FROLITICKS

Satirical commentary on Canadian and American current political issues

Jul 30

U.S. Congressional Hearings on January 6th Capitol Breach

by bcurry

On January 6, 2021, a peaceful and patriotic crowd of citizens gathered in front of the steps of the U.S. Congress, on what is referred to as the Hill.  They lovely and respectfully greeted the law-enforcement officers from the Capitol Police on duty that day.  Suddenly, these individuals who were exercising their right to protest, broke through the police lines and entered the people’s building of American governance.  They did not mean to hurt anyone, although there were a few who mockingly shouted that they wanted to hang Vice-President Mike Pence.  In order to avoid the determined mob, both Republican and Democrat members of Congress conveniently left the Senate Chamber in order to make room for the touring crowd.  These patriots then went about their business of sightseeing through the corridors of the Capitol.  Once they had finished their tour, they left the premises, often carrying handfuls of souvenirs to show the family back home.  Meanwhile, the outgoing President of the United States of America, sat comfortably in the White House and calmly watched the unfolding events televised on American news networks for all to see.  He was particularly concerned that none of his supporters would be seriously injured by the authorities during their visitation.

Months later, one now has a House select committee investigating the storming of the Capitol, much to the chagrin of majority of Republicans who don’t see any need for any inquiry, let alone an independent commission of inquiry.  For this reason, Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to seat two Republicans who publicly opposed the establishment of the committee itself, and instead invited two more neutral Republicans, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, to join the committee.  This seems to make sense.  Let’s face it, most Republicans would like the whole January 6th armed insurrection to go away.  Remember, many of the mob have said under oath that they were there because Donald Trump sent them.

I don’t know about you, but I sat in front of my television witnessing what some have called the worst attack on Washington since the War of 1812 — between what was then Canada and the U.S.  I could not believe what I was witnessing!  No one in their right mind can deny the fact that the attack was orchestrated and well planned in advance.  To say that a few of Trump’s supporters simply got overly zealous is a pile of you know what.  The real problem and failure, indeed the tragedy, is that the actions of the mob were not foreseen by the Trump administration and the intelligence and security communities.  Congress was virtually left at the mercy of a crazy group of insurrectionists.  It is these elements of what happened on January 6th that need to be investigated and made public.  The role of Donald Trump in inciting his supporters is already well known and no longer of particular import.  What is important is to establish what went terribly wrong within the intelligence community, law enforcement and among federal agencies involved, including the Department of Defence.  Hopefully, these are the issues that the committee will examine in order to introduce changes that would ensure that something of this nature will never happen again.  Let’s face it, there’s plenty of blame to go around.  What one needs is truthful answers and expert analysis.

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Jul 24

To Mandate COVID Vaccinations or Not?

by bcurry

When COVID vaccinations really took off in the spring, people began to sense that they could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and a return to so-called normalcy.  However, despite large numbers of Americans, Canadians and Europeans having become fully vaccinated or at least having one dose, the sudden emergence of the Delta Variant is once again starting to dim that light.  In the U.S., COVID-19 hospitalizations are trending upward in 45 states.  While levels remain well below previous peaks, health care centers in parts of the Midwest, West and South are strained.  For example, some Florida hospitals have more COVID patients than ever before.  In Europe, the Delta Variant is now the predominant strain and appears to be spreading rapidly, especially among the unvaccinated.  In France, 22,000 coronavirus cases were reported in a 24-hour period this past week, the highest rate in more than two months.

The result has been that a number of governments reintroduced masking and physical distancing requirements, especially for indoor public activities.  What is more interesting is that several governments, like that of France, have introduced mandatory vaccination for health workers and are telling the rest of the population — if not vaccinated or without testing negative — will be denied access to most indoor public spaces.  In the U.S., more than 400 colleges and universities are required to vaccinate students for COVID-19.  As well, based on recent favourable court decisions, the U.S. government provided guidance that companies can require workers entering the workplace to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or to be tested.  America’s business leaders, who had hoped the country would already be fully on a path to normalcy, are caught in a conundrum of requiring employees to be fully vaccinated in order to return to their workplaces or allowing them to continue to work from home.  Given the apparent emergence of another wave, employers have to ask whether workers will feel comfortable enough to come back, even if good controls are in place?  Less than half of Americans are fully vaccinated, exacerbating the situation in their workplaces.

