Wednesday, October 28th, 2020
Day 3 of the virtual conference finished today. All in all, a great experience. I am very proud of having been chosen to speak about my essay on the future of SME Finance. Beyond spending 4 hours virtually conferencing and a few calls it was not a bad day. There was no rain and after my swim I met a friend from church for a socially distanced walk around the neighborhood. It has been a few months since I last walked the streets. We passed by the various construction projects and I was amazed at the progress (and the ugliness of some). Beyond that just another normal day in the age of Corona.
We are back to March 2020, at least in the US, just different States this time, but the message is the same: infections increasing, overwhelmed health systems and so on. The only difference this time: it is hitting mainly red states who will not close schools, businesses or churches. No mask mandates are issued. Basically, no steps are taken to control the spread. Just hoping Democrats in red states have voted early and are careful, while Republicans find themselves in hospitals sadly unable to vote. Just because pandemic management is a political thing in this country with the COVIDIOT in chief announcing the pandemic to be over and his followers believing it so be so. Never mind the 74k newly reported cases yesterday or the 232k dead or the daily reported death of between 500 - 1.000 Americans or the 9,11 million infected as of today; 500.000 of these added in just one week.
Sadly this applies to Europe as well, but at least they are taking steps to curb the spread, both at the level of the EU commission, but also at the country level with lockdowns in France and Germany. The German chancellor is meeting with the heads of the federal states to agree common measures to implement. Very much unlike the USA the Federal government is taking on leadership to avoid a patchwork approach to handling the pandemic. At least death rates are lower than in March. Nonetheless, states like France and Germany are taking drastic steps to control the spread. France is yet again in full lock down and Germany will close all but essential businesses.
Scientists are researching reinfections and the impact known reinfections may have on vaccine development. Based on the limited number of know cases, it appears that the human body needs to be exposed to a sufficient dose of virus to trigger a lasting immune response. This may also mean multiple refresher vaccinations. Good ye herd immunity. There is still a lack of clarity on how effective a vaccine can be. It may only be effective in preventing mild cases, but not necessarily severe cases or death. Whether it is one or the other or both is as yet unknown. Scientists do argue though that even if mild cases can be prevented such a vaccine may still help to curb the spread.
New research finds a correlation between vitamin D levels and likelihood of contracting COVID-19. It appears that vitamin D deficiency makes it more likely to contract the virus and more likely to have a severe illness. So glad I enjoy playing lizard in the sun. Also, I have been taking vitamin D supplements in addition to Zinc, Ginger and Oregano, thoug the latter have a tendency to make me as nauseous as the US politics do.
Another great blog by the fabulous Heather Cox Richardson, today about America’s fear of “socialism” and an explanation of its origins. This makes absolute sense, but does not make me feel any better about the future of this country. Also I doubt that many Americans actually understand or know his. For the first time I understand the US definition of socialism. Basically the minute the government does anything to level the playing field and do something for “ordinary” Americans like provide free schooling, it is socialism. And guess where this definition has its roots? In post slavery, when the Republicans not only introduced the right to vote, but also Federal taxes such as income tax to pay for schools and other infrastructure for former slaves. The landowners objected that this was redistribution of wealth aka socialism.