Post 106 - June 25, 2020

Day 106…

You want to get something done? Ask a busy person. So goes the saying, anyway.

I am used to dealing with multiple problems on multiple fronts at the same time. Some things invariably slip through the cracks, but the busier I am, the more focused I get. I can be working on a large project, get up to take a break, deal with three other things then go back and pick up with the larger project.

These days, as the sun starts to set, I realize that I haven’t accomplished much of anything on my very meager list of things to do. Worst of all, I’ve often completely forgotten that they were on the list in the first place.

Today, I am determined to go to a friends’ apartment downtown to help them figure out how to move out. The issue at hand is that the friend in question is currently in Australia. The travel restrictions mean that there is unlikely to be any chance for travel between the two countries until well into next year.

Australia had its biggest one-day spike in coronavirus cases in two months yesterday. 37. Of those 37, 9 came from international travelers who are in hotel quarantine.

Australia’s borders are closed. Their internal state borders are closed as well, although some have started a tentative reopening. Residents returning from international destinations are required to quarantine in hotels. Non-residents are simply not allowed in. The Vienna Convention mandates that diplomats from other countries have freedom of movement and travel and cannot be subject to detention. Diplomats are the only people not required to quarantine although they are at least urged to self-isolate at their embassies or homes for 14 days before they venture out.

Flights anywhere within Australia are largely shut down. It has taken a couple of weeks for my friend to be able to even FedEx me the keys to the apartment simply because there are so few flights out.

The Arts in Australia, after a long hard fight, have just been given a small reprieve by the government in terms of financial aid. Like here, artists are deemed non-essential workers and, like here, are likely to be among the last people in the country back to work. Much of the health of their city’s economies, however, again just like here, rely on performances and exhibitions to attract people to the hotels and restaurants and shops nearby. The Australian government is far more supportive of the arts than ours is, but even they have somewhat ignored the entire sector during this pandemic.

New Zealand, across the Tasman Sea from them, has been largely successful in eliminating the virus within its borders. They currently have only nine active cases in the entire country. All nine cases are from people entering the country who are in quarantine facilities. The military is now overseeing these facilities after two people with the virus were accidentally allowed to leave. People are flatly not allowed to leave the facilities until they have tested negative for the virus. The cruise ship ban in New Zealand was due to expire at the end of this month, but it has just been extended for an additional 60-90 days.

New Zealand and Australia are still looking to create a contained travel bubble between their two countries which could start as soon as September as long as both country’s cases continue at their current very low levels. The island country of Fiji who derives 40% of its economy from tourism, has just made a proposal asking to join in on the bubble.

The day before yesterday, I rode a bike on 2nd Avenue downtown along the east side of Manhattan. In front of the Israeli consulate between 42nd and 43rd streets, I came across a group of Orthodox Jews demonstrating. They were protesting the arrest of a prominent Rabbi in Israel.

I didn’t know until yesterday that there were groups of ultra-Orthodox who are profoundly anti-Zionist. They believe that the Torah specifically forbids Jewish sovereignty.

This group was protesting Israeli government mandates for the coronavirus that they feel further oppresses the anti-Zionist community - already subject to discrimination. They are not allowed to gather together and pray and yet secular buses in Tel Aviv are allowed to operate at full capacity.

A different (I think) Orthodox group here in New York came under criticism for a mass funeral gathering in Brooklyn towards the beginning of the shut-down. In contrast with that group, however, this group were all wearing masks.

Israel has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases. Schools, businesses, restaurants and tourist attractions have started to be allowed to reopen regardless. Areas where there are outbreaks are getting designated as red zones with restricted entry and exits from them. In many of these areas, this seems to be having the opposite effect. Because Orthodox families tend to be quite large, what happens is that in these so-called red zones, many people get contained in a small space and the virus then moves through them all quite easily. Many of the new cases being reported are concentrated in just a few such families.

I was just reading about Cambodia where they have instituted a $3,000 coronavirus deposit for tourists who plan to travel there to see the spectacular temples of Angkor Wat. In addition to that, travelers need to carry at least $50,000 worth of travel insurance to cover healthcare, laundry services, meals. And a funeral.

