Vigil

News blues…

A potentially more transmissible variant of Covid-19 first identified in South Africa has now been confirmed in Maryland, US. The case involves an adult residing in the "Baltimore metro region" who hadn't left the country, indicating that there is "likely" community transmission of the variant. Contact tracing is now ongoing, according to a press release from Governor Hogan’s office. 

***

Ivermectin. Antidote? Or the new hydroxychloroquine?

The black market in ivermectin has boomed after it was touted as a treatment for Covid-19, at the same time as being unregistered for human use in SA.
In a space of two weeks, six foreign nationals gave been arrested at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg for being in possession of suspected ivermectin tablets worth millions.
Police spokesperson Col Athlenda Mathe said the latest arrests were on Thursday when three people were found with ivermectin worth R5m.
The first suspect, a woman, had 178,200 tablets of the drug while the second suspect, also a woman, had 66,400 tablets. The man had 49,200 tablets.

***

The Lincoln Project is gearing up to sue Rudy Giuliani for defamation after he falsely linked the organization to the storming of the Capitol. 
More on that with co-founder Steve Schmidt  (8:29 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Enjoy photos of our friends from the far north. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Today, I abbreviated my daily vigil at my mom’s bedside. Staff said she’d not eaten much breakfast, had enjoyed a stint in the Laziboy, and was very tired. I talked to her and petted her, but she didn’t stir.
I play CDs when I visit: Dean Martin, Nat King Cole… easy listening that will remind her of the good old days. 

My mom loved to dance, especially cha-cha. Cha cha music is too lively under the circumstances….

Vaccine uncertainties

News blues…

Contradictory information about vaccines:
New research suggesting that several Covid-19 vaccines are less effective against a variant first found in South Africa has increased pressure on President Joe Biden’s administration to speed inoculations and enforce basic public health measures like wearing masks.

• Johnson and Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine was 66 percent effective at preventing moderate and severe disease in a global study, the company said Friday.
  The hotly anticipated findings are the first from a late-stage trial that enrolled 45,000 people across the world. While the shot was 72 percent effective in the U.S. arm of the trial, it fell to just 57 percent in South Africa, where a highly transmissible variant predominates. 
• The coronavirus vaccine by Oxford/AstraZeneca is safe and effective enough to use in adults over the age of 18, the European Medicines Agency announced Friday.
  The European Commission is expected later Friday to rubber-stamp the EMA’s recommendation to formally approve the vaccine in the EU with a conditional marketing authorization. A German scientific committee said Thursday there wasn’t enough data to know whether the jab is suitable for people 65 and over. The U.K. approved the vaccine at the end of December with a temporary emergency use authorization applicable in people over the age of 18. 
• Novavax announced Thursday its Covid-19 vaccine is more than 89 percent effective at protecting against the virus based on preliminary data from a large late-stage trial in the United Kingdom. But the vaccine was far less effective against a variant of the virus first discovered in South Africa, according to data from a small trial in that country, the company said. 

Healthy planet, anyone?

Will Joe Biden come through on climate change?

The vision laid out in the actions signed by Biden on Wednesday was transformative. A pathway for oil and gas drilling to be banned from public lands. A third of America’s land and ocean protected. The government ditching the combustion engine from its entire vehicle fleet, offering up a future where battery-powered trucks deliver America’s mail and electric tanks are operated by the US military. 

... Biden’s administration will spur new climate-friendly policies for farmers while also devoting resources to the urban communities, typically low-income people of color, disproportionally blighted by pollution from nearby highways and power plants. In all, 21 federal agencies will be part of a new, overarching climate body. “This isn’t time for small measures,” Biden said. “We need to be bold.”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I called a local politician with the reputation of getting this done – an anomaly in this country. He said he’d come to the house at 4:00pm.
He did! Right at 4pm he pulled up at the gate and honked/hooted.
I handed him the letters and photos I’ve carried to the local roads department office, showed him the culverts on both sides of the road, and explained the history of lack of service.
One thing he mentioned that I’d be on board with: a rates/property tax boycott. If enough property owners stop paying monthly rates/property taxes if may get enough attention on the lack of service delivery (culverts, extravagant potholes in every local road, overgrown vegetation, etc.
On the other hand, it may not. This, after all, is South Africa: always expect the unexpected….

***

Monday sees us free of the 3-month contract with one real estate agent to sell the property – the “sole mandate.” Suddenly, other agents are interested in seeing the property and bringing potential buyers. Too bad it’s also when the garden, lawns, stream and fishponds are flooded – and the gardener is ill with Covid.
I brought in the neighbor’s gardener to mow. At least the grass will look less unkempt when realtors come over.

