A long-deferred haircut – The Tulsa rally and its results – Visiting the Northeast – The Hajj – Evening statistics
I was disposed to take things a bit more easily today after yesterday’s exertions. I did go with RS to explore a little around White’s Ford for possible extensions of the Potomac Heritage Trail, but we did not get very far – there are numerous private properties adjacent to the riverbank and it will require considerable negotiation with the various owners. So we completed our investigation fairly early in the day.
However, I completed one activity that some authorities would consider important – Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago, for instance, whose attentiveness to personal grooming when everyone else was barred from salons has already been remarked upon. I got a haircut, the first one I’ve received in over three months. The experience made quite a contrast to the usual routine of barbershop visits. I had to make an appointment beforehand. But this was actually an advantage, since I did not have to wait for a barber to become available when I entered the shop. I wore a mask, of course, and the barber did as well. I underwent a temperature scan and signed a register before I was ushered to the chair. The barber left the cutting of the hair just over the ears to the last, and I was curious to see how he would manage it. He showed a good deal of skill in cutting around the straps of the face mask, and I suppose he has had a lot of practice in doing so by now. There was one point when the strap over each ear had to be lifted temporarily, but it was for a short time only. The haircut had a surcharge, which was only natural, since they have had to purchase scanners for the temperature scans and disposable plastic sheets to replace the reusable cloth sheets that were in use before anyone had heard of COVID-19. My hair has been perpetually disheveled for weeks and getting frizzier by the day, so the haircut is a great relief to me.
The Secret Service has ordered all of its employees who were at the Tulsa rally – several dozen officers and agents – to self-quarantine after two of their colleagues tested positive for the virus. Also, the number of confirmed cases rose 92 percent in the week leading up to the event. Hospitalizations rose 133 percent among people ages 18 to 35. It is uncertain whether the rally was a direct cause of this increase, but the Tulsa Dept. of Health is recommending that anyone who attended the event get tested for the virus. If the rally turnout was somewhat disappointing to Donald Trump, he can at any rate comfort himself with the reflection that it has not been entirely without effect.
For several weeks people who visited New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut were expected to self-quarantine upon their return; now the situation has been reversed. Visitors to these states from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, Utah and Texas are expected to self-quarantine for 14 days. Governor Cuomo insists that quarantine scofflaws could be found by hotel clerks, colleagues at business meetings, and police who pull over motorists to find they’ve come from one of the states on the quarantine list. I don’t see how it will be possible to monitor people who are staying with friends or relatives and who (as is the case for a large number of vacationers in New York) are not driving in their own cars during their visit.
The Hajj has been, if not canceled, at any greatly restricted. It is closed to overseas pilgrims and only 1,000 Saudis may attend. It is not the first time in its long history that such restrictions have occurred; indeed it has been canceled outright on nearly 40 previous occasions. One cannot help contrasting the response of the Muslims in general to the coronavirus with that of our home-grown evangelical Christians. This decision entails considerable sacrifice both on the part of the pilgrims and of Saudi Arabia. The pilgrims planning to attend this year will have to postpone their project for another year at least. It takes a great deal of coordination with the authorities of the sites to visit as well as the airlines, hotels, visas, etc., to make such a trip, an effort that makes obtaining a reservation to climb Half Dome in Yosemite seem trivial in comparison. Those plans have all gone to waste and will have to begin anew. The Saudi Arabian government, also, stands to lose a significant portion of its GNP as a result. All of the people affected deplore the events that led to such a decision, but no one is challenging its necessity. Here is an object lesson in the avoidance of spiritual pride that would be of great use to Tony Spell and preachers of his ilk, but of course they are incapable of learning from it.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM — # of cases worldwide: 9,516,008; # of deaths worldwide: 483,905; # of cases U.S.: 2,462,711 # of deaths U.S.: 124,273. Where does one begin? Our case count has increased by more the 35,000 today, which is a new record. Brazil’s case count is just under half of the U.S.’s by now. The case counts of Peru and Chile exceed that of Italy, which has a larger population than either. Chile’s case rate for its population is now over 1.3%, about one case for every 75 people. Iran, Turkey, Mexico, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, and South Africa have all had exceptionally high increases; at this rate all of the European countries except Russia will be superseded in the list of countries with the highest case counts.