I went into Santa Fé for the first time since March 23. It was hard to tell if the man who fixed my garage door was right in his view that people in the city were taking more precautions than individuals in Española, because I went to one store, got what I needed, and left.
Traffic was lighter driving in. I got there around 9 am, which means I would have been with people commuting to government jobs. No cars merged into traffic on Opera Hill like they normally do at that time of day.
There were comparatively fewer shoppers where I went, but, as I said, it was 9 am. Lots of people in Santa Fé don’t stir until later in the morning. So many stores there don’t even bother to open until 10.
The attitude towards masks was clear: to be worn inside, but not outside. The store I went to was more expensive than the other big boxes, so the other customers would have been like those I see in my local grocery. They would have had more respect for following rules, and, probably not coincidentally, would have had a little more money to spend. Almost everyone was wearing a mask, and many had on gloves.
I didn’t see anyone on the sidewalks wearing a mask.
There was a bit of a Rip Van Winkle quality to the trip. I hadn’t been down Cerrillos since I last had to have my tire pressures adjusted. I usually go down Zia from the office of my massage therapist.
I was saddened to see a For Lease sign on Empire Builders Supply. I’ll admit I only went in once to buy some vents for my gable peaks. The place wasn’t self-serve, but the wait wasn’t long. The man who helped me got me exactly what I needed in a way that made me feel he knew what he was doing, and customers mattered.
I was surprised that the store I used had reverted to plastic bags. Apparently, when the mayor proclaimed an emergency in the city, he suspended the rules on plastic bags. He also ordered the plexiglass shields I saw.
One thing hadn’t change. The air pollution. Even with little traffic, there was a haze over the Ortiz mountains south of the city.
I returned crossing west on Siler. As soon as I got onto Alameda, I had problems breathing. The road runs on high land parallel to the Santa Fé river with badlands rising on the other side.
I suspect the 80 degree temperatures trapped the pollution and didn’t let it clear in the night. Instead, it drifted into the valley bottom and was held there by the badlands.
I had to turn the air condition on high and gulp in air to recover. I saw the mask on the floor, but there’s no place to pullover on Alameda. Besides, I wasn’t really willing to put it back on after wearing it in public.
I was only as I approached the Cuyamunge overpass, that the air sneaking into my closed car was clean enough for me to turn down the air condition. The mountains to the north also were in a haze.
The most important difference between Española and Santa Fé: Rio Arriba County has reported 14 cases of coronavirus, while Santa Fé County has reported 95 cases,
Sources:
Danielle Prokop. "Santa Fe Mayor Issues Emergency Order for Grocery Stores" Santa Fe New Mexican. 6 April 2020.
Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in New Mexico." Updated 28 April 2020.
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Saturday, April 25, 2020
Journal of a Plague Year, Friday, April 24
I made the weekly trip into town for supplies and the post office today. Little has changed since last week, except peoples’ masks
There were fewer purchased ones, probably because individuals had used up their reserves and couldn’t buy more. The news is filled with stories of problems with getting medical-grade ones from China.
Mine are not particularly protective, as I discovered a couple weeks ago. The box doesn’t indicate its raw materials. It just says it has no natural rubber latex and carries a stamp of the Sustainable Forest Initiative. The company website says the masks don’t repel liquids.
The box says the masks are a "product of USA, further processed in Mexico." That means the paper is made in this country, and shipped to Mexico. That border has been closed to non-essential travel since March 21. [1] People commuting from Del Rio, Texas, to Acuña could still pass, and goods could still be imported, if they could get passed federal agents looking for medical supplies.
The company’s headquarters are in Fulton County, the county with the highest number of coronavirus cases in Georgia. [2] The city with its headquarters closed essential businesses on April 2. [3] Even if these masks were at all useful, the barriers to producing more are high.
When masks ran out, the government began suggesting people make their own. This uncovered a different problem in the supply chain, what could be called a loss of institutional knowledge. It may explain why I saw more older people with homemade masks today than younger ones. Fewer young people know how to sew.
When I was a child in Michigan in the 1950s, we were required to take home economics in junior high. Half were assigned to the sewing room, and have to the cooking one. Half of all the girls in my hometown had been taught to sew by the time they graduated.
My mother had a sewing machine, and I was in 4-H where I took sewing classes. While it seemed everyone I knew had a sewing machine, I realize now that the mothers of most of my friends did not. There already was a certain stigma to homemade, and people wanted store bought goods. This snobbery is always highest among people raised in poor areas who want proof they’ve succeeded.
