Pre-Pandemic: Hotel Bella

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Hotel Bella in Selçuk, Turkey is right down the street from The Grand Byzantine Fortress, which can be seen in this sketch. This is a view from the room of the street below. Storks had set up a nest on a pole right outside the window and I couldn’t resist sketching them as they organized the sticks on the perimeter of the nest.

The Grand Byzantine Fortress or Ayasuluk Castle, lies on a hill in the town of Selçuk, in the province of Izmir in Turkey. It is situated just a mile from the site of the ancient Greek city of Ephesus. Ephesus was initially a harbor city but the continually silting up of its harbor eventually made it an inland site situated about 3 miles from the sea at present. The fortress was built using stones from disused Greek and Roman buildings. Entry to the citadel from the south was through the Gate of Persecution, which first led into the Basilica.

Over the centuries, people from the harbor site gradually migrated towards the citadel on the hill as the harbor continued to silt up and residents battled malaria. By the end of the Byzantine period the harbor was abandoned, and Ephesus was centered around the fortress.

Inside the fortress ruins there are the remains of a small ruined mosque, a part of a former church turned into a cistern, a couple of Ottoman cisterns and ground plans of a couple of houses.

Turkey is one of the few countries that still allows American tourists to visit. Americans have become pariahs on the wold stage for their inability to control the COVID-19 virus pandemic.

Passengers arriving in Turkey will be required to complete an information form and will be checked for symptoms. Anyone suspected of having COVID-19 will be transported to a hospital for examination. If an individual on a particular aircraft/vehicle/vessel is found to have COVID-19, the information forms completed upon arrival will be used to identify others who have been in contact with them; those individuals will then also be subject to 14-day isolation/quarantine.

U.S. Citizens flying from the United States may only enter via CDC-approved airports and should follow COVID-19 restrictions in place at their final destination. Air travelers are advised to include their travel document (Passport/I-551) information in their reservations to help ensure they do not encounter issues when boarding flights. A list of approved airports along with arrival information for international travelers entering the United States is available here. U.S. citizens planning travel into and out of Turkey with stops in the European Union (EU) should check specific country restrictions on the EU website.

80th Sturgis Bike Rally

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On August 5,2020 South Dakota reported 89 new cases of COVID-19 and one death over the last two weeks. Kristi Noem the state governor never issued any state mandates to help curb the spread of the virus instead trusting in the citizens of her state to do the right thing to stay safe in the midst of a pandemic. Noem on July 28, 2020 said she will push for schools to stay open this fall, and disparaged any requirements for children to wear masks in classrooms.

The 80th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally will be expecting 250,000 bikers to descend on the South Dakota city. The bikers will assemble from August 7 to 16, 2020. This could become the biggest mass gathering anywhere since pandemic began. Sturgis, a city of about 7,000 residents, was hesitant to again host the week long event during a pandemic. Many worry that the rally might cause an unmanageable outbreak of COVID-19. To date Meade County where Sturgis is located, has reported 82 COVID-19 infections and 1 death.

In a survey of residents conducted by the city, more than 60% said the rally should be postponed. But businesses pressured the City Council to proceed. An attorney wrote to the Sturgis City Council reminding them that a judge found the city does not solely own rights to the rally and threatened to sue if the city tried to postpone.

The city will provide ppe to businesses that will be working during the rally, and recommend sanitizing stations and 50% capacity at bars and restaurants. However these are just suggestions which are not legally enforceable.

Organizers were emboldened by the President’s July 3 fireworks celebration at Mount Rushmore. Event organizers are counting on drunken attendees to politely social distance. Sturgis officials realized the rally would happen whether they wanted it or not. They decided to try to scale it back, canceling city-hosted events and slashing advertising for the rally. Others thing that this might be the biggest event in America since all others were canceled for public safety. This could be the bikers Woodstock of the pandemic.

After all the bikers leave the city of Sturgis will conduct a massive testing program hoping to catch and contain any virus that might be left behind. The bikers will ride back to their home states to share the experience and perhaps the virus with friends and family.

Trump Envies Fauci

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I highly respect Dr. Anthony Fauci. He speaks the truth without watering down facts. His primary concern at all times has been to save lives. It seems the president envies the doctors popularity. Fauci was asked to throw out the first pitch at the Major League Baseball’s opening day, Thursday, July 23. The pitch was a bit of a tragedy but it was a much needed light hearted moment.

