Day 147

August 5, 2020

Over four months into this pandemic and it is hard to believe we are still dealing with these headlines:

• Government data leaked to the BBC suggests Iran is covering up the true toll of the virus. Nearly 42,000 people there have died, the data shows, which is three times as many as the publicly announced total.
• More than 40 people on a cruise ship from Norway tested positive for the virus, The Associated Press reports. Health authorities fear the ship may have spread the virus to dozens of towns and villages along its route.
• President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines ordered Manila and its suburbs to re-enter lockdown for two weeks after 5,032 new cases were reported.
• Despite a lockdown that began a month ago, officials in Melbourne, Australia, announced stricter measures to stem an outbreak. For six weeks, residents will be under curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., with exemptions for work or giving and receiving care.
• New Jersey will again restrict indoor gatherings as cases have risen in the state. Gatherings will be limited to a maximum of 25 people, down from 100 people.
• On Saturday, the superintendent of the Elwood Community School Corporation in Central Indiana sent a note thanking students and parents for “a great first two days of school!” But several staff members then tested positive, and the high school was forced to close its doors.
• Just hours into the first day of classes at Greenfield Central Junior High School, also in Indiana, the county health department notified the school that a student had tested positive. The student was isolated, and others who had been in proximity were forced to quarantine for two weeks.
• At a high school in Corinth, Miss., someone also tested positive during the first week back, and exposed students there were asked to stay home for 14 days.
• That is all I have to say today but it ought to be noted that in 1918-19 during the influenza outbreak, when experts advised mask wearing as a preventative measure against the spread, people resisted then (just as they do today) Have we not learned very much in 100+ years?