Getting accustomed to face masks – Local road improvements – A social event in Washington – A would-be murderess – The racism of Black Lives Matter – Will the Fourth of July exacerbate the effects of the virus? – Evening statistics
I seem to be getting more acclimatized to wearing a face mask. Even though it was very hot today (over 95 degrees, or 35 degrees Celsius) I did not find it especially uncomfortable. We certainly can get used to things quickly. I look back with some amusement on earlier entries about adjusting to the use of face masks. I now put on a face mask whenever I go outside of the house on foot, as automatically as I put on pants while dressing in the morning.
The traffic light at the intersection between Rte. 7 and Battlefield Parkway will be coming down once it is replaced by an overpass and interchange ramps. The transformation of Rte. 7 over the years has been remarkable. I can remember a time when it was clogged with traffic lights and people would go out of their way to avoid it during travel between Fairfax and Loudoun Counties. But over the years the traffic lights have been replaced with overpasses and interchange ramps, and it is now nearly as easy to use as a freeway – indeed it is a freeway in everything but name. Construction has been tying up traffic in the metro area for many months, so it is gratifying to see at least some of it obtaining positive results for the long term.
Ashley Taylor Bronczek, a D.C. socialite, hosted a catered dinner for about 20-25 guests in her backyard on June 18th, when the lockdown restrictions at the time limited social occasions to no more than ten people. On her Instagram account she discoursed about this important event. She had sent out invitations to scads of the most divine people; and she connected with a fabulous new number, one of those people you can really talk to; and everything was just too hysterical by the time she showed up (because she can’t bear to be the first one at her own party); and the evening couldn’t have been more perfect – couldn’t have been more people absolutely plastered. Well, I may not have gotten the wording quite right; but that was the gist of it. The only little drawback was that she developed symptoms a few hours later and was diagnosed with the virus. Fearful of the social fallout, she did not exactly rush to inform her companions. They ended up feeling much less friendly towards her when she finally texted the information to them, causing them to stampede to get testing. Her neighbors are rather resentful as well, for at this point nobody in the area knows to what extent the virus might have spread. The sentiments of the caterers have not been recorded; but since they have now been quarantined for circulating among the infected guests and will be unable to obtain work for several days to come, we may assume that they also are not particularly delighted.
Claira Janover issued a video on TikTok threatening to stab anyone who responds with “all lives matter” to the “black lives matter” motto. Deloitte, her employer, was understandably dismayed by the discovery of a budding young psychopath in its midst and was quick to fire her. Janover now claims that the video was a joke and has issued a second video, bemoaning the loss of her job and blaming the debacle on Trump supporters. Janover is a Harvard graduate, but evidently she has not yet learned that issuing death threats on public media is not a joking matter; and indeed that does not appear to be a lesson that Harvard or our collegiate system in general wishes to teach.
The media in general has covered the Black Lives Matter movement favorably, but it is every bit as racist and vicious as the bigots it professes to condemn. On Wednesday the BLM advocates were marching through the streets of Washington, chanting the ancient blood libel against the Jews and calling for their extermination.
Tomorrow is the Fourth of July. Most of the celebrations in Northern Virginia have been canceled. For example, in the park of the central block in Fairfax City, there is a banner wishing everyone a happy Fourth and underneath, in smaller letters, “There’s no place like home” – as a hint not to expect the parade and the fireworks show we generally have at this time of year. But many celebratory events will be held in other places and this circumstance, in conjunction with the fact that the lockdown restrictions are being eliminated in most states, will probably cause yet an additional spike in the virus cases.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM — # of cases worldwide: 11,180,053; # of deaths worldwide: 528,376; # of cases U.S.: 2,890,406 # of deaths U.S.: 132,101. Today the increase in the number of cases worldwide was over 200,000. The increase has been over one million in the past week. And in the U.S. we have had yet another day with an increase of greater than 50,000. India’ case count is nearly equal to Russia’s (its national population, to be sure, is nearly ten times as large) and both the case counts of both Peru and Chile are just a little less than Spain’s. Mexico, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa are also rapidly gaining. In fairness it must be said that the number of cases rated as severe are considerably less – under 60,000 worldwide and under 16,000 in the U.S. The mortality rate is now at about 4.7% worldwide, which is certainly significant but it is not at this stage catastrophic.