On the Catoctin Trail – Rising incidence of respiratory diseases – Elon Musk and Twitter – Evening statistics
Yesterday was another clear, wintry day and I was on another hike to take advantage of it – this time a considerably easier one than the hike of the preceding day, even though it was longer. It took place along the Catoctin Trail, from Hamburg Rd. to the Cunningham Manor area, a section with gentle ascents totaling no more than 1100 feet. It is not a spectacular hike, but it was very lovely under these conditions. The last of the autumn foliage has fallen, leaving the views though the trees clear and unrestricted; the color of the sky was all the more intensely blue that day, as it generally is when the air is dry and free from the haziness of warmer seasons; the light from the slanting rays of the sun illuminated the vegetation strewing the forest floor with dazzling clarity. We lunched at the Thurmont Rock Overlook, with its bird’s-eye view of the town of Thurmont across the valley. Most of us reached that point by 12:30 and all of the hikers completed the hike in the early afternoon, so that even after we partied together for a long while in the parking area close to the bus, we left well before 3:00.
People have become fairly lackadaisical about wearing masks. It was somewhat better than usual where I went shopping today, at an Oriental food market. Those of East Asian origin are more accustomed to wearing facemasks in public; when I visited Beijing in 2000, long before COVID was ever heard of, many people wore them while walking in the street. But in general, when I go to a store, I tend to be in a minority with regard to mask-wearing. The effects of this relaxation are beginning to be seen – not so much as COVID is concerned, but influenza instead. The flu season has come early, with at least 4.4 million cases of flu so far this season, as well as 38,000 hospitalizations and 2,100 deaths. In the past flu rates have not begun to rise until December or January. But now, just barely after mid-November, 27 U.S. states have high or very high flu levels. IN addition, RSV cases are up in record numbers. The fact that RSV cases were barely detectable for the past two years meant that infants of three years and younger have not been exposed to the virus and thus have not had a chance to acquire immunity.
All of which is not to say that the COVID viruses have been idle; they account for 3,000 additional hospital admissions on a daily basis.
Under the regime of Elon Musk, Twitter has restored a number of suspended accounts, including that of Donald Trump. But as Elon Musk has systematically wreaked havoc in Twitter since his takeover, causing employees to flee in droves and awakening doubts among social media pundits about whether Twitter will be able to survive his management, it no longer has the appeal for Trump that it had formerly. Strange to say, Trump, who flooded the Internet with thousands of tweets in the past, claims that he sees “no reason” for returning to Twitter now that it is in the hands of one who, as all the world knows, is continually posing not as a living person but as his own statue erected by public subscription, thus giving an example of the old adage that two of a trade never agree.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 643,324,985; # of deaths worldwide: 6,627,374; # of cases U.S.: 100,250,879; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,102,896.