It is Tuesday, April 7.  Waking this morning, the mind clouded, a fog of mental disorientation, like glaucous light filtering through an aquarium,  I reached over and snapped off the alarm on the clock radio.  I believe I heard the opening notes of Dancing Queen by Abba coming from the speaker.  At the conclusion of last night’s evening meal we had a discussion about music around the table.  The songs of Abba came up, and we agreed they were iconic, indescribable, elevating your life….

Now, we are at the inflection point of the covid-19 plague.  New York is the epicenter, our largest city, with the greatest density of population.  If New York can blunt the spread of the infection by social distancing, and by great exertion of hospital, medical care — there is hope for other cities, and smaller towns.  If not, the disease will run it’s course, with attendant wreckage to our material, familial, and communal well being.  It boggles my mind.

This will be a longish post.  I will excerpt paragraphs from the New York Times Coronavirus Update that I received yesterday April 6, at 3:26 PM.  My own comments will be added in orange print.

NEW YORK 

As the number of new deaths held relatively steady in New York, where another 599 people died over the past day, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo expressed cautious optimism Monday that the state’s sharply rising curve of infections and deaths might be starting to level off.

“It is hopeful,” he said, “but it is also inconclusive, and it still depends on what we do.”

New York City remains the center of the nation’s outbreak, with harrowing scenes of panicked doctors and besieged hospitals. One city councilman said officials were considering creating temporary mass graves in one of the city’s public parks, an idea Mr. Cuomo was dismissive of.

But even as Mr. Cuomo spoke of a “possible flattening of the curve,” he made it clear that hospitals were already being stretched to the limits. And he doubled the maximum fine for violating social distancing rules, to $1,000, calling compliance more important than ever.

 “If we are plateauing, we are plateauing at a very high level, and there is tremendous stress on the health care system,” Mr. Cuomo said, adding that system was already at maximum capacity.

Then he used a driving metaphor: “This is a hospital system where we have our foot to the floor, and the engine is at redline. And you can’t go any faster, and by the way you can’t stay at redline for any period of time, because the system will blow.”

Andrew Cuomo, Governor of the State of New York has shown the communication skills, the precision of language of great leadership every day of the crisis.  Words are of inestimable value in a momentous crisis.

And Mr. Cuomo cautioned against overconfidence. “This is an enemy that we have underestimated from Day 1, and we have paid the price dearly,” he said, warning that just because the numbers looked like they might be moving in the right direction did not mean that the crisis was over. “Other places have made that mistake.”

Mr. Cuomo sounded more confident about the supply of ventilators than he has in days, insisting at one point that “everyone has what they need,” if not what they would like, even as they continue to split some machines among more than one patient and use other devices in ways that are less than ideal.

And he thanked the state of Oregon for sending 140 ventilators to New York, and several other states for agreeing to send their ventilators to current hot spots. “That is the right attitude,” he said. “That’s the only way we do this as a nation.”

Mr. Cuomo was sharply critical of New Yorkers who are growing lax on social distancing.

“Look: people are dying, people in the health care system are exposing themselves every day to tremendous risk, walking into those emergency rooms,” he said. “And then they have to go home to their family, and wonder if they caught the virus and they’re bringing it home to their family. If I can’t convince you to show discipline for yourself, then show discipline for other people.”

HOSPITAL SHORTAGES

Hospitals continue to confront severe shortages in testing and protective equipment for medical staff working to combat the coronavirus outbreak, according to a government watchdog report released on Monday that appears to undercut President Trump’s assurances that states have sufficient resources.

Staff and patients alike are put at risk by the lack of available protective gear, according to the report by the inspector general of Health and Human Services.

Hospital administrators are forced to grapple with “sharp increases” in prices for items such as masks, gloves and face shields from vendors, the report continues.

The lack of testing has forced hospitals to extend the stays of patients, pushing the facilities even farther beyond their capacities. Hospitals are also in need of thermometers, disinfectants, medical gas, linens, toilet paper and food. And doctors around the United States are still pleading for ventilators, even as the federal government has limited the number of lifesaving devices issued to states.

The report was based on interviews conducted March 23 through March 27 with more than 320 hospitals across 46 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The findings are in line with pleas made by governors, medical workers and hospital administrators, but they contrast sharply with statements made by Mr. Trump, who said this weekend that hospital administrators were “thrilled to be where they are.”

President Donald J. Trump is a casual liar.  A “casual liar” is my description of the gap between the President’s characterization of the state of things, and that of many, many others on the front lines of this battle.

CALIFORNIA

As the pandemic has spread across America, chaos has reigned in the process of securing much-need medical supplies for front line workers. States are competing with one another, and with the federal government. The process has drawn in fraudsters, and a number of F.B.I. investigations are underway.

In California, the state has received moldy masks that were useless, and in Los Angeles, a deal put together by a labor union to secure millions of N95 masks for the county’s hospitals never materialized, spurring a federal investigation.

