As Covid numbers grow, confusion over vaccines, schools

Britain ended a week where 50,000 new daily cases of the virus has now become the norm amid widespread confusion over the plan for vaccine distribution and uncertainty over whether schools should be re-opening.

Even as the Oxford-Astra Zeneca vaccine was approved – it will be rolled out starting on Monday – the government appeared to change its approach on administering patients’ second shot. The British Medical Journal, meanwhile, called on the New York Times to correct a story saying that official UK guidelines now allowed for the two available vaccines to be mixed.

With the NHS increasingly under pressure, more stories of frustration have emerged, recounted by exhausted frontline staff.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday morning that still tougher restrictions could be on the way amid concerns over the new, more rapidly-transmissible variant.

Meanwhile, as the PM encouraged parents to send their children back to school where available, there are worsening disputes between teachers and the government, with unions calling for Education Secretary Gavin Williamson to explain the reasoning behind his schools policy .

Here in Northern Ireland, where case numbers continue to increase despite the current six-week lockdown, planned school re-openings were delayed by a week and even with selection tests set to go ahead from next weekend, First Minister Arlene Foster said she could not guarantee that pupils would be able to return on January 11th.

See Also:

The Covid-19 Vaccine Explained

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Britain adjusts to life outside the EU 

With Brexit taking effect on New Year’s Eve, the UK is adjusting to a new relationship with the European Union, but interactions with her continental neighbours are inevitably set to dominate politics for years to come, not to mention the internal politics and power structures of Britain’s two major parties.

Northern Ireland’s Centenary year, meanwhile, kicked off with an understandably urgent focus on the uncertain economic impact of Brexit and what it would mean for local businesses. 

But the political implications of such a potentially seismic constitutional shift are never far from the surface.

Alex Kane wrote in the Irish Times that “The North is now, arguably, in a weaker constitutional position than at any time since 1921.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Kane writes, “has shifted the North from its “place apart” status into the much more precarious position of becoming the constitutional equivalent of a granny flat.”

See Also:

Reinforcing Northern Ireland’s In-Betweenness

An End In Sight to Northern Ireland’s Economic Purgatory?

A Pocket History of Northern Ireland

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US braces for turbulent week

The pandemic is also the inevitable perpetual backdrop to all other societal activities in the United States, where there too issues have arisen surrounding vaccinations, with numbers receiving the vaccine falling far short of government targets.

In a lengthy and detailed piece for the New Yorker, Lawrence Wright tracks the development of the virus through 2020, and the response to it by the medical community and the Trump administration. He writes:

“Some anti-maskers called the coronavirus a hoax; others believed that it wasn’t all that dangerous. But the image of the maskless President spoke to people, especially his base. He appeared defiant, masculine, invulnerable. He knew that the virus was dangerous—“more deadly than even your strenuous flus,” as he told Bob Woodward, in a February interview that surfaced months later. Yet he dared the virus to touch him, like Lear raging against the storm.

“Tens of millions of Americans emulated the President’s bravado, and the unchecked virus prolonged unemployment, upended efforts to reopen the economy, and caused many more fatalities. “I’m not buying a f*cking mask,” Richard Rose, a thirty-seven-year-old Army veteran from Ohio, posted on Facebook. “I’ve made it this far by not buying into that damn hype.” He tested positive on July 1st and died three days later. There are many similar stories.”

And as he has done for so many weeks over the past five years, Donald Trump will again invariably dominate this coming week, as he continues to refuse to concede the presidency to Joe Biden and rallies his forces for what are certain to be unpredictable and potentially dangerous final days.

Tuesday sees the two much-anticipated run-off elections in the state of Georgia which will determine control of the Senate. Democrats need to win both of the seats to allow Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris to become the casting vote in the upper chamber. If they lose either, the Republicans retain control and enacting any of the incoming administration’s agenda becomes significantly more difficult. 

Democratic organisers have been encouraged by early turnout numbers, but remain worried by the Republicans’ record-breaking financial resources. President Trump will hold a rally in the state on Monday evening.

Whatever the outcome in Georgia, potentially more worrying events – constitutionally and for public order – could unfold in Washington DC on Wednesday, when Congress assembles to certify the state-by-state results of the presidential election and each state’s participation in the Electoral College.

More than 100 House members and a dozen Senators have said they will object to the confirmation of Biden’s victory, potentially disrupting the final formal chapter in the transition of power.

But on Sunday evening, the election’s final act took a strange turn, when the Washington Post released a tape of a conversation that took place on Saturday between Trump and Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which the President urges Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn his defeat.

For good measure, this weekend is also the one-year anniversary of the Trump-ordered assassination of Iranian General Qasem Suleimani, with tensions high in the region.

See Also:

Trump’s Iran Move Upends The Chess Board

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Argentina poised to legalize abortion

After a campaign lasting several years, Pope Francis’s native Argentina became the largest nation in Latin America to legalize elective abortion, when its Senate passed a bill 38-29 following a 12-hour session. The measure had been an election pledge by President Alberto Fernandez, who will sign it into law in coming days.

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Landslide in Norway, Earthquake in Croatia

Two natural disasters struck at opposite ends of Europe this week. On Wednesday night a landslide in Norway, described as the worst in the country’s history, caused a large sinkhole and shook the village of Gjerdrum near the capital Oslo. While thankfully no-one was initially reported killed, several people were unaccounted for and many more evacuated. 

Earlier in the week, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck the Croatian town of Petrinja, southeast of the capital Zagreb, on Tuesday, destroying half the town and killing at least 7 people, including a 12-year-old girl.

The main quake, which was felt as far away as Vienna in Austria, occurred as the town’s Mayor was giving a press conference to comment on a lesser shock the previous day, while strong aftershocks caused further damage.

Also published on Medium.