To date, studies have shown that vaccines remain effective against the worst outcomes of COVID-19, including those from the Delta Variant.  Whether or not they are a hundred percent effective is not the point.  When determining vaccination requirements, people are using the “precautionary principle”, which claims that certain health and safety actions are justified even though one may not have all the evidence readily at hand.  One just needs to know that the potential benefits of taking an initiative outweigh the apparent risks, especially when it comes to public safety.  The courts have determined that reasonable practices will supersede the impact on individual liberties, especially where the good of the community or employees are at risk.

During this global pandemic, governments have closed borders, placed restrictions on travel, imposed testing and quarantine requirements for travellers, obligated masking and physical distancing requirements, etc., etc.  Now that we have relatively effective vaccines that can help prevent further COVID outbreaks, the question of mandatory vaccinations will continue to surface in many countries and communities.  It will no doubt stir up pockets of deep resistance among some elements of the population believing that such policies are an infringement of individual liberties.  The debate has already surfaced with respect to the idea of having vaccination passports in order to travel or enter certain types of public spaces such as gyms, restaurants, bars and sporting/entertainment events.  There are growing divisions over how far it may become mandatory to receive an injection.  As in Europe, the debate will continue in both the U.S. and Canada, sometimes placing local authorities in opposition to the policies of state and provincial governments.  Who ultimately wins this debate will most likely depend largely on political beliefs and whether the current surge in the Delta Variant can be adequately controlled. In the meantime, health care systems and front-line workers will unfortunately continue to be strained!

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Jul 18

Despite Evidence to the Contrary, Climate Change Skepticism Lingers in the U.S. and Canada

by bcurry

An extreme heat wave affected much of Western North America in late June and early July of this year. The heat affected Northern California, Idaho, Western Nevada, Oregon, and Washington in the U.S., as well as Canada’s British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan and Yukon.  The extreme heat was accompanied by droughts, hundreds of wildfires, hundreds of heat-related deaths, the interruption of major interstate transmission and rail lines, and the evacuation of dozens of towns and communities.  In the case of the village of Lytton, British Columbia, it was sadly completely destroyed by wildfires.  International researchers concluded that the extraordinary heat wave in the northwestern United States and parts of Canada would almost certainly not have occurred without global warming.

Yet, despite all the evidence to the contrary, there are still Americans and Canadians, often living in the most affected regions, who remain skeptical about the impact of climate change.  For example, they instead blame more severe wildfires on the federal government’s water policies and forestry management, referring to it as ‘environmentally caused mismanagement’.  Unfortunately, skepticism appears to be highest in the U.S. partly because of a major distrust of everything that has to do with the federal government, similar to that found among anti-vaccination groups as it pertains to COVID-19.  

Seeing the results of climate change during the past decade, there are those who believe that we have to invest more in developing infrastructures that can withstand the future impacts of such extreme weather events, including flooding along our coastlines.  These investments will have to include looking at major infrastructure changes to energy transmission, water conservation, building structures, crop management, forestry management, emergency preparedness, etc., etc.  In order to better cope with future extreme weather events and other impacts due to climate change, the needed infrastructure changes will cost trillions of dollars.  There is no segment of society that will not be affected.

In order to deal with those skeptical segments of society, we will have to do a better job of countering misinformation about climate change and informing people about the serious inevitable consequences of not preparing for impacts associated with climate change.  This is the number one priority for the human race.  Given the course that we are on, there must be a clear understanding among all of us of the urgent need to get even more serious about this issue.  People have a right to be skeptical, but not to the extent that it places them in real danger.  This is exactly what’s happening now!  This issue is beyond a doubt the priority for the twenty-first century as it affects every aspect of our society, and societies in other countries, especially those in the so-called Third World.  Without sounding overly alarmist, our lives and livelihoods depend on our dealing with the impacts of climate change today and not tomorrow!

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Jul 12

Mandatory COVID Vaccinations vs. Civil Liberties in North America

by bcurry

With the post-secondary school year not that far off, several colleges in Canada and in the U.S. have announced mandatory COVID vaccination policies for students, especially for those wanting to live in residence.  There reportedly are now well over 500 colleges and universities in the U.S. which are requiring vaccinations to come on campus in the fall, including the entire New York and California public systems.  Although these currently represent only about 10 percent of American colleges and universities, the numbers apparently continue to grow.  Here in Canada, with some exceptions, mandatory vaccination requirements for students have been slow to emerge.  For example, University of Toronto students living in dorms this fall will be required to be vaccinated.  Those moving into residence at Western University will be required to receive at least a first dose.  However, most Canadian colleges and universities only tend to strongly encourage all community members to get vaccinated as soon as they become eligible.