President Donald Trump announced that he would be throwing out the first pitch at the Yankees-Red Sox game at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 15, 2020 claiming he was invited by team president Randy Levine. The New York Times reported that “Mr. Trump had not actually been invited on that day by the Yankees, according to one person with knowledge of Mr. Trump’s schedule. His announcement surprised both Yankees officials and the White House staff. But Mr. Trump had been so annoyed by Dr. Fauci’s turn in the limelight, an official familiar with his reaction said, that he had directed his aides to call Yankees officials and make good on a longtime standing offer from Mr. Levine to throw out an opening pitch. No date was ever finalized.” In other words, he lied.

The White House has been undercutting Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, by circulating anti-Fauci talking points to reporters. It is as if they want to paint him as the enemy of the people. People are tired of the social isolation caused by COVID-19 and want to return to life as usual despite the consequences. Fauci’s public health messaging runs contrary to the president’s priority that Americans should get back to work and open all schools fully in the fall. “Dr. Fauci is a nice man, but he’s made a lot of mistakes,” the president told Fox‘s Sean Hannity.

And aide told The Washington Post that “several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things.” The paper reported that the unidentified staffer delivered to them a list of about a dozen past comments Fauci has made that the official claimed were incorrect. Some of the Fauci examples were from early in the pandemic, when information was rapidly evolving. Other top health officials who have acknowledged changing their assessment as time went on, such as the surgeon general. For instance Fauci had advises early on that the public should not run out and start buying N-95 face masks since there was  a shortage of masks available for health care professionals at the time. As more was learned and supplies were re-replenished he advised everyone to wear masks to help stop the spread of the disease. Fauci had not had the opportunity to advise to the president since early June but has continued to make media appearances to discuss the COVID-19 strategy.

Trump retweeted former Wheel of Fortune host Chuck Woolery, who claimed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, many doctors and the media were “lying” about COVID-19. Fauci wasn’t specifically named in that tweet. Dan Scavino, the White House’s director of social media who was promoted in April to deputy chief of staff for communications, shared a political cartoon on his Facebook page that criticized Fauci‘s support of shutdowns and social distancing in order to slow the virus.

Fauci said to The Atlantic. “Ultimately, it hurts the president to do that. When the staff lets out something like that and the entire scientific and press community push back on it, it ultimately hurts the president. And I don’t really want to hurt the president. But that’s what’s happening. I told him I thought it was a big mistake. That doesn’t serve any good purpose for what we’re trying to do.”

Speaking with NBC News, Fauci said that the public should rely on its “respected medical authorities who have a track record of telling the truth … based on scientific evidence and good data.” He continued,  “That’s the safest bet to do: to listen to the recommendations from that category of people. But it’s entirely understandable how the public can get mixed messages and then get a bit confused about what they should do.”

Dr. Fauci is facing death threats to himself and his family and now requires personal security from law enforcement at all times, including at his home, a source confirmed to CNN. As Dr. Fauci’s public profile has grown, so has the concern for his welfare. Fauci’s guidance to Trump for the country to remain as locked down as possible to help control the virus spread has not earned fans among some fervent right-wing voices. Medical staff can fight the disease as hospitals fill to capacity, but they have a harder time fighting stupidity as people ignore simple health precautions. Social distance, wear a mask and wash your hands.

Eye of the Hurricane

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In the eye of a hurricane there is quiet for just a moment. As I painted this, hurricane Isaias was downgraded to a tropical storm as it churns off the coast of Florida. The latest projections show it hitting the coast of Central Florida about 8pm tonight with winds of about 75 miles per hour making it a category one hurricane. Orlando is under a tropical storm warning for now.

With hundreds of people dying every day in the Sunshine State from COVID-19, this hurricane just seems like business as usual, a sign of global warming that is another disaster that can be ignored by those in power.

The latest of the COVID-19 front from Dr. Deborah Birx of the White House coronavirus task force is that we are in a “new phase” in the battle against the virus. She is urging all Americans to wear masks and follow social distancing guidelines. “What we are seeing today is different than from March and April. It is extraordinarily wide spread in both rural and urban areas.” she said in an interview with CNN. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb warned that the country could see 300,000 deaths by the end of 2020.

When you try to digest these huge numbers, then a category one hurricane seems just like a blip on the map of a far reaching tragedy. The death tolls will depend on how southern and western states respond to the outbreaks in the coming weeks. Birx pointed out that we need to stop super spreading events where the virus can spread like wildfire.

