Eyes: The Window for Covid-19?

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Eyes are the Windows to the Soul. What if they are also the windows for COVID-19 infection? I began wearing face shields or glasses along with my face mask anytime I teach students in person.  How COVID-19  infections spread is still not sufficiently understood. The main route of transmission is by respiratory droplets released from infected persons. Transmission via surfaces appears less frequent. The virus acts like no pathogen humanity has ever seen.

Doctor Joseph Fair took a flight to New Orleans and took every precaution by wearing a face mask, gloves and he had Purel to wipe down all surfaces around him on the flight. Despite his precautions he was infected by COVID-19. The eyes are one of three known routs of getting the infection. The nose and mouth are the most common routes and most people do not consider they eyes. Droplets landing on your eyes are just as infectious. He was not wearing goggles. Passengers were not social distanced. They were packed in like sardines. He developed symptoms 3-4 days later. He was in the hospital in critical condition but has since improved.

The CDC says, “it may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes.” “Based upon what we know, I would say that the possibility of acquiring it on the surface of your eye is possible. It’s certainly plausible,” said Dr. Thomas Steinemann. “Any sort of open mucosa [mucous membrane] is a chance for a droplet to land there and get into your body,” said Dr. Abraar Karan. She followed up, “It’s hard to quantify exactly what the risk is in terms [of] through the eye specifically.”

Edward E. Manche, MD, a professor of ophthalmology at Stanford University Medical School, says that while doctors don’t know for sure, many think eye infection can happen. “I think it’s widely believed now that you can acquire it through the eye. A Johns Hopkins research study, suggests that there’s a good likelihood that the ocular surface cells are susceptible to infection by COVID-19. That study is now under pier review. That study examined 10 post-mortem eyes and five surgical samples of conjunctiva from patients who did not have the COVID-19. They wanted to see whether the eyes’ surface cells produced the key receptor for COVID-19, the ACE2 receptor.

COVID-19 has been known to cause Conjunctivitis which is an inflammation of the membrane that lines the front of the eye and inner eyelid, and is more common in the sickest patients. If the virus invades and infiltrates your conjunctiva – the clear tissue covering the white part of your eye and the inside of your eyelids – likely “there’s going to be inflammation or redness in your eyes,” Steinemann said. To become infected through your eyes, the virus would have to penetrate the eyes’ mucous membrane, be washed by tears behind your cheeks into your nasal cavity, and then flow from the nose into your throat. “It’s a more circuitous route,” says Steinemann. Our eyes have a number of defense mechanisms that help protect against infection, like eyelids that blink to cover the eye and tears that contain immunoglobulins that fight invaders.

The basic precautions against COVID-19 still hold when it comes to your eyes, says Steinemann: Wash your hands, practice social distancing – and “don’t touch your face” also means don’t rub your eyes. I ware a face shield any time I go in to work. I was surprised at how many times the shield blocked me from touching my face or mask. I forget I am wearing the shield.

You don’t need to be wearing a face shield on your walk around the neighborhood or your visit to the grocery store, Steinemann notes. For those situations, he recommends wearing a mask and practicing good hygiene and social distancing.

ISS Expedition

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This painting was a quick demo for my virtual Elite Illustration students. Today, July 7, 2020 at 12:30pm NASA will be broadcasting a live event with the ISS Expedition 63 In-Flight crew, Commander Chris Cassidy, and fight engineers Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. They will be interviewed by the New York Times and Fox News.

The SpaceX launch was on May 30, 2020 from Cape Canaveral. This was the first launch of humans in to space from American soil for more than a decade. It took the spacecraft 19 hours to reach the  International Space Station (ISS), 400 kilometers above Earth. Here the crew will remain for one to four months, before they return home.

To help prevent the contraction and spread of any illness, astronauts are held in isolation for 7 days before they launch into space. This is to keep them healthy and to avoid sending pathogens into space. The astronauts were also they were trained on how to detect symptoms and early signs of diseases. Only one launch was ever scrubbed due to an illness.

