{"id":4250,"date":"2020-11-18T18:07:26","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T18:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=4250"},"modified":"2022-03-21T01:43:29","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T01:43:29","slug":"holiday-hodgepodge-lights-health-pandemic-paranoia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/holiday-hodgepodge-lights-health-pandemic-paranoia\/","title":{"rendered":"Holiday Hodgepodge: Lights, Health, Pandemic Paranoia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/minnesotasnewcountry.com\/osakis-hosting-holiday-light-parade\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20201109ff\/20201117-OsakisLightsParade-Untitled-design-2020-11-16T194712-334-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/minnesotasnewcountry.com\/osakis-hosting-holiday-light-parade\/\">Osakis Hosting Holiday Light Parade<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nAbbeyOnAir, 98.1 &#8211; Minnesota&#8217;s New Country (November 17, 2020)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;Tractors, lawnmowers, golf carts, cars, any vehicle you can decorate is welcome to be part of this festive holiday event&#8230;.&#8221;<br \/>\n(photo by Isaac Schweer)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Osakis Chamber of Commerce parade sounds like a good idea. Provided that they take pandemic-related precautions to keep folks comparatively safe. I&#8217;m guessing that this year&#8217;s sidewalk watchers will be spread out more, and wearing face masks.<\/p>\n<p>But I won&#8217;t be going. Even though Osakis is only 20 minutes down the road. Standing on a central Minnesota sidewalk after sundown in early December isn&#8217;t my idea of a good time.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>The COVID-19 pandemic is still around, and making a difference. Maybe that&#8217;s this post&#8217;s unifying idea:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/holiday-hodgepodge-lights-health-pandemic-paranoia\/#macys\">Macy&#8217;s Parade<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/holiday-hodgepodge-lights-health-pandemic-paranoia\/#news\">News: Good and Sort-of-Good<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/holiday-hodgepodge-lights-health-pandemic-paranoia\/#rampantly\">Rampantly Raging Death and Dramatic Drumbeats<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/holiday-hodgepodge-lights-health-pandemic-paranoia\/#mondays\">Monday&#8217;s Death Toll in Rural Minnesota<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/holiday-hodgepodge-lights-health-pandemic-paranoia\/#speculation\">Speculation and a Serious Subject<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/holiday-hodgepodge-lights-health-pandemic-paranoia\/#streaming\">Streaming Together for Thanksgiving<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/holiday-hodgepodge-lights-health-pandemic-paranoia\/#sound\">Sound, Fury and the Usual Paranoia<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<h4><a name=\"macys\"><\/a>Macy&#8217;s Parade<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/christmas-octaves-and-history\/#for\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20181127ff\/20181126-Mallard-Edison-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>I&#8217;m not sure how Macy&#8217;s and NBC plan to have their Thanksgiving Day parade &#8220;live from 34th Street.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Not in detail, that is. I&#8217;ve read that Macy&#8217;s will be setting up balloon-towing vehicles for a promenade around Herald Square in New York City.<\/p>\n<p>The Macy&#8217;s website is long on assurance, short on details. What I saw of it, at any rate:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.macys.com\/social\/parade\/\">Macy&#8217;s Thanksgiving Day Parade<\/a><br \/>\nLET&#8217;S CELEBRATE TOGETHER\u2014AT HOME!<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;Since we aren&#8217;t marching down the streets of NYC this year, the only place to see all the performances, gigantic balloons &amp; fabulous floats is from the comfort &amp; safety of your home.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h4><a name=\"news\"><\/a>News: Good and Sort-of-Good<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/back-from-the-hospital-the-masked-minnesotan-rides-again\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20200519ff\/20200902-BackHome-DSC08852-329.JPG?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"The Masked Minnesotan Rides Again\" align=\"right\"><\/a>I got good news this week. Lab results said that my A1c number is significantly lower than it was three months ago.<\/p>\n<p>And, this is the good news part, it&#8217;s in the normal range.<\/p>\n<p>Among other things, that means there will be no change in my medications.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s not exactly good news, since I&#8217;d prefer not having more than a half-dozen prescription bottles on my desk.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, no change in meds means that my smorgasbord of health problems hasn&#8217;t added a buffet or salad bar.<\/p>\n<p>Our family doctor said he wanted to keep me out of the clinic for the next six months. Seems that he&#8217;s expecting issues related to COVID-19 over the winter.