Thursday, July 16th, 2020
After a long time today is a low day again. Over the past 127 days I think this is the third, remarkably little when considering the circumstances of our lives. With phase 2 reopening in place in Maryland and Montgomery County, life has become noticeably better than the first 90 or so days.
I am as grateful for the ability to swim and for the two Aikido practices a week as I am for the limited social interactions we entertain with a select group of people, slowly widening, but always outside and six feet apart. And still I cannot help but feel down today. The Virus news is just depressing. While most countries in Europe have control over the situation and there is a semi normal life, news in the USA is just depressing, if anything the situation is getting worse, not better.
EM is making the best of it but is in tears when thinking of next school year, her senior year, and all that is likely not happening for her and her friends. No first day of school adorned with senior shirts they have spend so much time designing. No clubs, no sports, no prom, no graduation, just a long list of what will not be happening. Seeing her sad makes me sad. Instead of a carefree fun filled summer travelling through European cities checking out universities she is stuck, like the rest of us, in what is rapidly becoming the Virus nightmare of a country, with a people unable to abide by even the simplest social practices to reduce the spread and keep everyone safe.
The Atlantic had a great piece today on where the country is at. I cannot shake the feeling that many of the strict lock downs and their effects have been in vain as people rushed out of them. In some States it is getting very bad. Hospitals are even looking at shipping patients out of State as their hospitals are overflowing. We have heard and seen and read all of this before in April in New York and California. It seems no one has learned form those experiences. It is just too frustrating for words. It is all about peoples so called “freedom” now. While I value freedom, this cannot mean pure selfishness. Personal freedom ends when it impairs others. That is the reason why we have laws that govern society. Why is that so hard to understand?
Twitter today is exploding with news on the change in reporting effective as of today, where COVID-19 data is now reported directly to the WH There are concerns that this will lead to data manipulation on a massive scale, especially in light of increasing data showing that kids and teens testing positive. With the administration’s push to reopen schools this data is unlikely to be welcome news. Meanwhile the administration continues to push for schools to reopen, stating “science should not stand in the way”. This is taking ignorance to a new level entirely.
Given hospitals report to State health departments, there will still be a way to get the real numbers, it will just become harder. I trust Johns Hopkins will continue to aggregate data, and with that will probably become the go to source. Total infections worldwide are reported at 13.7 million. The USA reports a total of 3.53 million cases of which one third have recovered. At the same time the death toll is creeping up and shows 138k today.
The NYT is tracking treatments under development. There seems to be some progress on the front at least with now five known effective treatments.
With all the virus going on climate change seems to have been all but forgotten. But it is climate change and unsustainable economic growth and consumption which are in part to blame for viruses such as Corona appearing. It is time to act as summers could become 'too hot for humans'. Another frustrating aspect – the worlds inability to do what needs to be done to curb climate change and leave a habitable environment for our children.