. Families will not be permitted to go to other households to celebrate this holiday season.

In America, as cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to increase, the safest way to celebrate the winter holidays is to celebrate at home with people who live with you. Gatherings with family and friends who do not live with you can increase the chances of getting or spreading COVID-19.

Warp Speed Vaccine Distribution Plan

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Operation Warp Speed immediately hit a snag just days into Pfizer distributing doses of the COVID-19 vaccine across the country. It is no surprise that the Trump administration would bungle the distribution pipeline.

Governors across the country were frustrated that the number of doses they expected was cut by nearly half in some cases, and they were left in the dark as to why for several days until a federal official took responsibility on Saturday December 19, 2020.

For several days governors tried to get answers about the distributions shortfalls. Lack of clarity from the federal government represented a huge headache for states as they scrambled to adjust their vaccination programs.  Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Tuesday December 15, 2020 that Florida could receive less than the 452,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine that the state was expecting because of a “production issue” on the part of a vaccine manufacturer. DeSantis said that two shipments of the vaccine slated to be sent to Florida in the coming weeks are “on hold right now.”  Though the Governor pointed a finger of blame at Pfizer, the blame seems to rest on the Federal Government. Pfizer immediately sent out a statement contradicting the Governor. “This week, we successfully shipped all 2.9 million doses that we were asked to ship by the U.S. Government to the locations specified by them,” Pfizer said in an official statement. “We have millions more doses sitting in our warehouse but, as of now, we have not received any shipment instructions for additional doses.” Both sides have been accused of using the media to negotiate, and fingers have been pointed, in every direction.

Operation Warp Speed chief operating officer, Army General Gustave Perna, said that he overestimated the number of vaccine doses that will be available to states next week. Originally, the number was 7.3 million, but Perna now says only 4.3 million doses will be available. “It was a planning error, and I am responsible,” Army General Gustave Perna said, according to Politico. “We’re learning from it. We’re trying to get better.” Perna said the numbers differ because he failed to account for the time required to get all of the vaccine doses approved by the FDA to be distributed.

Pfizer’s vaccine requires the patient to be injected with two doses taken 21 days apart. Putting aside so many doses for second shots adds to the logistical nightmare of distribution. Florida was supposed to submit a detailed plan to the federal government about its strategy by Dec. 4, 2020 but that plan has not been made public despite numerous requests from news organizations. For now the Trump administration has basically decided to pass daunting task of distributing vaccines to individual states, a strategy it used to address the pandemic this spring that led to disastrous results. Distribution will likely continue to be a confused mess until the Joe Biden administration can begin starting January 20, 2021. Biden’s team appears to be regularly meeting with pharmaceutical executives without the Trump administration.

Cremating COVID

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In India protestors blocked the entrance to a crematorium fearing that the fumes might spread COVID-19. This notion is false. The intense heat of cremation would destroy any virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that dead bodies are generally not infectious. Only the lungs of patients with pandemic influenza, if handled improperly during an autopsy, can be infectious. Otherwise, cadavers do not transmit disease.
Channel 7 News in Little Havana, Miami reported on thick clouds of black smoke billowing from a crematorium. Across the street the smoke drifted over outdoor diners. Though the smoke might not contain virus, it could contain harmful polyvinyl chloride, (PVC) plastics from body bags which can cause cancers. Bodies are being transported in thicker than normal body bags which might account for the black smoke. A crematory furnace has a second chamber which is supposed to super heat and burn off harmful emissions. For that reason most crematoriums don’t emit black clouds of thick smoke.
Surging Covid-19 cases leave cemeteries and funeral homes struggling to keep pace. Engineers in Bolivia have come up with a solution as pragmatic as it is macabre, a mobile crematorium. The 16 foot by 8 foot oven is small enough to fit on to a trailer, and is powered by locally produced liquefied petroleum gas, making it a cheap option for families who cannot afford a funeral service.

