It is November 15 - the supplemental UI benefits of the CARES Act lapsed at end of July. The saving for that unemployed households were able to accumulate w stimulus checks and more generous UI benefits has been tapped. They are running on fumes.

More than 11 million still officially classified as unemployed - millions have dropped out of labor force since Feb, mostly women to care for children on line. The ranks of those who have had to accept a part time instead of full time job are swelling.

The ranks of those who have been unemp more than 27 weeks are rising. At six months unem, we reach a tipping point where wounds triggered by covid and scars become more permanent. Mental and physical health suffer - COVID exacerbate - families break apart, the well-being of ...

Children is compromised and communities hit hardest deteriorate. A vicious cycle takes hold. Disparities in race, gender and age rise. Black and Hispanic millennial and Gen z women hit hardest but not alone. Life time earnings dealt a blow, regardless of education.

Educational attainment compromised. Low wage households hardest hit. Some kids and young adults will drop out of school entirely. Saw this in wake of natural disasters incl hurricane Katrina and Maria.

Health care shows huge bias by race. Black people have a better chance of surviving if they are treated by a Black doctor than a white doctor. COVID has hit people of color. Don’t start w the comorbities - their health care was biased before COVID. Black women worst, reg educ.

Food insecurity - hunger - is intensifying. More people skipping rent or mortgage payments to pay for food. Yes, there are those of us ensconced on our homes, which makes the realities of a COVID world easier to ignor.

Will it feel more real when the economy slips into a double dip as it is in Europe? Will it feel more real if you lose someone to COVID or lose your job. I am not optimistic we can prevent that from happening now. Waiting for aid until the next president is sworn is repugnant.

I want try to focus on what we can do - and there is so very much, including wearing masks. But the window closed on that being enough for us. A 90% effective vaccine proves the advantage of science and technology but logistics are a nightmare; can’t cure what ails us fast enough

I am tired of being a broken record on the compounding need for aid to dress our wounds but will keep repeating myself, even as the scratches on the record of this era deepen. Yes it is now the COVID era. One for the historians to dissect and one for us to bear honest witness to.

Congress do something, anything, then do more! You have the advantage of an army people who are collaborating on a global scale to understand and fight this, something our forefathers in 1918 lacked. Leverage that wisdom before the toll mounts. Yes. I am begging.