Elon Musk was overcome with emotion after the launch. His company Tesla was charged with building the rocket that launched the astronauts into space. His adrenaline was pumping. He then got choked up talking about his responsibility to bring the astronauts home safely to there families. Both astronauts have young children. He said, “I’ve spent 18 years working toward this goal, so it’s hard to believe that it’s happened.” Musk said. “This is hopefully the first step on a journey towards civilization on Mars, of life becoming multi planetary, a base on the moon and expanding beyond Earth.”

Pre-Pademic: Turkey

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In Mustafapasa, Turkey I noticed this sign of Americanization, a Coke delivery truck and could not resist dong a sketch. It once had a mixed population, Greeks and Karamanlides (Turkish speaking Christians) and Muslim Turks. In 1924 after the Greco Turkish war, the population exchange agreement between Greece and Turkey, forced Greeks and Karamanlides to leave the town for Nea Sinasos a town in the northern part of the island of Euboea in Greece. Most of the exchange was based not on language or ethnicity, but upon religious identity. An estimated  384,000 Greeks were killed from 1914 to 1918, and 264,000 from 1920 to 1922. The total number reaching about 648,000.

Fast forward to 2020. Coke has pulled over 700 million dollars in advertising from Facebook because the social media platform does not limit hate speech. Trump wrote: “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” a phrase used by a Miami police chief in the 1960s and widely interpreted as a violent threat against protesters. Facebook employees have condemned CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to leave up President Trump’s post. Twitter hid the same post for glorifying violence. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey took full responsibility for the decision.

After weeks of a staunch hands-off approach, Zuckerberg on Friday June 26, 2020 reversed course as a parade of brands began severing their ties with the company. Zuckerberg said Facebook will put warning labels on posts that break its rules, even if they are newsworthy, opening the door to potentially labeling posts by Trump. Facebook rules say speech that inspires or incites violence is not allowed on its platform. The company has removed over 300 Boogaloo hate groups form the platform. It is a feeble start to address a much bigger problem.

If you ignore or deny history you are bound to repeat it.

Rushmore

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Donald Trump has an infatuation with large sculptures. When visiting the Governor of South Dakota, he mentioned that he had a life long dream of having his head sculpted on Rushmore along side George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. The Governor laughed, but Trump did not. He was serious.

On July 3, 2020 he flew to South Dakota set off fire works above the mountain. Weeks before a wild fire six miles from Rushmore burned 60 acres and required 117 firefighters from 3 states to get it extinguished. In preparation for the fireworks the US government spent $30,000 dollars to do a controlled burn in April around the site to mitigate the chance that the fireworks could start another wild fire.  About $600,000 was being spent on the display, including $350,000 for the actual fireworks and $3,500 on portable toilets. The governor of South Dakota purchased the fireworks with money that had been earmarked for economic development. The money that could have helped the states economy grow went up in smoke in a matter of minutes.

3700 people showed up for the fireworks. There was no social distancing at the event despite the record-high new COVID-19 cases in the United States. Chairs at the event were zip tied together making any social distancing impossible. You had to rub elbows and breath on your neighbor. Face masks were optional but very few people wore them. This was the perfect breading ground for the COVID-19 virus to spread.

The Black Hills are a deeply sacred place of spiritual and cultural significance to the native peoples of the area, nearly 60 tribes. The 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty established the Black Hills as part of the Great Sioux Reservation, according to the National Archives, but the lands were systematically taken by the US government after gold was discovered in the area in the 1870s. Almost 50 years later, the likenesses of the four American presidents were carved into the mountain. In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that the Sioux Nation had not received just compensation for the land.

Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of the monument, was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slave, and Abraham Lincoln approved the executions of 38 Lakota natives in Mankato, Minnesota, which was one of the largest mass hangings in the history of the country. A member of the Democratic National Committee, Tweeted, “Trump has disrespected Native communities time and again. He’s attempted to limit their voting rights and blocked critical pandemic relief. Now he’s holding a rally glorifying white supremacy at Mount Rushmore — a region once sacred to tribal communities.”

