A quiet day – Don’t walk the roads in South Dakota – The situation in Myanmar worsens – Italy’s new lockdown – Vaccine rollouts – Evening statistics
It was an uneventful day, both at home and on the national front. A few odds and ends are to be gleaned from the headlines. The stimulus package has been passed and people should begin receiving checks, perhaps as early as this weekend. President Biden came out strongly against attacks on Asian-Americans – which perhaps would not be worth remarking upon at all, were it not for the fact that such attacks were rather encouraged under the previous administration, as a follow-up of various xenophobic remarks from you-know-who. Most of the highlights have been international.
The only exception concerns South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, who struck a pedestrian fatally with his car on the night of September 12th. The case has come to court at last, after a five-month investigation, where he pleaded not guilty. Ravnsborg’s account was that he thought at first that he had struck a deer, and that he had searched the unlit area with a cellphone flashlight and didn’t realize he had killed a man until the following day. This account would sound more plausible if it were not for the fact that that the man’s face had smashed through the windshield and his glasses had been found in Ravnsborg’s Ford Taurus after the crash. But the investigation that followed came up with only three misdemeanor charges: operating a vehicle while using a mobile electronic device, illegal lane change, and careless driving. The maximum penalty for each is 30 days in jail and a $500 fine, meaning he could serve, at most, 90 days behind bars for the crash. South Dakota, it appears, does not have a negligent homicide law. Governor Kristi Noem and various law enforcement groups have called for Ravnsborg’s resignation, but up to this point he has refused to step down. Even if he emerges with no more than misdemeanor charges from the trial, his troubles are by no means at an end; the victim’s widow plans to file a civil suit against him, while South Dakota lawmakers are considering whether he should be impeached after the case concludes, regardless of its outcome.
There is no word of where Suu Kyi is being held or how she is faring. The U.S. has been trying to contact her and other officials in the NLD party who are currently in detention, but without success. Two of them have already been killed. More than 70 civilians are now dead and at least 2,000 more are in detention. The U.S. has imposed export sanctions and is urging China to join in pressuring the military government to release its detainees. The U.S. Secretary of State will be meeting with Chinese officials on the 18th to discuss various issues and to take steps in thawing the relationship between the two nations; it is unclear whether the situation in Myanmar will be on the agenda.
Italy will be closing shops, restaurants, and schools in Rome and Milan, its most populous regions, as a result of a new surge of COVID infections. Residents will be required to stay at home except for purposes of work, health, or other essential reasons. These restrictions will last until Easter, and perhaps beyond. It sounds extreme, but on the other hand cases have been surging over the past six weeks to the extent of 25,000 new cases per day. To put that in perspective, the U.S. has lately been seeing about 50,000-70,000 new cases per day, with over five times as much population. And Italy’s death from the COVID virus is significantly higher than ours, about 3.2%.
Israel has inoculated more than 50% of its population. Those who have been vaccinated (both doses) and those who had contracted COVID-19 but have recovered from it are given a “green pass,” which enables them to enter restaurants, gyms, theaters, and other places where people used to congregate in close physical proximity. Already people are behaving as if the pandemic has been put behind them, dining together in groups and congregating in open air markets – although they are still wearing facemasks. Israel is well ahead of other countries in this respect. The United Arab Emirates has the next highest amount of its population inoculated, and plans to see about half its population receive both doses by the end of the month. The U.K., Chile, Bahrain, and the U.S. are next on the list, with 36, 32, 31, and 29 doses per 100 people respectively. Chile is aiming for a goal of at least 15 million people receiving at least one dose by the end of June (its total population is about 19 million). After recording for months on end our nation’s dismal record in coping with the virus, it is a great relief to find that we are actually rolling out the vaccine more efficiently than the majority of other nations. To my astonishment, we are averaging about three times as many doses per capita than Germany. Wonders will never cease!
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 119,594,324; # of deaths worldwide: 2,650,731; # of cases U.S.: 29,991,077; # of deaths; U.S.: 545,383. The figures for the U.S. are certainly undergoing a downward trend. Today Americans accounted for 13.3% of the new cases and 14.6% of the deaths – still disproportionately high, but significantly lower than they were in January.