Teargas and coronavirus in the air

An English expression, now cliché, fits the moment:
When the going gets tough, the tough get going – meaning when the situation becomes difficult, the strong work harder to meet the challenge.
Meeting this moment – pandemic and protest – further challenges the challenged.
Further wearies the weary.
Further endangers the endangered...
Wish I could be in Washington D.C., where thousands bravely continue to meet the moment. (Photo essay )

News blues…

Alcohol.
What to say?
[South African Medical Research Council] SAMRC modelling predicts that 5,000 patients a week will flood hospitals with injuries related to drinking. Professor Charles Parry, director of the SAMRC’s alcohol, tobacco and other drug research unit, which conducted the modelling, said of the 2.2-million trauma cases in SA each year, 40% are alcohol-related. “Under lockdown, weekly trauma admissions decreased from 42,700 to about 15,000.”
Trauma specialists said that during the first two months of lockdown, trauma admissions dropped by 70% at hospitals in Gauteng and the Western Cape. Those declines, according to the SAMRC, are now being dramatically reversed.
“We have seen an explosion in stabbings, accidents and assaults. It’s a nightmare. All are linked to unbanning alcohol,” the specialist said.

***

Numbers climb
Vasbyt!
South Africa’s health ministry announced the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 climbed to 45,973 yesterday, an increase of 2,539 cases in the past 24 hours.
This indicates 11,616 new cases and 247 deaths since Monday, June 1, when the country moved to Lockdown Level 3.

Bite the bullet!
United States, since last Sunday, 4,430 deaths reported - 1,036 of which occurred between Thursday morning and the same time Friday. Total confirmed cases nearing 2 million.

***

Since it’s Sunday, a day of rest, I’ll not mention the abysmal Donald J Trump and his abysmal lack of humanity.
I’ll leave it to The Lincoln Project and their new ad to point out that Trump’s “new brand of leadership isn't leadership at all…”

Leaders take responsibility. Donald Trump isn't capable of that.
America's history is full of strong, compassionate, capable leaders. No matter their party or their goals, they all had one thing in common: success or failure, they took responsibility for the good and the bad.
But Trump? It's always someone else's fault.
And if it's not someone else's fault, it's "fake."
And if it's quite obviously not fake, he "won't take any responsibility at all."
This country is crying out, desperate for real leadership. Let’s remind Americans what that looks like.  (1:00 minute)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Yesterday, I allowed Lockdown Fever to fester.
I didn’t Weed Walk.
I didn’t talk to the dogs, birds, monkeys, fish, spiders, or plants.
I didn’t even obsessively check my iPhone’s battery’s Last Charge Level.
After a stint eradicating canna plants... I simply hunkered down and allowed feelings of horror and dismay to wash over me.
We will  get through this annus horribilis (to quote the queen)... won't we? 
Perhaps Christopher Robin’s reminder to Winnie-the-Pooh can help,

“Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

Amen.


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Glum

Lockdown’s getting me down.
Nothing particularly bad has happened – that is, nothing out of the usual extraordinary events - increasing rates of infection and death, United States aflame, South Africa’s freefalling economy….

News blues…

Sean Collins writes a good description of why the protests in the United States are different to those of the past three decades:

We have seen uprisings over racism and police brutality before, the most famous being the civil rights movement of the 1960s. There was sometimes a sense that those uprisings had brought on a great deal of progress in a short period and that the eradication of systemic racism would be a long-term project from then on out, with incremental changes ensuring the arc of the moral universe bent toward justice. The recent protest movement — though nascent — seems to reject that idea. The protesters want change now.
… protesters are demanding life itself be changed — that policing be fairer and kinder, that biases be inspected and corrected, that lasting policies be implemented that erase inequality, and that all people be able to move through the country without experiencing existential dread.
Read “Why these protests are different”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Gardening heals the troubled heart – and raises questions.
Canna indica, the canna species I’m attempting to eradicate, originates in “North” and “South America”.
As the pile grows of discarded stems, tubers and roots, I wish I could return them to their place of origin.
But where, specifically, is their place of origin?
Would that place of origin repatriate and re-acclimate packages of canna tubers and roots if I packed them up and mailed them back?
I could address the packages:

Granddaddy of Canna indica,
c/o South America

Clearing the garden continues apace.
Last year, I eradicated about 87 percent of this garden’s invasive cat’s claw creeper - dolichandra unguis-cati. (Like canna, cat’s claw originates in “South America” – a continent vaster and more diverse than that descriptor implies.)
As I dig out canna’s tubers and roots, I discover cat’s claw making one last stand: the creepily persistent creeper thrives amongst overgrown canna.
Cat’s claw is botanically designed to proliferate: its roots have bulbs that remain in the ground after the roots and stems are pulled out; tenacious “claws” on its fast growing stems grip any surface; segments of stems quickly regenerate; each plantain-sized seedpod produces dozens of winged seeds that are borne by wind.
Cat’s claw is the only plant that I’ve ever sprayed with inorganic herbicide. And that, only after weeks studying the plant’s habits and concluding that herbicide was the practical solution despite my organics-only ideology.
Perhaps I could have packaged up and returned cat’s claw,  too?

Granddaddy of dolichandra unguis-cati
c/o South America

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Covid-19 lost in the shuffle?

Apparently, highly transmissible Covid-19 is no longer a stimulant to cautious behavior.
While New Zealand and New Zealanders appear to have successfully applied vigilance – no new cases in past several days - cases in many parts of the world increase.
Your average South African-at-large appears to have concluded stay-at-home and lockdown orders are worthless. Accordingly, infection rates jump:

South Africa recorded 3,267 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, the biggest jump since the pandemic began. The country is the worst hit in sub-Saharan Africa and has nearly a quarter of all cases on the continent, with 40,792 infections. 

Today, WhatsApp messages confirm a case in an upscale local retirement community. Two ways of viewing this news:
1) it could perpetuate the misinformation that, in South Africa, Covid-19 is a “white man’s disease” therefore life for majority is back to “normal” ,
2) if Covid-19 can show up in upscale tightly locked down communities, it can show up anywhere: extra vigilance required.

Week 11 - and relevant numbers from Johns Hopkins:
Worldwide: 6,635,004 confirmed infections; 391,180 deaths
US: 1,872,660 confirmed infections; 108,220 deaths
SA: 40792 confirmed infections with a one day increase of 3,267 new cases; 850 deaths

US: 10,000 protesters confirmed arrested across the US in protests decrying racism and police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s death. (See relevant numbers.)
SA: More than 230,000 people arrested due to violating regulations; 11 dead in “police action” during the lockdown
The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere reached 417.2 parts per million in May, 2.4ppm higher than the peak of 414.8ppm in 2019, according to readings from the Mauna Loa observatory in the US.  This, despite the impact of the global effects of the coronavirus crisis.

News blues…

Congruent with Donald Trump’s unerring knack for choosing the wrong path for the country, he

...has confirmed the White House coronavirus task force will be winding down, with Vice-President Mike Pence suggesting it could be disbanded within weeks.
"We are bringing our country back," Mr Trump said during a visit to a mask-manufacturing factory in Arizona.
New confirmed infections per day in the US currently top 20,000, and daily deaths exceed 1,000.

This, despite professional advice that ”large protests against police brutality across the nation, could lead to a spike in new cases.”

***

Another webinar from Daily Maverick, “The Fight Against Misinformation: How to verify like a pro.”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Cold weather convinced me to take down the protective mosquito net around my bed. Alas, there are no protective nets against spiders and I suspect a spider snacked on my right eye lid. Swelling and bruising affects working on the laptop and iPhone.
Moreover, burnout resulted from obsessive catching up on news since my Internet was reconnected.
Today, I plan to reconnect with the garden. Canna plant eradication goes on.

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“Tiny, little, short period of time”

Soon, I hope, Americans and other human and animal residents of planet Earth will look on the Trump years as a “tiny, little, short period of time” – whose historical significance will be as long as Trump spent in the White House bunker….

Bunker mentality. President Donald Trump

… denied reports that he retreated to the underground bunker beneath the White House last Friday night as protests outside the executive mansion escalated, insisting he only visited the secure facility for a brief time during the day for the purposes of “inspection.”
“It was a false report. I wasn’t down. I went down during the day, and I was there for a tiny, little, short period of time. And it was much more for an inspection. There was no problem during the day,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade on his Fox News radio show.
… Trump also maintained that the Secret Service did not order him to the bunker, but merely “said it would be a good time to go down, take a look, because maybe some time you're going to need it.” Since assuming office in early 2017, Trump has entered the bunker roughly “2½” times, he said.