“We Want Them Infected”

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In newly discovered e-mails, Paul Alexander, a Trump appointee, urged top health officials to adopt a “herd immunity”. “Infants, kids, teens, young people, young adults, middle aged with no conditions etc. have zero to little risk …. so we use them to develop herd … we want them infected…” Alexander added.

A maskless Santa exposed at least 50 children to COVID-19 in Ludowici, Georgia. Mr. and Mrs. Claus posed for pictures with the children and then tested positive for COVID-19 two days later. Some children were justifiably terrified, but many were forced to sit on Santa’s lap.

City officials have advised the children who were at the event to quarantine for 14 days and follow guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The event took place on the day Georgia reported a record number of new COVID-19 cases.

A 1918 Nebraska newspaper showed a stark contrast at the time. Nebraska was experiencing the ravages of the Spanish Flu which killed, 675,000 Americans. “In Gering, Nebraska, a department store arranged for a visit by Santa Claus in December, but hundreds of children were shocked when police arrested both Santa and the store owner for violating a local ban.” They knew how to knuckle down those days, unlike the soft, misguided, or genuinely evil officials of today.

Today the World Health Organization (WHO) claimed that Santa is immune to COVID-19, just as the infected POTUS declared himself immune since he caught COVID-19 and was injected with Remdesivir,  Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody cocktail, zinc, famotidine, and melatonin and dexamethasone a steroid. Santa must also be hyped up on steroids. Maria Van Kerkhove, who herself has two young sons said, “I can tell you that Santa Claus is immune to this virus,” She continued, “We had a brief chat with him and he is doing very well and Mrs. Claus is doing very well, and they are very busy right now,” she said.

Kraft Azalea Garden in a Pandemic

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For my Urban Sketching class at Crealde on Sunday, I had one student show up of the four who usually attended. We stayed outside and my first exercise was to have him sketch postage sized detail while studying a Rembrandt etching of a landscape. The goal was to fill in one postage stamp sized area and then move on to another adjacent area again focusing only on the detail in a small area.

This exercise stresses the importance of focusing on minute detail after the big shapes have been blocked into a sketch. When this exercise was complete, we decided to go to Kraft Azalea Garden which was about a mile away. I figured it would be a quiet bucolic scene for my student to capture.

I was wrong. When I got there I found literally no parking available. The park was packed to the gills. My student had already set up and begun to sketch, so I kept driving by and about a half hour later a spot opened up.

The Garden designed by Bertram A. Weber is located on Lake Maitland. There are some waling paths and this semi circular series of columns. Inscribed on the back of the structure is the saying, “Pause friend let beauty refresh the spirit.”

It turns out these columns are a very popular photo shoot site. As I walked into the gardens a husband was kissing his wife’s pregnant belly as she stood is a flowing white dress. As I started my sketch, a large mask less family gathered for their phot0 shoot. The grandfather or uncle showed the young daughters a series of fist bumps, hand slaps and hand shakes. He apologized to me for the scene but I shouted back that I likes the chaos. He laughed.Since I was the only person in the park wearing a mask, people thankfully did not approach to look over my shoulder. I also though ahead and leaned back against a large tree, so people could only approach from in front of me.

After their family photos were taken a wedding party moved in. The mask less photographer apologized for leaving her mask in her car and claimed she had been tested 3 days before. If that was the case, she would not know the results. Of course the wedding party were mask less as well and the photographer moved in close to adjust the brides veil. After this chaos another photographer moved in and shot a mask less husband wife and child. The child cried the whole time.

It occurred to me that a photographer would be the perfect super spreader. a 60 year old photographer in India caught COVID-119 at one of his wedding shoots. He went on to infect 30 of his primary contacts. The photographer did not voluntarily report for testing, but instead went to photograph a wedding. Because of this, three villages with a population of nearly 39,000, are now red zones. The photographer died from the virus. Contact tracers tested 500 people, all primary and secondary contacts of the deceased, and 213 were put in quarantine.

