Hiking in optimal weather – Caution about party-going – Youngkin and the gubernatorial election – A disastrous hazing – Deathbed denials of COVID – COVID’s effect on life expectancy – Evening statistics
I went on two hikes this weekend with AD and RH. The first was on the Appalachian Trail from Washington Monument State Park to Annapolis Rocks and back, and the second was the hike to Big Devils Stair that we had done earlier during the first week of July. We had beautiful weather on both days, similar to that which I had enjoyed on the Idaho trip: sunny, clear, dry, moderate, all in all a welcome contrast to the sultry weeks we endured during July and August. We snacked afterwards on both occasions, as is our usual custom; and the food and drink provided by various contributors after today’s hike to Big Devils Stairs were so elaborate as to constitute the main meal of the early evening.
There were numerous hikers on the AT, which is not surprising for a Saturday in the autumn with nearly optimum weather. Somewhat more surprising was the number of hikers on the Mt. Marshall trail today, which ordinarily is little used. It contained many blowdowns, which is frequently the case with this trail, since it overlooks the numerous aretes of a mountain that are placed close together and thereby act as wind tunnels. Nonetheless, we encountered more than a dozen hikers on it this morning.
On Saturday evening I attended a “post-trip” party hosted by EF and MJ in their beautiful pent-house apartment in Rosslyn, with an extensive terrace that overlooks the east and thus provides panoramic views of Washington DC. It was very enjoyable, although somewhat sparsely attended. Perhaps about half of those who journeyed together on the trip in June to Sequoia were present. At least one member of the group that I know of declined to attend because he had recently taken a couple of airline flights (during the recent Idaho trip) and had numerous other brief occasions in which he had contact indoors with persons who were unmasked and possibly unvaccinated. Individually such episodes posed little risk of contracting the disease but he was concerned about their cumulative effect and decided to eliminate as many unnecessary risks as possible.
MJ sounded rather disconsolate about the upcoming gubernatorial election. In contrast to the previous one, Republicans are voting early in large numbers and Trumpkin – I should say, Youngkin – appears to be in the lead. Youngkin at this point does not appear to be Trump’s puppet just yet, despite my possibly somewhat unjust nickname for him. He has gone on record as criticizing the Texas abortion law and instead favors a “pain threshold bill,” which occurs around the 20th week of pregnancy. That at any rate is an intelligible position, even if I personally disagree with it. Moreover, Trump has openly criticized Youngkin for not being abject enough – that is to say, for declining to assure voters that he is Trump’s creature to the very fiber of his being. But it is highly doubtful that he would have the backbone to resist Trump’s takeover of his party and in all likelihood he would, if he were to become governor, roll over with whatever the party line dictates. Moreover, he is a man of immense wealth – his net worth is estimated to be over $300 million, and he has spent more than $5.5 million of his own money on his campaign – which means that he has little or no empathy for those who must live from paycheck to paycheck, a category that includes the great majority of Virginians.
In a hazing ritual by the Delta Chi fraternity of Virginia Commonwealth University, Adam Oakes, a freshman, was given an entire bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey and instructed to by peers to drain its contents to the dregs. Afterwards he was blindfolded, which caused him to run into a tree and hit his head. Oakes was then helped into the house, where he fell asleep on his side on a couch. He was found lying face down during the following morning, dead. The episode led to the fraternity being suspended and, as of yesterday, the arrests of those who orchestrated the affair. Such was the first distinguished exploit of Benjamin Corado, Quinn Kuby, Riley McDaniel, Alessandro Medina-Villanueva, Jason Mulgrew, Christian Rohrbach, Colin Tran, and Enayat Sheikhzad, and considering that the oldest of them is a bare 22 years of age, we can entertain the most flattering prognostics of their future renown.
Matthew Trunsky, a pulmonologist in Michigan, recorded eight interactions he had with severely ill COVID patients in a Facebook post. Some of the patients denied having the virus, some requested unproven and unapproved treatments such as ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine, or some have said: “I’d rather die than take the vaccine.” They have received their wish: six of the eight have already died, and the other two are in critical condition. “This is not to mention the anger the people have towards the physicians in the nurses who are really doing our best – and who are delivering exceptionally excellent care. Of course the answer was to have been vaccinated,” Trunsky wrote. “But they were not and now they’re angry at the medical community for their failure.”
The COVID pandemic is in fact responsible for reducing life expectancy in 2020 by the largest amount since World War II, according to a study published this week by Oxford University in the International Journal of Epidemiology. The study surveyed 29 countries, including European countries, the U.S., and Chile. Life expectancy fell in 22 of these by more than six months. The life expectancy of the average American male decreased by 2.2 years in 2020, as opposed to life expectancy in 2019.
Yesterday’s statistics as of 9:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 232,248,399; # of deaths worldwide: 4,756,524; # of cases U.S.: 43,725,604; # of deaths; U.S.: 706,058.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 232,576,675; # of deaths worldwide: 4,761,524; # of cases U.S.: 43,750,983; # of deaths; U.S.: 706,317.