Thursday, August 6th, 2020
Today is the day we have been doing this #stayhome thing for twice as long as China. Wuhan was under strict lock down for 74 days and on day 75 gradually began opening up, one slow step at a time and by their day 148 life was completely back to normal.
Granted there is scary contact tracing going on with every Chinese basically mandated to have a tracking App which checks into whatever location they go to. This part to me is rather Orwellian and in a country with an autocratic regime the idea of everyone of my moves being monitored is terrifying at best.
Other countries show, contact tracing can be done with far less draconian methods. Even Singapore tracker, a device every Singaporean must wear and hand over to authorities if tested positive, seems less invasive; though it does bear some resemblance to the idea of implanting everyone with a microchip purported by some conspiracists as being the sinister plot behind the entire Virus.
Take Germany for example where data privacy is taken extremely seriously. The government has developed an App enabling people to see if they have been to a location where people have tested positive for the Virus.
But not only China, most of Europe, Oceania and Southeast Asia did not require 148 days to get things back to some semblance of normal by containing hot spots rather than the entire country.
In the meantime, there is no end in sight to the spread. While global infections are at 18.9 million, the USA has surpassed the 5 million mark. Likewise, death have reached 162k today. This description by a journalists about his family trip to Virgina beach is all the explanation one needs as to understand why. It pretty much mirrors our experience in Rohoboth, we just stayed clear of everyone. No dinning, no bar , no shopping. Instead we searched out lonely beaches and life revolved around our rental accommodation and the beach. And that is exactly what we will be doing in Lewis at the end of the month.
And if one needs more evidence as to why things are going so badly in America all one needs to do is look at reopening of schools in this case in Georgia. Much as we all want to resume a normal school routine, it is just not safe. Even though school districts in Georgia keep pushing. This particular school even reopened knowing there were students and faculty returning to school infected. Teachers even texted other teachers to say they tested positive. What did the school do? Nothing, except threaten disciplinary measure to anyone saying something negative about the school on social media. Burying one’s head in the sand is also a way to manage a pandemic, I guess.
As a result we are settling into what is likely the new normal in this country for years to come. Work from home, virtual school, the daily outing to the pool for a swim, outside weapons classes twice a week and the occasional social gathering with a select few. Never more than six at a time, typically only one other household. All social activities are happening outside. As the cold season invariably approaches, though that will still be a few months for us in DC, socializing will become problematic as the virus spreads faster in closed quarters.
For us socializing will remain limited to our pods, with exactly one family that we may also see inside. Also, I am not yet ready to forego our annual Christmas gathering so have ordered two outdoor heaters, to be wall mounted just above the seating areas, and a portable fire pit so we can gather outside (unless it is either freezing or wet or both). It will be very different but may turn out to be fun; more like a German Christmas market outing.
At least there is some more good news from research into the human immune systems. It seems the T-cells can learn to combat COVID-19 based on reactions to other Corona viruses, which results in COVID-19 making some people less susceptible to developing severe symptoms.
Sadly there is no reason to be overly optimistic on a vaccine. It is a long process to develop and license. Meanwhile in Russia scientists are injecting themselves and their families with a vaccine they developed and claim is safe.
Possibly the one positive outcome for households across the nation is the trend to declutter as people want more space inside to work, play, learn. This is evidenced in our neighborhood by several curb alerts a day; people offering stuff free for the taking. At least it is a great way to recycle unwanted items, as all of them typically find a new owner within the hour.