A day in the city — Rising vaccination rates — “Overhyped” diseases — New restrictions in Italy — Detainment of Suu Kyi — Evening statistics
It was unseasonably warm in New York today, and I spent much of the morning and early afternoon wandering about the city, leaving my aunt’s apartment in the Upper East Side to walk to Grand Central Station, then to the Flatiron building, and then to Washington Square, returning back via the East Side along the river. After lunch I met with my brother to visit the Museum of Modern Art, whose collection has grown more impressive, if anything, over the years, and contains some of the most iconic artworks of the 20th century. Afterwards we went to have a quiet drink at a local bar, greatly enjoying the opportunity to converse with one another after months of enforced isolation. Following that I returned to my aunt. Neither of us were in the mood to go out to dinner — we have been dining somewhat over-heartily for several days — so my aunt prepared an excellent home-cooked dinner and that meal also was enlivened by quiet family conversation. An extremely enjoyable day, and also a fairly energetic one; the walks back and forth to Washington Square and then to the MOMA and the bar afterwards, plus the return to my aunt’s place totalled about 17 miles in all.
Vaccination rates are rising at last, thanks to concerns over the omicron variant. Pharmacies and hospitals are actually having difficulties in supplying the sudden demand; but that is much better, on any count, than having a significant amount of the populace not accepting the vaccines at all. At this point over 75% of everyone five years and older has had at least one dose and nearly 64% are fully vaccinated, a significant advance on figures as recent as those of last week.
Ron Johnson has accused Dr. Fauci of “overhyping” AIDS. Fauci is understandably puzzled by such a charge, since the AIDS epidemic killed over three-quarters of a million people in this country alone and 36 million worldwide. It is difficult to see how the harmfulness of a disease with such disastrous effects could be exaggerated. But then again Johnson and his ilk are convinced that another disease has been “overhyped,” namely, the COVID virus responsible for a pandemic that’s already lasted nearly two years. What is required to convince them that an infectious disease can have serious social consequences, goodness only knows. An entire continent would have to be depopulated, I suppose, to persuade them.
Italy is among the European nations that have imposed severe restrictions on the unvaccinated portion of the populace. People who can not show proof of vaccination will be prohibited from leisure activities such as theatres, cinemas, concerts, indoor restaurants, public events and sports venues. They will be able to use public transit, but only if they are able to show proof of a negative COVID test within 48 hours. Not all vaccine holdouts are content to forego public spaces in exchange for not getting the shots. One Italian man is facing charges of fraud after trying to obtain a health pass by attempting to dupe a health worker into injecting the vaccine into a fake arm. The prosthetic didn’t match the man’s skin tone and was noticed by the health worker.
Suu Kyi has been sentenced to a four-year sentence. It was reduced afterwards to two years, but the charges that the military government leveled at her are only a small portion of the ones that the new government has assembled against her. If found guilty of all the charges she faces, Suu Kyi could be sentenced to more than 100 years in prison. I think we can take it for granted that the new government intends to imprison her for life, not only to prevent her from running in the next election but to forestall the use of her as a rallying point for the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar. She is being held by the military at an unknown location, where she will serve her sentence. The l Min Aung Hlaing government, while falling short of actually executing her, is effectively transforming her into a “non-person.”
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 266,663,497; # of deaths worldwide: 5,277,219; # of cases U.S.: 50,132,720; # of deaths; U.S.: 810,124. It was only a matter of time, but we have surpassed another sad milestone today; our case count is now over 50 million, just over 15% of the national population.