Good morning! It’s 2022.
If you aren’t vaccinated, please consider the vaccine. If you’re vaccinated but have held off on getting boosted, don’t delay. And good news: everyone age 12 and up is now eligible for a booster 6 months after their second dose! See, COVID is no joke, and this omicron variant is ragingly contagious. If you want out schools to stay open — which they won’t if there aren’t enough healthy teachers and custodians and bus drivers and lunch workers — you’ll get vaccinated, just like the Governor is vaccinated and the attorney general and the current president and the previous president. They are all vaccinated, and you should be, too.
- We don’t know precisely how many new COVID cases there are in Georgia since Friday, since the amount of data trying to be uploaded apparently overwhelmed the DPH system. I’ll tell you what we do know, though, and what we do know is that whatever that number is (and we should know by 3 PM today), it’s a fraction of how many cases there actually are, since the official DPH tally does not include positive home tests.
- An Atlanta area resident who claims that storming the Capitol last January 6 was his “best birthday ever” is apparently not that bright in addition to being seditious, since everyone knows that if you are lucky enough to be born on January 6, you celebrate your Epiphany birthday with king cake, the way God intended, and not, you know, trying to overthrow our democracy.
- Speaking of not having enough bus drivers to get all the kids to school, that’s happening in Chatham County.
- In the waning hours of 2021, Governor Kemp (who is fully vaccinated, just gonna say that again, and you should also get vaccinated) signed the new Congressional and General Assembly maps. Here’s more information on the lawsuits that were immediately filed.
- Atlanta has a new mayor!
- The 2022 legislative session kicks off on Sunday night with the annual Wild Hog Supper, which will once again be held in-person. Here’s a list of other notable session events.
- “I dId My oWn rEaSeaRcH” and why, if that’s your plan, maybe proceed with caution.