My student finished his sketch a half hour early and he had to pee, so he left. We joked about the possible fallout from this park outing two weeks from now. I stayed until the end of class and wanted to add more detail to this sketch, but I decided to get the hell out of Dodge as well. This quiet sketch outing had turned into a scene of absolute public indifference to the health crisis. At least each family has beautiful photos to remember the dead.

The Gift of the Magi

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In O Henry‘s short story The Gift of the Magi,a young couple at the turn of the century in NYC dreamed of getting each other magnificent presents for Christmas but they were short on cash. They lived in a humble eight dollar a month flat. Della only had 1 dollar 87 cents. It was hard to make ends meet on Jim’s twenty dollar a week job. As a couple they had two treasured possessions, she had her long luxurious hair and he had a golden watch.

It was Christmas eve and in Della’s distress she decided to sell her hair to get Jim’s present. Her hair sold for twenty dollars. She shrugged off the loss and rushed to get the perfect present. She found a beautiful chain for his watch. She knew he would treasure it.

When Jim arrived home Della worried he might not approve of her short hair. He was transfixed but his surprise became clear when she unwrapped the present he had bought for her. It was a magnificent set of combs with tortoise shell and gems.  She had dreamed of them every time she passed then in a Broadway shop window. She then gave him the present of the watch chain. He fell back on the couch and laughed as he had sold his watch to get her present. Though he had no watch for the chain and she had no long flowing hair for the combs, they loved each other dearly and embraced.

In a modern re-telling of the tale, I imagine the couple would share their love by staying home on Christmas and staying away from crowded family celebrations and holiday parties. They would share the gift of life as the hope of new vaccines might save them from the year long pandemic that terrorized their city and the entire world.

The first shots of the Pfizer vaccine were administered yesterday December 14, 2020 to nurses and doctors on the front lines. Moderna‘s Covid-19 vaccine as then found too be 94 percent effective at preventing symptomatic illness and appears to prevent the spread of the virus as well, according to documents released Tuesday December 15, 2020. So hope is on the horizon, but most people must face several more months of the worst of the pandemic before they can get this hope for a future life.

Disney Digital Brains

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Disney World in Orlando, Florida shut down at the beginning of the pandemic but re-opened as the cases spiked in Florida over the summer. Guests had to wear face masks at all times, except while eating or swimming, but enforcement has been a challenge.

Some guests would take off their masks for the photo opportunity. At first the parks refused to offer those photos to guests but that meant that guests who were wearing masks could not get a copy of the photo. To overcome that problem, digital masks were Photoshopped onto guests who did not wear a mask, allowed those in the photo properly wearing their face masks to get the photos.

Since this issue caused online discussion, Disney decided to reverse the policy and will not be digitizing face masks over guests’ faces any longer. Convincingly Photoshopping a mask onto a guests face is a challenge, and it comes off as a clear fake. My advice is that Disney Photoshop brains onto guests who slip their masks off. It might hide most of their face, but it makes them seem like they are capable of thinking and reasoning. The only real solution to the Photoshop conundrum is to escort any guest photographed without a mask out of the park. Better yet close the damn parks during the pandemic.

In September 2020 Florida Governor Ron DeathSantis signed an executive order removing all statewide restrictions. This executive order allowed the Central Florida theme parks to re-open. Disney invested $2.4 billion in COVID-19 related safety measures in latest quarter. It would be difficult or near impossible to contract trace COVID-19 cases back to Disney World. The infected person might have been infected at a restaurant off property, at the hotel, or on the trip to or from Florida. This is what allows the parks to function with immunity. Disney Land out in California remains closed because that Governor is working to keep his constituents safe.

Florida reported 11,699 new COVID-19 cases, the most since July, as the total deaths near 20,000. The Florida governor has been bragging about the first vaccines to be administered, but it will be many months before everyday citizens are able to be inoculated. Florida has the fourth most deaths of any state with 20,133, following New York (35,360), California (20,969), and Texas (23,911). The following months will be the darkest of the pandemic.