Now, telling people to make their own masks is as useful as telling them to fly. Most people probably have scissors, and everyone has old clothes that can be recycled. That’s actually all that’s needed to make a crude bandana that ties in back.
Many may not have thread or needles. If they don’t they probably don’t know much about using a needle. I’m sure there are YouTube videos on this, but who thinks of going there?
Needles and thread can be bought almost anywhere, or could. What is harder to find is the elastic, or a substitute like hem tape (if one even knows such a thing exists), to make the ear loops.
This would be an ideal opportunity for someone who could sew to make masks to sell at a roadside stand. However, I doubt those exist. (I haven’t been out on a weekend when they’re most common, but I haven’t seen any at the usual places during the week.)
As an aside, I first bought my masks at a local drug store. They were all that was offered. Better quality ones didn’t exist there before the outbreak of coronavirus.
Sources:
1. Vanessa Romo. "U.S. And Mexico Extend Coronavirus Border Restrictions For Another Month." National Public Radio website. 20 April 2020.
2. "Georgia Coronavirus Map and Case Count." The New York Times website. 25 April 2020. Fulton County has 2,509 cases, with a ratio of 246 positive tests per 100,000 people.
3. Charles Woodman. "Coronavirus In Alpharetta/Milton: Latest Updates, Closures." Patch website. 2 April 2020.
There were fewer purchased ones, probably because individuals had used up their reserves and couldn’t buy more. The news is filled with stories of problems with getting medical-grade ones from China.
Mine are not particularly protective, as I discovered a couple weeks ago. The box doesn’t indicate its raw materials. It just says it has no natural rubber latex and carries a stamp of the Sustainable Forest Initiative. The company website says the masks don’t repel liquids.
The box says the masks are a "product of USA, further processed in Mexico." That means the paper is made in this country, and shipped to Mexico. That border has been closed to non-essential travel since March 21. [1] People commuting from Del Rio, Texas, to Acuña could still pass, and goods could still be imported, if they could get passed federal agents looking for medical supplies.
The company’s headquarters are in Fulton County, the county with the highest number of coronavirus cases in Georgia. [2] The city with its headquarters closed essential businesses on April 2. [3] Even if these masks were at all useful, the barriers to producing more are high.
When masks ran out, the government began suggesting people make their own. This uncovered a different problem in the supply chain, what could be called a loss of institutional knowledge. It may explain why I saw more older people with homemade masks today than younger ones. Fewer young people know how to sew.
When I was a child in Michigan in the 1950s, we were required to take home economics in junior high. Half were assigned to the sewing room, and have to the cooking one. Half of all the girls in my hometown had been taught to sew by the time they graduated.
My mother had a sewing machine, and I was in 4-H where I took sewing classes. While it seemed everyone I knew had a sewing machine, I realize now that the mothers of most of my friends did not. There already was a certain stigma to homemade, and people wanted store bought goods. This snobbery is always highest among people raised in poor areas who want proof they’ve succeeded.
Now, telling people to make their own masks is as useful as telling them to fly. Most people probably have scissors, and everyone has old clothes that can be recycled. That’s actually all that’s needed to make a crude bandana that ties in back.
Many may not have thread or needles. If they don’t they probably don’t know much about using a needle. I’m sure there are YouTube videos on this, but who thinks of going there?
Needles and thread can be bought almost anywhere, or could. What is harder to find is the elastic, or a substitute like hem tape (if one even knows such a thing exists), to make the ear loops.
This would be an ideal opportunity for someone who could sew to make masks to sell at a roadside stand. However, I doubt those exist. (I haven’t been out on a weekend when they’re most common, but I haven’t seen any at the usual places during the week.)
As an aside, I first bought my masks at a local drug store. They were all that was offered. Better quality ones didn’t exist there before the outbreak of coronavirus.
Sources:
1. Vanessa Romo. "U.S. And Mexico Extend Coronavirus Border Restrictions For Another Month." National Public Radio website. 20 April 2020.
2. "Georgia Coronavirus Map and Case Count." The New York Times website. 25 April 2020. Fulton County has 2,509 cases, with a ratio of 246 positive tests per 100,000 people.
3. Charles Woodman. "Coronavirus In Alpharetta/Milton: Latest Updates, Closures." Patch website. 2 April 2020.
Friday, April 24, 2020
Journal of a Plague Year, Thursday, April 23
I had an eye examination scheduled for tomorrow. When I didn’t get any kind of confirmation call, I called them only to find out it had been cancelled weeks ago and nobody bothered to inform me.