Cara Zwibel, director of the fundamental freedoms program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, views that such mandatory vaccination policies undermine the idea that vaccination is a choice.  Yet, Ontario schools require children and teens to be immunized against designated childhood diseases, unless they have a valid exemption.  Indeed, when it comes to introducing vaccination and medical mask requirements in workplaces, the province of Quebec leads the way in Canada.  A passport-based approach, which is still rare in Canada, will take effect this September in Quebec which will allow only fully vaccinated people to access non-essential places such as bars and gyms.  Last April, Quebec’s workplace health and safety board required that medical masks be worn at all times indoors in workplaces.  As well, additional restrictions have been placed on visitors to long-term senior residences for persons who are not fully vaccinated.  Most long-term care employers are now requiring employees to be fully vaccinated with few exceptions.  Otherwise, the non-vaccinated employees will face continuous COVID testing protocols and additional personal protective equipment requirements.

Mandatory COVID vaccination and masking requirements will continue to raise the eyebrows of civil liberties groups, arguing that vaccination and masking should be a choice.  However, health and safety specialists will counter by arguing that, by the very nature of the coronavirus and how it quickly spreads, there are situations where congregate living situations (residences) and shared common spaces make it challenging to isolate or quarantine should someone become infected.  From various surveys, it would appear that otherwise healthy young people taking a more vaccine-hesitant stance is not about an infringement on their civil liberties, but more about complacency.  As a society, we place all kinds of requirements on our citizens to protect the overall health and safety of our communities, especially in workplaces.  Under certain circumstances, it would appear that mandatory COVID vaccination requirements to safeguard oneself and others from the spread of this dangerous virus make sense.  The continuing reluctance of the majority of institutions to not introduce these requirements and to take a wait and see approach is inviting future outbreaks and possible lockdowns in both countries.

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Jul 3

War on COVID has presented today’s youth with opportunities to demonstrate strengths

by bcurry

With all of the negative news surrounding COVID-19, there is also a fair amount of positive news that one can take away from the last year and a half.  Much of it has to do with the actions of today’s younger generations, be it the Millennials or Generations Y and Z.  Youth in past generations had to overcome the consequences of global depression and the horrific impacts of fighting in two world wars.  Today’s generations have been placed in a similar position.

Today, the battles such as those against a global pandemic are just as challenging.  Nevertheless, younger people have emerged to take leadership in tackling this disease in scientific, health care and front line services.  Take their evident participation in contributing the scientific research surrounding the incredible development of mRNA vaccines such as Moderna and Pfizer.  The speedy delivery of COVID vaccines is anything but miraculous.  College, secondary and primary students have had to adjust to a relatively new teaching environment involving the use of innovative technologies, including those involving on-line learning and virtual communication.  No easy task!  Young people and their families have been asked to pay a heavy price, but for the most part they have shown great resilience and commitment.

On a personal note, I was greatly impressed by the participation of many young health care practitioners and volunteers at a local community COVID vaccination clinic.  Working around the clock and having to continuously wear personal protective equipment, these young people helped to provide an efficient, speedy and convenient service to the community, all the while doing so in a polite and caring manner.  Then there are those thousands working in hospitals who have had to deal with the tragic loss of life due to COVID, often where patients have been completely isolated from their families and friends.  We owe these courageous people a whole lot of thanks and appreciation.

At the above vaccination clinic, I also noticed a good many young people who had agreed to be vaccinated against this terrible disease.  There has been a lot of talk about the hesitancy factor as it pertains to younger people.  However, from what I’ve seen so far, the majority of young Canadians have stepped forward to aid in the fight against this disease, and in particular to prevent the further spread of the so-called Delta variant.  Given relevant and reliable information, I am certain that today’s youth will continue to play their important role in bringing an end to the pandemic in their communities, and in the country at large.  Rather than dwelling on the negative commentary on social media and elsewhere, we should be expressing our appreciation for their positive contributions to combating COVID.  To the younger generations, I send out a big ‘thank you’ for the critical roles that you are playing.

