Worldwide (
Map)
December 17 – 73,557,500 confirmed infections; 1,637,100 deaths
November 19 – 56,188,000 confirmed infections; 1,348,600 deaths
October 22 – 41,150,000 confirmed infections; 1,130.410 deaths
US (
Map)
December 17 – 16,724,775 confirmed infections; 303,900 deaths
November 19 – 11,525,600 confirmed infections; 250,485 deaths
October 22 – 8,333,595 confirmed infections; 222,100 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
December 17 – 873,680 confirmed infections; 23,665 deaths
November 19 – 757,145 confirmed infections; 20,556 deaths
October 22 – 708,360 confirmed infections; 18,750 deaths
News blues…
What can go wrong, will go wrong… On the eve of delivering thousands of vaccines into thousands of willing arms, a major storm threatens:
…shipments of the vital coronavirus vaccine around the US face delay as a monster winter storm pummels states from Virginia to Massachusetts.
Treacherous weather could bury parts of the eastern US in snow, ice or flooding and cause power outages, hazardous travel conditions, or even tornadoes on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the National Weather Service, threatening all forms of transportation being used by the vaccine manufacturing facilities, centered in Michigan, as they fly and truck vials around the country.
The storm, which is set to be a record for December and hit a region stretching from Virginia to north of New York City by late afternoon on Wednesday, was poised to drop as much as 2ft (0.6 meters) of snow in some places by Thursday.
Gosh, maybe the conspiracy theorists (aka “whackjobs”) are 100 percent correct and
there is a giant, organized, worldwide cabal of Never Trumpers, socialists, communists, Democrats, God and gods, freedom-haters “out there” looking to “do us harm” ….
Could it be?
***
A notice from my island hometown, Alameda, in San Francisco Bay:
Stay at Home Order Extended to January 7th; No New Changes to Permitted Activities
The State announced today that the availability of intensive care unit (ICU) beds has fallen below 15 percent in the Bay Area Region. This means that the Stay at Home restrictions adopted by Alameda County and seven other Bay Area jurisdictions earlier this month remain in effect for the entire Bay Area region for a minimum of three weeks, starting today. Because Alameda County’s restrictions already match the State’s restrictions, there are no additional changes to permitted activities at this time.
After the minimum three weeks (January 7, 2021), the State’s order could be lifted once the region’s projected ICU capacity meets or exceeds 15 percent. As with local Health Officer orders, easing of restrictions will also depend on local disease conditions.
***
The Lincoln Project:
Never happens here (1:35 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
One of the pleasure of KZN this time of year – the rainy season – is lying in bed at night listening to frogs sing for a mate. The cacophony is extraordinary. During my next trip here, I plan to bring my recording equipment to capture the amazing variety of frog calls.
In other parts of the world, France, for example, live, breathing, singing frogs are fatally unwelcome:
The French courts have had their final word: Grignols’ grenouilles (frogs) must go.
The frogs of a Dordogne village have been served notice after a judge decided they make so much noise during the mating season that they are a nuisance to the neighbours.
After nine years of legal battles, Michel and Annie Pécheras have been told they have 90 days to drain the 300 sq-metre pond at their home in the village of Grignols: population 587, and get rid of the amphibians.
A 300 sq-metre pond is home to many, many frogs.
Has any thought been given to what happens to a 300 sq-metre pond sans grenouilles?
I imagine not. Why think ahead? Why think beyond immediate needs and desires? Why think “big picture”?
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Grrrr. Care Center Mother! Each week the Care Center provides residents an opportunity to order whatever “extras” they want from the local grocery store. Care Center staff track orders and deliver items to residents. My mother, however, prefers to phone Martha, her former domestic worker still resident in this house, and order up dog food that I carry to the Care Center. Now, Mother Dearest orders Martha to cook her own food, too. (Naturally, my mother calls Martha directly as she – mother – knows I’d put the kabosh on the order. This puts Martha in a tough spot: she’s officially my mother’s domestic worker but reliant on my to carry the order to the Care Center.)
Ironically, when my mother lived in this house, she ate only Jungle Oats cereal and three Romany Cream biscuits accompanying each of her dozen or more cups of Rooibos tea each day. We’d begged her to eat the occasional serving of over-cooked vegetables. She did so reluctantly.
The Care Center serves breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and yet more tea. Alas, according to my mother, the Care Center’s food is “awful,” the “vegetables hard” - “no peas!” – and the tea supply insufficient.
In the past, along with dog food – specialty giblets, chicken livers, and rice – and dog biscuits – “the dogs only like Beenos and Montego” – I’ve also carried gem squash to my mother. I brought a package of four as she intended, she said, to microwave one a day. A week after I delivered them, four gem squash remained in the unopened package. My enquiring as to why she’d not cooked them elicited a plaintive, “I have no knife.” Eventually, I asked a care giver to cook her gem squash. Delivery of the cooked vegetable was met with yet another complaint: “It was too stringy.”
Carrying dog food up to the Care Center every two or three days has been a chore. Ditto carrying dog biscuits up the Care Center every two or three weeks – with another delivery due today.
I can’t tell, yet, whether my mother is conducting an ongoing low intensity war of attrition with the outcome her victorious ejection from the Care Center or whether dementia is kicking in faster than predicted. Meanwhile, Martha will semi-comply with her order. I’ll take the flak for Martha not exactly following orders. I’ll carry a small container of frozen peas – uncooked, no gravy – and deliver it, along with a box of Beenos and Montego dog biscuits.
I’m almost thankful that the Care Center locked down to visitors. It allows me an (almost) clear conscience when, masked as usual, I deliver these items to my mother through her window….
***
On the public holiday Day of Reconciliation an Eskom contractor called, seeking permission to enter this property.
Background: Eskom, SA’s national supplier of electricity, brutally prunes trees that touch overhead electrical cable. Last year, they massacred two beautifully mature swamp cypress, leaving only the main trunks; branch and pruning debris remains as litter blocking the free flow of water in the stream.
Accordingly, I’m reluctant to allow them into the garden for a repeat performance.
I was away from the property when the Eskom contractor called. We agreed he and his team would come at noon – “12 o’clock today” – and I’d be back home to allow them entrance. (My hesitation: why are they working on a public holiday? Could this be a scam to gain entrance into the property and rob? At this time of year, warnings about such home invasion robberies proliferate.)
I was home at the agreed upon time.
Eskom failed to arrive at noon, or even 1pm or 2pm or 3pm….
Long story short: Eskom never arrived at all. At midnight, I noticed a SMS/text msg: “It seams as if I can’t make it in an hour time, too much work….”
Hmmmm.
Correction: I was wrong. Eskom’s representative, Zephraim just showed up. (He introduced himself along with, “If you read the Bible, you’ll see Zephraim and words about Babylon.”
How can I resist?)
Zephraim will bring his crew to cut.
I’ll be out for most of the day.
What will I return to?
If only Zephraim of Babylon had a passage in the Bible about respecting all God’s living work on planet earth!