***

My daily visit with my mother was sad. The Care Center sprays the facility once or twice a week to prevent coronavirus. Residents enjoy morning tea on the lovely verandahs during this time.
My mother was slumped in her wheelchair when I arrived. Other than slumping further, she barely moved. I dribbled tea into her mouth using a syringe.
After this “outing” she was wheeled back in to her room and laid out on her bed. To prevent pressure sores, aka bedsores, she was placed on her side and propped up with pillows.
My proud mother would HATE to be seen like this.
I hate to see her like this.

“Coronavirus is over”?

News blues…

The first case of South Africa's Covid-19 variant has been discovered in the US.  

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control explained that two cases of the B.1.351 South African variant have been detected. Dr Anthony Fauci has expressed his concerns about the UK and South African strains reaching American shores and becoming a complicating factor. 

But, fear not: Clinical results from the Novavax vaccine trials in South Africa and the United Kingdom have shown the vaccine to be effective against the SA and UK variants of the coronavirus. 

Except… a domestic worker reports “Zulu radio station” in KZN tells listeners “Corona is over”, that is, no more Covid-19, that the pandemic is “over.”

***

Wondering why American style of uber-capitalist government is in such trouble? Well, it has become heavily dependent on financial donors to prop up amoral politicians. “Senators who backed Trump's election challenge may rethink their stance on impeachment after losing corporate funding, experts say” 
It’s not just Republicans. Democrats are also on the take from corporate donors. It is, after all, how the US system of so-called “democracy” works.
You suggest We the People do away with this All-American system of paying off politicians?
How? It’s locked in, now, and for the foreseeable future.
Financial contributions, aka money, have become the way of influence. Elections are quickly becoming obsolete – in the way. The problem has been exacerbated by the US Supreme Court decision on Citizens United in 2009/2010. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

This time last year I was suffering the effects of jet lag: interrupted schedule, lack of sleep, disorientation, and a big change in weather (from cold, wet, and dark winter in California to hot, humid, wet, and bright summer in KZN).But family and friends in California were well. Plans were agreed upon to safeguard my houseboat in the marina. I would return 21 May.
This year I’m suffering the effects of my mother’s impending death and the social effects of the infection and deaths of millions of people from Covid-19. Plus, lack of sleep due to stress. And a flooded garden because, after 2 years, the department that’s supposed to take care of roads and public property won’t do its job.
Today, I’m awaiting a call from a local politician with the reputation of getting this done. Perhaps he can shift this stuck process?

Monday sees the end of the 3-months-long sole mandate for the sale of the house. Not a single person was interested in seeing the house.
I’ve two realtors from two different real estate companies interested in the business.
Alas, the garden is a mess due to copious summer rainfall (70mm in 15 hours this week) and fecund grass and weeds tower. With our gardener sick with Covid and his recovery expected to be slow, I’ve hired the neighbor’s gardener to mow the lawns.
It’s not easy to focus on the house and garden when my mother is shrinking day-by-day.
I’m aware that I must settle on something creative to do that will change the channel in my head from my dying mother, selling her house, and the incompetence of public officials. I’m pondering how to buy clay to build/sculpt “something.” Choices are limited:
Call the person who offers (offered?) class twice a week. Perhaps the most practical solution as he has a fully equipped studio albeit the hours are limited. That is if he still offers classes amid the pandemic. (Problem? During a creative spell, a creator needs uninterrupted work time. A schedule of 3 hours twice a week kills inspiration. No one creates fulling according to an externally imposed timetable. When inspired, I rise at dawn and work through the day, taking short breaks as needed, but always returning to the work-in-progress until it is finished.) Find some clay and build something I hold no hopes/intention of firing. This will offer the joy of working clay/gestating a sculpture, but never seeing it come to fruition.
Build my own studio in my new home. I’ve not clay, no tools, no slips/glazes, no equipment. Besides turning my small living space into a clay-dusty studio, this choice would also require a trip to Durban – 50 kms away during a pandemic – spending lots of money … and continuing to spend lots of money in the future (clay, slips and glazes, kiln, firing, etc.). A few months ago, I explored the possibilities of experimenting with a substitute for clay. (Perhaps one that did not require firing, etc.?) It didn’t work. The joy of clay is inherent in the substance, the ability to knead, easily mold and manipulate, and clay’s feel and texture.
The search continues….

Anniversary

Exactly one year in SA. I arrived a year ago today, scheduled to leave May 21, 2020. I’m still here. US Embassy clarified my return (see below) but who knows when I’ll actually depart.

And the numbers of Covid-19 sufferers continue to climb….