Eye Associates had stopped all routine appointments when the governor closed non-essential businesses, and was only handling emergencies and on-going injection programs.
I had no real problem with that policy. I can’t imagine how a technician could sterilize all the equipment used in a refraction between patients.
My problem was with the lack of service in general. Española did not recover from the economic problems of 2008. Population growth leveled off, [1] as 4,240 people left the area. [2] The number of children in the schools declined, [3] while the rest of the population continued to age. That means more people change from private insurance to Medicare.
Demand for ophthalmologists would have remained steady or increased. I don’t know how many were assigned to Española by Eye Associates, but the one I saw was only available a few days a week. I always had to wait weeks for an appointment.
My eyes changed last fall, perhaps as a consequence of glare from my new computer’s screen. I should have called for an appointment immediately, but didn’t do so until February. When I drove by their office to schedule an appointment, it was closed. Eye Associates stopped servicing us last year.
When I did call the office in Los Alamos, I still had to wait seven weeks for an appointment.
When I called this morning, I was switched to the outlet in Santa Fé. The woman I talked with said they had blocked off all appointments through August to new patients. They were reserving the time for people like me whose appointments had been cancelled.
She also told me I should have been notified.
That brings me to another problem we all suffer from in the valley. We are a long distance call from Los Alamos and Santa Fé. People in those cities don’t realize that and don’t dial the area code. When they get the message they need to redial, they just assume, because it’s Rio Arriba County, the person they’re contacting is another deadbeat who gave false information.
My physician tells me he never gets test results from the place in Santa Fé that does my mammograms and bone density exams. I have to drive to them to request a copy of the results for myself, and ask them to please resend them to the doctor. At that time I mention the area code, and the doctor’s office receives them.
The woman I talked with this morning said they would contact me when they were able to schedule appointments again. Since I knew I would never happen, I asked if I should call Los Alamos.
She told me no, that they might not have brought back all their staff by then, and I should call Santa Fé to schedule the appointment in Los Alamos.
I’ve read reports that physicians are worried their practices may not survive the extended closure. [4] Eye Associates is not some benign Dr. Welby. It’s a corporation headquartered in Albuquerque that has bills to pay.
It’s been obvious over the years that it schedules the time of the ophthalmologists as tightly as possible. It’s already decided Española wasn’t a viable cost center.
I may decide, as much as I like the person I’ve been seeing, it’s time for me to find an ophthalmologists in Santa Fé. I don’t much fancy navigating the road from Los Alamos with dilated eyes.
And really, waiting seven weeks to find out if a change in my vision was routine or a symptom of a serious medical problem really isn’t acceptable.
Sources:
1. Española Public School District Facilities Master Plan 2013-2017. Architectural Research Consultants, February 2013. It said Española grew by 500 between 2000 and 2010, but Rio Arriba County’s population dropped by 1,000. [page 2-12]
2. Master Plan. 2-12.
3. Master Plan. 2-15. The drop was 1,507 people.
4. Tierney Sneed. "Why The Pandemic Is Putting Primary Care Docs In A Major Financial Pinch." Talking Points Memo website. 26 March 2020.
Eye Associates had stopped all routine appointments when the governor closed non-essential businesses, and was only handling emergencies and on-going injection programs.
I had no real problem with that policy. I can’t imagine how a technician could sterilize all the equipment used in a refraction between patients.
My problem was with the lack of service in general. Española did not recover from the economic problems of 2008. Population growth leveled off, [1] as 4,240 people left the area. [2] The number of children in the schools declined, [3] while the rest of the population continued to age. That means more people change from private insurance to Medicare.
Demand for ophthalmologists would have remained steady or increased. I don’t know how many were assigned to Española by Eye Associates, but the one I saw was only available a few days a week. I always had to wait weeks for an appointment.
My eyes changed last fall, perhaps as a consequence of glare from my new computer’s screen. I should have called for an appointment immediately, but didn’t do so until February. When I drove by their office to schedule an appointment, it was closed. Eye Associates stopped servicing us last year.
When I did call the office in Los Alamos, I still had to wait seven weeks for an appointment.
When I called this morning, I was switched to the outlet in Santa Fé. The woman I talked with said they had blocked off all appointments through August to new patients. They were reserving the time for people like me whose appointments had been cancelled.
She also told me I should have been notified.
