Morning statistics – Possibility of under-reporting in Iran – Potential damage inflicted upon African nations – Absentee ballot – Soundness of electoral system on a local level – Florida beaches – Evening statistics
Today’s statistics as of 9:00 AM — # of cases worldwide: 2,205,976; # of deaths worldwide: 148,634; # of cases U.S.: 678,210; # of deaths U.S.: 34,641. China’s number of active cases is now listed at 116, but that seems too good to be true. One reason appears to be that China has revised its death count by over 1,000 and total number of cases by 325. But it does appear strange that so few new cases have occurred. It has reported 26 new cases and no deaths in the past 24 hours. Spain’s case incidence rate is now very close to 0.4%. At this point the nations with the highest incidence rates (excluding the microstates) are, in decreasing order, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Ireland, France, U.S., Portugal, the Netherlands, and Germany. The ones with the highest mortality rates are Belgium, Spain, Italy, France, U.K., the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, U.S., and Ireland. Belgium’s high mortality rate may be due to the fact that testing there has been less rigorous than in Germany or South Korea. South Korea is generally regarded as having contained the virus within its borders. Its statistics are a great deal more reliable than China’s. Iran is not among the top ten on either list, so it just possibly may be doing a better job of containing the virus than the news reports would lead one to expect. On the other hand, it may be fudging its data. The latter alternative is the more likely explanation. One video has emerged showing a morgue crammed with bodies, some of which have been waiting 5-6 days for burial – which is startling if true, because Sharia law requires corpses to be buried soon after expiration. Also, there are some photographs of trenches being dug to accommodate the victims – a practice that is almost unheard of in that country. The official death count is close to 5,000 but the actual count may be at least three times as much.
There is some concern about the effect that the virus will have on African nations if it expands there the way it has in Europe. About one-third of the people on the continent are living at the poverty level. Preventative measures, such as shutting down businesses, that have resulted in mere economic hardship in Europe and the U.S. could lead to starvation for many of them.
I applied for an absentee ballot and received the appropriate forms some days ago. This morning I went over the websites for the various candidates so that I could make an informed choice. Government on a local level, as opposed to the national one, appears to be working smoothly. All of them looked good to me. Instead of agonizing over which candidate was the lesser evil (which has been my experience in just about every national election that I can remember), I was actually pondering which of the men and women running for the position stood out among their competitors. Not that there was a great deal of competition to ponder: two candidates for mayor, seven candidates for the six positions of the City Council, and six candidates for the five positions of the School Board. But it was heartening to get an impression of honest people striving to do their best for the city. The positions that they are running for are not in the least lucrative and in consequence the candidates have all have had careers that are not exclusively political – unlike our mandarins in Congress. However, I will defer submitting my ballot for a few days. Governor Northam has requested that the election be delayed until November and if this request is approved, all submitted absentee ballots will have to be discarded. The question will be resolved on April 22nd, so I will wait until then.
Florida has opened its beaches in Jacksonville and many have been flocking there. Only exercise such as walking and swimming are permitted, while sunbathing, sitting in chairs, or resting on towels are not – theoretically. I don’t see how that is going to be enforceable.
Today’s statistics as of 11:30 PM — # of cases worldwide: 2,250,757; # of deaths worldwide: 154,262; # of cases U.S.: 710,021; # of deaths U.S.: 37,158.