Cooperation

Smoke from multiple wildfires
burning in California and Oregon
hung above a layer of fog
in San Francisco.
Click to enlarge. 
Photo: Jessica Christian /
The Chronicle. More photos 

The sun came up as usual, but in California it hid behind a thick blanket of smoke, fog, haze, and muck. Headlights and porch lights stayed on all day. Flashlights came out at high noon.

The ominous shroud was a product of the plumes of smoke billowing from the historic number of wildfires burning across the state, as well as Oregon and Washington. Wind conditions overnight pushed smoke into lower elevations, filtering sunlight and producing dark tints of red, orange and gray. Still, air quality remained mostly unchanged.
The orange dimness confused almost everyone and everything — from the Bay Lights display on the Bay Bridge, which is supposed to turn off a half hour after sunrise, to pets acting unusually standoffish to folks who spied the early-morning darkness, figured their alarm clocks were wrong, and rolled over and went back to sleep.
Hours after sunrise, dawn remained something of an oversight. At high noon, the heavens grew darker instead of lighter. The surreal replaced what passes for the real. 

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Worldwide (Map)  
September 10 – 27,766,325 confirmed infections; 902,470 deaths
September 3 – 26,940,000 confirmed infections; 861,870 deaths
New daily cases: 232,982; new daily deaths: 4,737

US (State by state map)
September 10 – 6,360,000 confirmed infections; 190,820 deaths
September 3 – 6,114,000 confirmed infections; 185,710 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal)
September 10 – 642,431 confirmed infections; 15,086 deaths
September 3 – 630,596 confirmed infections; 14,390 deaths
SA dropped from 5th highest infections rates in the world to 8th highest, surpassed, this week, by Peru (696,190) Colombia (686,850), and Mexico (658,299).

News blues…

Is South Africa slowly beating Covid-19?

The statistics are as confusing as they are potentially enlightening. “We are seeing that we have had what seems to have been a peak, and now we have the daily numbers of cases being reported overall in [Africa] going down,” the World Health Organisation Africa regional director Matshidiso Moeti is reported to have said recently.
However, tracking the arc of the virus in Africa has been and remains a challenge. Could it be possible that the continent has actually passed its Covid-19 peak? Can anyone now or in the near future speak with conviction of the true toll of Covid-19 on the continent?
Poor data management or just a Covid-19 enigma? discusses the trends and statistical enigma, and encourages readers to understand that the “positive” news of Covid-19 easing and that the return to normalcy should be treated with some degree of caution.

Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize suggests, the declining number of infections in SA may move the country to Level 1 soon.

“We can safely say we are over the surge. June, July and August were the worst months, as predicted by our models. However, we found that not as many people as the model suggested would be affected… A number of factors could be attributed to the declining number of infections.”
“A major factor is that we embarked on containment measures, and there may well be other factors in the environment here. We are very grateful for the support we got from South Africans to try to contain the spread of the coronavirus.”
Asked when the county could move to level 1 and what measures would be put in place, Mkhize said President Cyril Ramaphosa would give an indication in a few days.
“We are still discussing all the issues. The president will give us a sense of direction, but we will be preparing to start easing to the next level.” 

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President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has admitted that, back in February 2020, he knew the dangers of Covid-19. He elected to hide that information from Americans as, 

“I want to show calmness, I’m the leader of this country,” Trump told Hannity on Wednesday after the accounts were published. “I don’t want to be jumping up and down, I don’t want to scare people. I want people not to panic. And that’s exactly what I did.” 

Hmmm, if I wasn’t scared before this revelation (I was), I’m scared now. Of the virus, yes, but more scared because this man remains in a position he’s demonstrably incapable of mastering.
Moreover, Trump’s former lawyer and fix-it guy, Michael Cohen recently tossed out a “theory”: Trump will resign if he loses the presidential election and pave the way for Vice President Mike Pence to pardon him for any federal crimes he’s supposedly committed. 
Sounds like Trumpian logic….

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The Lincoln Project: LPTV – The Breakdown (56:00 mins) Vote Vets
POW  (1:00 min)
A Real Commander-in-Chief  (1:20 mins) 

Usually, this segment shares ads developed to address the current moment: 1) Republicans and former Republicans offended by Trump and Trumpian rhetoric and urging voters to elect the opposition’s candidate, and 2) points of view outside of the “normal” mainstream of American socio-political culture. The following 2 ads fit the latter category.
We're Listening | Joe Biden For President 2020   (1:00 min)
Eject and elect  ((0:30 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I accept that I’m in KZN, under Lockdown. There is no part of me that is glad I’m not in California, suffering from catastrophic fires. Indeed, disaster, catastrophe, and stress,

may actually lead to greater cooperative, social, and friendly behavior…. This more positive and social response could help explain the human connection that happens during times of crises, a connection that may be responsible, at least in part, for our collective survival as a species. 

I watch from 14,000 miles away, listen to family and friends struggle with conditions of pandemic and environmental disaster, and I worry. California is weeks away from rain. How will Californians survive?

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Eskom. Don’t gotta love it, but do gotta live with it. Today, Eskom messaged customers: “No load shedding scheduled, but possibility exists that Stage 2 could trigger at short notice. We’ll let you know immediately if anything changes.
If Stage 2 triggers, power in this neighborhood is expected to shut off from 22:00 – 00:30 (10pm – 12:30am). That’s manageable. If it goes according to “possibility.” The only thing consistent about Eskom and load shedding is the inconsistency.

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Here, at home, we’re three dogs down, experiencing cool weather with comparatively clean air.
Packing up the household continues….