Worldwide (Map)
January 28, 2021 – 100,920,100 confirmed infections; 2,175,500 deaths
December 31 – 82,656000 confirmed infections; 1,8040100 deaths
November 26 – 60,334,000 confirmed infections; 1,420,500 deaths 

US (Map) 
January 28, 2021 – 25,600,000 confirmed infections; 429,160 deaths
December 31 – 19,737,200 confirmed infections; 342,260 deaths
November 26 – 12,771,000 confirmed infections; 262,145 deaths 

SA (Tracker)
January 28, 2021 – 1,430,650 confirmed infections; 42,550 deaths
December 31 – 1,039,165 confirmed infections; 28,035 deaths
November 26 – 775,510 confirmed infections; 21,2010 deaths

News blues…

Coronavirus can infect people so rapidly that it has continued to spread despite shutdown orders aimed at slowing the growth of new cases and flattening the line below.
So far, 1 out of every 12 people in the state [California] has tested positive. The number statewide is now on pace to double every 96.2 days, a number used to measure how quickly the virus is spreading. 

***

A Respiratory Therapist Explains the Effects COVID-19 Has on the Lungs and Heart  (3:06 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

© Cicada: ‘When they are this abundant,
they fly, land and crawl everywhere,
including occasionally landing on humans,'
said Gary Parsons of Michigan State University.
Photo: Jim Lane/Alamy

A remarkable phenomenon’ as billions of cicadas set to emerge across eastern US. 

Billions of cicadas that have spent 17 years underground are set to emerge across large areas of the eastern US
…The cicadas emerge in a 17-year cycle, meaning they will appear this year once temperatures are warm enough, expected to be mid-May.
“They may amass in millions in parks, woods, neighbourhoods, and can seemingly be everywhere,” said Gary Parsons, an entomologist at Michigan State University.”
Parsons said that while cicadas will not harm people, pets that gorge on them may become ill. It is thought that long underground development helps cicadas survive predators, as their huge and synchronized arrival provides protection in numbers. The noise made by the enormous swarms will be noticeable, however, with males emitting mating calls that can reach 100 decibels, the same sound as standing next to a motorcycle revving its engine. The males produce these mating “songs” by vibrating their tymbals, two rigid, drum-like membranes on the underside of the abdomen.

There’s a 13-year species of Magicicada, too. I saw the emergence of this 13 year variety in Nashville Tennessee. It was amazing: cicadas flying in dense clouds across roads, settling in trees, crawling on the ground.
And locals hated the creatures with a passion! They found them the emergence of this astonishing bug an imposition on their lives and thoroughly annoying.
KZN has cicadas, too. We call them Christmas beetles as they appear and sing around that time of year.
Fewer cicadas/Christmas beetles appear these days. But when they do, I recall how, as a teenager, I responded to the sound that I loved. 
I had a motorcycle – a “scrambler” 80cc bike – that I’d ride to Kloof, a village about 15 or 20 miles from home. Kloof had a long street lined both sides with sycamores? Plane trees? Not sure, but large, leafy trees that shaded the street and provided perfect conditions for Christmas beetles to sing, find mates, and procreated.
I’d name my motorcycle Maybell - after a red-light district worker I’d met in a movie. Maybell and I would ride up and down this street. I enjoyed the overwhelming screeching of cicadas so much I couldn’t help but join in. Up and down, up and down, Maybell carried me as I screeched along.
C’est magnifique!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Rained for 15 hours straight. First thing I did on waking today: check the water level in the lower garden. The stream has been on the cusp of flooding for weeks, since the culvert has almost completely blocked.
I’ve carried letters to the entity responsible for this kind of work. To no avail. 
Predictably, the lower garden is flooded. 

The culvert is now completely covered by water backing up ... no place to go but to flood the garden.

This is my foot in a gumboot showing the water level above my ankle. 

Tomorrow, I will carry – yet again – a letter with photographs to the responsible entity. 

And wait… and wait. 

Meanwhile, more rain is predicted.

***

A very stressful time. My mother is hanging on…. Today, I took one of her small dogs up to visit. My mother appreciated having the dog on her lap as she sat in the Laziboy. Alas, she’s too weak to pet the dog.

