A Virus Speaks All Languages - Life in a COVID-19 World - Part 4 REDUX

NOTE: I wrote this originally on 5/20/20. It was updated on 5/30/2020 with comments in BOLD CAPS.

I never planned for this to be so heavily COVID-19 focused. This will be my last one on that topic - for a while. Then again, as my great-grandfather said mentchen trach und Gott lach - "humans plan and God laughs."   NOBODY HERE OR IN THE HIGH HEAVENS IS LAUGHING NOW.   

Never could understand, what with all the spells that JK Rowling came up with for Harry Potter and his gang, why someone couldn't just wave their magic wand and abracadabra life's problems away - especially now. I have coveted one of these wands recently after following the COVID-19 numbers from Johns Hopkins. Why did I do that? Morbid curiosity - maybe? In truth, though, it was in order to answer some BIG PICTURE questions that have been bothering me. Here's what I discovered about the four-day period of May 6-10, 2020 NOW UPDATED AS OF 5/30/2020.

Q: Is it a good idea to close the southern border with Mexico?
A: It might make more sense to close the northern border with Canada. Turns out that Canada has 1/4 the population of Mexico, but four times the number of cases. NO LONGER. NOW THE NUMBER OF CASES ARE SIMILAR BUT MEXICO HAS 25% HIGHER NUMBER OF DEATHS.

Q: How good a job has all of North America done in battling COVID-19?
A: Not good.  Over four days, deaths continent-wide increased 20% to a total of 80,000. 117,000 ABOUT 1/3 OF DEATHS WORLD-WIDE.

Q: Don't hear much about South America. What's going on?
A: Reports are in from Brazil, Peru, Chile, and Ecuador. They have been averaging 9% increases every day. Columbia just reached 10,000 cases and made it to the Johns Hopkins list. IT LOOKS LIKE A DISASTER NOW. CASES INCREASED FROM 475K->725K AND DEATHS HAVE RISEN BY 50% TO 36,000.

Q: At least Europe's "flattened the curve," right?
A: Yes, unless you are one of the 5400 new deaths recently added. And welcome Serbia, who also made the list. I SUPPOSE SO. STILL THE EU HAS ALMOST 2 MILLION CASES OVERALL AND 173,000 DEATHS. ADDED TO THE OVER 1,000 CASES “ENTRY LEVEL” LIST ARE: LUXEMBOURG, HUNGARY, GREECE, BULGARIA, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, CROATIA, ESTONIA, SLOVENIA, ALBANIA, LATVIA AND KOSOVO.

Q: Won't heat make the virus disappear?
A: Hmmm... NOT. It has been hitting the 100 degrees mark on a daily basis in the Arabian peninsula but UAE has averaged 6% increases in cases, Saudi Arabia hits 9% and Qatar tops them all at 10%. Remember, that's every day for four days. CURRENTLY, THE HEAT HASN’T SLOWED DOWN THE  200,000 CASES OR 930 DEATHS (MORE ABOUT DEATH NUMBERS LATER).

Q: What about Caribbean cruise to get away from it all?
A: Cruise? Really? And let's hear it for Dominican Republic who also made the list. SO HAS CUBA AND JAMAICA.

Q: But, Africa's safe, right?
A: Having been beat the heck up by Ebola and HIV/AIDS, South Africa has managed to squeeze onto the list, as well. NOW BREAKING INTO THE 1000+ LIST INCLUDE: ALGERIA, NIGERIA, MOROCCO, GHANA, CAMEROON, SUDAN, SENEGAL, DJIBOUTI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, IVORY COAST, GABON, SOMALIA, KENYA, MALI, TUNISIA, ZAMBIA, WITH MANY OTHERS ON THE DRAMATIC RISE.

Q: Is there a cultural connection?
A: Maybe so. The Romance language countries of Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Rumania account for 83,000 deaths meaning 31% of the world's deaths. Look for a change in cheek kissing and more "air kissing." TO THIS ADD ANOTHER 7,000.

Q: Is there a cultural connection - part 2?
A: Maybe so. The English-speaking countries of US, Canada and the UK account for 117,000 deaths or over 41%. NOW INCREASED BY 25% TO 146,000

Q: So, how does the world look by continent?
A: 52.3% Europe -> 31%
     31.3% North America –> 28%
      9.0%  Asia                 ]
        .6%  South America    ] -> 36%

      AFRICA               ]

Q: All of which means (at the very least)?
A: Possibly troubles for Africa and S. America. LET’S NOW CALL THAT TRAGEDY A ‘BREWING. Seems hard to believe that India with a population of 1.3 Billion could only have 6600 deaths. ACTUALLY, THEY SHOW THAT NUMBER DECLINED BY A THIRD.