That brings me to another problem we all suffer from in the valley. We are a long distance call from Los Alamos and Santa Fé. People in those cities don’t realize that and don’t dial the area code. When they get the message they need to redial, they just assume, because it’s Rio Arriba County, the person they’re contacting is another deadbeat who gave false information.
My physician tells me he never gets test results from the place in Santa Fé that does my mammograms and bone density exams. I have to drive to them to request a copy of the results for myself, and ask them to please resend them to the doctor. At that time I mention the area code, and the doctor’s office receives them.
The woman I talked with this morning said they would contact me when they were able to schedule appointments again. Since I knew I would never happen, I asked if I should call Los Alamos.
She told me no, that they might not have brought back all their staff by then, and I should call Santa Fé to schedule the appointment in Los Alamos.
I’ve read reports that physicians are worried their practices may not survive the extended closure. [4] Eye Associates is not some benign Dr. Welby. It’s a corporation headquartered in Albuquerque that has bills to pay.
It’s been obvious over the years that it schedules the time of the ophthalmologists as tightly as possible. It’s already decided Española wasn’t a viable cost center.
I may decide, as much as I like the person I’ve been seeing, it’s time for me to find an ophthalmologists in Santa Fé. I don’t much fancy navigating the road from Los Alamos with dilated eyes.
And really, waiting seven weeks to find out if a change in my vision was routine or a symptom of a serious medical problem really isn’t acceptable.
Sources:
1. Española Public School District Facilities Master Plan 2013-2017. Architectural Research Consultants, February 2013. It said Española grew by 500 between 2000 and 2010, but Rio Arriba County’s population dropped by 1,000. [page 2-12]
2. Master Plan. 2-12.
3. Master Plan. 2-15. The drop was 1,507 people.
4. Tierney Sneed. "Why The Pandemic Is Putting Primary Care Docs In A Major Financial Pinch." Talking Points Memo website. 26 March 2020.
Sunday, April 19, 2020
Journal of a Plague Year, Saturday, April 18
The justification for buying household disinfectants was the need to clean surfaces touched by outsiders in a home, or by individuals coming in from outside. Restrictions on social intercourse lessened that need because, theoretically, only household members would be entering a residence.
Yesterday, I had a repairman in my garage. He wore a mask when he arrived, but took it off while he was working for three hours.
Now, what to do.
A New York Times reporter asked experts about the needs for personal sanitation. Most of the answers began with general phrases like "these types of viruses." If they were more specific, it was to the related "virus that causes SARS."
It’s still early in the history of the virus. Only one study was done on Coronavirus, and that was published by The New England Journal of Medicine in March of this year.
Neeltje van Doremalen’s team tested both the current form of Coronavirus and the one that caused SARS in laboratory conditions. They found the aerosols remained active the full three hours of the tests, and that it lived longer on plastic (72 hours) and stainless steel (48 hours) than on cardboard (24 hours). That made the hard surfaces and aerosols possible vectors for the disease.
My garage has a cement floor and concrete block walls. The door is a wood composite and the replaced hardware some steel alloy. Like anyone’s there’s lots of stuff stored in it made from wood, steel, plastic, and paper.
I decided the safest thing to do was only enter it if necessary for the next week. In the meantime, when I’m in the area and can keep an eye on wandering animals, I’m leaving the door about three-quarters raised so fresh air can circulate, as much as it does it a cave. It faces north, so doesn’t get sun.
Sources:
Tara Parker-Pope. Is the Virus on My Clothes? My Shoes? My Hair? My Newspaper? The New York Times website. 17 April 2020; 18 April 2020.
Neeltje van Doremalen, et alia. "Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV." New England Journal of Medicine. 17 March 2020. Posted on its website 16 April 2020.
Yesterday, I had a repairman in my garage. He wore a mask when he arrived, but took it off while he was working for three hours.
Now, what to do.
A New York Times reporter asked experts about the needs for personal sanitation. Most of the answers began with general phrases like "these types of viruses." If they were more specific, it was to the related "virus that causes SARS."
It’s still early in the history of the virus. Only one study was done on Coronavirus, and that was published by The New England Journal of Medicine in March of this year.
Neeltje van Doremalen’s team tested both the current form of Coronavirus and the one that caused SARS in laboratory conditions. They found the aerosols remained active the full three hours of the tests, and that it lived longer on plastic (72 hours) and stainless steel (48 hours) than on cardboard (24 hours). That made the hard surfaces and aerosols possible vectors for the disease.