***

And news from the US Embassy in SA:

Health Alert: U.S. Citizens are Still Able to Return to the United States Despite a Presidential Proclamation Suspending Entry for Immigrant and Non-Immigrants in South Africa
  Location: The Republic of South Africa 
  Event: President Biden announced that effective at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 30, 2021, immigrant and non-immigrant entry into the United States will be suspended for individuals who were physically present within the Republic of South Africa during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States. Please note that this proclamation does not apply to U.S. citizens and contains multiple exceptions including for lawful permanent residents of the United States and some non-citizen family members. All travelers to the United States, including U.S. citizens, must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test to airlines prior to departure.
  Actions to Take: 

• For more information about this Presidential Proclamations and exceptions to the proclamation, please visit https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/25/proclamation-on-the-suspension-of-entry-as-immigrants-and-non-immigrants-of-certain-additional-persons-who-pose-a-risk-of-transmitting-coronavirus-disease/
• Visit the CDC’s webpage for details on COVID testing entry requirements for air travelers to the United States: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/testing-international-air-travelers.html 
• Visit the Embassy’s COVID information page, https://za.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information-2/, for additional information on COVID in South Africa.

Happy place: Trains, ‘planes, and automobiles

News blues…

More than 100 million humans confirmed infected with Covid-19. More than one quarter of those infected reside in the United States – and that’s more than half of the number of the next highest number of infected, and that’s India.
How did we get here? “Evil decisions” were made, says Steve Schmidt of The Lincoln Project. (7:44 mins)

***

Survey on South Africans’ attitudes towards Covid-19 vaccines   (3:00 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

With countries closing borders to flights from South Africa due to "the new Covid variant", and lockdown continuing, I'm thinking about when, more importantly, how I can return to California and take care of my life there, my family and friends, my houseboat, etc. That set me on a look back to a golden age of music: Enjoy!
Trains: Arlo Guthrie – City of New Orleans, and, for South Africans… Hugh Masekela Stimela  (9:50 mins)
‘planes: Arlo Guthrie – Coming into Los Angeles  (3:06 mins) 

and automobiles:  Bruce Springsteen - Pink Cadillac (3:36 mins)

 Yes, it’s from “way back” – a golden age....

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

My mother was more communicative although I still cannot make out what she’s trying to say.
For the last 60 years she’s made decisions about her business and, far as I’m concerned, her severe physical decline doesn’t mean she should be excluded from offering input on current decisions. I invited her to comment on various decisions I face on her behalf: 

Impending tax refund: for the past 5 weeks, SARS has regularly emailed me that they would deposit her refund into her bank account “in ten days.” It’s close to 40 days - and 6 email notices - and not a penny has been deposited. My mother chuckled at the irony of SARS sending her first ever tax refund as she’s dying. 

Selling her house: I mentioned I may have a buyer and explained the conditions under which he’d be interested. She knows the proposed buyer and she nodded her approval. 

Doggie drugs: I asked her about the contents of a package of dog medications she’d given to her domestic worker. She appeared to recollect giving the medications, but I couldn’t understand her response. I said I’d ask the vet and that appeared to satisfy her. 

What I learned from this interaction was not to ask questions. The implicit assumption is that she can answer. She can’t. If I must ask questions, I must phase it so she can nod agreement or shake her head in disagreement.
I stroked her head and told her she’d had a good life and it was okay to let go and move on to the next steps – that I was sure her friends and all her dogs were waiting to welcome her to that place. 

Watching a loved one die is a profoundly complex experience.

All too much…

It’s not even midday and I am, as South Africans would say, “gatvol”! That means I’ve taken about as much as I can take and I need a break. I’ll post this then tune out for a while…

News blues…

California Has Its Own Coronavirus Variant, Researchers Reveal Scientists suspect the homegrown strain is likely linked to the case surge in Los Angeles County.  

Healthy planet, anyone?

A blight upon the planet?
A Trump Presidential Library? Don’t Count On It. 

Yet, a ‘Presidential Library’ for Donald Trump offers grim and funny possibilities 

Under the ‘Grift’ shop, it could list ‘presidential pardons’ for sale and sell MAGA playing cards with tweets by the outgoing President. And at the café, visitors could buy ‘Corona Beer’  
I addressed Trump's presidential library way back in March 2020 with a series of design ideas, deriving from popular neighborhoods Little Libraries. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

My mother was more communicative today although I still could not make out what she was trying to say.
For the last 40 years she’s made decisions about her business and, far as I’m concerned, her severe physical decline doesn’t mean she should be excluded from decisions now. I invited her to comment on various decisions I face on her behalf: Impending tax refund: for the past 5 weeks, SARS has regularly emailed me that they would deposit her refund into her bank account “in ten days.” It’s close to 40 days - and 6 email notices - and not a penny has been deposited. My mother chuckled at the irony of SARS sending her first ever tax refund as she’s dying.
I mentioned I may have a buyer for her house and explained the conditions under which he’d be interested. She knows the proposed buyer and she nodded her approval.
I’d persuaded the Care Center matron to allow my brother to visit tomorrow. (Alas, I’ve not been able to reach him by phone to invite him.)
I asked about the contents of a package of dog medications she’d given to her domestic worker. She appeared to recollect giving the medications, but I couldn’t understand her response. I said I’d ask the vet and that appeared to satisfy her.
I stroked her head and told her she’d had a good life and it was okay to let go and move on to the next steps – that I was sure her friends and all her dogs were waiting to welcome her to that place. 