Members of the Lakota tribe blocked one of the roads leading to the monument by stalling three vans across the road and then lining up across the road to block oncoming traffic. They held the barricade for over two hours at which time National Guard in riot gear came and made arrests. A Lakota leader negotiated to make sure women and children had a chance to stand aside before the arrests began. More than a dozen protestors were arrested to make way for the presidents new photo op.

I found no reports of embers from the fireworks setting any fires, but the real wildfire sweeping the nation is COVID-19, which the president chooses to ignore. COVID-19 cases have been rising in 36 states with California, Arizona, Texas and Florida all posting record numbers of new infections this week. These are states that Trump convinced to open early. Florida reported 11,458 new COVID-19 cases Saturday July 4, 2020, shattering its record for daily reported cases coming just short of NYC’s highest case count.

They Know Not What They Do

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Vice President Mike Pence took a trip to Texas where he visited the First Baptist Church in Dallas on Sunday June 28, 2020. A choir of more than 100 people performed without masks spraying each other and the audience with aerosolized droplets which spread COVID-19.  According to organizers, nearly 2,200 people attended the Celebrate Freedom Rally.

Studies have suggested that COVID-19 can spread through respiratory droplets in the air that can linger inside buildings. High-powered vocalizations, for instance loud talking or singing, are particularly efficient in producing these tiny particles. Other choir-linked outbreaks have occurred in Britain, Germany and the Netherlands.

Throughout the service, the members of the choir sang at full volume, behind an orchestra. I really feel bad for the orchestra who would have gotten the full force of the fire hose. Singers were not six feet apart. The audience packed in a few rows back were also not practicing social distancing. Face masks at the event were “strongly encouraged,” with signs posted around the venue signaling the suggestion. Perhaps 50% of the audience took the suggestion while some wore the masks incorrectly. The choir put their masks on between songs which is counter intuitive since the singing is the best way to spray the virus into the venue. Secret Service agents must have known to place the Vice President off to the side rather than being seated front and center. The indoor service lasted for about one and a half hours.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an outbreak in a 122-member choir in Washington state. 86% of singers that attended that one rehearsal contracted the deadly virus. At that 2.5-hour choir practice attended by 61 persons, including an symptomatic patient, there were 32 confirmed and 20 probable secondary COVID-19 cases that occurred. Three patients were hospitalized, and two died.

In an interview Pence said that “people should listen to state and local officials on wearing masks in public, every state has a unique situation.” Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott opened his state early. The state has become a hot spot for the spread of the virus in recent weeks and he has had to reverse his position by requiring bars to close, putting restrictions on outdoor gatherings, and scaling back restaurant dining to help stop the spread.

The CDC initially recommended that churches consider suspending or at least decreasing the use of a choir and congregants singing during services. The CDC asserted that “The act of singing may contribute to transmission of Covid-19, possibly through emission of aerosols.” They have had to soften their language by “suggesting” or asking people to please “consider” life saving measures. Late last month however, the agency quietly removed that guidance from its website. According to The Washington Post, the White House requested that change.

I actually got sick to my stomach working on this illustration. I went into the bathroom and dry heaved. I am being physically affected by blatant the irresponsibility I see all around me. I scrubbed the bowl while kneeling before it. That is when the image of the Exorcist pea soup fire hose effect hit me. It occurred to me that Trump uses the same distraction technique when he doesn’t have an answer to any policy question. Denying reality does not defeat reality.

“Forgive them father for they know not what they do.”

Pam’s Birthday

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For Pam’s Birthday we decided to head to Melbourne Florida to take a chance that a beach might not be too crowded. We both packed out face masks and a light picnic. There was a 40% chance of rain but that is the case pretty much every day in the summer. On the drive out we passed a tractor trailer semi that was engulfed inn flames. The cab of the truck had pulled away from the cargo trailer and it was billowing black smoke and flames. Pam claimed she saw the word magic on the side of the trailer so we thought it might be from the Magic basketball team.  I mused that it might be full of basketballs that were now fuel for the fire. There were no police n the scene when we drove by but as we made out way south on 95, fire trucks an ambulance and police rushed to the scene driving north.

