Monday, June 15th, 2020
Today was an altogether pleasant summer day. Cool, sunny a little bit cloudy but nice to be outside; though I spend most of the day working from my office with all three windows open rather than the garden as first it felt to chilly to be there and then to sunny to see the laptop screen. When finally, I did migrate outside Jennifer felt compelled to mow the lawn, so I fled to the local hardware store to replenish our carbon cartridges for the soda stream. How enjoyable to take the convertible for a spin, albeit a short one. People are diligently wearing masks in all establishments and I acquired two new ones while at the local tailor/ dry cleaner to whom I had taken two pairs of pants to take in. I am, however, not sure when I shall wear them again as they are part of the formal work clothes for travel to tropic countries. And who knows when that will next happen. I was devasted to learn that hardware stores should be avoided after reading an article about where to go and what to skip. I love going to hardware stores! I can spend hours browsing there. Today in addition to the carbon cartridges I picked up a tool to take out the silicon lining around the bath tub as I am planning to redo that. What I currently have I feel is badly done. I also found an extra long i-phone charging cable and some rubber squares to put underneath the feet of my bed so it stops sliding on the hardwood floors. Sigh, I will need to now limit visits to Strosniders and am a little sadden by the prospect.
Pools also feature high on the list, though based on all the research I have done it is not the water that constitutes the problem. Also unwelcome news seeing today starts phase 2 of reopening in Montgomery County, which includes outdoor pools. I have been desperate to swim. I figure if I will just pop in, swim my laps and leave without touching anything and I should be fine.
Did not respond to the text my brilliant friend send me yesterday, just to receive another one today. “I don’t know what will kill me first, cancer, ulcerative colitis, the virus, the police or the worry of it all”. I am at a loss of what to make of it and have very mixed emotions. To mind comes a very ungenerous thought of “drama queen”, followed by “thank you for asking, I am keeping well” or "if you want to knwo what I think go to www.gloablnomaddc.com" and “what do you expect, compassion from someone you have opted to ignore for 90 days?”. Seeing I am at a loss for words I may well choose silence or alternatively send the timeline on what I believe may well have been my COVID journey, although the antibody test says I did not have it. Still I am convinced that is what my January ailment was.
News on the virus front is still depressing. Numbers continue to increase especially in the so called “sun belt” of the USA. Some States are rolling back reopening, so there is some sanity out there. Nonetheless, today saw an increase of 21k cases in this country and deaths are currently at 118k. Cases reported worldwide have breached the 8 million mark.
Amid rising new infections and hospitalizations Texas now has a new Corona policy: self-responsibility. Let’s see how well that will work in a country where people haul out the guns to protest their right to go to a hairdresser. And not to wear masks. This policy is however consistent with the underlying fabric of the US and the deeply rooted believe that every individual is responsible for everything concerning them. It is probably safe to assume that in the same spirit once the self-responsible fall ill, they are also self-responsible for recovery, cure and all. Sadly infection risk is communal; if you choose not to wear a mask, you put everyone around you at risk of being killed by you. Somehow people do not seem to grasp this rather simple concept. In the meantime scientists the world over are learning more and more about the virus.
And now Polio vaccines are thought to be a potential remedy. I wonder about that, as certainly my generation all were immunized and clearly we are not immune to Corona.
I have not read a thing on TBC vaccines and COVID-19 in a while, which is surprising since there was research into the relation of TBC immunizations and the ability to fend of Corona because of it. However, there appears to be a correlation between immune system response and humidity. The higher the humidity less likely the virus is able to spread research shows. This has interesting implications for climate control in offices for instance. I do query this research though as the virus has been able to spread in countries with high humidity, just look at Mumbai in India for example. Likewise Pakistan is reporting 100k new cases with hospitals reaching their limits.
China has an interesting way to manage imported virus cases. Critical is testing on arrival. This could be one of the ways to revive air travel as no one will consider a two week quarantine upon arrival. Since travel has defined my entire life I am somewhat obsessed with this topic. I so want to be able to go see mum or my Cape Town home. On that note, I have a booking for November through February and my potential guest just wrote to ask if travel will be possible. This had me look into current RSA travel restrictions and it seems Germany is on the banned list. This strikes me as strange as German seems to have managed the Virus very well with infection rates below 200 for the entire nation.