Hiking in the Massanutten Range – Traffic conditions still light – India allowing trains to run again – President Bolsonaro claims jobs more important than containing the virus – Mexico – Nick Cordero – Evening statistics
I hiked under the auspices of the Vigorous Hikers; I cannot say I hiked “with” them, since I started earlier than most of them and encountered them only in passing. It was cool today – quite chilly for most of the morning, in fact. Even in the lower elevations the temperature never went above 60 degrees, and it was fairly cloudy until well into the afternoon. The hike was in the Massanutten range, something over 16 miles, with 3000 feet of elevation. It took me 5 hours and 40 minutes. Most of the time I was moving pretty well, but the hike involved going over both Strickler Knob and Duncan Knob, and these are rock scrambles – it will not do to hurry through them. In stepping down from Duncan Knob one must take care not to lose sight of the trail below; the last 350 feet one simply climbs over boulders and it is easy to mistake one’s bearings in descending. In addition, the views are worth lingering upon – those from Duncan Knob in particular. It is a rock outcropping with a 270-degree view on top, looking down into the valley of the south fork of the Shenandoah River and to the Blue Ridge beyond.
The drive back was easy and there was no backup of traffic in the other direction, as there generally is under normal conditions. It is evident that many people are still telecommuting and that many others have nowhere to commute to because they are still out of work. Conditions will be closer to normal next week, although the most populous counties will probably delay the release of the lockdown restrictions.
Trains are running in India, after several weeks of their being forced to halt due to the country’s lockdown restrictions. Train travel is one of the mainstays of India, and it must have been a great hardship to do without it. It is easy to see why they want it resumed as quickly as possible; one hopes that using the trains will be feasible and will not trigger another spike of the virus. India has had more than 70,000 cases – not a huge number for a country whose population is 1.3 billion, although not insignificant either. Its mortality rate is slightly over 3%. On the whole, the Indians seem to have managed well so far. The difficulties that the country is experiencing do not appear at this point on a par with many others – it cannot be considered a “hotspot.” The greatest damage has been to their economy, but most of the countries in Asia and Europe have suffered the same way.
Brazil is easing restrictions as cases continue to multiply. President Bolsonaro has declared hair salons and gyms to be among the essential services that may remain open. Construction companies and auto companies are essentially doing business as usual. Bolsonaro’s attitude is that without a viable economy there will be no funding for anything, including hospitals. It may be so, but if a sufficient percentage of workers become incapacitated, the jobs that drive the economy won’t last very long. Many Brazilian cities, however, have locked down – the local authorities, apparently, not sharing his nonchalant attitude. The country now has more cases than Germany, moving it to seventh on the list of countries with the greatest number of cases. It will soon overtake France as well. Its number of critical cases is second only to that of the U.S., but its severity rate is four times greater than ours.
Mexico’s problems have not been quite as severe as Brazil’s, but the nation has already lost 111 medical personnel to the virus. Already the hospitals in Mexico City are reaching their maximum capacity. It is possible that the death toll might as high as three times the amount officially reported. And Mexico City isn’t seeing the silver lining that so many other cities have enjoyed; it is still filled with smog. Even though traffic has diminished, festering garbage dumps, dirty diesel-fueled generators, and frequent forest fires keep filling the air with pollutants.
Poor Nick Cordero has been undergoing sheer misery ever since he contracted the virus. To date Cordero’s heart has stopped, he required resuscitation on occasion, and he has endured two mini-strokes, a leg amputation, an MRI to investigate possible brain damage, several bronchial sweeps, a sepsis infection causing septic shock, a fungus in his lungs, holes in his lungs, a tracheostomy, blood clots and a temporary pacemaker to assist his heart. He has recently emerged from a coma but is very weak, unable to speak and just barely able to open his eyes. There are some people who have deliberately attempted to catch the virus in order to obtain immunity; if they had a closer look at what Cordero has suffered as the result of his illness, they might wish to reconsider.
Today’s statistics as of 9:00 PM — # of cases worldwide: 4,339,798; # of deaths worldwide: 292,807; # of cases U.S.: 1,408,636; # of deaths U.S.: 83,425. China now claims to have only 104 active cases, of which 10 are critical.