Hiking in Shenandoah National Park – Land’s Run – The Republican gubernatorial convention – Tragic conditions of India – Nigeria at risk – Evening statistics
Yesterday I went with AD and RH, with several others from the Wanderbirds, along the Dickey Ridge Trail. We had done the hike earlier this year in January, but the difference was striking. In January, of course, the trees were bare of foliage and the groundcover was sparse. Now, in mid-spring, the trees are in full leaf and forest vegetation is dense and verdant. Wildflowers in abundance, of course: starry chickweed, bluets, violets, wild geranium. One part of the trail featured lady slippers – the yellow variety, which is less common than the pink one, at any rate in the Eastern forests – and with a profusion I have never seen anywhere else. They are difficult to find in any case. Usually I consider myself fortunate if I come across one at a time; on occasion I’ve seen them in twos and threes, but never in dozens. The various species of lady slippers are becoming rarer because a number of their habitats have been destroyed. They require an alkaline soil, and the amount of acid rain has caused their numbers to shrink. Warming temperatures and the increase in the whitetail deer population (which browses on these and other wild orchids indiscriminately) have also taken their toll. Why so many flourish in this one tiny section of Shenandoah National Park when they are so uncommon elsewhere remains a mystery.
There were fourteen of us in all. The hike included a visit to the Land’s Run waterfall, where we managed to get an angle where we could view it properly (the path runs along the top of the falls), with the clear water plashing over the rocks and sparking in the sunlight. We were rather fortunate in our timing, for the greater part of the day was rather overcast; by the time we reached the waterfall, however, the skies had cleared to some extent. Afterwards we gathered together and had a bit of a party, as we generally do.
One topic of discussion was the recent Republican convention in Virginia for the gubernatorial candidate. The convention was held the day before (May 8th) but the counting of the votes is expected to last several days. The candidates all evaded answering the question of whether they thought Biden won the election legitimately or whether, as Trump claims, the election was stolen. The most egregious in this respect was Amanda Chase, who has described herself as “Trump in heels.” She openly praised the seditious rioters who stormed the Capitol as “patriots.” As I have noted earlier, this stance is not likely to go over well in Virginia. Northern Virginia, which contains over a third of the population of the entire state, is in close proximity to Washington D.C. and many commute there. Donald Trump is not popular among this group, especially after the events of January 6th. In the recent election, 54% of Virginia’s votes went to Biden and only 44% went to Trump. One would think that these numbers would cause the Republican candidates to distance themselves from this brazen idol of theirs; but none of them has voiced the tiniest breath of criticism towards him, let alone called him out for his treasonable behavior during the aftermath of the national election. Amanda Chase is already showing herself to be a worthy disciple of the master she has chosen; she has vowed to call for an audit if she does not receive the nomination. Such scenarios may be the norm for some time to come: a losing candidate may call for an audit after any election, which will last for days and cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars. It may not affect the end result, but the more often such audits are held, the less confidence people will have in the electoral process – unless indeed our legislature has sufficient courage to enforce substantial penalties upon politicians who initiate ballot audits with no justification.
The U.S. cases and deaths in proportion to the global ones have fallen to 21.0% and 18.0% respectively. Our daily increases are now 4% or less, and they are steadily declining. But as we seem to be emerging from the pandemic, the situation is deteriorating elsewhere.
The situation in India is worse than ever. The medical care is nearly completely destitute of beds for new patients. In a particularly gruesome development, several dozen bodies have washed up on the banks of the Ganges River in the northern part of the country. Several of these were partially burnt. The explanation appears to be that they were cremated after succumbing to the virus but the shortage of wood and the increasing cost of funerals left their relatives no alternative but to put the bodies directly into the river. Most of the country’s crematoriums have run out of spaces altogether.
And experts are expecting another “hot spot” to emerge in the near future: Nigeria. It has managed to control the COVID virus so far but its situation is similar to India in many ways: densely populated cities, deep poverty, and rudimentary health care system. Indeed, a comparison of the two would show Nigeria to be worse off than India in all three respects. In addition, India is the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines, whereas Nigeria must import of all its vaccines. Only 1% of its population has received a single dose and virtually none of it has been fully vaccinated. It does not appear possible that Nigeria could vaccinate three-quarters of its population until well into 2022.
Yesterday’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 158,950,997; # of deaths worldwide: 3,306,142; # of cases U.S.: 33,476,570; # of deaths; U.S.: 595,812.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 159,587,806; # of deaths worldwide: 3,317,058; # of cases U.S.: 33,513,053; # of deaths; U.S.: 596,172.