This excerpted from an email sent to residents of Alameda, California – where I lived for 20 years.
Thank you Alameda, for your ongoing efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19, save lives, and keep Alameda safe and healthy. As of this afternoon, the City of Alameda has 42 cases of COVID-19, Alameda County has 2,560 cases and 88 deaths, the State of California has 84,057 cases and 3,436 deaths, the United States has 1,551,853 cases and 93,439 deaths, and across the world, there are a staggering 4,996,472 cases and 328,115 deaths. These numbers continue to grow, and we must continue to be vigilant about wearing face coverings and using physical distance to protect the health of our community.The email continues with specific actions, one of which is to recognize Slow Streets:
Slow Streets Alameda temporarily reconfigured Pacific and Versailles streets to discourage through traffic and provide more space for residents to walk, run, bike, scooter, and roll at a safe distance from one another. Last night, the City Council approved expanding the program….Alameda is a small island city (78,000 people) with many city street so the reconfiguration makes sense.
Here, in this KZN village, Slow Streets would not make sense because, 1) too few streets, 2) drivers would rather die than drive slowly, 3) too many potholes.
Potholes make driving a death-defying experience as drivers veer across lanes to avoid disappearing into potholes. In our road, thoughtful residents try to fill potholes by tossing bricks inside. One local pothole hosts at least 10 bricks. (I count as I drive around it.) And that pothole is far from full!
(A post with photos on potholes on my other blog.)
News blues…
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| (c) News24.com click to enlarge. |
The release of the projections during an extensive technical briefing with Health Minister Zweli Mkhize and members of several teams producing modelling for government on Tuesday night came after intense criticism over the apparent lack of transparency over the modelling and other Covid-19 data.
The projections, which the experts stressed were subject to change as more data became available, show:
- Between June and November, 40 000 to 45 000 people could die from Covid-19, with nearly 500 deaths by the end of May.
- The total number of cases between June and November is expected to be between 1 and 1.2 million, with around 50 000 cases expected by the end of May.
- Projected need for ICU beds is between 20 000 and 35 000 between June and November, and 500 by the end of May.
- General hospital beds required are expected to be between 75,000 and 90,000 between June and November, with just more than 2,000 beds required by the end of May.
- Provinces are expected to peak at different times, with varying levels of infection and deaths, but the national peak infection rate is expected around mid-July to mid-August.
Ouch!
The US is in trouble, too, although for different reasons. "How Covid-19 Overwhelmed The American State: Decades of poor policy choices and neglect of government agencies have left the U.S. ill-equipped to handle this crisis."
Although American struggles have a lot to do with choices President Donald Trump has made in the past few months, they also have a lot to do with choices that the U.S. has been making for decades ― in particular, skimping on its safety net and funding for key government agencies.
National and state officials have been scrambling to make up for that with new initiatives, most recently a relief bill called the Heroes Act, passed by House Democrats on Friday. Like its predecessors, it would provide much-needed help to millions if it became law.
But there’s only so much that even the most determined policymakers can do right now. What the U.S. really needs to do is reimagine what the government does and how it operates ― to build a new state edifice, starting with its foundation, in a way that it has done only a few times in its history. And it’s not clear the political system is capable of that.
***
On a (slightly) brighter note: Another Daily Maverick webinar, “Africa First”How does Africa’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic differ from Western society? What is the African continent’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its long-term development prospects?
Host Tim Cohen, Business Maverick Editor, in conversation with Dr Jakkie Cilliers, founder, Institute for Security Studies, and Ottilia Maunganidze, head of Special Projects for the ISS.
Whackjobbery* …
I’ll dispense with real-world examples of whackjobbery for this post. There’s too much of it around and, today, it’s just too depressing to share.Instead, an old joke that’s still pertinent:
A Soviet official tour guide is showing a group of Americans around a city touted as the jewel in the crown (wool cap?) of Soviet-style socialism.And a new curse word: To Telkom someone, as in, “he’s such a bad guy, I hope he gets Telkomed.”
An American asks the guide, “What’s the difference between socialism and capitalism?”
The tour guide thinks a moment then says, “In capitalism, its man against man, and every man for himself. In socialism? It’s the exact reverse!”
I coined this after I shared my mother’s recent Telkom experiences with a friend who’d moved from this neighborhood to Mooi River 15 months ago. Since that time – 15 months! - she’s been waiting for Telkom to install their telephone.
*Whackjob: term coined by Steve Schmidt of The Lincoln Project to denote virulent Trump supporters who’ve given up common sense in favor of Trumpism.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Not much of a shopper at the best of times, recent excursions shopping during lockdown centered around purchasing basic groceries for the household and prescription meds for my mother. I’ve little experience with shopping behavior under the new normal.After my mother finally agreed that Telkom’s half-assed phone service ain’t cutting it (see yesterday’s post, Boiling frogs ) I set off to research cell phones.
Best case scenario would have been to drive twenty-five miles to the city of Pietermaritzburg and pick a phone from the range of choices at the gigantic Liberty shopping mall.
With lockdown, roadblocks, aggressive police and military, and rumors the city is an infection hot-spot, I headed, instead, to the local village’s only computer store.
There, they’d cordoned off the store’s entrance and set up a table outside with hand sanitizers and printed directions about maintaining social distance (two meters/six foot) while lined up outside. Only two customers at a time allowed inside.
A clerk approached as I reached the head of the line at the store’s entrance. I explained my goal. He told me the store doesn’t carry cell phones, and advised, “Try the MTN store at Woolworth’s shopping center – across the road.”
It was bustling over there: parking lot filled with vehicles; masked car guards in attendance; masked shoppers dashing hither and thither; masked store clerks behind cash registers.
I found the MTN store and lined up outside behind two correctly spaced people.
After waiting about twenty minutes, one person gave up waiting. As I moved one person closer to the entrance, I noticed passing shoppers ignored social distancing in lines. Instead, they passed through our carefully constructed space as if it was a thoroughfare. (Apparently, this is usual public behavior. My friends and family tell me Californians do the same.)
At the entrance to the store, a clerk took my temperature (36.15 C) and spritzed my hands with sanitizer before I was permitted inside.
I brought home to my mother a brochure of MTN phones.
She’s risk averse. I sense she’s also ambivalent about her ability to adjust to a cell phone. I’m treading carefully and urging her to make decisions beyond the cost of a cell phone. This includes full commitment to learning how to use the device, rather than hand it over to someone else to manage.
Additionally, if I risk life and limb (virus and potholes) to return to the store to purchase a phone, she can risk a learning curve.
The best part of my day? Goodbye, Telkom!
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