Friday, August 14th, 2020
Just as I left the pool today Belle Haven Marina called to say a rain storm was moving in so they would close up at five and had to therefore cancel my reservation for 17:30. This is particularly sad as I had arranged to meet my friend Maureen at the Marina for a two hour sail. I have not seen here since the beginning of this pandemic and was very much looking forward to catching up with her.
Of course, no good news on the oven front. Bray & Scarf in consultation with GE will not replace the piece of junk but come out and repair it. Only if it breaks down one more time after that will it be replaced. On the upside – at least I finally have someone’s attention, an email address and a phone number for a human! It does mean though we will need to ask a neighbor if we can use their oven to make the Khachapuri for tomorrows dinner. What a nuisance! Also am hoping it will not rain.
It did not over at the Y while I swam, but it did here and of course EM was so engrossed she only noticed it much later as a result all of the patio cushions are yet again drenched, so I need to somehow get them dry by tomorrow or everyone will end up with wet butts, which may just be a little awkward.
In today’s read I came across a very detailed article on contact tracing and I found it enlightening and learned something new. I will download the MD App for contact tracing. Not only about the infrastructure but how it helps contain the virus. Maryland is one of 18 States doing contact tracing and making both the resulting data as well as the number of staff working in contact tracing available. There is a lot of information I had no clue about, at least not at this level of detail. Contact tracing can for instance help identify specific hot spots for transmission. If a number of patrons of a certain bar test positive, contact tracers can also have other patrons, who may not have gotten tests, tested. Some may come back negative and some positive, but of those coming back positive further spread can be prevented by having these people quarantine. It also helps administrators to decide which activities may be safer than others, informing closures or partial closures as well as business reopening or when more staff maybe needed to cope with increased cases. If most new cases arise from people who are already a known contact, that can give assurance that the public health system is staying on top of transmission. In D.C., the data show that only 4.5% of cases arise this way — far from the goal of 60%. The published data is fascinating.
Speaking of data, a few weeks after the reporting system was changed from data collection by CDC to collection by the health department using a new system it is clear the system does not work. The data seems to be useless for virus containment decision making and does not allow interstate comparison. In my view that was the intention of the new system, so from the perspective of the administration - mission accomplished. As it is becoming harder to get reliable data, I am now using different sources.
This does not change the picture much though. Total infections today stand at 20.9 million worldwide and the USA seems to account for some 5.4 million of those, adding roughly 54k over the past 24 hours. New infections have increased by 53k and the death toll has surpassed 170k.
It appears that everything this administration does is designed to break American institutions and none of the GOP senators -or any other Republican officials for that matter - call it out. Their silence speaks volumes and is clearly enabling, even emboldens agent orange. Latest institution to be destroyed, just in time for the elections, is the US Postal Service. The occupant of the WH has in an interview yesterday stated that he is intentionally defunding the postal service to sabotage mail- in voting. And not a single Republican has come out to say that it is anti democratic. There is no public outcry, it is amazing that a countries leader can go on public record intentionally sabotaging elections without push back. To add insult to injury, the president and his wife have requested mail-in ballots! I cannot believe I am even reading about these things in the supposedly greatest democracy of the world. Debates about who is allowed to vote and who is not. Every other country in the world even those pretending to be democratic, like Russia or Belarus, allow every citizen to cast a vote.
Meanwhile in America there is a very public discussion about voter suppression. How can that be? I as if I am observing a country in self destruction mode. And I wonder why no one else seems to notice.
As we think about going home for Christmas, we are also devising strategies to keep our loved ones safe. This means mostly figuring out the timeline. Due to the incubation period of 4-5 days a simple negative test before departure or upon arrival just will not do. For now our strategy is to self-quarantine for a week prior to departure and take a test 48 hours before boarding and then basically do the same upon arrival, quarantine for a few days, take a test and then decide.