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Jun 28

June Was a Bad Month for the Catholic Church in North America

by bcurry

Here in Canada, the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves containing Indigenous children’s remains on former Indian residential school grounds raised the anger of many Canadians, and in particular those of the Catholic faith.  Many of the residential schools were run by the Catholic Church.  Indigenous leaders in Canada have been pressing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to secure an apology, on Canadian soil, from Pope Francis himself for the role the Catholic Church played in operating residential schools. Those demands — which Trudeau repeated again Friday, June 25th — have so far gone unheeded.  However, a number of Church leaders in Canada have taken upon themselves to apologize for the Churches role in running the schools and for the associated unmarked graves.

In the U.S., as only the second Catholic president, an issue was raised by some of the country’s Catholic bishops with respect to President Joe Biden.  A question was asked as to whether the Catholic Church should not allow the president to receive Holy Communion because of his political support for abortion rights.  The president, who attends church regularly, rightly replied that this is a personal and private matter.  As one observer noted, denying Communion to Biden or other public figures as a means of correcting their errors would be claiming the right to overrule their conscience.   Subsequently, several American Catholic bishops suggested that any such ban on the president was not in the cards.  They are likely mistaken, however, if they think a Communion crackdown will bring him or other so-called wayward Catholics back in line.  Furthermore, declaring abortion the “pre-eminent” issue for Catholics has created another crisis of authority for the bishops — remember the handling of recent cases of alleged abuses by American priests.

In both instances, the results have been criticism and outrage from many Catholics and non-Catholics of the Churches position on these matters.  In the American situation, it is clearly a matter of the separation of state and church which form an important part of a democracy.  One’s religious beliefs should not form part of the government’s policy making process which is designed to defend the interests of all its citizens, regardless of faith.  In the Canadian context, the inability of the Catholic leadership to recognize the role of the church in the tragic operation of residential schools and the horrific impact on Indigenous peoples needs to be addressed.

The number of followers of the Catholic Church in both countries is on the decline, particularly among younger people.   Reportedly, between 2000 and 2017 the number of its churches in the U.S. declined by nearly 11 percent, and by 2019 the number of Catholics decreased by 2 million people.  During the last decade, Catholics have been steadily shrinking as a share of the U.S. population. Situations like the above two examples do not help the Churches image and have led once again to parishioners having to assess their continued participation within the Church.  Perhaps it’s time for the Catholic Church to enter the twenty-first century and to hone up to its role in and openly admit its past mistakes, instead of trying to cover them up or simply ignore them.

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Jun 26

Tragic Use of Residential Schools for Indigenous Populations in North America is Part of Our History

by bcurry

History has shown us that once colonies have led to the creation of nation states, such as Canada and the United States, the next step has been to introduce policies aimed at “assimilating” native populations into the cultures of the ruling masses.  If peoples refused to assimilate, they were often separated and segregated from the rest of society, or sometimes even killed.  Part of assimilation often included the introduction of Christianity via the use of missionaries and the use of the church in running residential schools, as was the case in Canada and in French colonial times.

After a law was enacted in the early 1800’s in the U.S., residential boarding schools were established across the nation and used to house relocated Indigenous children, suppressing American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian cultures.  Records from 1819 to 1969 were kept by the Department of the Interior, which had oversight of the facilities.  Hundreds of thousands Native American children were forcibly taken from their communities to be culturally assimilated in the schools, suppressing the use of their native languages and customs.  Hundreds of children died while in custody, such that the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition was partly formed to help find the graves of the ‘missing children’.  The federal Department of the Interior is consulting with tribes on how to protect burial sites and use other information it had gathered.

Around 1883 in Canada, Indigenous children in many parts of the country were forced to attend residential schools in a forced assimilation program.  Most of these schools were operated by churches.  All of them banned the use of Indigenous languages and cultural practices, often through violence.  Disease, as well as sexual, physical and emotional abuse, were widespread. An estimated 150,000 children passed through the schools between their opening and their closing in 1996.  A National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up as part of the federal government’s apology and settlement over the schools, concluded that at least 4,100 students died while attending them.  Recently, using ground-penetrating radar, mass graves containing the remains of what are believed to be mainly Indigenous children have been found in unmarked graves on the site of a former residential schools in British Columbia and Saskatchewan.  Governments have now introduced funding and initiatives to retrieve residential school records, some of which are in the hands of churches, in order to identify the children buried in these unmarked graves.  However, as part of the reconciliation effort, Indigenous leaders believe that the government still has a long way to go.

