Life in the Age of Corona

A Daily Diary

Sunday, June 7th, 2020

Vigil

What a perfect Sunday.

Started with coffee in bed and the news scan followed by a shared coffee catch up with my friend Lisa in Austria for which I moved to the garden couch. We ended up not going to check out the National Park with the unguarded swimable lake, mainly because EM had school work. Not that any work got done before 11:30 or so. Then it turned out her computer would not start. It just stayed black. So we spend another hour trying to figure out how/ if Apple could fix it. Of course all Apple stores are closed. The help line suggested a repair would cost USD 350 with uncertain outcome. So now she is researching how to get the data of the machine and potentially at using that stimulus money she was given to purchase a new laptop. In the meantime, she is using mine. Of course, such things have to happen in the middle of a pandemic with all shops closed!

Speaking of pandemic, the world knows of 6.98 million cases and global deaths have surpassed the 400k mark. Over the past week numbers seem to have increased less in the USA, with new spikes expected over coming weeks as people relax and the pandemic is no longer the chief concern, mainly driven by people’s desire to move on. Currently increases are predominantly in areas populated by denser hsoueholds. Living in large households however leads to higher infections and death. China figured this out early on and moved sick people to quarantine facilities. This is being tried in the US, but with rather limited success 

Research in Israel, China, France and Germany seems to indicated that smokers are less at risk of getting COVID. As if I would need an excuse, here it is. Additional research has also been conducted into the longevity the virus has and it appears that it can live in parts of neuron cells much longer than initially assumed. This may be positive as it would lead to increased immunity being build up as the body will not destroy neuron cells, but will be producing antibodies. Lastly, discussions around testing are focusing on making tests available on demand because people may want to see vulnerable family members. If people could get tested without symptoms to safely meet family or as a prerequisite to long haul travel it may make our world a little bigger again. 

Three are continued concerns over new spikes as protests around the USA continue and have spread to many smaller cities. Our Hood had a vigil tonight which was very moving. People congregated on the Westbrook School Filed and rang bells for 8 minutes and 46 seconds followed by a minute of silence. The turn out was a little less than we had hoped for. And one individual protested the entire vigil by playing basket ball on the court by himself bouncing the ball and hitting the net throughout, even the minute of silence. This was not taken well. While everyone recognized the right to disagree with such a vigil the general sentiment was that the man was being disrespectful. I tend to agree with that. Despite all, it was moving and surprising how long 9 minutes and 46 seconds are. Other neighborhoods are also supporting their members.

I found it uplifting to read that 75 people came out to accompany one of their neighbors of color on a walk when he disclosed he was afraid to walk in a largely affluent white neighborhood after there had been posts on the Next Door App for people to be diligent about potential “black men” aka criminals showing up.

The protests seem to have an effect, many cities are now taking action.  So taking the risk of getting infected is at least making a difference.

While we did not go to the national park, we did manage to head to Alexandria and spend two beautiful hours on the water. We had great wind and enjoyed the early evening sun whizzing across the Potomac.

Life is good, albeit confined.