Morning statistics – Stimulus package – My aunt in Manhattan – Airline travel – The beauties of spring – National park closures — The Passion Play of Oberammergau – A family loss – Evening statistics
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 AM — # of cases worldwide: 435,006; # of deaths worldwide: 19,625; # of cases U.S.: 55,225; # of deaths U.S.: 802. In China the number of cases still active is actually declining; it is well under 5,000 now. Italy continues to be hard-hit. It has had 6,280 deaths, more than twice the number of those who have succumbed in China. In Spain as well, the number of deaths is on a par with that of China, even though the number of cases is far less (47,610 as opposed to 81,661). Several of the cases in Spain have affected health-care workers. An ice rink in Madrid is being used as a morgue to alleviate pressure on hospitals and funeral homes. Germany is doing relatively well. Even though it has 34,009 cases, the death toll is only 172 – a mortality rate of about 0.5%, well below those of other countries.
A stimulus package deal has been reached by the White House and the Senate; people whose gross income is under $75000 will receive $1200. Now it will have to pass Congress, and it is not clear how long that will take. A few members have the virus already and more than 30 others have self-quarantined.
People who have visited New York are advised to self-quarantine for at least 14 days. New York City has had nearly 200 deaths. My Aunt Barbara, who lives in Manhattan, assures me that she remains well; she is just a few months short of 90 and thus is at high risk, but she remains in reasonably good spirits.
Airline travel, naturally enough, has reduced significantly; on Monday TSA screened 331,431 people as opposed to 2,434,370 people on the same day last year. Indeed, travel on the ground is much easier due to the reduction in traffic, both by foot and on car. I have driven on the Beltway during rush hour without encountering traffic jams and without any need to use the toll lanes, and I can cross streets without fear of getting run over by anyone making a right turn on red who fails to check for pedestrians in his path.
The early spring season continues to be lovely. Flowers are in bloom everywhere, some of them nearly two or three weeks earlier than usual. The leaves are starting to come out and the tendrils of the willows in particular are fresh and newly-green as they trail the ground.
Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and the Great Smokies have closed their gates. It’s impossible to blame the park services; at this point, one is more likely to encounter a crowd at any national park than in downtown. The resources for daily exercise are dwindling. I thought of taking a route today that is 20-odd miles, but the weather is cool and wet, so it probably isn’t a good idea to be out under such conditions for such a long time.
The Passion Play of Oberammergau has been postponed from 2020 to 2022. It should perhaps be explained that the Passion Play is performed once every ten years to celebrate the passion of Christ, or the short, final period of the life of Jesus from his visit to Jerusalem to the crucifixion. It was composed in 1634 and is the earliest continual survivor of early Christian drama in the vernacular. It is performed over a period of seven or eight hours, beginning at about 2:30 PM and ending at 10:00 PM, with a three-hour interval for supper. Visitors from all over Europe flock for this important occasion. The theatre in which it is performed seats about 4700 and it is always sold out. More than 2000 citizens from the village participate in the performance, and it naturally is a great boon for tourism and the economy in Bavaria and in Germany generally; in fact, when questions of budget come up in the region, one common saying is that “the Passion Play will pay for it.” The event is rounded off by an elegant and agreeable general massacre of every Jew down to last man, woman, and child residing in the state.
No, on second thought I made that last part up. But it didn’t require any great stretch of the imagination to do so. It takes the Germans, and the Bavarians in particular, to treat this vile anti-Semitic screed with the utmost reverence and elevate it to the level of high art. For nearly four centuries it has been imbuing the fine notion that venomous hatred is a religious duty and that the best way to put the doctrines of Christ into practice is to enter the service of Ba’al, the Carthaginian god whose rituals included feeding victims of human sacrifice to the fire. How could they fail to erect the death camps of Treblinka and Sobibor!
I have just heard news of the first casualty to affect me on a personal level: TW, husband of my mother’s cousin NW, died on the 23rd. I was not even aware that he had contracted the disease. He was just short of 73 years old. Technically, he succumbed to a heart attack; but he had been afflicted by the virus to the extent of having to be put on a ventilator for several days, and eventually his heart was not able to withstand the strain. I do not know whether his death is listed as one of those claimed by the virus or whether the death is registered as a heart attack, with no mention of the virus.
Statistics as of 5:30 PM — # of cases worldwide: 460,250; # of deaths worldwide: 20,857; # of cases U.S.: 62,873; # of deaths U.S.: 894.