Little Shop of Vaccines

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Covid-19 cases are surging around the world, fueled by highly contagious variants of the coronavirus that continue to spread quickly. Covid-19 deaths have surpassed 3 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

India on April 18, 2021 reported 261,500 new cases of Covid-19, the fourth consecutive day of more than 200,000 infections and the highest since the start of the pandemic, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Indian Ministry of Health. They also reported 1,501 new deaths, the highest in almost 10 months.

In Florida COVID-19 cases have  surged since spring break and deaths from new variants are rising. As of April 15, 2021, there were 5,177 cases that involved variants of concern in the state — six times higher than what was there in mid-March, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The Sentinel obtained the figures through a lawsuit it filed against the Florida Department of Health.

Cases across the United States continue to climb despite the epic vaccine roll out by the new administration. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said earlier this month that hospitals are seeing more younger un-vaccinated adults  are being admitted with Covid-19 as more contagious variants spread. In Michigan, where Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations are rapidly increasing, case rates are at an all-time high for those age 19 and younger, according to state data published April 6, 2021.

States have begun to lift health safety measures to quickly allowing the virus to spread. Controlling the spread of the virus is as simple as following health measures like mask wearing, social distancing and hand washing. However politicians insist on making these safety measures a political flashpoint, claiming they are an infringement on civil liberties. Experts spanning law, public health and privacy policy say it’s a false choice.

 

India Became the Second Worse COVID Outbreak

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On April 14, 2021 India had over 200,000 new cases of COVID-19. After the USA, India has become the country with the world’s second-highest coronavirus infections, overtaking Brazil, as doctors report shortage of hospital beds and ventilators.

Despite this outbreak, authorities have allowed the Hindu religious cerebration of Kumbh Mela to proceed, drawing over 600,000 mostly mask less people to gather on the shore of the Ganges river. Prime Minister Narendra Modi clearly wants to secure the Hindu vote despite the health risk of allowing such a superspreader event to proceed.

The Haridwar district reported over 2,000 people have tested positive for Covid-19 since April 10, 2021. Twnety of those were seers or religious leaders. The head of the Maha Nirvani Akhara, Swami Kapil Dev, who had come to attend Kumbh Mela  died from COVID-19 on April 13, 2021.

A majority of the people who bathed in the Ganges  were seen openly violating COVID norms like wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing. The festival is 12 days long, going through April 30, 2021. This allows plenty of time for it to become a super spreading event of epic proportions.

A senior health official told the Times of India, “Leave aside testing, the seers are not even ready to wear masks, some of us pleaded with folded hands, but they didn’t listen.” Hindu devotees  believe that Maa (Mother) will save them from the pandemic.

Various states in India have reported vaccine shortages, with vaccination centers in Maharashtra and Odisha reportedly shut for lack of doses. The Prime Minister Modi has asked the governors of Indian states to promote unproven therapies and ‘treatments’ offered by alternative medicine systems like Ayurveda “The Science of Life.” and homeopathy. The Indian Medical Association characterizes the practice of modern medicine by Ayurvedic practitioners as quackery. Homeotherapy claims that disease is caused by miasms or, “bad air”.

As COVID-19 rips through India, the Uttarakhand government did not just fail to take action limiting numbers at the Hindu festival—it actively encouraged people to come and told them not to worry about Covid-19 restrictions. On March 20, 2021 , Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat said, “I invite all devotees across the world to come to Haridwar and take a holy dip in the Ganga during Mahakumbh. Nobody will be stopped in the name of Covid-19 as we are sure the faith in God will overcome the fear of the virus.” A minister aid, “This is not negligence. It’s a serious criminal act.”

1,038 people died from COVID-19 in India on April 14, 2021.

COVID-19 Double Mutant

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A new COVID-19 variant known as “Double Mutant” is responsible for a surge in coronavirus cases in a a region of India that includes Mumbai. The existence of the newly discovered variant was first disclosed by India’s government on March 24, 2021. It is called a double mutant because it contains two mutations of the COVID-19 virus.

One day late, on March 25, 2021 one case of the Double Mutant was found in the San Francisco Bay area in California.

Dr. Benjamin Pinsky, a Stanford doctor, said, that this double mutation has a mutation in the spike protein which is found in the California variant and also a mutation that is found in the South African and Brazil variants.  “We do have some information on experiments on the individual mutations (California, Brazil, South African) suggesting that antibodies will be less able to neutralize this India variant.” Pinsky said. “So this rapid spread across the globe is pretty impressive, and also a bit concerning.”

The city of Manaus in Brazil was one of the hardest hit in the world with a conventional strain of the coronavirus, and it now there’s a lot of substantial reinfection with the new Brazilian variant, Dr. Stefano Bertozzi, professor of health policy and dean emeritus of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, said at a UC San Francisco forum last month.

Dr. Benjamin Pinsky said, “Vaccines may be slightly less effective in preventing moderate disease or moderate illness with this particular variant, but the vaccines are still very effective and people should get vaccinated as soon as possible.” “We don’t know how those two mutations behave when they’re paired together.”

The emergence of the new variant underscores how important it will be to quickly vaccinate as many people as possible. The only way to stop the proliferation of mutations is to stop the spread of the virus through vaccines. If you are vaccinated, the immunity produced is believed to be better than immunity produced by surviving COVID-19. If you are vaccinated an get infected by one of these new variants then the result wold be a mild to moderate illness, likely not ressulting in hospitalization or death.