California, the most populous state with 40 million people, is trying now to band together with other, smaller states to procure supplies. The goal is twofold: to bring order the process; and to ensure that smaller states do not lose out to California, which has the ability to outbid other states because of its size.

“This has been described, I think appropriately, as the wild, wild West,” Gov. Gavin Newson said on Sunday. “We are trying to organize in a more deliberative manner.”

……..The state — which has not seen a surge in cases like New York and Louisiana, but is preparing for a possible jump in hospitalizations in the coming weeks — said Monday it was sending 500 ventilators to the national stockpile to aid New York.

In doing so, California follows similar actions by Oregon, which has said it was sending 140 ventilators to New York, and Washington State, which has offered up 400 ventilators to New York.

JAPAN

With new cases of the virus rapidly increasing in Tokyo and other cities in Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday that he would declare a state of emergency in seven prefectures that include the country’s largest population centers.

Mr. Abe, whose country faces a deep recession as the virus hinders trade and tourism, also announced an economic stimulus package worth nearly $1 trillion. He said that the government would suspend $240 billion in tax and social security payments and pay about $55 billion to households whose incomes have been affected by the pandemic.

The seven prefectures to be covered by the state of emergency, which Mr. Abe said would last about a month, are Chiba, Fukuoka, Hyogo, Kanagawa, Osaka, Saitama and Tokyo.

I lived in Japan for several years at the beginning of my foray into adulthood.  I was received with kindness, and many expressed eagerness to help me to learn Japanese, to explain customs, as well as the skills needed to live day to day in Tokyo.  Japan will always have a place in my heart.

OUR NAVY

Captain Brett E. Crozier was removed from his command of the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt last week after speaking out about the coronavirus outbreak on the ship.Credit…Us Navy/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The U.S. Navy’s top civilian excoriated the fired commander of the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt in a speech to the ship’s crew on Monday as the sailors huddled on the island of Guam amid a coronavirus outbreak among their ranks, according to a transcript that was leaked online Monday.

The New York Times has obtained an audio recording that supports the transcript’s authenticity.

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas B. Modly addressed the crew of the aircraft carrier on Monday afternoon via the ship’s internal loudspeaker system. In a profane and defensive address that one crew member described in an interview as “whiny, upset, irritated, condescending,” Mr. Modly took repeated shots at the integrity of Capt. Brett E. Crozier, who was removed from command last week, and injected partisan political tones into the address by attacking former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who has repeatedly criticized Captain Crozier’s removal.

….Hundreds of sailors on the ship cheered Captain Crozier during a send off last week.

The Acting Navy Secretary is a sycophant of President Trump.  Such tirades from the Presidents inner circle, to curry favor with the boss, are not uncommon.  I feel empathy for the men and women on shipboard who had to bear with such demoralizing speech.

DOMESTIC ABUSE

Add another public health crisis to the toll of the new coronavirus: Mounting data suggests that domestic abuse is acting like an opportunistic infection, flourishing in the conditions created by the pandemic.

There was every reason to believe that the restrictions imposed to keep the virus from spreading would have such an effect, said Marianne Hester, a Bristol University sociologist who studies abusive relationships. Domestic violence goes up whenever families spend more time together, such as the Christmas and summer vacations, she said.

Now, with families in lockdown worldwide, hotlines are lighting up with abuse reports, leaving governments trying to address a crisis that experts say they should have seen coming.

The United Nations called on Sunday for urgent action to combat the worldwide surge in domestic violence. “I urge all governments to put women’s safety first as they respond to the pandemic,” Secretary General António Guterres wrote on Twitter.

….Movement restrictions aimed to stop the spread of the coronavirus may be making violence in homes more frequent, more severe and more dangerous.

The post is long.  The house is burning.  The terrible and the beautiful must be commented upon. 

Dancing Queen

by Abba

Ooh, you can dance, you can jive
Having the time of your life
Ooh, see that girl, watch that scene
Digging the dancing queen

Friday night and the lights are low
Looking out for a place to go
Where they play the right music, getting in the swing
You come to look for a king

Anybody could be that guy
Night is young and the music’s high
With a bit of rock music, everything is fine
You’re in the mood for a dance
And when you get the chance

You are the dancing queen
Young and sweet, only seventeen
Dancing queen
Feel the beat from the tambourine
Oh, yeah

You can dance, you can jive
Having the time of your life
Ooh, see that girl, watch that scene
Digging the dancing queen

You’re a teaser, you turn ’em on
Leave them burning and then you’re gone
Looking out for another, anyone will do
You’re in the mood for a dance
And when you get the chance

You are the dancing queen
Young and sweet, only seventeen
Dancing queen
Feel the beat from the tambourine
Oh, yeah

You can dance, you can jive
Having the time of your life
Ooh, see that girl, watch that scene
Digging the dancing queen

Digging the dancing queen