Morning statistics – Trump vs. the WHO – Africans in China – Another visit to my mother’s facility – More trail closures – Protestors at Lansing, MI – Evening statistics
Today’s statistics as of 7:00 AM — # of cases worldwide: 2,014,554; # of deaths worldwide: 127,598; # of cases U.S.: 614,246; # of deaths U.S.: 26,064. Outside of various microstates whose populations are so small that even a low number of cases can skew statistics (Iceland, Luxembourg, Andorra) the country with the greatest amount of cases with respect to the population is Spain. At this point nearly 0.4% have come down with the disease. For the U.S. the incidence rate is 0.186%, but it is rising steadily.
Trump has cut off American funding to the World Health Organization (WHO), stating that it placed political correctness over lifesaving measures. There is some truth to this. Initially China downplayed the outbreak of the virus in Wuhan, saying that everything was under control and that there was no evidence that it could be communicated from person to person. It even detained Dr. Li Wenliang, who warned his colleagues about the outbreak in December, 2019, and “admonished” him, a process that could have had far-ranging adverse effects both for him and his family, had he not evaded their clutches by contracting the virus from a patient and dying in February. The WHO simply repeated China’s false reassurances without question, even though senior WHO officials suspected at the onset that the virus was more serious than initial reports would have led laymen to believe. WHO also protested against Trump’s initial move to impose travel restrictions of Americans to China – one of the few preventative measures he deigned to implement. One WHO official even publicly cut off an interview with a reporter when she implied that Taiwan was independent of China. There is no question that the WHO fell down badly in this matter, and that it is much too subservient to China and to Third World nations in general.
Still – what else have we got? Imperfect as the WHO may be, there is no alternative organization. Cutting off funds in the midst of a global pandemic will simply make a bad situation even worse.
Speaking of China, a MacDonald’s in that nation recently achieved an unwelcome spotlight. In Guangzhou, a large industrial city, its MacDonald’s instituted a policy of banning blacks from entering. One wouldn’t have thought that there were a sufficient number of blacks to bother enforcing such a policy, no matter how racially biased the Chinese may be; but in fact there are over 300,000 Africans residing in the city. There have been many tensions between these newcomers and the locals, and naturally the threat of the virus has exacerbated them.
I went to see my mother again today, but only for a few minutes, mainly to pick up mail that’s accumulated since my last visit. I did not stay long; there is general agreement that under the circumstances brief visits are the best. If the virus gets loose in an assisted living facility such of the one my mother occupies, it would do as much damage as a spark of fire cast upon a field of parched wheat.
There were more trail closures today. Regional parks such as Burke Lake and Occoquan Regional had their entrances closed; there is a small parking lot on Rte. 123 from which it is possible to enter the park on foot, but that was closed off too. I settled for going to Occoquan itself; it’s a pretty little town and I haven’t seen it for a while. There were excellent views from the footbridge over the Occoquan River. Gulls and loons were flying and swimming in great numbers. But at this point it seems doubtful that anyone will pay much attention to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s pleas to stay off of the AT; the alternatives are drying up.
Along these lines, the Vigorous Hikers will no longer be sending out Email announcements to group members about the hikes; we will have to look them up on the website and then contact the hike leader if we want to join.
Protestors stormed Lansing today calling for easing up on the stay-at-home order in Michigan. Many people in Michigan go south for the winter and this year they have had some difficulty in attempting to return to their homes during the spring. And of course small businesses have been feeling the pinch for weeks. The governor is trying to cope with the situation as diplomatically as possible; she realizes that it’s impossible to arrest all of the protestors – there simply are too many of them (at least 3,000 in Lansing alone). In her place I would be pointing out that the more relaxed attitude of Sweden hasn’t done much good; its mortality rate is significantly worse than that of the remainder of the Scandinavian countries.
Today’s statistics as of 10:30 PM — # of cases worldwide: 2,083,304; # of deaths worldwide: 134,615; # of cases U.S.: 644,089; # of deaths U.S.: 28,529. New cases are still occurring in China, but the number of active cases is now barely over 1,100. Spain, Italy, France, and Belgium have the highest mortality rates, with the U.K. and the Netherlands trailing not far behind.