Modified rapture – The Macy’s Parade – A super spreader event – Evening statistics
This year’s Thanksgiving was solitary, but I have no right to complain. I have already enjoyed an early Thanksgiving with DC and JC last week(on 11/20) and a late morning visit with EG and HG, and that is probably as much social activity as anyone can reasonably expect in the course of a single week. And, from a larger perspective, there is much to be thankful for. I have complained a great deal about the current administration in these entries, and certainly I continue to think of Trump’s influence as baneful and will heave a sigh of relief when he is out of the Oval Office at last. But at the same time I have never had to live in fear of the door being broken open and police bursting in to drag me to prison, as in Soviet Russia, or of being “struggled against,” as in Maoist China, simply because I think badly of our national leader. I even publicize such views on social media without fear of reprisal. Donald Trump has a great capacity for enmity, but it is on a personal level and thus is fairly containable; and then, too, our nation has a sufficient number of safeguards to prevent an outright dictatorship from occurring. His besetting flaw is, as I think, avarice; and to quote Samuel Johnson, avarice is “a uniform and tractable vice.” He never will be kind to anyone, but he will not be needlessly cruel to people if there is no money to be obtained from it.
The Macy’s Parade took place in New York, as always, but there were no crowds in the streets and the balloon handlers and those riding the floats all wore masks. With such precautions, the event is not likely to be a “super spreader” like various others in recent memory, such as various rallies and the massive motorcycle event in Sturgis.
Alas, even seemingly innocuous private events have their dangers. A family in St. Louis gathered together last month to celebrate the 99th birthday of one of its members. What could be more natural? They did not act in a spirit of recklessness. It was not a huge party – only 12 people in all. Each of them quarantined several days before the event. Members who used an airplane trip to travel to St. Louis got tested beforehand, with negative results. It made no difference. Every single one of the celebrants came down with the virus afterwards. In this case they all recovered and there have been no lasting ill effects to date. But imagine such an episode multiplied by tens of thousands across the country, and that will give an idea of what the results of this year’s Thanksgiving will be. We may be tired of the COVID virus, but the virus assuredly is not tired of us.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 61,290,843; # of deaths worldwide: 1,436,977; # of cases U.S.: 13,247,759; # of deaths; U.S.: 269,555.