Fun Spot: Fluid Dynamics

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Fun Spot was one of the last Central Florida attractions to close back in March of 2020. They re-opened a month before Disney in May 2020 after just a two month shut down. Fun Spot welcomed guests back with no masks required.

The Orlando Weekly reported that Fun Spot has multiple failed inspections by county officials. Bill Kitchen reached out to Fun Spot on May 20, 2020 after the park announced it would be reopening. He implored, “[An] expert in physics, aerodynamics or infectious disease would ask you to realize the danger in allowing the public to ride an attraction that would allow high speed airflow to travel between occupants, no matter whether the ride motion is circular or linear. Sterilizing the seats and hand-holds (or separating occupied seat rows) may be of no use whatsoever in protecting the public from infectious aerosols flowing into the face of the participants on the downwind side of an infected occupant.”

The funder John Arie, forwarded the message to his son adding, “I believe God has designed our bodies to heal and our immune systems to protect us as it has done for centuries. Our immune systems cannot develop and protect us if we are forced to ‘stay in place’ and quarantined.” He then asked his son to let him know “when you will be allowed to open.” Two days later, John Arie Jr., the current CEO of Fun Spot, reopened the parks. An associate of Kitchen’s visited the Orlando park and observed multiple people not adhering to safety protocols. Disney and Universal require mask-wearing and physical distancing but Fun Spot doesn’t have the same level of adherence. Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings signed an executive order instituting fines for repeat violators.

Disinfecting the White House

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CNN reported that On January 20, 2021 president elect Joe Biden plans to give the White House a deep cleaning before he and his family move in. Throughout the campaign Joe has consistently worn masks and practiced social distancing in stark contrast to Trump’s super spreader rallies.

The General Services Administration (GSA), is handling what will be a “thorough disinfecting and cleansing” of every surface in the 55,000 square foot mansion. Rugs and window treatments, if kept, will also be deep-cleaned.

In November 2020 there were multiple outbreaks of COVID-19 in the White House even infecting the first family. GSA began using a mist disinfectant throughout the building at that time. Staff in full hazmat-looking suits misting widely used areas such as the briefing room.
According to federal financial docs, obtained by TMZ, the Public Building Service agency’s dropping nearly $29,000 on the cleaning service in the East and West Wing “due to COVID-19 at the White House.” The White House has been a hot spot for the spread of the virus and continues to be as 20 Christmas parties are held this month inside it’s walls.
NBC News reported that back in April, 2020 the White House invested up to $600 million dollars on 60 washing machines that could disinfect N95 face masks for up to 20 times.  The machines use vapor phase hydrogen peroxide which as it turns out degrades the masks after two or three washes. There was no open bidding process for the contract and of course Trump doesn’t like wearing masks, he feels they make him look less masculine.

Pre-Pandemic: Fridge Repair

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This is the first sketch I did in a sketchbook that was returned to me after if fell off my bike on a cross country bicycle trip 35 years ago. Someone found the sketchbook packed away in a box and realized I had signed the first page.

The pages are rather thin and don’t hold watercolor very well, but I am attempting to full the remaining pages. This is a sketch of Jimmy John’s sandwich Shop in Downtown Orlando. The fridge was on the fritz and a repairman was trying too get it back up and running. I sketched as I enjoyed my sandwich.

The sketchbook ha once again been put on hold since I am no longer going on location to sketch each day. Now Most of my sketches are illustration having to do with the COVID-19 virus and America’s mishandling of this health crisis. Those illustrations are being done digitally. That work could also be lost to time if I don’t keep on top of backing up files or making prints of all the work I am doing. I remember a film historian mentioning that the early silent films of Thomas Edison are the only samples of very early film because film degrades and burns up in time. Thomas Edison thought ahead and made paper prints of every frame of film and those paper prints make it possible to recreate the films of the time, remaining the only samples of early film.

I am thinking that making prints of digital files may be the only way to have digital art stand the test of time.