Maintenance tasks go on, independent of pandemic – Bread-making considerations – Testing for the virus – New name for Washington’s team – Florida and California – Evening statistics
As I’ve noted in other entries, the tasks of daily life do not become any the less pressing during a pandemic. Today was devoted almost entirely to what might be categorized as maintenance activities. Hauling out the garbage, recyclables, and lawn clippings to the curb for the municipal refuse collection to pick up. Trimming a few bushes that have become slightly overgrown. Picking up a couple of extenders for the downspouts in order to improve the drainage from the gutters. Taking the car in for the annual state inspection. Laundry. Balancing accounts. Bread-making.
Strictly speaking, this last activity is no longer necessary; the bakeries are well-stocked again. But since flour and yeast are now readily obtainable again, why give it up? Today’s batch incorporated some millet flour and barley flour left over from trying out other recipes. This is not such an affectation as it may sound. There is a reason that many bakers at home incorporate additions such as wheat germ, flax seed, etc., in their bread-making. The sad truth is that when the bran and the germ are removed from the flour, most of the nutrients are gone as well. Whole wheat flour, which does not have the germ removed, is a good deal more nutritious; but it doesn’t keep as well (if it isn’t used up in time the germ content can make it go rancid) and it doesn’t perform as well for recipes that were specifically designed with white flour in mind – using whole wheat flour for challah or brioche, for instance, generally yields disastrous results. So one has to fall back on other expedients.
But one of today’s activities falls outside of the category of routine maintenance. My cousin told me that if I come up to New York, I should undergo a COVID-19 test first. Since he, his wife, and his son have all undergone several weeks of illness as a result of the virus, they have no desire to repeat the experience. (They do not place any stock in the theory that undergoing the disease confers immunity – and indeed, such evidence that has been submitted on the subject appears to be more wish-fulfillment than anything else.) It was a bit of a search to find a place where I could get one. Many of the places that offer the test do so only for people who have symptoms or who are in the company with others who have had the virus. But eventually I found one place in Fairfax that not only had no restrictions but which took people in on a walk-on basis, to my great surprise. The test itself is simple – one swabs a Q-tip in the nasal passages and then deposits the swab into a sterilized tube. The entire experience was surprisingly pleasant. We are fortunate in this area; all of the health care professionals in the facilities I have attended have been splendid people. I have never had a bad experience with a single one of them. This period in particular must be a stressful time for all of them; but the ones I encountered today were not only efficient but smiling and courteous and affable – one felt in a good humor merely from talking with them. I had a further reason for gratification: when the nurse took some initial measurements she looked up at me and said, “You exercise a lot, don’t you?”; and when I admitted that I try to stay active she continued, “Yes, I thought so – your heart rate is quite low” – which certainly was agreeable to hear.
It is now official: the Washington Redskins are the Redskins no longer. Various new names are currently undergoing consideration. I have never had any great attachment to that name myself. My objection to it was not so much on political grounds as it was to its inapplicability to the nation’s capital: one is about as likely to encounter an Amerindian in Cameroon as in downtown DC. Something that is more characteristic of the city at large is in order, I think. For example – the Washington Mugwumps? the Washington Syringes? the Washington Peculators?
Does anyone remember when Italy was the object of pity from the other nations in the world on account of the effects of the virus there? It no longer is in the top ten countries ranked according to absolute case counts; it is now thirteenth on the list. Florida, which has a little over a third of Italy’s population, has more cases than that country now. California has closed its bars and has ordered the state’s restaurants, movie theaters, zoos, and museums to cease indoor operations. Certain selected counties (including all of those in Southern California) must also shut down gyms, places of worship, personal care services, hair salons, and indoor shopping malls.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 13,228,323; # of deaths worldwide: 574,962; # of cases U.S.: 3,478,415 # of deaths U.S.: 138,234. More than 60,000 new cases today in the U.S. One slightly encouraging sign is that the mortality rate does appear to be decreasing, albeit very slowly. But today it has fallen just under 4%, for the first time in weeks. It is possible, also, that some of the increase is accounted for by the greater numbers of people being tested.