Testing facilities in Florida are being shit down because of the impending hurricane. Florida’s Division of Emergency Management said Wednesday in a news release that its testing sites simply can’t hold up to the threat of a potential tropical cyclone because they include tents and other free-standing structures. Orange county soon followed suit, saying all health department-run testing sites will also be closed into next week. Orange’s Health Department said sites there would be closed at least through Wednesday. So you can expect the case numbers to drop and politicians will use the lull as an excuse to claim all is back to normal. It is not.

Florida Governor Ron Disaterous signed an order Friday declaring “a state of emergency in every coastal county of Florida’s east coast, from Miami-Dade to Nassau counties,” he said. This is business as usual for him as he seems incapable of even admitting Florida is experiencing a health crisis that could surpass what New York went through in April. Floridians are more likely to die from COVID-19 than a tree limb breaking.

Blip

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On July 14, 2020 Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that “Florida has a COVID-19 BLIP.” He went on to say that Florida has had “a lot of different blips.” He stressed that “despite increased positivity rates, Florida was not comparable to other hot spots, like New York.”  However Florida has surpassed New York in the number of cases per day. On Friday July 30, 2020, 253 people died from the virus in Florida, a new single-day record for the fourth day in a row.Half of all the reported deaths in Florida happened in July. That is NO BLIP!

A blip is defined as “an unexpected, minor, and typically temporary deviation from a general trend.”  Physicians and nurses however are besieged by the surge of new cases filling the hospitals. Experts and medical staff fear the worst is yet to come.

Florida was one of the first states to relax COVID-19 restrictions and the results are becoming abundantly clear. DeSantis refuses to issue a state wide mandate that would require the use of masks when out in public. On Sunday, July 12, 2020 the Sunshine State recorded 15,300 new cases—more than all of Europe. The number of cases per day have continued to hover around 10,000 per day. Dozens of the state’s intensive-care units are at capacity. Miami has become the new Wuhan.

Memorial Hospital West hospital CEO Leah Carpenter said, “Our ICU capacity is beyond 100 percent.”As of Friday July 10, 2020, At least 52 Florida hospitals had no ICU capacity left at all. Rebekah Jones who created the Florida Department of Health COVID-19 dashboard was fired for not manipulating data to help in the re-opening plans. She said,  “Hospital staff have the hardest job in the world right now, more so than any of us scientists,” she said. “That most hospitals in Florida are at or near capacity frightens me. It should frighten everyone.” She now runs her own COVID-19 Community Dashboard which is meant to more accurately reflect what is actually happening in Florida. In Brevard County patients are being treated in the hallways. Some hospitals that are full are having to send patients to other hospitals.

The Harvard Global Health Institute recommended a number of states, including Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Louisiana, and South Carolina, institute a mandatory stay-at-home order to curtail severe outbreaks.

Carlos Migoya, president and CEO of Jackson Health System in Miami-Dade, said “You have people who are aggressively saying they don’t have to wear a mask and don’t have to do social distancing,” he explained. “Those are the kind of people spreading this disease. If we don’t get this under control and have too many more infections, we are going to have problems.”

At a ceremony in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington on July 24,2020 DeSantis discussed, an initiative – called One Goal One Florida that “encourages” the public to follow four guidelines: Protect the vulnerable, practice proper hygiene, practice social distancing and wear a mask if in close contact with another person. This is a BLIP of a service announcement, too little too late.

300

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300 Brevard County, Florida students of an outdoor graduation ceremony ere told to quarantine for 14 days after an attendee was diagnosed with COVID-19. Each student could invite 2 guests, so overall 900 people could be affected.

Bayside High School in Palm Bay, Florida, held an outdoor graduation ceremony for seniors last Saturday, an event that appeared to mostly adhere to safety guidelines. Students wore masks as did attendees in the bleachers and seats were placed almost 6 feet apart on a football field. When students walked out to the field however they clustered tightly together in a line. After the ceremony the students then clustered together in tight groups to chat which could be another chance for the airborne virus to spread.

The health department didn’t confirm whether the person who tested positive for COVID-19 was a student or adult. About 30 adult school and district staff were present at the event as well. Faculty wearing gloves and masks handed students their diplomas as they walked across the stage. Only speakers removed their masks when they took the podium. Anyone who attended the graduation ceremony was advised by letter from the Florida Department of Health, to self-quarantine and monitor their symptoms for 14 days. On student interviewed mentioned she had invited both her grandparents and her mom and dad. It would seem the two guest limit was just a suggestion.

Florida continues to set new records in COVID-19 cases and deaths as the state passes 450,000 cases. Over 6,300 residents have died, and this week, child COVID-19 hospitalizations rose 23%. Brevard County has a total of 5477 Cases of Covid-19 with 108 deaths. 13 people have died today July30, 2020. I am shocked that Florida school officials thought an in person graduation ceremony was a good idea at the height of the pandemic. Faculty and students around the country are finding creative ways to celebrate virtually. If only that creative spark existed here.

