CDC

Shadows at the Edges

Annie Searle

April 18, 2022

With spring comes optimism, including around the challenge of COVID. We see people returning to art exhibitions, sporting events, visiting the famous cherry blossoms on the University of Washington campus, even attending the annual Gridiron Dinner in Washington D.C., most without masks. Others are returning to movie theatres, or coming out for ceremonial events like weddings, and funerals.

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World Views

“Come what may, all bad fortune is to be conquered by endurance.” –Virgil

Annie Searle

December 14, 2020

I've been reading more about the sacrifices that Americans made without much hesitation during World War II. Many of those sacrifices can be traced to President Roosevelt’s powerful fireside chats (1933-1944), for which families gathered around a radio to listen.

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Politics

Coronavirus Pandemic, Month Six

Annie Searle

July 13, 2020

The absence of executive leadership to champion a plan to contain the coronavirus pandemic has cost this country dearly. As I write today, the Center for Disease Controls (CDC) reports 133,666 deaths, with 3,173,212 infected, a number that is up today by 66,281 new cases over yesterday. States with governors who took the CDC’s guidance on a phased, data-based approach to opening the economy back up have fared significantly better than states with governors who did not use data and opened their states early.

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Politics

Taking Systemic Risk to the Next Level

Annie Searle

June 18, 2020

As of June 14, the CDC reports that 115,271 Americans have died from the coronavirus. As time passes and we learn more about the virus, we know that the number of deaths as well as the number infected (2,063,812) are low because we were not testing everyone who has died since January, and our current testing programs are still marginal. Protest marches began after videos were published of the May 25 murder of George Floyd by four Minneapolis police officers and the February 23 killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was shot dead while jogging, which in turn resurrected the case of Breonna Taylor, killed in her own bed by police using a no-knock warrant and eight bullets in the middle of the night.