Face masks becoming less frequent – Florida resumes restrictions – Mike Pence in Texas – Euphemisms then and now – Evening statistics
It’s been fairly uneventful – going to the Farmer’s Market this morning and working on the lawn later in the day. Alas, not many people were wearing face masks at the Farmer’s Market; I even got a few stares because I had mine on.
Florida has closed down its bars after their re-opening on account of the exploding number of new coronavirus cases. Yesterday alone saw an increase of nearly 9,000 new cases, and the highest percentage of these occurred in the 25-to-34 age range. Governor DeSantis has resisted issuing a statewide mandate for people to wear masks. He has said that it is not necessary because the state has plenty of hospital capacity available to deal with the surging number of cases. It must be reassuring for any Floridian to know that if he is stricken with a potentially mortal illness, there will always be a hospital bed available for him on which he can expire.
Texas has also closed down its bars, having undergone a similar increase in new cases. Mike Pence will be coming down there to better understand, in his own words, the ongoing pandemic. To that end, he will be speaking at the First Baptist Dallas megachurch to an audience of 3,000, who will be packed in without any attempt at distancing, nor will face masks be required. Perhaps, after the number of new cases surges as a result of such an event, Mike Pence’s understanding of the nature of the virus will be increased. He can hardly be more ignorant of its effects and its communicability than he appears to be now.
There is currently some sort of discussion circulating within the IT community to abolish the “master/slave” terminology used to describe models of asymmetric communication in which one device controls several others. The Victorians have often been ridiculed for their reliance on euphemisms, but these are no less prevalent in our era than in theirs. The terminology is a convenient one and has been in use for decades, without any thought of giving offense. To pretend that slavery never existed and to try to cover up all references to it in the manner that one especially sensitive 19th-century lady put clothes on snowmen to conceal their lower parts does no favors to the descendants of ex-slaves. The only reward these would-be purifiers of our language will receive is the derisive laughter of future generations.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM — # of cases worldwide: 10,073,814; # of deaths worldwide: 500,608; # of cases U.S.: 2,596,364 # of deaths U.S.: 128,152. It has taken only a week for the case count to increase by one million. The worldwide death toll is now over 500,000; however, the mortality rate has become lower over the past several weeks. It is about 5% worldwide and in the U.S. it is slightly over 4%. Spain and Italy, where the virus formerly seemed the most virulent, have been decelerating in the increases of cases and deaths. Spain lost 3 people today and Italy lost 8 – the death tolls were in the hundreds daily not very long ago. Soon they will be displaced in the list of the top ten countries with the highest case counts. The case counts in various non-European countries continues to accelerate; Brazil, Peru, Chile, Russia, Iran, Mexico, and Pakistan have all seen large spikes in their case counts.