This troubling history deserves more attention to raise our awareness and to educate others about the atrocities that Indigenous people experienced, especially through the teaching in our schools of the history of North American Indigenous peoples and their past and present treatment by Canadian and American administrations.  History is history and cannot be changed or erased.  Moreover, societies must learn from their history so that they can better understand their society today and work together to heal and move forward.  This upcoming Canada Day and Independence Day, both Canadians and Americans should take time to inform themselves about this tragic period of history and reflect on its dreadful impact on our Indigenous peoples.  We owe it to these children, their families and the survivors of residential schools.

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Jun 21

Cities Will Definitely Not Be the Same After the Pandemic Is Over

by bcurry

A recent New York Times headline read: “New York Faces Lasting Economic Toll Even as Pandemic Passes.”  This should come as no big surprise given the nature of New York city’s industrial make-up, a good deal of which depends on foreign and domestic tourism.  Indeed, the article notes that the city had an 11.8 percent decline in jobs from February 2020 to April 2021, almost three times the loss on the national level.  Boarded-up storefronts and for-lease signs dot many of its neighborhoods.  Many of the businesses that depend on office and other workers who work in the core have yet to experience any substantive turnaround, especially in the retail, hospitality and performing arts sectors.  Of concern to the services sector is that several large corporations like Google and Facebook, as major commercial tenants, will not require the same amount of office space with a good percent of their staff continuing to work remotely full time or two or three days a week.  With fewer people commuting daily to downtown businesses, there will also be a substantive need to examine current public transportation policies.

While the example of New York is certainly considered to be an extreme situation, there is little doubt that all urban centers in North America will have to adjust economically and socially in the near future.  The impact of the pandemic will leave a substantial mark on every aspect of urban life for sometime to come.  The most evident immediate impact can be seen in the housing market.  Working remotely from home is only one of several factors influencing the rising costs of housing, especially single detached homes.  The average sale price for a home in Canada for example has surged 38 percent to $688,208 over the past year amid a pandemic-driven housing boom, according to data from the Canadian Real Estate Association.  Technology has allowed more people to work from ‘rurban’ communities than ever before, eliminating much of the need to commute to and from urban workplaces.  Employers are having to adjust their working arrangements to accommodate employees, who in many cases have essential skills in short supply.

Even Ottawa, where I live, is experiencing many of the economic and social consequences of the pandemic, despite being primarily a government town and having less of an economic impact that most cities.  However, as in the case of New York, Ottawa has seen dozens of small businesses, which before the pandemic employed about much of the city’s work force, haven’t survived.  Tourism, a major part of the National Capital Region, is way down, affecting hotels, tour operations, restaurants and bars.  The closure of the American border over the past year to non-essential traffic and major restrictions on international air travel has had a major impact on tourism.  Sports and entertainment venues, including Ottawa’s large festival industry, have been non-existent since the beginning of the pandemic.  Like many urban communities, the city is counting on the vaccination of seventy or more percent of its population to eventually encourage locals to return to recreational and indoor activities across the region.  However, much like projections for New York, most observers predict that it’s going to be a long, slow recovery.  Indeed, one can further predict that the eventual outcome will be quite different from pre-pandemic conditions in North American cities.

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Jun 16

Confirmed COVID Cases in U.S. and Canada Mean that the Pandemic is NOT OVER

by bcurry

The headlines today read: “U.S. Nears 600,000 Virus Deaths Despite Progress From Vaccines.”  As several states, including California and New York state, are in the process of reopening, experts are warning the Americans still have a ways to go to get COVID-19 fully under control.  Data shows that about 362 people across the U.S. are still dying from the coronavirus each day.  What’s worrisome is that about half of coronavirus deaths at the end of May were made up of people ages 50 to 74, compared with a third of the total deaths in December.  Many of those hospitalized are younger than in the past, some of whom had not been vaccinated.  Vaccine hesitancy is still a lingering problem.  Nevertheless, about 44 percent of the U.S. population — about 145 million people — is fully vaccinated.  Fortunately, widely available vaccines have played the central role in slowing the death rate.  However, vaccines without continuing precautions such as masking and physical distancing may not be sufficient enough to finally control coronavirus outbreaks.  Only time will tell.  I’m not hopeful.

As of June 15, 2021, the U.S. had had a total of over 33 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, a relatively high number when compared to global numbers.  As of June 16, 2021, there have been 176,156,662 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the world, including 3,815,486 deaths, reported to the World Health Organization (WHO).  On June 15th, there were about 11,180 confirmed daily cases in U.S.   Compare that to 7,600 cases in U.K., 1390 in Italy, 407 in France, 650 in Germany, 1175 in Mexico and 806 cases in Canada.