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;d say he has a reasonable concern. The COVID-19 pandemic hasn&#8217;t stopped. Two promising vaccines may or may not be useful. And America&#8217;s holiday season will be interesting this year.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"rampantly\"><\/a>Rampantly Raging Death and Dramatic Drumbeats<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.state.mn.us\/diseases\/coronavirus\/situation.html\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20201109ff\/20201118-5deathgraph-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From Minnesota Department of Health, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(Minnesota deaths related to COVID-19, March 21-November 18, 2020.)<\/p>\n<p>As of today, 2,961 folks have died from COVID-19, and 49 may have died as a result of the disease. That&#8217;s not happy news. Neither is what looks like the start of a second wave.<\/p>\n<p>I think having the data publicly available and online is a good idea.<\/p>\n<p>As for what public officials and Minnesota Public Radio are saying \u2014<\/p>\n<p>My hat&#8217;s off to Minnesota&#8217;s Governor Walz and MPR, for adding drama to my news feed.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mprnews.org\/story\/2020\/11\/17\/latest-on-covid-in-mn\">Latest on COVID-19 in MN: &#8216;Darkest part of this pandemic&#8217;<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nMPR (Minnesota Public Radio) News (November 17, 2020)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;the disease&#8217;s <strong>rampant,<\/strong> accelerating spread is forcing the hand of public health officials. By Thanksgiving, Minnesota could be seeing more than 10,000 new cases reported daily, Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm told reporters&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;<strong>With COVID-19 raging<\/strong> now, Walz and public health authorities made it clear that the current situation is worsening as the virus runs largely unabated across the state&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;&#8217;It is no secret that the country, and especially <strong>the Upper Midwest, is in the grips of the darkest part of this pandemic,<\/strong>&#8216; Walz told reporters Monday, hours after the Health Department reported more grim data on the state&#8217;s accelerating pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;While the governor expressed hope of a &#8216;light at the end of the tunnel&#8217; amid news of effective vaccines on the way, he acknowledged <strong>the drumbeat of cases,<\/strong> hospitalizations and deaths will continue&#8230;.&#8221;<br \/>\n[emphasis mine]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h5><a name=\"mondays\"><\/a>Monday&#8217;s Death Toll in Rural Minnesota<\/h5>\n<p>In sharp contrast, Lakeland Broadcasting&#8217;s update had all the pizazz of a weather report.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.willmarradio.com\/covid19\/covid-19-related-deaths-reported-in-chippewa-swift-and-stearns-counties\/article_b77c8a2e-280d-11eb-89b7-d396d5e4ab06.html\">COVID-19-related deaths reported in Chippewa, Swift and Stearns Counties<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nJP Cola, Lakeland Broadcasting (November 16, 2020)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;Statewide there were 31 more deaths reported to the Minnesota Department of Health, putting the state&#8217;s death toll now at 2905.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As for additional cases of coronavirus, there were 7559 reported in Minnesota Sunday. The state&#8217;s total is now at 223,581, and of that number, 172,873 have recovered. There was also a record number of test results reported, just over 60,300&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;m not sure what accounts for the difference in tone.<\/p>\n<h5><a name=\"speculation\"><\/a>Speculation and a Serious Subject<\/h5>\n<p>Maybe Minnesota&#8217;s governor and other public officials figure we won&#8217;t pay attention unless they get us riled up. Or assume that we can&#8217;t act rationally unless we&#8217;re scared silly.<\/p>\n<p>Or maybe the Governor&#8217;s and MPR&#8217;s rampant, raging drumbeat is simply the way city folks express themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Living in an increasingly diverse country, I&#8217;ve learned to accept cultural differences. And that&#8217;s another topic.<\/p>\n<p>Or maybe not so much. I&#8217;ll grant that emotion, particularly fear, is a powerful motivator.<\/p>\n<p>But I strongly suspect, and hope, that most of us don&#8217;t want to spread a potentially-lethal disease. And I think many of us can understand common-sense advice.<\/p>\n<p>I also think we can act sensibly. Which is arguably easier, if experts and authority figures aren&#8217;t trying to frighten us into using our brains.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"streaming\"><\/a>Streaming Together for Thanksgiving<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/daily-life-coping\/holidays\/thanksgiving.html\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20201109ff\/20201117-virtual_meal-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From CDC, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(Here&#8217;s an idea, from the CDC: have a virtual Thanksgiving Day meal.)