By 18 February millions were still without electricity after a week of snowstorms, with more snow expected to sweep across the South and East in the coming days. An electricity supply crisis is forcing millions to endure days without power and heat. Ambulances in San Antonio were unable to meet the surging demand, and Galveston county called for refrigerated trucks to hold the bodies they expect to find in freezing, powerless houses. 31 bodies have been found so far. Texas has problems getting natural gas and renewable energy generators back online. It is not known when the power will be fully restored. Every source of power has been compromised. Several state agencies are uniting to meet the demands of nursing homes, hospitals and dialysis centers, which have reported a variety of problems including water main breaks and oxygen shortages. Over 300 warming centres provide blankets, cots and water to vulnerable citizens.

The ministry of health declared an Ebola epidemic in the N’Zerekore region of Guinea on 14 February, following seven confirmed cases and three deaths. US government agencies are closely monitoring the epidemic, and coordinating with the Guinea government, the World Health Organisation, and other partners to provide rapid, localised outbreak control. This outbreak follows a declaration of an outbreak on 7 February by the DRC’s minister of health. The previous West African outbreak in 2014-16 killed over 11,300. The source of infection is under investigation. It is important to monitor one’s health for 21 days after travelling to an area experiencing an Ebola outbreak.

February is Black History Month in the USA. Many Black Americans have mixed emotions during this month. Some feel happiness for the great successes Black Americans have made over the years. The other emotion is sadness, because of the movies and documentaries that reveal the horrors of American slavery, discrimination, and their unfair and unjust treatment for 400 years. Pray for this month to begin a powerful season for healing. (Ecclesiastes 3:3b). Pray for the damaged communities to begin to forgive each other and allow God to heal the mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual wounds. Pray for deliverance from all the pain that they and their ancestors have suffered over the years. In the UK, 14 February was Racial Justice Sunday, and the Archbishop of Canterbury wrote a prayer referring to ‘the sin of racism’ and how Jesus ‘broke down the walls that divide’. We can pray for all nations to be freed from prejudice, and the violence of racist words and actions.

The current president's strategy for handling the former president's impeachment trial has been to keep the whole ordeal at arm's length. The Biden administration's long-term political fortunes rest on success in dealing with the pandemic, the economy and the American public's other concerns. In the end, the trial lasted only three days. The chamber can’t take up Biden's Covid relief bill until the House passes the version that they have spent the week working on. Pray that the much-needed relief is released swiftly. With the trial concluded, the Senate can now resume confirming Biden's administration appointments, after it returns from a week recess. Pray for wisdom to flow through all appointments yet to be made, and that the price of a speedy trial without witnesses will not mean a political price being paid later.