Morning statistics – Comic interlude – Streetfight in Detroit – A much-needed haircut – Cash going out of style – Illness looked upon as crime, à la Erewhon – Mask working at last – Eye trouble – Bernie Sanders – A conservative driven to the Democratic Party – Failures of liberalism – Worse failures of Republican Party – Passover – Charlotte Figi – Evening statistics
Today’s statistics as of 6:00 AM — # of cases worldwide: 1,441,128; # of deaths worldwide: 82,992; # of cases U.S.: 399,929; # of deaths U.S.: 12,991. The U.S. now accounts for nearly 28% of the cases in the world and over 15% of the deaths. These figures will undoubtedly increase. The virus is levelling off to some extent in the European countries, but not here. It is said, however, that the curve in New York is flattening at last. It certainly is high time; New York City accounts for 4,000 of the deaths.
Some of the stories that emerge are unexpectedly comic. Brant Walker, mayor of Alton, IL, announced the he directed the police department of the town to issue citations and arrests for those who failed to comply with Illinois’ stay-at-home order. Two days later the police broke up a gathering at a bar in downtown and issued citations of reckless conduct to everyone who participated. Walker’s wife was among them. Walker, at least, has openly admitted his embarrassment. He has assured citizens that his wife will be penalized as heavily as the others and has referred to her “stunning lack of judgment.”
And then there are other tales that are downright sordid. In the eastern part of Detroit two young women met on the streets for the express purpose of “fighting it out” – to use their own words – and many people gathered together to watch this thrilling spectacle. Some of the more responsible residents called the police and begged them to interfere, but the police declined, citing their stretched resources. Detroit’s sorry living conditions have been common knowledge for years, but there can be no doubt that this city has completely rotted.
Lori Lightfoot, the mayor of Chicago, had her hair cut and styled by a professional, although barbershops and salons are closed. Lightfoot brushed aside criticisms of her behavior, stating that she is in the public eye and therefore needs to look her best. In Her Honor’s own words, “I felt like I needed a haircut.” Well, I guess that clears that up.
From Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, set at some unknown time in the future, when the unnamed protagonist is reminiscing about an earlier age: “You had to take those pieces of paper with you when you went shopping, though by the time I was nine or ten most people used plastic cards. Not for the groceries, though, that came later. It seems so primitive, totemistic even, like cowry shells.” We are undeniably heading in that direction, approaching the time when credit will displace cash entirely, and the restrictions imposed by the virus will accelerate this trend. Paying with cash is discouraged at the moment, because notes and coins passing through various hands are potential sources of contagion. I like paying with cash myself: a habit retained from my days as a graduate student, when I was living on a very restricted budget and wanted to know the state of my bank balance at all times. When you pay with credit, it’s easier to lose track of your expenditures and then be unpleasantly surprised by the monthly statement from the credit card company. It’s going to be even more difficult to practice the habit of thrift in the future than it is now, but then again it’s a habit that most of my compatriots have never thought of acquiring.
Speaking of future projections, we may be coming to a time when social conditions will be rather like those described in Erewhon, in which bad health of any kind is regarded as disreputable and even criminal. Persons whose health is less robust than the average may be forced to subterfuges such as those used by Mahaina, the sickly young woman who conceals her illnesses by pretending to be a drunk. As an invalid she would have been shunned by society; but as it is, her lady friends are very sympathetic towards her and inquire solicitously after her “poor dipsomania.”
Today I tried out a home-made mask again, and this one was reasonably successful: I could walk about with my nostrils and mouth completely covered, and yet my breathing was not affected. I don’t know whether it is entirely satisfactory – that is, I am uncertain as to how effective it might be in shielding me from any droplets from others. Also, it was an unusually warm day for the time of day (about 80 degrees) and it was not altogether comfortable under such conditions. Still, it was usable and I should be able to go out with it on in future. I have a second mask as well, so that I can wash one out on the same day that I’m wearing another.