Many in Cambodia are complaining that this is deterring tourists who make up a large chunk of the country’s GNP.  The extra pressure that foreign travelers could potentially put on the already inadequate health care system, however, makes this a necessity. Cambodia has been spared the worst of the pandemic so far, but officials are already fearing that it will take at least three years for tourism to be restored to anything close to its pre-COVID levels.

Every country on the planet is dealing with COVID-19 in some way and it is impacting each of them in a very different way. Certainly, countries that rely on tourism are all being severely impacted.

The five countries on the planet with the highest number of cases are all seeing their numbers rise.

Great Britain, at number five, who like us has a populist President, is heading towards reopening even while their numbers of new cases and hospitalizations continue to rise.

India at number 4 is seeing their health care system completely overrun. New Delhi has just surpassed Mumbai as the country’s hotspot. People are being turned away from hospitals which are already operating at a level far beyond their capacity. This is just the beginning.

Russia at number 3, is seeing its numbers skyrocket. On Wednesday, to celebrate their victory over the Nazi’s in World War II, they held a huge celebration with a parade that attracted tens of thousands of mostly mask-less spectators. Their President along with many of the country’s veterans in their 80’s and 90’s sat and watched the festivities together - also without masks on.

In Brazil, which clocks in at number 2, local officials have also started reopening areas even as the death rate mounts. Their President is turning a blind eye. Over 50,000 people in Brazil have lost their lives to the coronavirus already.

My friends around the world are all looking at us here in the US with their mouths agape.

At ANY point in our past history, we would be among those counties leading the world towards a solution. Instead, we are now leading the world in the opposite direction - towards an increasing amount of completely avoidable deaths.

Yes, of course, the United States is number 1.

As they move towards reopening, the European Union is currently considering banning all travelers from the United States.

The US and Canadian border will remain closed for at least another month. Basically, living above a meth lab, as somebody down here posted, the Canadians are in no rush for any of us to visit.

A strong, coordinated national response to the COVID-19 pandemic would have changed much of what we are seeing now. A strong coordinated national response would have made an enormous difference in ALL of the countries most affected. Instead, the governments of all of these countries, including ours, have sought to downplay and demonize the science.

Like our own President, government officials in India are advocating homeopathic cures that are not only ineffective, but also potentially dangerous.

The populist leaders of England, Brazil and Russia have behaved in much the same way as ours has - largely by denying, ignoring and suppressing the facts. The British Prime Minister even continues in this vein after having had a serious case of the virus himself, that hospitalized him.

This planet is not all that big. It certainly seemed bigger in the past before we had the transportation system that shrank it. Now, with the coronavirus and the shutdown of our international travel, it suddenly seems that much bigger again.

I cannot imagine what it must have been like in 1918 during the Spanish flu pandemic. I know that if I had been alive at that time, it is unlikely that I would have had the number of friends that I have now who live outside of the country. During the lockdown of 1918, however, even communication between friends in the same city would have been difficult.

In 2020, I can easily talk to my friend in Australia. We can even see each other on Facetime or Zoom. How the heck I am going to be able to ship all of the stuff down to Australia remains to be seen. I guess we will figure out how to get it all onto slow-moving a cargo ship. It doesn’t look like we will be able to see each other in person, though, until at least well into next year.

In a way, New York is a bit like Australia.  We each seem to have a handle on our cases, but we are both islands in a sea of COVID. We are safe for the moment, but neither of us can exist indefinitely in isolation.

None of us on this planet can really exist without the others. We are all inextricably interconnected.

The fact that this Administration has been doing everything that it can for the last three years to pull us out of international agreements and treaties is yet another reason to vote in November.

The coronavirus will pass, but the warming of our planet won’t.

We are eventually going to need to apologize to the rest of the world for our current bout of stupidity and then get to work with them on trying to solve it.

Until then, mate, I’m finally heading down to your apartment with a tape measure. 

Let’s figure out how to do this.