What and how long is half a visit to a bunker?
Standing in the doorway for a “tiny period” but never looking inside?

News blues…

To quote Rep James Clyburn – D Majority Whip: “This country is at a cross-roads and if we don’t choose wisely between now and the end of this year, I think we’re seeing the demise of the greatest democracy ever on earth.”

***

From The Lincoln Project: America or Trump?
War Zone 

Donald Trump has no qualms about inciting violence and mayhem, from the safety of his White House bunker. In an explicit show of totalitarianism, he has taken the U.S. military and police forces and mobilized them against our own citizens.
Trump has taken the side of the oppressor and the American people have made it clear: we are not him, and he is not us.

Flag of Treason 

Perhaps this choice resonates because what you and I already know is becoming more obvious to more Americans: Donald Trump only cares about himself — not our country.
You and I have always known Donald Trump was unfit for office.
But the fact he has not addressed the nation while our cities are on fire, and instead sits in his bunker tweeting petty insults and planning his next round of golf is worse than I expected this to get.
The Lincoln Project will do everything in our power to defeat this president.

***

Defense Secretary Mark Esper (to whom James Miller sent his resignation letter yesterday) on Wednesday declared his opposition to sending active-duty troops into US cities to deal with violent protesters, two days after President Donald Trump threatened to do so if governors don't call up National Guard troops.

The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire situations. We are not in one of those situations right now," Esper said in his first public comments since the protests erupted. 
Just hours later, after a meeting at the White House Esper abruptly reversed course. It is unclear if Esper met with President Donald Trump. [Some suggest] the change was based on ensuring there is enough military support in the region to respond to any protest problems if needed.
…The White House meeting and Esper's reversal suggests the president or his aides pressured Esper to keep troops in the region after he told reporters in no uncertain terms that he opposed the use of active-duty troops as law enforcement right now. 

Confusion reigns, but that’s par for the course in the Trump White House.

***

Another domino falls… In a forceful rebuke of his former boss, former Secretary of Defense General James Mattis castigated President Donald Trump as "the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people…."
What’s extraordinary about Mattis’ statement?

… it appears to imply that an order by Trump for troops to deploy against protesters would be a breach of their constitutional oath. And since former top military brass remain highly loyal to their comrades and plugged into the Pentagon, one of the most political of power centers, Mattis' broadside will spark speculation as to whether he is conveying the thoughts of serving senior officers who are unable to speak out. 

***

Daar lê die ding. The average South African consumer of alcohol swallows from 28.9 to 34.9 litres per annum – “the fifth highest consumption rate in the world.”
Lockdown Level 4 forbade the sale of alcohol. Level 3 restricts but does not ban South Africans from purchasing alcohol:

...they will not be able to buy alcoholic beverages between 5pm on Thursday until Monday morning.
National police spokesperson Brig Vish Naidoo said anyone found buying or selling alcohol between those designated times would face the might of the law.
“From 5pm on Thursday until Monday morning, people are not allowed to carry liquor. We want to prevent people from getting intoxicated and getting together. We would be opening an avenue for them to start parties, which will cause a further spread of the disease,” he said.
“This is not saying it’s illegal to drink - just don’t drink in public or attempt to buy through the illicit trade.”

Despite restrictions,

Trauma cases … have spiked substantially since the easing of lockdown regulations to Level 3.
The Western Cape Department of Health confirmed … significant increases in admissions this week… the majority… alcohol-related trauma.
Groote Schuur hospital has seen an increase from eight patients per day during Level 4 to 20 per day [at Level 3].
Helderberg Hospital has seen "100 percent increase. [Previously,] in a 12-hour period, we saw 28 patients. On Monday, in a 12-hour period we saw 50 patients of which the majority was alcohol-related trauma.”

Would it have been wiser to ease restrictions on cigarettes and maintain restrictions on alcohol? Enquiring minds….
*Idiomatic Afrikaans, literally “there lies the thing” and implies seeing to the core of an issue.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Humor and art and music help overwhelmed humans cope in stressful times.
Accordingly, today, let’s enjoy Weezer’s wonderfully fun existentialist “Undone - The Sweater Song”  (4:14 mins)

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