An out-of-state trip – Hotels half-empty – The virus continues to spiral – Development of a vaccine – The threat of Thanksgiving – Donald Trump’s refusal to concede – The mood at the White House – The mounting figures – Evening statistics
I had to put the blog on a brief hiatus while I took a trip that was, possibly, ill-judged. Some time ago I had arranged to visit a friend in the Chicago area during the mid-spring, but we kept postponing it for various reasons, the virus among them. Finally we decided to set up the visit this week because if we waited any longer it would be many additional months before it could occur.
The visit itself was enjoyable but the surrounding circumstances were certainly odd. I took two days to drive, stopping overnight at a hotel just off the highway near the Ohio/Indiana border. I had not made a reservation in advance, but none was needed; it was clear that the hotel had very few occupants. The same was true of the hotel in Orland Park. Whenever I used the elevator I had it all to myself. Breakfast, of course, was not served. There are restrictions on indoor dining, although using restaurants for takeout is still permitted. People are now much more diligent about wearing masks, even when walking on the streets. No one can enter a store without one. To make my stay there as risk-free as possible, I asked the front desk whether I might forego daily maid service (since I checked in on the 12th and left on the 14th, it was not exactly a killing sacrifice), and they did not appear to think such a request at all unusual, and indeed seemed rather gratified than otherwise. This trip, brief and limited as it was, will probably be the last one I will take for some time to come. As the virus steadily increases in all states, it seems probable that travel from one state to another will be severely limited, if not prohibited altogether.
The numbers of people afflicted with the virus has been steadily increasing. To say that it is spiking would be inaccurate, because that implies that the rate of increase has reached its maximum; whereas every day sees an incrementally larger rate of increase. We have had more than a million new cases within a week. By way of contrast, in China, where the virus originated, the number of new cases is minimal and there have been hardly any new deaths for several days. In Europe, South America, and Latin America, on the other hand, the virus is spiraling out of control as well, although not to the same extent as here. Already our hospitals are being strained again, as they were in the spring,. Many have reached full capacity.
There is one hopeful piece of news: the vaccine appears to be nearing the completion of development and it will be distributed on a limited basis to health care personnel and to others who are at the greatest risk. But not too much should be built on this. It is not known how long its effectivity will last and it is also unclear whether a significant number of people will react badly to it. In any case, it will take several months before a vaccine can diminish the effects of the virus on the populace at large.
In the meantime, Thanksgiving festivities are approaching; and even though most state governors are imploring residents to limit their family gatherings, it seems likely that several will be held across the country and increase the rate of contagion still further. Also, the upcoming winter season means that people will be spending more time indoors, where infection is more likely to occur.
And what of the man who is chiefly responsible for this state of affairs? Donald Trump still refuses to concede the election. He has issued various lawsuits challenging the results in various states. Most of these have been summarily thrown out of court, for there is not the slightest evidence of falsification of results anywhere. Trump’s lawsuits, incidentally, are quite insulting to the polling officials who conducted their operations painstakingly and conscientiously, under especially challenging conditions – such an unprecedented number of mail-in votes and a pandemic raging through the country; but hardly anyone has spoken up on their behalf. Some of the claims that Trump’s supporters have made in his support ought to be awarded prizes for sheer nerve. One Nevada official, for instance, said that people voted out of state. Of course they did – several people who are listed as state residents may have temporary residences elsewhere. College students are a primary example. Again, sometimes people may have time-consuming work assignments that make it advisable to take in a pied-à-terre close to their office because their main home is too far away from the location where they are expected to work.
It is difficult to obtain clear reports about what is happening behind the scenes at the White House. Such accounts that have emerged indicate that Trump is even more dejected than he is angry. And well he might be – once he is no longer President he will be expected to meet his personal debts (amounting to about $350 million), with the additional complications of a possible $100 million owed in back taxes and a lawsuit from his niece challenging the distribution of the inheritance he received from his father. He will cling to his office by all means possible, and this barrage of lawsuits and denigration of our voting system might well be his attempt at a coup d’état.
“I don’t hate Trump,” one friend told me. “I think of him as a frightened little boy.” That is perhaps as good an account as any. The problem, of course, is that he is a frightened little boy in a position of power, rather like the six-year old boy in the Twilight Zone episode “It’s a Good Life,” who on account of his telepathic powers has isolated his village from the rest of the world and subjected its inhabitants to a reign of terror. Already a quarter of a million Americans are dead from the COVID virus. Of course Trump could not have prevented all of these, but does anyone doubt that this figure would have been much lower under a different administration?
As an illustration, here are the figures for past few days (I neglected to get the global numbers for 11/10 but the other figures are complete):
11/10 as of 8:00 PM – # of cases U.S.: 10,565,822; # of deaths; U.S.: 245,919.
11/11 as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide 52,416,475; # of deaths worldwide: 1,288,776; # of cases U.S.: 10,703,519; # of deaths; U.S.: 247,279.
11/12 as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide 53,073,151; # of deaths worldwide: 1,298,558; # of cases U.S.: 10,870,708; # of deaths; U.S.: 248,550.
11/13 as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide 53,730,860; # of deaths worldwide: 1,308,564; # of cases U.S.: 11,063,015; # of deaths; U.S.: 249,979.
11/14 as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide 54,311,920; # of deaths worldwide: 1,317,397; # of cases U.S.: 11,225,823; # of deaths; U.S.: 251,255.