274,932 deaths from Covid-19 so far in the United States alone. And death is far from the only side-effect of the disease. Those lucky enough to survive can face pulmonary complications, delirium, seizures, aphasia, tremor, delirium, and cognition disturbances. Patients who have been cured of the disease may still not be able to function in daily life at the time of their discharge. And yet there are idiots on the loose who advocate spreading the disease in the hopes that ordinary people will get used to it, and accept the deaths and disabilities as a cost of doing business.
Today is World AIDS Day, dedicated to combatting the pandemic and remembering the dead. (The dead include a member of my extended family, a guy named David, a television engineer who was active in the Portland-area arts and theatre community, among other things.) It is also Republic Day (Central African Republic), Freedom and Democracy Day (Chad), Military Abolition Day (Costa Rica), Fullveldisdagurinn (Iceland), First President Day (Kazakhstan), National Day (Myanmar), Rosa Parks Day (Ohio and Oregon), Teachers’ Day (Panama), Restoration of Independence Day (Portugal), Great Union Day (Romania), Battle of the Sinop Day (Russia), and Damrong Rajanubhab Day (Thailand). Famous people born today include Rex Stout (creator of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin) and Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky (creator of a non-Euclidean geometry).
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