Wild blackberries – Enjoying sensual pleasures – Burke Lake – Floridian optimism – COVID-19 not confined to the elderly – Cases that do not require hospitalization but are not mild – Donald Trump’s astounding gesture – Evening statistics
The blackberries are ripening! At Burke Lake they are still hard, but on the path that connects it with Lake Mercer the first ripe berries are appearing – minus those that I have already consumed while strolling through, of course. A few of the passersby stared at me in surprise while I was in the midst of the thorny bushes as I plucked the berries and ate them – poor things! they have no idea of how delicious blackberries fresh from the bush can be. The store-bought ones are not even comparable. I will admit, however, that the best wild blackberries I ever had were in Vancouver, on the occasion that I was walking from downtown to the Museum of Anthropology. The bushes grew alongside the roads, and their berries were large, plump, and very sweet; I’ve never had any like them, before or since.
“I cherish the consolations of the flesh. I have no patience with cowards who call them weaknesses. I say there is a certain achievement in enjoying things,” says Brecht’s Galileo; and I am thoroughly in agreement with him. I have several friends who are in obvious accord with this outlook. When a group of us rents out a cabin for hiking excursions in out-of-the-way areas that have few restaurants available, we take care to select a place that has kitchen facilities so that we can prepare meals on our own – and we eat together very well indeed. And then there are the camping trips I have taken under the auspices of MP, who possesses the most magnificent set of outdoor kitchen equipment that I have ever seen, enabling us to feast royally on the meals we prepare together. Nor must I omit to mention, in this context, the wines that CB, who is an internationally known connoisseur, has provided on several such occasions. Never, perhaps, is such an attitude more needed than in the current circumstances. To savor the pleasures that are available at hand, to relish the experiences that are still obtainable – that is the only way to preserve one’s equilibrium during what otherwise might appear to be a perpetual state of siege.
Many people were out today. The main parking lot was full by 10:00 AM, but there were several spaces available on the auxiliary parking area close to the amphitheater. It was very warm, but not overpoweringly so – quite pleasant in the shade. Not all of the visitors to Burke Lake were on the trails; some were picnicking, some were rowing or fishing on the lake, some were playing frisbee golf. Many were on bicycles. The majority were not wearing masks. The current wisdom appears to be that outdoor activity that involves continual movement is much less likely to transmit the virus than congregating together inside. Let us hope that is so.
I don’t know whether it is reassuring or the reverse to see so many people outside without any apparent fear of risking the virus. In Florida Disney World has re-opened, even though the state has recently been getting over 10,000 new cases per day. No longer can we claim that the coronavirus is a disease of the elderly; the median age for the new patients in the state is 33. That doesn’t appear to have deterred visitors, who have come to the park in throngs.
Youth, indeed, is no guarantee against the ravages of the virus. The immunologists and virologists have always known this, but the message has been slow in penetrating public consciousness; most people (including you-know-who) still appear to believe that all or nearly all of its victims are elderly. There is one case in Texas of a 30-year old man who deliberately attended a COVID party in San Antonio, believing that the virus was a hoax and intending to prove it by attending the party. He contracted the disease and in his case it proved to be fatal. Some of his last words, reportedly, were “I made a mistake.”
And even though the mortality rate is decreasing, it must not be forgotten that the effects of the virus among people who survive it can be long-ranging. About 80% of the people who contract the virus have few or no symptoms and recover in an average of two weeks. But because of the great numbers of people that have contracted the virus by this time, the other 20% are now numbered in the thousands. Not all of them are hospitalized or put on ventilators. Many who have been able to cope with the virus in their homes are nonetheless wrestling with symptoms that have lasted for months and may continue for years. “It is mild relative to dying in a hospital, but this virus has ruined my life,” one COVID-19 survivor has said. “Even reading a book is challenging and exhausting. What small joys other people are experiencing in lockdown—yoga, bread baking—are beyond the realms of possibility for me.”
A news flash occurred as I was writing these last words: Donald Trump has actually appeared in public wearing a face mask! It is the first time that he has done so since the pandemic began. In paying a visit to wounded service members at Walter Reed National Military Center, he consented to drape a mask over his raw-beef-colored cheeks and his wide, lipless, shark-like mouth, to the great improvement of his appearance. Whether his visit had any cheering effect upon the patients is perhaps a matter of opinion, but at any rate they did not have to worry as much about getting infected from him. I approve of this trend; if he continues by covering up his brazen forehead and his icy, malevolent eyes in future public appearances, I might actually be able to look upon him without recoiling.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 12,832,733; # of deaths worldwide: 567,024; # of cases U.S.: 3,354,925 # of deaths U.S.: 137,392. Today our case increase was just short of 61,000, which, I regret to say, is actually an improvement over the past few days. Our case rate now exceeds that of every country in Europe, including Sweden. Mexico’s case count has overshot that of the U.K. South Africa will probably do the same within the next two or three days.