 

Cremating COVID

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In India protestors blocked the entrance to a crematorium fearing that the fumes might spread COVID-19. This notion is false. The intense heat of cremation would destroy any virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that dead bodies are generally not infectious. Only the lungs of patients with pandemic influenza, if handled improperly during an autopsy, can be infectious. Otherwise, cadavers do not transmit disease.
Channel 7 News in Little Havana, Miami reported on thick clouds of black smoke billowing from a crematorium. Across the street the smoke drifted over outdoor diners. Though the smoke might not contain virus, it could contain harmful polyvinyl chloride, (PVC) plastics from body bags which can cause cancers. Bodies are being transported in thicker than normal body bags which might account for the black smoke. A crematory furnace has a second chamber which is supposed to super heat and burn off harmful emissions. For that reason most crematoriums don’t emit black clouds of thick smoke.
Surging Covid-19 cases leave cemeteries and funeral homes struggling to keep pace. Engineers in Bolivia have come up with a solution as pragmatic as it is macabre, a mobile crematorium. The 16 foot by 8 foot oven is small enough to fit on to a trailer, and is powered by locally produced liquefied petroleum gas, making it a cheap option for families who cannot afford a funeral service.

Kraft Azalea Garden in a Pandemic

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For my Urban Sketching class at Crealde on Sunday, I had one student show up of the four who usually attended. We stayed outside and my first exercise was to have him sketch postage sized detail while studying a Rembrandt etching of a landscape. The goal was to fill in one postage stamp sized area and then move on to another adjacent area again focusing only on the detail in a small area.

This exercise stresses the importance of focusing on minute detail after the big shapes have been blocked into a sketch. When this exercise was complete, we decided to go to Kraft Azalea Garden which was about a mile away. I figured it would be a quiet bucolic scene for my student to capture.

I was wrong. When I got there I found literally no parking available. The park was packed to the gills. My student had already set up and begun to sketch, so I kept driving by and about a half hour later a spot opened up.

The Garden designed by Bertram A. Weber is located on Lake Maitland. There are some waling paths and this semi circular series of columns. Inscribed on the back of the structure is the saying, “Pause friend let beauty refresh the spirit.”

It turns out these columns are a very popular photo shoot site. As I walked into the gardens a husband was kissing his wife’s pregnant belly as she stood is a flowing white dress. As I started my sketch, a large mask less family gathered for their phot0 shoot. The grandfather or uncle showed the young daughters a series of fist bumps, hand slaps and hand shakes. He apologized to me for the scene but I shouted back that I likes the chaos. He laughed.Since I was the only person in the park wearing a mask, people thankfully did not approach to look over my shoulder. I also though ahead and leaned back against a large tree, so people could only approach from in front of me.

After their family photos were taken a wedding party moved in. The mask less photographer apologized for leaving her mask in her car and claimed she had been tested 3 days before. If that was the case, she would not know the results. Of course the wedding party were mask less as well and the photographer moved in close to adjust the brides veil. After this chaos another photographer moved in and shot a mask less husband wife and child. The child cried the whole time.

It occurred to me that a photographer would be the perfect super spreader. a 60 year old photographer in India caught COVID-119 at one of his wedding shoots. He went on to infect 30 of his primary contacts. The photographer did not voluntarily report for testing, but instead went to photograph a wedding. Because of this, three villages with a population of nearly 39,000, are now red zones. The photographer died from the virus. Contact tracers tested 500 people, all primary and secondary contacts of the deceased, and 213 were put in quarantine.

My student finished his sketch a half hour early and he had to pee, so he left. We joked about the possible fallout from this park outing two weeks from now. I stayed until the end of class and wanted to add more detail to this sketch, but I decided to get the hell out of Dodge as well. This quiet sketch outing had turned into a scene of absolute public indifference to the health crisis. At least each family has beautiful photos to remember the dead.

The Great Pumpkin

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Linus of Charles Schultz, Peanuts fame, described The Great Pumpkin is a supernatural figure who rises from the pumpkin patch on Halloween evening, and flies around bringing toys to sincere and believing children. In the age of the pandemic however the Great Pumpkin has become a menacing figure of chaos intent on world domination.

In India, one police officer found a creative way to get the message across. Rajesh Babu, a police officer in the southern city of Chennai, wears a specially constructed coronavirus helmet while stopping vehicles and pedestrians at checkpoints. He also created a shield and COVID mace making him look a bit like a medieval knight capable of vanquishing a dragon.

The CDC offered guidance on how to celebrate Halloween safely in  pandemic…

“Many traditional Halloween activities can be high-risk for spreading viruses. There are several safer, alternative ways to participate in Halloween. If you may have COVID-19 or you may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, you should not participate in in-person Halloween festivities and should not give out candy to trick-or-treaters.”

These LOW RISK ACTIVITIES can be safe alternatives:

  • Carving or decorating pumpkins with members of your household and displaying them
  • Carving or decorating pumpkins outside, at a safe distance, with neighbors or friends
  • Decorating your house, apartment, or living space
  • Doing a Halloween scavenger hunt where children are given lists of Halloween-themed things to look for while they walk outdoors from house to house admiring Halloween decorations at a distance
  • Having a virtual Halloween costume contest
  • Having a Halloween movie night with people you live with
  • Having a scavenger hunt-style trick-or-treat search with your household members in or around your home rather than going house to house

Avoid these HIGH RISK ACTIVITIES to help prevent the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19:

  • Participating in traditional trick-or-treating where treats are handed to children who go door to door
  • Having trunk-or-treat where treats are handed out from trunks of cars lined up in large parking lots
  • Attending crowded costume parties held indoors
  • Going to an indoor haunted house where people may be crowded together and screaming
  • Going on hayrides or tractor rides with people who are not in your household
  • Using alcohol or drugs, which can cloud judgement and increase risky behaviors
  • Traveling to a rural fall festival that is not in your community if you live in an area with community spread of COVID-19