Worldwide (
Map)
May 6, 2021 – 154,775,000,0xx confirmed infections; 3,237,590 deaths
November 19, 2020 – 56,188,000 confirmed infections; 1,348,600 deaths
October 22, 2020 – 41,150,000 confirmed infections; 1,130.410 deaths
US (
Map)
May 6, 2021 – 32,557,300,xx confirmed infections; 579,300 deaths
November 19, 2020 – 11,525,600 confirmed infections; 250,485 deaths
October 22, 2020 – 8,333,595 confirmed infections; 222,100 deaths
SA (
Coronavirus portal)
May 6, 2021 – 1,588,225 confirmed infections; 54,560 deaths
November 19, 2020 – 757,145 confirmed infections; 20,556 deaths
October 22, 2020 – 708,360 confirmed infections; 18,750 deaths
Tracking Covid-19:
***
News blues
Over the past six months, a battle has been brewing over intellectual property and patents on vaccines. Some – many US Congress people included, who receive corporate political donations from pharmaceutical companies –
find the idea of sharing human ingenuity during a pandemic anathema and refuse to back the trend. Others, including US President Biden – back the suggestion to share patents.
India and South Africa were the leading voices in a group of about 60 countries which for the last six months has been trying to get the patents on vaccines set aside.
However, they met with strong opposition from the previous US administration of Donald Trump, the UK and the EU.
… Biden, has taken a different tack… backed a waiver during the 2020 presidential campaign and reiterated his support on Wednesday.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) called the move a "monumental moment" in the fight against Covid-19….”
Let’s hear a giant cheer for sharing….
Local news blues
The post back on January 10, 2021 –
Covid closes in - mentioned two cases of Covid-19 infection in the Care Center where my mother resides. Details of patients were confidential, but the grapevine reported both patients recovered.
During my visit last Monday, my mother complained that Center caregivers wear masks and that she, my mother, cannot hear what they’re saying. (Ironic, as even with my ear an inch from my mother’s mouth, I cannot hear what
she is saying….) I explained to her, again, the need for masks, updated her on the pandemic’s effects upon India, and reminded her that even the carefully monitored Center had experienced two infections.
The resident sitting in the Laz-i-boy next to my mother overheard my explanation (through my own mask) and said, “I was one of the residents infected!”
About 70-years-old, a recent amputee, and suffering skin cancer on his bald scalp – he described that experience: no sense of smell; no interest in food – “tasted horribly salty or horribly sugary”; unable to breath without additional oxygen; painful lungs; general malaise.
He’s the first person I’ve met with firsthand experience.
***
On May 4, I received an email from the Care Center with the following excerpts:
As of last week, our staff began receiving COVID Vaccinations… and will continue to do so until all are vaccinated.
Yesterday, however, one of our clinic Sisters tested positive. She’s been sick since Saturday and is isolated at home. While not a Care Centre staff member, she interacts with our staff and some residents and her office is located in the Care Centre.
Two Care Centre residents who recently visited with family members – and those family members – also tested positive. Both residents will isolate for the next days, both are doing well, and neither shows symptoms.
Random COVID tests are regularly conducted in the Care Centre and we are happy to advise that there are no positive cases at this time.
This Sunday is Mother’s Day. If you wish to see your Mom please phone to make an appointment or to advise if you plan to take her out.
Due to recent exposures… we must return to strict lockdown until May 12, 2021…
The email goes on to describe the tighter restrictions.
Alas, not only is it Mother’s Day, it’s also my birthday. Moreover, I’ve yet to share my travel plans with my mother – or that my brother was admitted to hospital.
I’m highly motivated to pass my pre-flight Covid test and return to California. I have no intention of exposing myself to an infection that could, potentially, keep me here.
Thank the gods Care Center staff accept and play WhatsApp audio messages to residents. I frequently communicate with my mother via WhatsApp – and will continue to do so in California. Nevertheless, it feels ‘cold’ to inform her via audio message that 1) her beloved son is in hospital, and 2) that I plan to board 3 planes – in Pietermaritzburg, Johannesburg, and Heathrow – and skedaddle back to California.
I’ve requested permission to visit my mother on my birthday and, weather permitting, take her for a wheelchair ride. Depending on how she’s doing, I will break the news to her in person.
