The CDC has recommended that schools cancel extracurricular activities football, wrestling, choir and band during the COVID surge.

The CDC released its updated guidance for COVID-19 prevention in schools on January 13, 2022, along with a map that shows 99% of US counties are at high-risk for transmission of the virus.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement, the agency “prioritized academics over athletics because of the increased risks involved in some extracurricular sports.  When followed, our school guidance has been incredibly effective.  In the fall, 99 percent of schools were able to remain open during the intense delta wave of COVID.”

The CDC gives football and wrestling as examples of high-risk sports and says that “high-risk extracurricular activities are those in which increased exhalation occurs, such as activities that involve singing, shouting, band, or exercise, especially when conducted indoors.”

Put simply however, schools, students and parents are ignoring the guidance. They argue that children’s mental health is more important than the children’s. actual health. “As we say in Tennessee, that dog won’t hunt,” said Dr. William Shaffer, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Lets face it, most people are over this pandemic and want life to return to normal, but the pandemic isn’t done with us.

753 people have been charges in the Capitol Hill Insurrection so far. The first indictments of sedition have now been leveled against members of the the Oath Keepers. This is a defining moment in the year long investigation by the Justice Department.

On January 6, 2021 members of the Oath Keepers, in their paramilitary gear, walked up the capitol steps single file with their hands on each others shoulders to work their way through the crowd. Many of these military wanna bees were already facing charges for storming the US Capitol building.

To deny they stormed the capitol will be hard to deny since this is the most photographed crime in history.

FBI investigators and DC federal prosecutors have worked diligently building the case, with the help of cooperators and the benefit of internal communications among the Oath Keepers. Federal prosecutors have been criticized by legal experts, Democratic lawmakers, Donald Trump critics, and media pundits for going easy on many of the the rioters.

These charges mute the the talking point from those downplaying the events of January 6, 2021, that the attack on the Capitol wasn’t an insurrection because nobody has been charged with sedition. The sedition case against the Oath Keepers highlights that there were hardened groups of alleged criminals within the mob that essentially planned for war. The Oath Keepers’ leader, who by the way shot his own eye out, is quoted as telling his supporters that they should prepare for a “bloody” operation and that they would need to “fight” in a “war.” Prosecutors added more details of how the Oath Keepers allegedly stockpiled weapons at a nearby hotel in Virginia, just in case they needed to deploy a “quick reaction force” into DC. Prosecutors say, that the Oath Keepers wanted to stop the transfer of presidential power from Trump to Joe Biden.

This band of miscreants lead by the sore looser of a former president. lost the battle on January 6, 2021 and will be tried for sedition.

Sedition is defined as follows… If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.

Democratic Represantative Katherine Clark is asking the House sergeant at arms to require maskless members of Congress to cast their votes from “isolation boxes” in the House gallery above the main floor, citing the rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

In a January 11, 2022 letter, Assistant House Speaker Katherine Clark said “fines have proven insufficient to prevent some Members from repeatedly violating” the House’s mask-wearing rules, which include a $500 fine for the first offense and $2,500 for each offense after that.

“This commonsense step will not only protect our dedicated House staff from Members who refuse to follow House rules, but it will also allow those members to continue to fulfill their constitutional duty to vote on matters before the House.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican who has repeatedly ignored the masking rules, was dismissive of the idea. The congresswoman, who has said she’s unvaccinated, was recently barred from Twitter for spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and the efficacy of the disease’s vaccines.

The fines for failing to wear a mask are deducted from members’ paychecks. Greene and a fellow Georgia Republican, Rep. Andrew Clyde, have together lost over $100,000 from their salaries over violations of the rule, which Clark noted in her letter.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is also advising members to wear N95 or KN95 masks on the House floor, regardless of vaccination status, and is strongly discouraging congregating during votes. The isolation boxes were initially created to allow members of Congress who had tested positive for the coronavirus to attend votes, which was important as Nancy Pelosi sought to whip votes for the speakership in 2021.

As of January 6, 2022, Coronavirus cases have been reported on every cruise ship sailing with passengers in U.S. waters.

All 92 ships have at least .1% of passengers testing positive, according to the CDC, which has either started an investigation or has already investigated and is observing each ship. The number of ships under investigation has increased rapidly, The Washington Post reported.

In the last week of 2021, the CDC warned all travelers, including vaccinated people, to avoid cruise ships after COVID-19 cases on cruise ships jumped from 162 during the first 2 weeks of December to more than 5,000 cases during the last 2 weeks of December. The CDC moved cruise ship travel to Level 4, the highest level of risk. “The virus that causes COVID-19 spreads easily between people in close quarters on board ships, and the chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is very high, even if you are fully vaccinated and have received a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose,” the CDC said in updated guidance.

The CDC issued a conditional sail order in October of 2021 for the cruise ships which intends to help keep passengers and crew alive and healthy.  That sail order is set to expire on January 15 2022 at the height of the Omicron surge.

Cruise ship companies have been ignoring the CDC’s  warnings and conducting business as usual. Disney’s Wonder cruise ship and Carnival’s Vista are set to sail out of Galveston this month with thousands of passengers on board. Social distancing does not exist on a cruise ship.

Cruise lines are requiring all crew and most, if not all, passengers to be fully vaccinated to board. Passengers also need proof of a recent negative test. Norwegian Cruise line and Royal Caribbean  have reported cases on their ships and have updated masking requirements as a response. People on board simply ignore the masking requirements.

Several cruise ships have been turned away from ports since late December 2021 due to passengers or crew members testing positive. Most continued their trips but skipped the stops where they were turned away.

The CDC will “consider multiple factors” and work with the cruise lines before moving ships from the current “yellow” status to the more serious “red” status that requires ships to return to port or delay sailing, Caitlin Shockey, a CDC spokeswoman told the Post. To reach the red status, a ship must have ongoing COVID-19 transmission and the potential for cases to overwhelm medical resources on the ship.

Far greater than the COVID-19 pandemic is the pandemic of stupidity.