We both agreed that if the beaches were too crowded we would turn around and head home. The first roadside parking lots for beaches were more crowded that we had ever seen them. The lots were full and cars were parking on the grass. Between beaches cars were parked on the side of the road and people hiked to the beach trails. We refused to stop and kept driving south agreeing that Sebastian inlet would be as far south as we would dare to drive. The further south you go the closer you get to the Miami plague.

Sebastian Inlet State Park was closed because it was at capacity. We saw the Inlet beach when we drove over a bridge and people were social distanced on the beach. Clearly park staff kept it that way. Pam noticed one small parking spot which wasn’t super crowded and we decided to stop. We agreed to walk out on the boardwalk and if the beach was crowded we would leave. We wore our masks just in case we passes people on the walk out to the beach.

The beach was really deserted. A few people were fishing. We found a spot about 50 yards between groups of fishers and set up out umbrella and towels. The water was a gorgeous aqua greenish blue, almost Mediterranean. Masks came off and we headed out into the surf. There was a steep drop of right off shore but the water felt glorious. Pam stayed out much longer than me. I did a quick sketch and then we both napped on out towels, Pam in the sun and me in the shade of the umbrella. The whole time no one approached within 50 yards of us. No one caught a fish all afternoon.  A sea turtle wallowed out in the waves, perhaps thinking of coming ashore but instead it swam back out. Sea turtles are thriving because of the Covid-19 pandemic, because there are fewer humans to disturb them. When it was time to pack up and leave, our face masks went back on for the trek back to the car. It was a glorious relaxing day. I have been focusing on the worst of the pandemic for months and it felt good to drift off to sleep listening to the waves and feeling the sea mist on my skin.

Resurgence in Dating and COVID-19

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A dating app for wealthy people sees their members getting ready to date on the Fourth of July weekend despite social distancing rules still being in effect. Men and women who have been in isolation for months are desperate to score a date. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, online dating has taken off. Messaging on Hinge increased 30%, and Tinder saw its biggest day ever on March 29, with over 3 billion swipes. People have more time to talk online.

The virus is primarily spread, through respiratory droplets. And this is why it’s important to maintain that physical distance. Because you don’t know who has it and who doesn’t. And so, if people act irresponsibly and go out wanting to meet people, well then we’re gonna create new chains of transmission. Writing love letters is quite romantic.

With  a resurgence of COVID-19 cases hitting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ordered Bars closed though he refuses to consider a step back in his phase 2 re-opening plan. On June 26, 2020 there were 8,942 new COVID-19 cases on , shattering the previous record of 5,508 set just two days ago. New Case counts keep rising by about 1000 cases each day. DeSantis said the order was issued because many people were disobeying the state’s reopening guidelines. “People weren’t following it,” the governor said. “There was widespread noncompliance, and that led to issues. If folks just follow the guidelines, we’re going to be in good shape. When you depart from that, then it becomes problematic.” He however  refuses to make mask wearing mandatory state wide.

Back in April while NYC was suffering from the onslaught of the deadly virus, the governor claimed victory over the virus when he visited the president at the White House. “Everyone in the media was saying Florida would be like New York or Italy and that has not happened,” he said. “We had a tailored and measured approach that not only helped our numbers be way below what anybody predicted, but also did less damage to our state going forward.” Now he has to eat his words.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in response, ” look at the numbers, You played politics with this virus, and you lost.” “It was never politics. It was always science,” Cuomo said. He  criticized other state leaders’ response to the coronavirus pandemic Thursday June 25, 2020, saying some states who rushed to reopen their economies were playing politics.

