Embers, ashes, and flames

More than 2 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 infections in the United States and as many as 1,000 deaths per day – and the implicit message emanating from the White House? “Move along, nothing to see here.”
I was not unhappy to no longer see and hear The Donald spouting gobbledygook at press briefings. But to halt coronavirus task force briefings? To end the coronavirus task force?
It’s madness.

News blues…

Ramaphosa has largely disappeared from view. South Africans are left to their own devices as:

…squabbling erupts over the constitutionality of the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC)…[that] it appears to usurp the powers of structures set up under the Disaster Management Act in determining government’s response to national disasters…[and that it operates] without parliamentary oversight.
…Ramaphosa said that the NCCC was not established in terms of the Disaster Management Act but instead forms part of Cabinet in an advisory capacity.
“The National Coronavirus Command Council – originally known as the NCC – was established as a committee of Cabinet by the Cabinet in its meeting of 15 March 2020.” He further expanded on the role of the NCCC in decision-making and how it helps formulate lockdown regulations.
“The NCCC coordinates government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. The NCCC makes recommendations to Cabinet on measures required in terms of the national state of disaster. Cabinet makes the final decisions.”
In a separate response Ramaphosa added that all cabinet members currently sit on the NCCC – although this was not originally the case when the lockdown first started.

A dose of confusion, anyone?

In the US, top officials like infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci have also largely disappeared from national television.

…Fauci [and other experts made] just four cable TV appearances in May after being a near fixture on Sunday shows across March and April — and are frequently restricted from testifying before Congress. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is preparing to resume his campaign rallies after a three-month hiatus, an attempted signal to voters that normalcy is returning ahead of November’s election, and that he’s all but put the pandemic behind him.
“We’ve made every decision correctly,” Trump claimed in remarks in the Rose Garden Friday morning. “We may have some embers or some ashes or we may have some flames coming, but we’ll put them out. We’ll stomp them out.”

We’ll see….
Confusion keeps apace with rising cases of infection and leaders, north and south, appear incapable of leading.

***

I wish it were not inevitable but…

“Covid waste” – dozens of gloves, masks and bottles of hand sanitiser [noted] beneath the waves of the Mediterranean, mixed in with the usual litter of disposable cups and aluminium cans.

The quantities of masks and gloves found were far from enormous…[but]… the discovery hinted at a new kind of pollution, one set to become ubiquitous after millions around the world turned to single-use plastics to combat the coronavirus. “It’s the promise of pollution to come if nothing is done…” 

As much as 13 million tonnes of plastic goes into oceans each year…. The Mediterranean sees 570,000 tonnes of plastic flow into it annually – an amount … equal to dumping 33,800 plastic bottles every minute into the sea.

These figures risk growing substantially as countries around the world confront the coronavirus pandemic. Masks often contain plastics such as polypropylene …“With a lifespan of 450 years, these masks are an ecological timebomb given their lasting environmental consequences for our planet.”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The plumber called in to replace a bathroom fixture mentioned he had a plumbing job in Durban.
“Durban! How lovely,” I breathed. “Sounds so … exotic! Like a visit to the moon!”
“Lockdown has that effect on people,” he said, “but for those of us working, it’s a hassle. Police roadblocks shut down the N3 [national highway] and it takes forever to pass through. The cops climb into my bakkie [work truck] and paw through my toolboxes.”
“Why do they do that?” I asked.
“Looking for [bootleg] alcohol and cigarettes.”

The cigarette ban makes no sense. Illegal trade in cigarettes flourishes within South Africa and without. The Limpopo /Zimbabwe border is riddled with illegal cigarette trade.  (2:12 mins)
I’m not a smoker but under the circumstances – hungry, financially strapped South Africans and Zimbabweans – of course do what they need to do to survive.
The biggest loser? South African Revenue Services – SARS – loses a vast generator of tax with the ban and makes not a penny of illegal cigarette sales.
With Lockdown/stay-at-home fraying around the edges all over the world, continuing the ban on cigarettes makes no sense.

***

I’m researching recipes for a workable cement-type material to sculpt. Even as I conduct research, my hands long for the feel of clay. I’ve worked with concrete in the past – not for sculpture but for repairing and patching. In comparison to clay, it lacks that … je ne sais quoi….

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