       I'm not planning on doing this again. At least I don't think I am. Just remember that numbers are hard to spin IF they are truthful. We are in deep enough without lying about it. Reality is confusing  now as it is. And yet, one last "compound" question still remains.

Q: What does it mean that the so-called "developed nations" of the world account for over 80% of the deaths? Humbling isn't it?
A: THOSE NUMBERS HAVE DECREASED TO 60% WHICH MIGHT SOUND/LOOK GOOD UNTIL THE GREATER TRUTH EMERGES – COVID 19 IS STARTING TO DEVASTATE EVERYWHERE ELSE.

THE STATISTICS ARE BECOMING HARDER TO FOLLOW WHICH MEANS WE ARE LITERALLY LOSING TRACK OF A VIRAL ATTACK ON THE PLANET. IN THAT CONFUSION DANGER RESIDES IN THE LACK OF TRUTH AVAILABLE FOR US:

1. IT SEEMS TO ME THERE IS SOME LOOSE FORMULA BEING USED BY MORE AUTOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS RESULTING IN DEATH RATES OF <1%.

2. THE “STANDARD” REPORTING SYSTEMS BEING USED BY JOHNS HOPKINS HAVE SUBTLY CHANGED:

            A. THE BASE NUMBER “TO MAKE IT TO THE LIST” INTERNATIONALLY USED TO BE 10,000. NOW IT IS 50,000 WHICH MEANS THAT FEWER NATIONS ARE LISTED CHANGING THE PERSPECTIVE OF COVID 19 IN THE WORLD. 

            B. FOR THE US, THE DAILY PERCENTAGE CHANGE HAS GIVEN WAY TO A PERCENT OVER THE LAST SEVEN DAYS. THAT MAY BE GOOD AS A WAY TO UNDERSTAND THE “FLOW” OF THE DISEASE BUT UNLESS ONE IS AWARE OF THAT CHANGE THE INCREASES LOOK GIGANTIC AND THUS MORE FRIGHTENING.

3. IT DOESN’T TAKE THE MASSIVE “PAUPER” GRAVES OF NYC AND HORRIFIC STORIES FROM MEXICO CITY TO REALIZE THAT FAMILIES HAVE JUST LOST TRACK OF THEIR LOVED ONES AND GOVERNMENTS ARE PLAYING FAST AND LOOSE WITH THE NUMBERS. THIS WILL GET WORSE. WITH THE 1918-20 INFLUENZA, GOVERNMENT SIMPLY LIED ABOUT WHAT WAS GOING ON BECAUSE THEY SIMPLY DIDN’T KNOW.

HAVE WE FIGURED OUT NOTHING IN ONE HUNDRED YEARS?

Just because I like it - #1

NOTE: I'm lost - a lot. Yes, I get where I'm going, but even with GPS life can be, well, interesting. I have always claimed that confusion as "part of my charm." Now I know it is a collective charm and reality having discovered a Facebook support group with the scientifically prescriptive name Directional Disorientation aka Developmental Topographical Disorientation. This disorder refers to a lack of the ability to orient intuitively in the world. This group is about recognizing that this is a "real thing," supporting each other, sharing tips and tricks, regaining our self-respect, and educating others that we're not lazy or stupid because we can't find our way around. We will never have our own TV commercial for DD and as a member please know I am not making mock of it. I promise you it isn't funny, except when it is with a story from my group. It is shared here with permission although no one seems to know who the original author was.
_____________________________________

As a singer I sing at many funerals & I was recently asked by a funeral director to play & sing at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery out in the country. As I was not familiar with the area, I got lost. I finally arrived an hour late and saw that the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn’t know what else to do, so I started to sing. The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I sang from my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. 

As I sang “Amazing Grace”, the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished, I packed up my keyboard and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full.

As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, “I’ve never seen nothin’ like that before and I’ve been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.” 

Apparently, I’m still lost….

Dangling - Journal #1

NOTE: Every three weeks I have a procedure for an absolutely non-life-threatening issue. I just do it and it's not a big deal. Recently though, insurance has removed me from the calm of an in-home setting to a new office environment. Seemed appropriate to write about, so I did.