Dr. Anthony Fauci in testimony before a congressional committee said on Tuesday that the rate of new coronavirus infections could more than double to 100,000 a day if current outbreaks were not contained, warning that the virus’s march across the South and the West “puts the entire country at risk.” “We have a very heterogenous country, but heterogeneity doesn’t mean that we are not intimately interconnected with each other,” Fauci said. “So what goes on in one area of the country, ultimately could have an effect on the other areas of the country.”

Vice President Mike Pence wore a face mask to a public briefing on Tuesday June 30, 2020 where the message from the surgeon general and others was clear: Americans should to do the same while in public to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The vice president and others removed their masks only when delivering remarks. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said “When you do not wear your face covering, we end up in a situation where you see higher rates of disease spread and you end up having to close places. This mask, this face covering, actually is an instrument of freedom for Americans if we all use it.”

Today July 2, 2020 Florida reached a new milestone surpassing a 1000% increase in COVID-19 cases since it re-opened.

Bubbles

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Pam Schwartz‘s family was in town and we went to a lake where you could float on the water in these bubbles. The bubbles could be blown up with a leaf blower and then you could roll down to the water. Standing in the water was close to impossible resulting in many prat falls. Navigating was possible by running on all fours like a dog or horse but there was still little traction in the water. Each ball was tethered to a rope and when the time was up, they were pulled back to shore by the bubble herder. Her niece and nephew loved the experience.

Now I am thinking it  would be nice to have these for simple everyday tasks like walking the dogs. Of course the clear plastic would likely get scratched all to hell on pavement and cement but I still would love to see people walking the neighborhood in these. It even settle for a Jurassic Park bubble vehicle.

Creative Social Distancing

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I began to teach summer camps and started to think about creative social distancing solutions. Kids are notorious for not social distancing, and I didn’t want them to give each other the virus to take it home to their parents or grand parents. Children are less likely to develop severe symptoms but I was also concerned for instructors and their families.

On May 22, 2020 Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that all children’s summer activities including Summer Camps would be allowed to re-open after two months of lock down. He said this would be safe because children appear to be less susceptible to complications from the virus. “Our kids have been out of organized activities for a couple months now,” he said. “We need to have a pathway to get it back.” he said.

Broward and Miami Dade Counties voted against opening summer camps. They felt three things had to be in place, social distancing, face masks and sanitation. Pediatricians had mixed opinions about whether the move is too hasty. Dr. Bruce Peters, said, “Children could infect the people they live with, including grandparents who may be compromised because of age, and it could cause another peak, another outbreak of COVID. There are so many factors we can’t control.”

An 11 year old is the youngest person to die in Florida and some children have been infected and become critically ill. State data show that 1,049 children 14 or younger had contracted the COVID-19 virus as of Thursday May 21, 2020 and forty-two children were hospitalized. In one hospital case study, a child tested positive for COVID-19 and was infectious for 17 days while showing no symptoms such as a temperature or cough. Children might be infectious for longer than adults while remaining asymptomatic.

DeSantis said he would leave it up to parents to decide whether their children participate in summer camp activities. So, with no effective leadership from Federal, State or County officials it became the responsibility of camp instructors to come up with possible ways to get kids to social distance. My first students were troopers about keeping their face masks on. I spoke to them about hand washing and wiping down anything they picked up before I started any art instruction. Temperature checks before entering the classroom were re-assuring but not a guarantee since anyone can be asymptomatic and still spread the virus.

Social Distancing was the difficult conundrum. I searched online for creative solutions. Restaurants put manikins, cardboard cut outs of celebrities or ghosts in empty seats to fill out a room. I liked huge plush toys like Sea Otters, Teddy Bears, or Panda Bears filling the seats. One restaurant had large plastic cup shields that surrounded diners like the cone of silence in Get Smart. One restaurant had individual greenhouses placed outside for diners. Partitions and shower curtains actually do little to stop the virus since they are not sealed off. Pool Noodles strapped to hats seemed fun as well a very large Burger King crowns the size of hoop skirts. Cardboard dragon sculpts seemed a perfect solution for a video gaming summer camp.

