February 12, 2022

Trail work – Ottawa remains paralyzed, while Paris does not submit tamely – Renewed interest in the Solomon Islands – Some remedies for long COVID – Another COVID tragedy – Evening statistics

I went with other members of the Potomac Heritage Trail Association to do some work on the trail along Broad Run.  I have somewhat neglected the responsibility of trail work – for, considering the use I make of the trails in the area, it is a responsibility to participate in their maintenance.  I have indeed contributed funds to the organizations that maintain them, but one really ought to do more if one can.  The section of the PHT on which we worked is rather a troublesome one.  It skirts around Broad Run just as it approaches the Criminal Justice Training Academy in Ashburn.  Broad Run is, at the name indicates, much too wide to place reliance on boulders or pylons to cross it; it requires a bridge.  In order to access a bridge one must pass under Rte. 7 and then use the bridge along Russell Branch Parkway.  We worked along the area between the underpass and Bles Park.  It was quite inspiring to see how this section, initially densely overgrown with vines and brambles and fallen branches, gradually cleared into a path on which one could walk without difficulty.  In one case we came upon a huge oak that had fallen directly onto the trail.  Our expert with the chainsaw made two incisions and then a couple of us pushed against the segment of the trunk that had been cut apart from the rest until we could roll it away, and thus a passage along the trail was cleared. 

After a week-long blockage of the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, the Canadian police, prodded by a judge who has given protestors orders to leave, are at last taking action and dispersing the demonstrators.  But Ottawa remains under siege and there is little sign of police activity.  “This is Jan. 6 in slow motion,” said Catherine McKenney, an Ottawa city councilor. “But on Jan. 7, 2021, Washington emptied out.  Here, they stayed.”  And they will continue to stay, unless the Canadian government decides to oppose the protestors more aggressively – which so far has not been forthcoming and shows little sign of doing so in the near future.

The government of France is displaying a great deal more backbone.  Police set up roadblocks to vehicles of protestors entering Paris.  Some carloads of protestors managed to evade these, but when they blocked the Champs Ėlysée the police fired tear gas and detained several of them.  As a result, Parisians are able to walk the streets of their own city unmolested, which is a good deal more than can be said about the citizens of Canada’s capital.

The Solomon Islands is an archipelago of six major islands and about 900 smaller islands, stretching over a distance of nearly 1,000 miles, with a total land area of about 11,000 square miles and a population of well under a million.  Unlike many Pacific island nations, tourism is not a major source of income.  Due to its lack of infrastructure and its remoteness, it is in fact one of the least-visited countries in the world.  Now, however, it has become a focal point of interest between the U.S. and China.  The U.S. plans to open an embassy there, to increase its influence in the South Pacific before China becomes “strongly embedded.”  The U.S. previously operated an embassy in the Solomons for five years before closing it in 1993. Since then, U.S. diplomats from neighboring Papua New Guinea have been accredited to the Solomons, which currently has a U.S. consular agency.  Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. Attorney-General of Fiji, welcomes this move, saying that Pacific island nations have long felt overlooked by larger nations as “flyover” countries.

There is some encouraging news for sufferers from long COVID.  Over-the-counter antihistamines may provide relief for them.  At this point there is no cure for long COVID.  The only method of treating it is symptom management.  Some of the symptoms of long COVID are brain fog, joint pain, exercise intolerance, and fatigue.  In some documented cases antihistamines have moderated these symptoms, and a few patients have reported recovering over 90% of their pre-COVID functioning. 

There are so many affecting stories related to the pandemic that one hesitates to record any more, and yet this one cannot be passed over in silence.  It is at once sad and inspiriting.  Thomas Fortenberry, 69, and his wife, Diane Fortenberry, 68, were admitted to the ICU of the WakeMed Health & Hospitals in North Carolina.  They had been married for more than 50 years, having met each one another attending high school in Mississippi and gotten married as teenagers in 1970.  Their daughters were forced to make the difficult decision to withdraw care for them after it became clear that neither would be able to recover from the COVID virus.  The two held hands together on the last day of their lives, dying within four minutes of one another.  “Our staff watched from inside and outside of the room while they drifted to the next life together,” one staff member wrote afterwards. “Calm, peaceful, and pain-free.”

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 410,674,556; # of deaths worldwide: 5,828,531; # of cases U.S.: 79,293,924; # of deaths; U.S.: 942,944.