263

That's how many lives in Savannah, Georgia, have been lost to COVID since the first person in the USA was diagnosed as infected by SARS-CoV-2 on January 21, 2020.

I have known two of those people, one from my extended family (Lee MacEwen), one from my classmates at Jenkins High (Janice Hammock Johnson).

In addition, I have known three people who were infected but recovered.

Now that the Moderna vaccine is available here, I know one person - Cathy MacGowan, a fellow professor - who has been fortunate enough to snag a shot when someone else canceled at the last minute.

The most surprising thing, to me, is that I have not known more people in those three categories, especially as rampant as the disease has been in the Peach State.

That dark blue line with the squares? That's the number of new cases per week for Georgia, seen here rising to greater heights than during the November election. That's because of the Senate run-off election, in which more people voted than had in the General Election.

Yes, that's right: more people voted for the two Senate seats than had for the President.

Because of that bit of lunacy, Georgia has had more than sixty thousand new cases per week for three weeks now. 

Yes, I said Georgia.

I would expect such shenanigans from Texas, the brown lead dog with the triangular spots; they just flat don't follow instructions.

I would even expect those exorbitant numbers from orange-laden Florida, home of theme parks and other tourist draws, during the holidays and regular days.

As for sunny California, I had to omit their data from this graph, else it would have so swamped out the numbers that nothing useful could have been discerned.

But, such ridiculous values from Georgia?

Then again, given the R-rated, ultraviolent, political ads during family and children's Christmas programs, I guess it was to be expected that the voters would turn out in droves, driven from their homes by the threat of being thought un-American if they did not go to the polls.

At least Michigan's dark green triangles and Tennessee's dark blue circles are both shifting in a continuous downward direction.

Surely Georgia will follow their lead, soon.

Mask up, y'all.

Wash your hands well and often.

Keep your alligators patrolling your perimeter.

We can do this, together.

Tonight, I will be participating in the honoring of those who have died from COVID.

I'll be standing on my porch, light on at 5:30 PM, ringing every bell I own.

I already have them at the door, waiting to be sounded.

Now, though, I need to do laundry, then go to the grocery store.

Chores still need to be done, maintaining the groove, pandemic or not.

In a way, that's reassuring.