WaPo reports that some people were getting action while the rest of us were getting screwed during the government shutdown.
No one liked the government shutdown, but apparently, it wasn’t without love. The kind of love that transpires when, say, you and your partner both don’t have to go to work. One week passes. Then two. You’re bored. You’re adults. You share a bed.
And nine months later, there you are at a hospital that seems strangely overcrowded.
McClatchy continues:
For years, the weather has been a scapegoat for allegedly causing cabin-fever induced spikes in births, and now some in the Washington area are pointing to Congress to explain packed maternity wards at several local hospitals.
The federal government shutdown, which occurred last Oct. 1 to Oct. 16, sent roughly 800,000 federal workers home during that period. In addition, more than 1 million employees were required to work without pay. Congress later restored pay for all the federal workers.
Somehow, I think the one million that were required to work without pay didn't experience the same
love that the 800,000 furloughed workers got.
STATISTICS
Sibley Memorial Hospital: 9.2 births per day average, up by 30%
Anne Arundel Medical Center: 17.6 births per day the first half of July 2013 up to 25.6 in the first half of July 2014, up by 45%
Other DC area hospitals show an increase as well.
This should have very little statistical affect around the country, but some DC/MD/VA elementary schools may need extra Kindergarten classes in 2018.
Perhaps if Congress used birth control passed a budget next time...