December 6, 2020

Burke Lake – Winter hiking is soon to come – Giuliani and the virus – A long list – Evening statistics

I wanted to enjoy the day but not to drive very much, so I took the Burke Lake/Lake Mercer double-loop hike.  Ordinarily I do not wear a mask while hiking, but this trail is so flat and encounters with other hikers are so frequent that I put it on for the entire hike (which is about 11 miles in all).  It was chilly but sunny and only slightly breezy.  This is one of the loveliest autumns I can remember, not so much for its foliage – we’ve had other years when it was slightly more colorful – but for the clarity of the air and the absence of haze in the sky.  This past spring was very cool and wet, and the summer had some of the most punishing heat I can remember; but the autumn has more than made up for it.

There were indeed many people outside.  I was somewhat premature in my lamentations of yesterday, I perceive.  People are still getting out, to the local parks in the area at any rate.  I’m glad it is so.  I hope that this trend will continue in winter and that people won’t be transformed into moles, as they usually are during that season.  I can remember how, when I was working, my colleagues were intrigued by my habit of hiking every weekend and how they would ask, “But what you do in winter?”  “I go out hiking,” was my reply, and they were always taken aback, even amazed on some occasions.  I’ve already spoken about the advantages of hiking in winter (see the entry for August 7^th) but I will admit that it took me a while to get used to the idea myself.  Once I learned how to dress for such hikes I was able to appreciate the advantages of hiking during that season.  I’m actually looking forward to the first snowfall; it can be such a delight to hike on a trail covered with an inch or two of snow.

Yesterday’s entry was premature in yet another way – or was it eerily prescient?  After my dirge about the reputation of Giuliani I find that he has just been stricken with the COVID virus.  And it appears that he could conceivably have infected many others, since he has been resolute in wearing no mask for all of his public appearances.  In his case, it has been serious enough to necessitate to his checking into a hospital.  He is one of the latest of those in Trump’s orbit who have contracted the virus, the roster including:  the President himself, ever disdainful of taking the most elementary precautions in this matter, his wife Melania, his eldest son Donald Trump Jr., his youngest son Barron, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, campaign advisor Corey Lewandowski, Communications Director Hope Hicks, Senior Policy Advisor Stephen Miller, US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson, White House aide Nicholas Luna, Principal Assistant Press Secretary Chad Gilmartin, Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, campaign manager Bill Stepien, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Republican Senator Mike Lee (Utah), Republican Senator Thom Tillis (North Carolina), Republican Senator Ron Johnson (Wisconsin), and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.  You’d think that people would be getting the message that working alongside Donald Trump may be hazardous to one’s health.  Hazardous to one’s mental health too, perhaps, although that is less certain:  if the conduct of the President’s staff during various press conferences provides any indication, diminished mental stability appears to be a pre-requisite for entering Trump’s service.

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 67,375,271; # of deaths worldwide: 1,541,350; # of cases U.S.: 15,159,490; # of deaths; U.S.: 288,906.