Pandemic Diary – April 22 to 26

Wednesday, April 22

Statewide: 78 deaths, 2,059 cases out of (not available) tested  (Deaths: +0) (Cases: +57)

As we have all heard by now, Sweden’s anti-pandemic measures have been very different from those imposed in the U.S. and in most of Europe. Gatherings of more than 500 people have been banned and universities are closed. High schools have also shut down, but schools for grades 1-9 have so far remained open. There seem to be few other restrictions. Swedes have freedom of movement and most businesses, including restaurants and bars, are open. Swedish authorities are focusing their quarantine efforts on known cases and high risk groups while leaving lower risk people alone. Will the result be a horrible disaster or will this approach be vindicated? The world waits with bated breath. It’s early yet, but so far Sweden is doing okay.

Taiwan has also kept schools and businesses open. As of April 23 they have reported only 6 deaths and only 427 confirmed cases. If that’s true, they are doing very much better than okay. Instead of a lockdown the Taiwanese acted early and decisively in the areas of international travel restrictions, lots of testing, and intensive tracking of known cases. It helped that they had a robust national health care system to facilitate this. Also helpful was the fact that Taiwan is an island, which makes it relatively easy to control and monitor travel into the country.

Meanwhile, back in the U.S., we hear that gun sales are way up and that shortages of ammunition have appeared. Gun shop owners report that customers have been buying their favorite ammunition by the case. (Depending on the calibre and the manufacturer, a case of ammunition contains between 500 and 2,500 bullets.) It turns out that there aren’t enough bullets around for everybody to be able to buy in that kind of volume, so they’ve had to put limits on how many cases you can buy at one time. Well, that’s a little worrisome. It means that latecomers are going to have to get by with far fewer rounds. The good news is that shooters who are good enough shots will still have the capacity to kill many dozens of their fellow citizens. That will help.

Thursday, April 23

Statewide: 83 deaths, 2,127 cases out of 43,976 tested  (Deaths: +5) (Cases: +68)

Friday, April 24

Statewide: 86 deaths, 2,177 cases out of 45,492 tested  (Deaths: +3) (Cases: +50)

As of April 18, total COVID deaths in the U.S. were 24,555. That’s a rate of .07 per thousand, which is roughly equivalent to one death for every 14,000 Americans. If we assume that the pandemic is half over, we can expect the final toll to be one out of every 7,000 Americans. If we assume that the pandemic is only one third over, it would be one in 5,000. If the pandemic is now only one fourth over, it would be about one in 3,500. Also as of 4/18, roughly 93% of deaths have occurred in people age 55 and older. 

Saturday, April 25

Statewide: 87 deaths, 2,253 cases out of 47,377 tested  (Deaths: +1) (Cases: +76)

Made excursions today to Trader Joe’s–for apricots, avocados and champagne–and to the liquor store–for tonic and gin. M went early in the day and found conditions uncrowded with no noticeable shortages. The liquor store has protective barriers at the checkout counter and is also enforcing a policy of only five customers in the shop at any one time. Annoyingly, though, they are still using an antiquated credit card system that requires one to pick up a pen and sign a piece of paper. 

Lovely weather in the afternoon. E did weeding, especially in the area near the window from which we usually view our back garden, which was looking a little shaggy. M mowed lawn and spread some mulch. At dinner, M and E noticed a man stopping in front of our house to look at E’s little corner plot and then pulling out his phone to take a picture of it. As it happens, E got some of her ideas for making the plot by doing the same thing–taking pictures of plants and arrangements that she admired while out walking. So the beat goes on. After dinner we went to the store and got cake, by golly.

Sunday, April 26

Statewide: 91 deaths, 2,311 cases out of 48,964 tested  (Deaths: +4) (Cases: +58)

Sunday night we watched Call the Midwife, which is always sweet, compassionate and positive. But that view of the world was shattered when we followed it with some of our Turkish soap opera and got terrible news. Elif is in jail! And even Sami is powerless to help her! Ömer is losing control and keeps trying to pick fights with anyone handy, even though his bullet wounds are not healing properly and he could well lose the use of his left arm permanently if he does not take better care of himself. Nilüfer, Elif’s younger sister, is still agonizing about Fatih, the psychotic with the mesmerizing eyes, with whom she fell in love after he kidnapped her and held her captive for weeks as part of an extortion plot, and who earned her love by renting movies for her to watch, providing her with popcorn, and violently delivering her from the lecherous intentions of one of the henchmen who were guarding her. She now realizes how awful he is and she’s trying to stay away from him…even though she still loves him and is actually married to him in some kind of quasi-legal Turkish way. 

Elif also has an older sister, Aslı, who has always had mental issues and who has recently lost both her husband and her mother. Aslı has been better lately, though, and has been so looking forward to a baby on the way. But in fact she is not really pregnant because her mother bribed a doctor friend to sedate her and give her an abortion. Aslı does not remember this, but Elif has known about it for a while and just before she is arrested and taken off to jail she finally manages to tell Aslı the truth. Or at least part of the truth…in fact Elif also knows something else that Aslı does not remember, which is that right after the abortion Aslı found out what her mother had done. She confronted her mother, they fought, and Aslı gave her mother a shove which caused her to fall and hit her head on a piece of marble, which was, of course, the reason that the girls’ mother so recently passed away. A few months before that, the girls’ father also died, shot and killed by persons unknown… 

And those are just the issues on one side of this grand romance. Maybe we can get to Ömer’s side another day. Black Money Love is the title, which in Turkish is Kara Para Aşk. It’s on Netflix, in Turkish with English subtitles. There are 164 stylish but slow moving episodes, 45 minutes each. We’re at episode 76, I believe, which is a really depressing one. How will they ever get out of this?