NBA Booble

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The 2020 NBA Bubble is the isolation zone with strict rules created by the National Basketball Association (NBA) to protect its players from the COVID-19 pandemic. 22 teams were invited to Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida to participate in eight games being held at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. The bubble is a $170 million investment by the NBA to protect its season which was cut short by the pandemic. The bubble games will begin on July 30, 2020 inside the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.

Lou Williams a Clippers guard was granted an excused absence for a family funeral. While on leave, he went to Magic City an Atlanta strip club where he was photographed by rapper Jack Harlow. Harlow quickly deleted the post from his Instagram story. Harlow tweeted Friday, “That was an old pic of me and Lou. I was just reminiscing cuz I miss him.” In the photograph, Williams is holding a drink and wearing an NBA mask given out on the Orlando campus.

Williams said he went to the strip club for dinner. He wrote in a tweet, “Ask any of my teammates what’s my favorite restaurant in Atlanta is. Ain’t nobody partying. Chill out lol. #Maskon #inandout.” Williams was tested for the COVID-19 each day that he was away from campus, a source told ESPN. Williams claimed he only went to the strip club for the wings. But you have to wonder if he was also drawn to the breasts and thighs. We all grieve in unique ways.

Players are subject to a minimum four-day quarantine after they leave campus on an excused absence. However, the re-quarantining time could be extended up to 10 days if recommended by the league’s infectious disease specialists. Of course Williams will need the full 10 days of quarantine and he will miss the first two games of the season because of his stripper joint stunt. He is paid about $58,000 a game so those were some pretty expensive wings. .

This incident makes it clear that the notion of playing ball in the midst of a raging pandemic isn’t the best idea and the best plans don’t work when players act stupid. At the beginning of the pandemic Rudy Gilbert made light of the virus when he touched every microphone at a press conference and he was infected by the virus. That stupidity canceled the game and shut down the league for four months.

The NBA bubble will likely burst before the season is through. I am amazed Williams will be allowed to play. The bottom line is that the games bring in a profit for the NBA. It reminds me of how professional wrestling was considered an essential business by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Despite several dozen positive COVID-19 tests in June 2020, for performers and staff, the wrestling league keeps churning out matches.

Half of the Miami Marlins Infected

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Major League Baseball has millions of dollars on the line, so they have every incentive to get the players on the field at the height of a pandemic.  The league created extensive protocols to try and play the game safely. No fans would fill the stands. The plan is to even fill the stands with computer generated crowds when the games are televised, much like the huge armies seen in the Lord of the Rings movies. The sound of fans shouting would be piped into the stadiums. The players travel would be cut down but they still would travel state to state. Players have been testing extensively and getting results within two days unlike the testing for everyday citizens that can take two weeks to get results.

One week into the season, two games were postponed because half of the Miami Marlins players and support team have tested positive for COVID-19. The Marlins had played a game in Philadelphia despite the fact that three of their players had tested positive for the virus. The team players had voted by text and decided to play despite the infections. 7 more players and two coaches then tested positive. 17 players and staff are infected as of July 28, 2020. They are now stuck inn Philadelphia quarantining.

It is truly Orwellian the way MLB executives believed that they could continue to play the game in the midst of a raging pandemic. They did not survive first contact. If they continue to ignore the beast, they will never complete the season without loosing lives. You can’t play games while the world burns all around you. The amount of control they are attempting is not possible.

MLB is a microcosm for all the failures happening all across the country as people blindly think they can control and subdue the virus. Schools are rushing to re-open, only without the same level of monetary resources. Washington Nationals pitcher Shawn Doolittle said, “Sports are the reward of a functional society.” We are NOT a functional society. Blind greed and ignorance have become more important than player safety.

Schools: Make Do

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued an order saying schools must open 5 days a week starting in August. That order has made Florida a political battleground over schools and the COVID-19 outbreak as he followed the lead of President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy Devos, who are pressuring states to fill classrooms with students in the fall. President Donald Trump said “The people of our country should think of themselves as warriors. Our country has to open.”

DeSntis doubled down on his assertion saying, schools must,  “find a way to make do.” The state is preparing to reopen schools amid a pandemic that has shown no signs of slowing. He gave his six minute address from Tallahassee during a week that saw COVID-19 cases increase rapidly, with an average of 119 deaths per day. A 9-year-old girl from Putnam County was listed among the updated death count Wednesday, the fifth child to die in the state. It used to be that one child’s death was too many but now, children are just collateral damage in the rush to re-open the economy before the November election.