***
If all goes well, on May 11, I will make an online appointment at any of several clinics in the San Francisco Bay Area to receive the first of two free Pfizer “shots” (vaccinations). After the initial shot, onsite clinicians will make an appointment for my second shot 3 weeks later.
Never have I more looked forward to shots!
***
The Lincoln Project:
Swamp Thing (0:56 mins)
Lincoln Project Town Hall – Republican Party (1:20 mins)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Autumn/fall days are here: cooler evenings and nights and warm sunlit days with a tendency toward chilly in the shade. This is a glorious time of year in the Midlands. Snakes like it too.
I head the domestic worker shriek, “Inyoka!”
Snake!
I grabbed my cellphone camera and dashed upstairs where a lovely, slender, 12-to-14-inch bright green snake coiled in the passageway.
Likely a juvenile, its eyes and jaw appeared a lighter shade of green. Google suggested it was a Common Green Snake.
I’ve seen far fewer snakes in the Midlands than I saw when I grew up in Valley of 1000 Hills of KwaZulu Natal. There, one regularly – daily? - spotted large, venomous snakes – puff- and night-adders, boomslang, mambas, ringhals (spitting cobra) along with occasional non-venomous mole and grass snakes.
Five years, off and on, in the Midlands, and I’ve seen six snakes: two gorgeous rhombic night adders, two green snakes (likely Common Green Snakes), and two Common Brown River Snakes. (Does “common” refer to the shade of brown, the shade of the river, the frequency of the snake, all the above? LOL!)
According to herpetologists, snakes are viewed more frequently during autumn as they seek shelter for their winter hibernation.
***
In consultation with my mother, we agreed that seven months trying to sell this house with little success, we’d take it off the market for now.
The decision is a
huge weight lifted from my shoulders. The stress, uncertainty, and anger I’ve experienced for months is disappearing. Moreover, I’m enjoying working in the garden again, feel creative, generous with my time and energy. I’m once more nourished by pruning, weeding, transplanting, and imagining what may unexpectedly sprout in the garden after winter.
I depart for California in 25 days… with yet many more “
Miles to go before I sleep…”. My mojo is back….
***
Since purchasing return tickets, my California friend and I regularly discuss a list of food items he will purchase from Trader Joe’s and deposit in my vehicle when I return to my houseboat. (
Monday’s post outlines safety protocols he insists upon before allowing me near him or his home .)
At first, we argued about how each of us wanted me to format the grocery list. He wanted a straight Word-formatted list. My preference had been to create a fancy, bells and whistles list that, as I worked on it, allowed me to imagine the look, feel, and taste of foods I’ve missed for more than 485 days.
First on that list?
Laceys Cookies Dark Chocolate Almond
 |
(c) Trader Joe's
Laceys Cookies Dark Chocolate Almond.
Food porn! Yum! Thank you, Google! |
I’ve been gone so long from California that I had not realized Google provides photos and descriptions of TJ items! (TJ’s website is not half as nourishing as Google-searching for items.)
Since that discovery, no more arguing over formatting of my grocery list. He’ll get explicit photos to guide him and I have the satisfaction of food porn until I’m driving the real thing to my houseboat.
(FYI for readers unfamiliar with the US and its hype-consumerism. American shoppers have multiple brands and multiple versions of most food items: multiple choices of dairy, for example, from full fat, low fat, non-fat, even non-dairy. Multiple diets: “junk”, healthy, meat eater, veggie, vegan, non-GMO, non-dairy, etc.
In America, shopping for groceries requires full attention, total concentration, scrutinizing of labels, scratching, sniffing… and buying, usually constrained not by actual need but by how much money one can afford to spend.
Freedom. Ain’t it great? (Confusing, too. I’ve heard shagging-dog stories about people from other countries being overwhelmed by the stress of such variety choice – and high-tailing it “back home”….)
***
Getting darker here…
Feb 26: sunrise 5:47am; sunset 6:33pm.
March 2: sunrise 5:50am; sunset 6:29pm.
March 16: sunrise 5:59am; sunset 6:13pm.
April 1: sunrise 6:09am; sunset 5:54pm.
May 1: sunrise 6:27am; sunset 5:24pm.
May 3: sunrise 6:29am; sunset 5:22pm.
May 6: sunrise 6:30am; sunset 5:20pm.