Everyone recognizes that so-called COVID fatigue is a real thing and that certain sectors of the economy have suffered more during the pandemic, especially in light of necessary lockdown measures.  One can feel the tension in the air and people’s desire to return to some form of normalcy.  Yet new more deadly variants continue to emerge, including the so-called Delta variant which is now being transmitted in North America.  One has to remember that the sole objective of a virus is to replicate.  The more unvaccinated and vulnerable persons available to infect, the virus will continue to mutate.  Most experts believe the sooner that we get more people, including children, fully vaccinated, the better are our chances to limit the further spread of variants.  This is a simple scientific fact that people have to come to recognize.  Forget nonsensical conspiracy theories and abundant misinformation about being vaccinated. 

The fact of the matter is that there is now little chance that Americans and Canadians will ever achieve so-called “herd immunity”.  Simply put, any herd-immunity threshold is looking unlikely because of factors such as vaccine hesitancy, the challenge of the unevenness of vaccine roll-outs, the emergence of new variants and the delayed arrival of vaccinations for children.  COVID will be with us in one form or another for some time, just like seasonal flue strains.  It may very well be that in order to have immunity, many of us, especially the elderly and those with underlying health conditions, will have no choice but to have COVID-type vaccines in the future.  Remember that we are fortunately living in North America with all our health care and pharmaceutical capabilities, unlike what one finds in Third World countries.  Failing to deal quickly with this health issue in the global context will have grave consequences for all of us.  After all, no one wants to be just another statistic!

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Jun 8

Why the Shortage of Labour Will Be a Likely Issue in the Short-term for Certain Sectors

by bcurry

I was surprised somewhat to read that more than 4 million Americans are going to be cut off from federal provided jobless benefits in the next few weeks.  Apparently, 25 states, all led by Republicans, decided to halt some or all emergency benefits months ahead of schedule.  It appears that some business owners and managers have argued that the assistance income, which enabled people to pay rent and buy groceries when much of the economy was shut down, is now dissuading them from applying for jobs.  Many of the businesses affected are in the service and hospitality sectors.  However, the current reluctance or unavailability of workers to return to work can easily be explained by a number of evident factors.

Firstly, since March of 2020, lockdowns imposed by states and cities greatly affected restaurants, bars, clubs, etc. which are comprised often of low-paying employment.  During the past year, many former employees chose to look for other employment, especially attracted by higher wages and benefits offered by bigger employers, like Amazon and Wal-Mart, who continued to rake in the money as a result of on-line purchases and increased customer needs during the lockdowns.  Entry-level workers in service, hospitality and recreational sectors typically earned about $10 to $12 an hour.  These days, as noted by many small-business owners, anyone paying that rate risks losing workers to employers like Amazon where starting pay is $15 an hour.  On top of which, inflationary trends are on the increase.

Secondly, in the short-term with the quick opening of many businesses, it can be expected that employers will face a sudden increased demand for experienced workers.  This will probably force some businesses to offer higher wages in order to attract workers, which some have shown a reluctance to do so because of economic uncertainties.  Higher wages however have already benefited students who are looking for summer employment, especially in the recreational and tourism sectors.

Thirdly, the pandemic is anything but over.  In the U.S., an average of 15,000 new cases and more than 400 related deaths are being reported daily across the country.  Barely 40 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated.  Among those Americans receiving assistance, there are those who have underlying health conditions or have members of their families who are vulnerable to COVID-19.  Needless-to-say, these workers are reluctant to return to work under the current circumstances, especially where masks and physical distancing aren’t required at work.

Finally, women have been especially affected by the lost of employment in these sectors during the past year.  The biggest issue for those with families is the lack of affordable and safe child and elder care.  This was a pre-pandemic and will remain a major post-pandemic problem.

It’s unfortunate that Republicans have chosen to push their argument that pandemic jobless relief is hindering the U.S. recovery.  The crazy thing is that the balk of income and unemployment assistance is being paid for by the Feds.  Let’s face reality, there will be normal delays associated with reopening a mammoth economy.  It’s simply too soon to pressure individuals facing several obvious hurdles to obtain work at this time.  In their hurry to remove health-related restrictions and in the face of potential new variants, states and cities are risking the possibility of incurring a fourth wave of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations — this time primarily among younger people who appear hesitant to get vaccinated.  Will there be a consequent need for future lockdowns?  Let’s hope not!  Only time will tell.  In the meantime, these unfortunate people continue to need our help.

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