The pace of spring – Getting a background check – Easing of school restrictions in Virginia – Upsurges in India and Brazil – International travel restrictions being lifted for the fully vaccinated – Evening statistics
I was at the Fairfax Government County Center today in order to get a background check. This step will enable me to qualify for certain CERT volunteer activities. The Center is about four miles from my house; and since I drove yesterday for about 11 hours on end and had little opportunity for exercise afterwards, I decided to walk the distance instead.
Being away from the area for even a few days and then viewing it again is a reminder of how relentless the pace of spring can be. The hyacinths in my garden and others are all nearly gone, the hellebore has retreated, the daffodils are fading. On the other hand, tulips, lilacs, redbud, wisteria, double-blossomed cherries (which bloom later than the single-blossom species) are all in flaunting array. Sometimes it is difficult to describe the surroundings without sounding like a garden catalog: the sheer number of plant species in this area is overwhelming. The Appalachian forest region, in fact, is one of the most biodiverse on the planet, with regard to both flora and fauna. It seemed exceptionally colorful after spending a few days in the sparser and more limited palette of the plains.
The background check went smoothly. It involved getting my fingerprints recorded, and the procedure is much better than it was formerly, when the tips of the fingers had to be smeared with ink and then pressed onto paper. Now the fingers are pressed down on a scanner, remaining perfectly clean and without any possibility of smudging the prints. On the return from the Center I saw a school bus with children boarding it, another sign of lightening restrictions. In Virginia, as of April 1st, school classes, school sports, graduation ceremonies, child care facilities, and school board meetings are not subject to the social gathering limitations, although all participants 5 years and older must wear masks.
India has seen a sharp spike in its number of COVID cases. For the past three days the amount of daily increase in infections has been over 200,000. It must be borne in mind that India’s population is about four times greater than our own, so that such a figure is comparable to 50,000 a day for us – and we still are not down to that level. But India’s hospital system is much more fragile than our own and only 7% of its population has received at least one vaccine dose. Officially the death rate is listed as 1.2% of the COVID cases, but in all probability the figure is higher in actuality. Many people die at their homes, and often the cause of death listed on the death certificate is listed as “heart failure” or some other similarly vague term. Sometimes this is done to spare the feelings of the relatives, for in many communities there is still a stigma attached to dying from the virus.
Still, the government in India is at least aware of the issue and in several of the larger cities is re-imposing lockdowns or social gathering restrictions. The situation in Brazil is far worse. It has a higher amount of daily case increases and mortality increases than any other country. In recent weeks, it has accounted for about 25% of all COVID-related deaths worldwide. The health care system there is in a state of collapse. In some hospitals patients are being treated in chairs, for lack of access to unoccupied beds. Many have run out of sedatives and of intubation drugs. President Bolsonaro has shown no sense of responsibility whatever, actually encouraging people to gather in large crowds and endorsing the use of anti-malarial and anti-parasitical drugs as remedies, despite health experts’ assertions that these are thoroughly ineffective against the COVID virus. Brazilians have been slow in getting vaccinated; about 46% have expressed distrust and reluctance to take them, and they continue to crowd busses, streets, beaches, and other public places. It is possible that its death toll will rival our own in a couple of months, despite having only about two-thirds as much population.
Despite the surges in these countries and elsewhere, travel restrictions are easing, particularly for the fully vaccinated. A rather motley assortment of countries have relaxed restrictions for vaccinated travelers or removed the quarantine requirement for them entirely: Iceland, the Seychelles, Guatemala, Ecuador, Belize, Georgia. Greece plans to be open to outside travelers by mid-May. The EU is also currently working on a vaccine passport program that will allow fully vaccinated residents to move freely among member states. It hopes to launch the program by mid-June. It is not yet known when it will open up to travelers from outside of the EU.
Today’s statistics as of 9:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 140,499,889; # of deaths worldwide: 3,011,440; # of cases U.S.: 32,303,500; # of deaths; U.S.: 579,918.