I had a bit of a scare this morning. When typing at the workstation an area in the left eye became blurry. I had had a detached retina in the right eye some years ago, and I wondered if the left one was going to follow suit. So I left the workstation and went outside to perform an errand that I needed to do anyway, that of depositing a check from long-term care insurance into my mother’s account. The bank is about a mile and a half away, and I deliberately returned on a rather circuitous route, walking about four miles in all. By that time the blurriness had disappeared. It was probably just eyestrain, but I will be monitoring the condition. I do not want to see an eye doctor just now; appointments for any kind of medical treatment can be difficult to obtain at present. My annual eye exam is due for June, so I hope I can wait until then. By that time, one hopes, the worst of the virus’s effects will be over. But if the condition recurs I will be forced to consult someone earlier.
Bernie Sanders has resigned from the race in the primaries, paving the way for Joe Biden to be nominated. Sanders has not the least chance of winning an election, being completely devoid of economic sense or of sense of any other description for that matter. Biden is certainly no Solomon, as the English would say, but he is honest, decent, and cultivated, and in all of these characteristics provides a most refreshing contrast to the man who currently holds office.
I never thought that I would live to see the day that I would become an ardent Democrat. But the Republicans have brought this upon themselves; I suspect many with relatively conservative views feel as I do. The Democrats, it is true, have mortgaged themselves to the Far Left. I disagree heartily with many of their policies, such as opening up our doors to aliens entering illegally or striving to abolish the electoral college or making airplane travel so prohibitively expensive that none but the wealthiest will be able to afford it. Their so-called liberalism has fallen into disrepute because it is littered with broken promises. It is not a release from the forces of orthodoxy and dogmatism but their intensification; it has come to represent a compulsory yoke to the Marxist philosophy that has repeatedly paved the way to tyranny and oppression; and its adherents have already effected a merciless grinding down of the wage-earning classes that they have not known for decades – perhaps have never known.
But the Republicans have done even worse. They have tamely submitted to a thorough egomaniac who is concerned only with staying in power and is indifferent to every other consideration. His folly and incompetence in dealing with the pandemic (or indeed with any other problem) are apparent even to the dullest comprehension, and its results will be little short of catastrophic in a matter of weeks: thousands of people dead, many thousands of businesses ruined, and a health care system left in a shambles as a result of the strain it will undergo. Like well-bred spaniels, they flatter him without stint whenever he falls into a paroxysm of rage – a fairly frequent occasion – express gratitude for the unkindness with which they are treated, and grovel at his feet whenever he addresses them. They have almost all become Trump’s menials, and their association with him appears to have drained every vestige of sense or manhood from them.
Such is the current state of the two parties that hold the fate of the nation in their hands. I wish that there were an alternative to them, but there is none.
I am forced, therefore, to fling in my lot with the Democrats and to hope that Biden, if and when he comes to power, will be able to impose a measure of restraint on the more extreme members of his party – and hope, also, that in four years’ time the Republicans will have learned something from their ignominious association with a man who would have assumed the powers of a satrap if he could, and bring forth a candidate for the 2024 election somewhat more suited to the leadership of a free country. This last hope, however, remains precisely that – a hope, little supported by conviction or confidence. The Republicans have become so used to crawling on their bellies during the past four years that it will be no easy matter for them to learn how to stand upright again.
Tonight will begin the first seder of Passover. This ceremony tends to be the occasion for family get-togethers, but these will have to be abandoned this year.
Charlotte Figi is dead at the age of 13, one of the youngest victims of the virus. She suffered from epilepsy, and the only treatment that gave her relief was the application of oil obtained from cannabis; her situation was a major catalyst that led to the legalization of marijuana in medical treatments. And in fact, it has proven effective in cases of epilepsy when the more usual array of pharmaceuticals has failed. The treatment enabled her to get relief from seizures and eventually to wean her from the feeding tube that her condition originally necessitated. And now, having successfully overcome that hurdle and having thus obtained a childhood somewhat less free from perpetual invalidism, she was attacked by the virus and succumbed just as life was opening up to her. Poor child, poor child!
Today’s statistics as of 7:00 PM — # of cases worldwide: 1,511,104; # of deaths worldwide: 88,338; # of cases U.S.: 429,052; # of deaths U.S.: 14,695. In about half a day the number of cases here has increased by 30,000 and the number of deaths by nearly 2,000.