    Sitting in the infusion chair my feet dangle and do not touch the floor.
    Why is that? Is it made for giants?
    I understand why my sweet Annie had the couches made smaller and special for her. Feet on the floor is both grounded and controlling.
    Dangling means dangering. You never know when/if you are going to contact something/anything solid when you finally get out of it. It could also be that the chair's size/dimensions are designed to make clear how we just float in life on our own while it goes on around us. The chair overwhelms us as does the sickness forcing us to give ourselves over to the illness and those who have expertise/skill/desire/empathy to help us.
     Easy to say but difficult that is for me.
    Giving myself and, worse, my self-control to another person is liberation and subjugation, uncertainty and confidence all wrapped up into one. It says life is bigger than me and if I have done right/am lucky someone will be there to help when I find the courage to finally try for the ground.

A Virus Speaks All Languages - Life in a COVID-19 World - Part 4

NOTE: I never planned for this to be so heavily COVID-19 focused. This will be my last one on that topic - for a while. Then again, as my great-grandfather said mentchen trach und Gott lach - "humans plan and God laughs."     

Never could understand, what with all the spells that JK Rowling came up with for Harry Potter and his gang, why someone couldn't just wave their magic wand and abracadabra life's problems away - especially now. I have coveted one of these wands recently after following the COVID-19 numbers from Johns Hopkins. Why did I do that? Morbid curiosity - maybe? In truth, though, it was in order to answer some BIG PICTURE questions that have been bothering me. Here's what I discovered about the four-day period of May 6-10, 2020 - only...

Q: Is it a good idea to close the southern border with Mexico?
A: It might make more sense to close the northern border with Canada. Turns out that Canada has 1/4 the population of Mexico, but four times the number of cases.

Q: How good a job has all of North America done in battling COVID-19?
A: Not good.  Over four days, deaths continent-wide increased 20% to a total of 180,000.

Q: Don't hear much about South America. What's going on?
A: Reports are in from Brazil, Peru, Chile, and Ecuador. They have been averaging 9% increases every day. Columbia just reached 10,000 cases and made it to the Johns Hopkins list.

Q: At least Europe's "flattened the curve," right?
A: Yes, unless you are one of the 5400 new deaths recently added. And welcome Serbia, who also made the list.

Q: Won't heat make the virus disappear?
A: Hmmm... NOT. It has been hitting the 100 degrees mark on a daily basis in the Arabian peninsula but UAE has averaged 6% increases in cases, Saudi Arabia hits 9% and Qatar tops them all at 10%. Remember, that's every day for four days.

Q: What about Caribbean cruise to get away from it all?
A: Cruise? Really? And let's hear it for Dominican Republic who also made the list.

Q: But, Africa's safe, right?
A: Having been beat the heck up by Ebola and HIV/AIDS, South Africa has managed to squeeze onto the list, as well.

Q: Is there a cultural connection?
A: Maybe so. The Romance language countries of Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Rumania account for 83,000 deaths meaning 31% of the world's deaths. Look for a change in cheek kissing and more "air kissing."

Q: Is there a cultural connection - part 2?
A: Maybe so. The English-speaking countries of US, Canada and the UK account for 117,000 deaths or over 41%.

Q: So, how does the world look by continent?
A: 52.3% Europe
     31.3% North America
      9.0%  Asia
        .6%  South America

Q: All of which means (at the very least)?
A: Possibly troubles for Africa and S. America. Seems hard to believe that India with a population of 1.3 Billion could only have 6600 deaths.

       I'm not planning on doing this again. At least I don't think I am. Just remember that numbers are hard to spin IF they are truthful. We are in deep enough without lying about it. Reality is confusing  now as it is. And yet, one last "compound" question still remains.

Q: What does it mean that the so-called "developed nations" of the world account for over 80% of the deaths? Humbling, isn't it?
A: ........

The Joys of Sidewalk Chalk

The neighbors across the street have three amazing kids. A few bucks to buy washable sidewalk chalk and an open invitation to use our driveway produced these amazing results. And lots of happiness, connection plus a brief period of time forgetting reality.

Sometimes a Single Event Can Change Our Lives - Ahmaud Arbery

My daughter-in-law, Laura Tomasulo Magid, posted this on Facebook today. It appears with her permission.


I run. Every day since this madness started, I run. And I’m not even a runner. But still, I run. I run to keep my sanity. I run to be alone for 20 minutes. I run to clear my head. But today, today #irunwithmaud ! And I remember a man who went out for a run, just like I do every day, except he didn’t get to come home.