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/thanksgiving-and-being-thankful\/#pilgrims\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20190916ff\/20191126-472px-Freedom_From_Want_-_NARA_-_513539-trim-2-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Norman Rockwell's 'Freedom From Want' painting.\" align=\"right\"><\/a>I don&#8217;t envy public health officials.<\/p>\n<p>Particularly when doing their job includes telling folks that a traditional family get-together is a bad idea.<\/p>\n<p>The last I heard, Thanksgiving is still a time when many American families gather.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a joyful and\/or stressful holiday, depending on family dynamics.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s also, this year, a chance for college kids to infect everyone else. Or get infected.<\/p>\n<p>Not that college students are more likely than anyone else to desire disease and death for those closest to them.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t envy students who will be choosing between staying in a dubiously-disinfected dormitory and risking the welfare of their siblings, parents, grandparents and other kin.<\/p>\n<p>This year&#8217;s Halloween was very quiet here in Sauk Centre. My guess is that Thanksgiving will be, too.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"sound\"><\/a>Sound, Fury and the Usual Paranoia<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/election-year-weirdness-an-american-tradition\/#maybe\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170721ff\/20170720-Great_Seal_of_the_United_States_reverse-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Great Seal of the United States, reverse side, colorized.\" align=\"right\"><\/a>Maybe I&#8217;d achieve fame, of a sort, by passing along fervent warnings that <strong>THEY<\/strong> are plotting to <strong>CONTROL<\/strong> us with face masks.<\/p>\n<p>Or that COVID-19 vaccines are really a sinister means to <strong>REWRITE OUR RNA<\/strong>: no doubt with <strong>nefarious intent!!!!!!!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>But I won&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>Even though I saw &#8216;face mask&#8217; and &#8216;RNA&#8217; warnings this week.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s quite enough sound and fury online, without me adding to the mess.<\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;RNA&#8221; thing has potential to become a popular conspiracy theory&#8217;s centerpiece.<\/p>\n<p>Two promising COVID-19 vaccines actually do use messenger RNA. If or when they&#8217;re approved, they&#8217;ll be the first of their kind passed by the FDA.<\/p>\n<p>I probably won&#8217;t take time to delve into the practicality of mind control through face masks. Honestly, that&#8217;d be weird even by Japanese monster movie standards.<\/p>\n<p>But I might talk about the allegedly-malevolent messenger RNA thing. There&#8217;s interesting science involved.<\/p>\n<p>Not-entirely-unrelated posts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/halloween-covid-19-wolfgangs-axe-and-apple-bobbing\/\">Halloween, COVID-19, Wolfgang\u2019s Axe and Apple Bobbing<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(October 31, 2020)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/election-year-weirdness-an-american-tradition\/\">Election-Year Weirdness: An American Tradition<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(October 21, 2020)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/back-from-the-hospital-the-masked-minnesotan-rides-again\/\">Back from the Hospital: The Masked Minnesotan Rides Again<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(October 5, 2020)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/pandemic-perspectives\/\">Pandemic Perspectives<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(March 31, 2020)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/thanksgiving-and-being-thankful\/\">Thanksgiving and Being Thankful<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(November 27, 2019)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Osakis Hosting Holiday Light Parade&#8221; AbbeyOnAir, 98.1 &#8211; Minnesota&#8217;s New Country (November 17, 2020) &#8220;&#8230;Tractors, lawnmowers, golf carts, cars, any vehicle you can decorate is welcome to be part of this festive holiday event&#8230;.&#8221; (photo by Isaac Schweer) The Osakis &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/holiday-hodgepodge-lights-health-pandemic-paranoia\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[199,200,8,90,29,194,142],"class_list":["post-4250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-health","tag-holidays","tag-medicine","tag-minnesota","tag-thanksgiving-day"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Dwtw-16y","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4250"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5792,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4250\/revisions\/5792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}