Watching a loved one die is a profoundly complex experience.

Coping

News blues…

Category 2 tropical cyclone Eloise pummeled Madagascar and Mozambique and heads into Limpopo, Mpumalanga and northern KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) .
This part of Midlands (KZN) is getting off lightly with steady rainfall, no thunder and lightning, no hail, and no wind.

***

KZN has moved into second place with its Covid-19 numbers of infected (293,050) only behind Gauteng (373,100), the most urban province in the country.
South Africans should expect a third Covid-19 wave in 3 to 4 months – and the crisis hits world headlines  (2:03 mins)
Biden responds to this news by preparing to impose a travel ban for non-U.S. citizens traveling from South Africa. (2:23 mins)
Theoretically, I could still depart SA although the UK is stopping flights from SA into that country.
Dubai is a stopover possibility. That country is a favorite destination for desperate South Africans.

***

Exactly one year after its first confirmed case of Covid-19, the US passes 25 million confirmed cases. 

***

Boogieman of the conspiracy crowd, Dr Fauci, now President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, spills on working for Trump:

Fauci frequently contradicted Trump’s baseless claims about COVID-19. In his interview with The New York Times, he recalled Trump’s repeated claims that the virus would simply “go away.”
“It isn’t like I took any pleasure in contradicting the president of the United States,” Fauci said. “I have a great deal of respect for the office. But I made a decision that I just had to. Otherwise I would be compromising my own integrity, and be giving a false message to the world. If I didn’t speak up, it would be almost tacit approval that what he was saying was OK.”
“That’s when I started to get into some trouble,” he continued. “The people around him, his inner circle, were quite upset that I would dare publicly contradict the president.”
Asked if Trump ever confronted him for contradicting him about the pandemic, Fauci said the then-president would express “disappointment.” 
“There were a couple of times where I would make a statement that was a pessimistic viewpoint about what direction we were going,” Fauci said, “and the president would call me up and say, ‘Hey, why aren’t you more positive? You’ve got to take a positive attitude. Why are you so negativistic? Be more positive.’”
“He would get on the phone and express disappointment in me that I was not being more positive,” Fauci added. He said Trump didn’t explain why he was upset that Fauci didn’t have a more upbeat attitude about the deadly pandemic.
…In his interview with the Times, Fauci said he’s received numerous death threats in the last year stemming from “right-wing craziness.”
“It was the harassment of my wife, and particularly my children, that upset me more than anything else… They knew where my kids work, where they live. The threats would come directly to my children’s phones, directly to my children’s homes. How the hell did whoever these assholes were get that information?”
In one alarming incident, Fauci said he opened a letter he had received and a “puff of powder” exploded onto his face and chest.
“That was very, very disturbing to me and my wife because it was in my office,” he said. “So I just looked at it all over me and said, ‘What do I do?’ The security detail was there, and they’re very experienced in that. They said, ‘Don’t move, stay in the room.’ And they got the hazmat people. So they came, they sprayed me down and all that.”
The powder was tested and the results showed it was “a benign nothing,” Fauci told the Times.
“But it was frightening,” he said. “My wife and my children were more disturbed than I was. I looked at it somewhat fatalistically. It had to be one of three things: A hoax. Or anthrax, which meant I’d have to go on Cipro for a month. Or if it was ricin, I was dead, so bye-bye.”

Dr Birx unloads on Trump, too…. 

***

Pineapple on pizza? MSNBC news anchor (“presenter”) Ari Velschi was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and raised in Toronto, Ontario, son of Murad Velshi, the first Canadian of Indian origin elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and Mila, who grew up in South Africa.
Perhaps it’s the southern /northern hemisphere connections or being an immigrant (like me, he lives in the US), or simply that he’s smart and eloquent, but, here, he expresses ideas with which I’m on board … . (And, I’m a “no” on pineapple on pizza.)

***

Steve Schmidt, co-founder The Lincoln Project, Republican Party Is An Organized Conspiracy  (12:30 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Lots to cope with these days: Fast moving Covid, extended and unanticipated stay in SA, a typhoon, trying - so far, unsuccessfully - to maintain and sell my mother’s large property, find congenial homes for 3 mature dogs, find work for a longtime employee, a gardener ill with Covid, and a mother dying. 
Time to catch my breath and ponder….