Reckoning

Level 2 as of midnight tonight! 

News blues…

President Ramaphosa updates South Africans (28:00 mins) and declares a “new phase” in response: Extend national state of disaster until Sept 15 but move to Level 2.
Alert Level 2 protocols:

• Remove restrictions on the resumption of economic activity albeit with necessary and appropriate conditions
• Interprovincial travel ban lifted
• Hospitality reopens with approved protocols
• Restaurants, bars, taverns reopen with approved protocols
• Lift restrictions on the sale of cigarettes
• Alcohol use subject to conditions: up to 10 pm in public; for sale Mon – Thur 9 am to 5p for use at home
• Lift restrictions for family and friend – small gatherings
• Continue social distancing and protect the vulnerable continue

Protocols that remain in place:

• International travel remains restricted
• No gatherings of more than 50 people, including funerals and religious
• Curfew from 10 pm to 4 am
• Stay at home, work at home if possible

Continue to:

• Wear masks
• Protect the elderly and those with underlying conditions
• Social distancing
• Proper ventilation
• Limit travel to necessary trips only
• Avoid social gatherings
• Wash and sanitize hands
• Behave responsibly – act as if you could infect others

Keep in mind that New Zealand, a model of well-managed response to Covid-19, reinstituted lockdown in Auckland due to a second wave of infections.

On Sunday, New Zealand reported 13 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus for the last 24 hours, as the country’s first outbreak in months continued to grow.
All but one of the new cases were from community transmission and appeared to be linked to a cluster in Auckland where the most recent outbreak started, said Ashley Bloomfield, the New Zealand director general of health. The 13th was a traveller who returned from abroad and was in managed quarantine. It brings the number of active cases in New Zealand to 69. Since the start of the year the country had recorded 1,271 cases.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Despite international travel remaining restricted, this morning, for the first time in 144 days, I fantasized about la dolce vita aboard my houseboat. Many things to work out here before I can resume the liveaboard life, but it beckons, and I can see myself back in California.

*** 

Alas, in California, news came of a favorite pet cat passing away peacefully. RIP, Tommy, Mr T, The Tomalizer, Catiwompuss. The 90-year-old mother of a friend passed away the same day, almost the same time. Perhaps they’re together in the place the succors good souls? 

***

Local weather here has gone from hot 27 C (81 F) with gusting winds, accompanied by fire warnings, to 11 C (42 F) with predictions of 1 C and -1 C (31 - 30 F) overnight this week. Continued predictions for sorely needed rain that never comes.

Oh, the irony, the irony

Forgive me, Conrad and Coppola for riffing off Heart of Darkness/”Apocalypse Now”….
South Africa’s efforts against the coronavirus pandemic have been noted as “world class.”
United States federal government’s efforts?
Not so much.
The eloquent victims: 671,000-plus confirmed infected and close to 40,000 dead Americans. The United States host more than three percent of the global infected (2,158,250) and more than two percent of the global dead (145,533).
Six months ago, who’da thunk it?
Cosmic irony? Donald J Trump dismissing people from “sh**hole countries” not “like Norway”.

To some, even bad news is good news and no news is bad news. It isn’t news that Jared and Ivanka (Javanka) are clueless and self-centered.
So, what’s news? Not that Trump never learns from his mistakes. Nevertheless, it is mind-boggling that he learned nothing from his first round of impeachment. Legal minds, all greater than mine, plus uber-smart Neal Katyal  point out the Trump’s defunding of WHO is an impeachable offense. (Yesterday’s post discussed WHO in some detail).  Moreover, it’s the same category of offence that impeached him for his withholding funds from Ukraine.

Only 200 more days of Trump’s reign….

Former Republican Party members named on by-line of this Washington Post op-ed created the Lincoln Project to defeat Trump at November’s election. (FYI: George Conway is spouse to Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway.)
In the op-ed, the group states,

Publicly supporting a Democratic nominee for president is a first for all of us. We are in extraordinary time, and we have chosen to put country over party – and former VP Joe Biden is the candidate who we believe will do the same.

Steve Schmidt said on MSNBC last night,

The Republican Party that we all belong to, that we fought for, is dead. It’s a remnant of the past. It’s not coming back. It’s been utterly corrupted by Donald Trump and Trumpism and that is bad for the country… We’re in the middle of the defining event in American Life in our lifetime…. It will take an act of monumental leadership to pull this country back together, to unite it, to heal it, and to lead a recovery that will be difficult to come out of… Joe Biden is the guy to do it.

Note: I’d link to the op-ed, but the Washington Post has a paywall. It’s not Fake News but Natural Selection Due to Capitalism.
PS: I'm not sure  milquetoast Joe Biden is the guy to do it.  Hypersmart Elizabeth Warren could do it, but she's too scary smart - and too female - to too many Americans to be allowed the opportunity.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I’m impressed with how President Ramaphosa and his team of experts handle the growing pandemic. They deserve recognition for their “world class” levels of performance.
Perhaps efficient performance a la Ramaphosa et al, will trickle down, too.
South Africa’s state and provincial bureaucracies sorely need trickle down efficiency – and competence. So does my bank….
After four years of online banking and occassional use of the Instant Cash feature, suddenly I couldn’t use it to pay the gardener. Lockdown means the gardener shouldn’t have to depart his township and run the gauntlet of police roadblocks to and from his house to collect his pay. After several failed attempts, I used precious airtime funds to call the bank. I learned that my years of paying bills online hadn't happened, indeed, that I have no online payment rights.
Why? No one knows?
The outcome? The gardener must wait up to seven days for the bank to activate/reactivate my online payment rights. The 25-minute call consumed all my airtime. Since mine is the only phone in the house that works (more on that in an upcoming post), I must run the gauntlet of police roadblocks to purchase more airtime.
Is Kafka reaching for his pen from beyond his grave?

Goodbye Week 3, hello Week 4 of Lockdown.

Transition to the weekend with this photo of a “ladybug” (in US)/ “ladybird” (in SA) feeding on black aphids cultivated by ants on a young lemon tree.




Read Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3