As hundreds of Florida residents are testing positive every day, school districts are working to create back-to-school plans that call for face coverings on students, social distancing “where possible”, and frequent cleaning of schools and buses. But they have received opposition from teacher groups and many parents, who say conditions are not yet safe enough for in-person instruction.

DeSantis acknowledged that some teachers are more vulnerable to the disease because of medical conditions, or might not feel comfortable in the classroom. “They should be given the option of working remotely,” he said. “Let’s just find a way to make do.” The Governor did not discuss any precautions state wide which could help stop the spread of the virus. Face masks will be required in schools in an effort to limit the virus’ spread.

Researchers have found, with some exceptions, kids are less likely to be infected with COVID-19 or experience serious, if any, symptoms if they do get it. A recent South Korean study, however, discovered children 10 years and older spread the virus just as much or perhaps  slightly more than adults, particularly at home.

Three school teachers in Arizona worked in the same classroom to teach students virtually for summer school. All three teachers caught COVID-19 and one died from the infection. They took every precaution with masks, sanitizing and social distancing, but became infected anyway. The virus can be a threat even with the best precautions. Florida is not the countries epicenter with more than 400,000 cases of COVID-19. Dr. Anthony Fauci called on hard hit states to pause their re-opening. Dr. Deborah Birx compared the outbreaks in the sunbelt state to be like three New Yorks. According to a recent poll, only 44% of parents are willing to send their kids to school.

Orange County Florida made the enlightened decision to have all students begin virtual learning starting August 10, 2020. This will of course also have it’s costs in that not every student has a computer or internet connections but the county is committed to make it work. I have been teaching virtually and challenges abound for instance Zoom meetings get cut off every half hour and students cut out occasionally. One students computer is very old and the audio makes her sound like an unintelligible robot but we make do with the chat feature. It is a brave new world and we are working out the kinks. I honestly love teaching virtually because the students can see me create a drawing stroke for stroke. I can share what I do much easier since every student can see what I am doing on their computers. Some students want instant gratification but art is a slow process of discovery and problem solving. Staying connected an engaged with every student is the new challenge in the digital world.

Curiosity Explores Mars

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Curiosity is a car-sized rover designed to explore the Gale crater on Mars as part of NASA‘s Mars Science Laboratory mission. Curiosity was launched from Cape Canaveral on November 26th, 2011, and landed on Aeolis Palus inside Gale on Mars on August 6th, 2012. The rover has been sending incredible high resolution images back from mars.

Photos from inside the crater suggest that pools of water may have in the crater 3.5 billion years ago. Streams might have laced the crater’s walls, running toward its base. Watch history in fast forward, and you’d see these waterways overflow then dry up, a cycle that probably repeated itself numerous times over millions of years.

Curiosity got her name from a nationwide student contest that attracted more than 9,000 proposals via the Internet and mail. A sixth-grade student from Kansas, 12-year-old Clara Ma from Sunflower Elementary School in Lenexa, Kansas, submitted the winning entry. As her prize, Ma won a trip to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, where she signed her name directly onto the rover as it was being assembled.

Ma wrote in her winning essay: “Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone’s mind. It makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life will throw at me that day. Curiosity is such a powerful force. Without it, we wouldn’t be who we are today. Curiosity is the passion that drives us through our everyday lives. We have become explorers and scientists with our need to ask questions and to wonder.“

The rover is still operational, and as of July 26, 2020, Curiosity has been on the planet Mars for 2834 sols (2911 total Earth days). It is conveniently social distanced from COVID-19 and it’s design will serve as the basis for NASA’s 2021 Perseverance mission which will carry different scientific instruments.

In researching the rover online I found so many images that claimed to be sightings of UFO’s or strange smooth egg shaped rocks. I imagined the rover finding a face mask, perhaps a sign of a time when civilized people tried to survive when microbes and viruses threatened their very existence.

69% of Americans say they wear masks when they leave the house. However when I drive to Crealde to teach each Sunday, I find that 2 2 out of the 25 or so people I see wear masks when out in public. A study out of Hong King shows that COVID-19 transmission rates are cut by 75% when surgical masks are used. The study used surgical mask material draped over hamster cages to conduct the test. The hamsters who were infected had less of the virus in their body than those that had no mask. So cover your freakin’ face. Some humans might not be as smart as hamsters, but despite any pandemic, cock roaches will survive.