I was told that an Orlando Bar downtown had Halloween skeletons seated in empty seats. Considering the meteoric rise in COVID-19 cases in Florida this past week that seems the most fitting solution. On Saturday June 27, 2020 the Florida Department of Health, 9,585 new cases of COVID-19 were reported and the sales of alcohol in Florida bars was suspended. To put that in perspective NYC’s highest COVID-19 case count was about12,000 in one day. Florida may very well be in the same dire situation NYC was in back in March in the coming weeks unless measures are taken to stop the spread.

The CDC offered tips on how to protect children during the pandemic. They recommend, “keeping children at least 6 feet from other people and each other. If children meet in groups, it can put everyone at risk. Children can pass this virus onto others who have an increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19. The key to slowing the spread of COVID-19 is to limit contact as much as possible. While school is out, children should not have in-person play dates with children from other households. If children are playing outside their own homes, it is essential that they remain 6 feet from anyone who is not in their own household.”

The CDC has house hold studies in the works but they do not know the impact that children have on the transmission cycle of the virus. The CDC is moving forward to find ways to open schools safely. Dr. Fauci in testimony Tuesday June 30, 2020 said, “We need to do whatever we can to get the children back to school.” At a COVID-19 Task Force press briefing, Secretary Ben Carson said, “The CDC is advising schools on how to bring students back to school safely. You don’t have to have everyone in auditoriums, those congregate settings, you would avoid. There would be fewer kids in the classrooms and the desks would be socially distanced. Instead of having the kids eating in a cafeteria they should be eating at their desks.”

Pre-Pandemic: Hollerbach’s

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Pam’s family was visiting from Iowa and to give then a taste of Central Florida we decided to go to Hollerbach’s Willow Tree Café German Restaurant (205 E 1st St, Sanford, FL 32771). A large family sat eating at the table next to us and the place was packed for lunch. I miss sketching these types of crowded and festive scenes. An om-pah band was playing in the next room and a tone point everyone shouted, Ticky Tacky Ticky Tacky- Oh Oh Ohhh! Everyone shouted along and took a long drink of their steins of beer.

I know that the restaurant has recently expanded just in time for the pandemic. The Willow Tree German restaurant resumed standard hours as of May 4, 2020. The Magnolia Square Market German Deli has remained open throughout, and the Outfitters German folk clothing shop is open five days a week.

Willow Tree: Sun-Thu 11-9, Fri/Sat 11-10

Magnolia Square Market: Sun-Thu 10-7, Fri/Sat 10-8

Outfitters: Wed, Thu, Sun 12-5, Fri/Sat 12-7

Today June 14, 2020, dine-in capacity is limited to 25% for the safety of guests and staff. They have re-configured the table layout to reflect requirements of social distancing, and parties are limited to six guests per table – if there are more than six guests in a party, they will be kindly asked to sit at separate tables.

Take-out service is available 11am – 8pm at hollerbachs.com/ordernow or by calling 407.321.2204 option 3. Restaurant reservations are suspended until further notice in light of the limited seating capacity mandated by the State of Florida and by our concern for the well-being of our guests and staff, and to afford our staff time to adapt to the new re-opening circumstances. Restaurants can now seat people at bars with appropriate social distancing, while bars, pubs, bowling allies and concert venues must operate at 50% indoor capacity. Bar service will only be available to seated customers to discourage large standing crowds.

Jimmy and Eckhard will be returning to the Willow Tree stage Thursday, May 7th to resume their popular Schunkelabend German folk music show, with polka, yodeling, folk instruments, classic Oktoberfest songs, and much more – Thursday and Sunday 6-9 pm, Friday and Saturday 7-10 pm. A new rooftop beer garden is close  to being completed but not quite open yet.

Florida had 2851 new cases of Covid-19  on Saturday June 13, 2020. That is the largest daily increase in cases since the pandemic began. That is a 127% increase in new cases since the state re-opened. This is  the second week of phase 2 re-opening.