Life in the Age of Corona

A Daily Diary

Friday, November 6th, 2020

Summer is Back

Or at least that is what it feels like today and the gorgeous weather is set to continue throughout the weekend, which should make practice in the park tomorrow a real pleasure with temperatures predicted to hold at around 20C.

The morning today was productive, and the afternoon dedicated to mental health! I dropped everything work related at 13:00 sharp and headed to Alexandria. First to do a grocery refill for the next ten days. My fridge has not been this crowded since the beginning of the pandemic!

Since I have plans to meet my immune compromised friend over the weekend, I shall isolate for the next week, so no shopping outings and such like starting tomorrow after I will make a dash to the nail spa for a long overdue pedicure. Sunday I will take COVID-19 test and repeat that on either Tuesday or Wednesday to make sure I am all clear. As of the tests no more interactions for the rest of the week (except practice in the park with masks and at a distance and my daily swim, the pool is so chlorinated there is no chance of any form of virus surviving in my respiratory tracts). I very much hope it all works out and will be worth it.

With my groceries safely stowed in the boot of my little Cinquecento I headed down to the marina, where I met my friend Christina. What a glorious day to be on the water! There was a beautiful breeze, the sun was out in full force and unlike last week I had dressed in layers: swim suite, blouse, sweater and a wind breaker just in case. There was no need for the latter and the sweater came and went. We sailed out towards Mount Vernon, where the river is nice and wide. 135 minutes later we were back at the dock, with the wind completely failing us for the last 100m, so Andy towed us for a bit. It was so nice to get away from media and not think about what is befalling this country I live in. What a respite.

Next up was my lap lane. I got to the pool 5 minutes before my allotted time and was generously allowed in, so got 35 minutes of swimming instead of the usual 30 minutes. The entry protocol had changed somewhat after a staff member had tested positive – I was asked if I was healthy in addition to the usual temperature check. The Y had alerted us of the positive test seeing we had been at the pool said member was on duty. However, we had had an outdoor lane that day and barely interacted with anyone, so I feel quite safe, which is more than many Americans can say of themselves as the shit keeps hitting the fan. 109.000 new cases in a day on Wednesday. By Thursday this had climbed to 121.000 in a single day; that is 1.5 times the total number of infections China has reported throughout the pandemic for the entire country and China has four times as many inhabitants.

More people are infected in counties which voted for Trump. My theory is that they did not vote for Trump because of high infections, but rather that infections are high because they support Trump and as a result live by his advice, ignore the existence of the virus, no mask required hence increasing the spread.

While almost all countries around the globe see increases in infections not a single one comes even close to the US numbers, not even India which reports a quarter of the numbers the USA reports, 43k new infections.

The US is ramping up clinical trials for four vaccine candidates with the Pentagon now recruiting volunteers from active service staff and veterans in an effort to diversify the sample. This news makes it highly unlikely though that anyone of the candidates will request emergency use approval with the FDA.

The virus is also on the rise in much of Europe and most European states have reintroduced at least partial lockdowns, closing pubs, restaurants, theaters and gyms. Contact tracing in addition to testing has been one critical success factor to reducing the spread in the spring. It is therefore unbelievable that people for example in the UK refuse to cooperate with contact tracers, while Germany is plagued by a different problem, having become a victim of its own success in virus control during the spring outbreak. Now they find only 60% of those testing positive pass on their contacts.

Finally, here is some truly exciting news, scientists at the University of Columbia have developed a nasal spray which completely blocks virus transmission in Ferrets. It is inexpensive to produce and easy to distribute as it does not require refrigeration. UC has now applied for a patent and is seeking funds for human trials. I would volunteer to take that nasal spray in a hear beat!

Maybe I should reach out to UC about this...