My garage has a cement floor and concrete block walls. The door is a wood composite and the replaced hardware some steel alloy. Like anyone’s there’s lots of stuff stored in it made from wood, steel, plastic, and paper.
I decided the safest thing to do was only enter it if necessary for the next week. In the meantime, when I’m in the area and can keep an eye on wandering animals, I’m leaving the door about three-quarters raised so fresh air can circulate, as much as it does it a cave. It faces north, so doesn’t get sun.
Sources:
Tara Parker-Pope. Is the Virus on My Clothes? My Shoes? My Hair? My Newspaper? The New York Times website. 17 April 2020; 18 April 2020.
Neeltje van Doremalen, et alia. "Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV." New England Journal of Medicine. 17 March 2020. Posted on its website 16 April 2020.
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Journal of a Plague Year, Friday, April 17
I made my weekly trip into town today. On the surface things seemed the same. The restaurants that were popular still had cars in their parking lots, as did the car-parts stores. However, there seemed to be shorter lines in the drive through lanes of the banks and credit unions. That may be because I was out earlier this time, and people don’t go out until closer to noon, or it may have meant fewer people had payroll checks to cash.
Shelves were still bare, but more things were available. I always buy toilet paper in individual rolls because I have no place to store a bulk package and keep its contents clean once it’s been opened. This restricted me to one brand, which had gotten shoddier over the years.
Today, the local grocery had individual rolls from several companies. They, or the distributors, have responded to the limits on purchases with packages that make it possible to honor those limits.
I had come to a crisis point with butter. The one I bought, because it was all that was left, turned out to have some chemical in it that was causing me to break out. The local grocery not only was resupplied with butter but had several brands, including an organic one I had used in the past.
My concerns with buying butter, rather than margarine, may make me sound elitist, but I’m probably just a variant in the mix that’s Española. The National Retail Federation released statistics on the impact of Coronavirus on sales. Clothing and automobile sales were down. They are something that can be postponed when one has lost income.
Most of the clothing comes from Asia, and the automobile manufacturers have stopped production. While demand was down, supply probably was also down so no inventories were accumulating.
Food store income was up, because people have to eat at home. I’m part of that 25.6% increase in sales, because I normally buy my groceries in a big box in Santa Fé, rather than in the local store.
The big boxes were classed as "general merchandise stores." Their increase was less, 6.4%. In some states, like Michigan, those outlets are required to close off their non-essential aisles, but here they are open. The probably saw the net effect of the shut downs: increases in grocery sales offset decreases in clothing and non-essential items. I haven’t been to one since I stopped going into Santa Fé.
The other type of store where I’ve been shopping also saw a slight increase: building materials and garden supply store sales were up 1.3%. It’s still going to be a very tough year for people like the local outlets and their suppliers. This is the only time in the year when nurseries have big sales, and many didn’t survive the economic problems of 2008. Those that did have faced tougher competition from the big boxes.
The one I visited today actually had the plants I wanted: pansies and snapdragons. They are cold weather annuals and this is the time they do well. However, I rarely can get what I want. The ones that become available in mid-May don’t do well.
I’m not sure why I was lucky. The person who runs that hardware store’s garden center is very active in finding things her customers want, and often from smaller suppliers. She may have been more successful this year.
The alternative is that things have trickled into our market because there’s less demand in large cities. The resulting surplus has been made available to people like my local store.
The one thing I noticed today was people were even less concerned about contracting the virus than last week. The number of confirmed cases is in Rio Arriba County increased from 7 to 10, but people still may not know anyone personally whose affected.
The grocery store remained the same. All the cashiers were wearing masks and gloves, and most of the customers were wearing masks. The ones who weren’t were men.
The post office was less wary. The people behind the counter weren’t wearing masks. Perhaps, they think they are adequately protected by the plexiglass shields. Unfortunately, it sends a message to customers that masks aren’t needed on the other side of the barrier. Only a few people were wearing them, and they tended to be older.
The message was reinforced by television coverage of protests in states like Michigan. I heard my first complaint about distancing from the man behind me in post office. The guy in front of me, backed out of the lobby and then wandered around, making it hard to stay away from him. When I moved back , the man behind said "I suppose we have to play these games."
My final stop was the hardware store, a different one that I had used earlier. Only one clerk was wearing a mask, and none of the customers.
When I got home my garage door wouldn’t close. The cables had frayed and broken loose. I managed to close the door enough using the manual override so the contents of the garage weren’t visible to someone driving by. But, there was still the chance of rain, and definitely small animals invading.
That kind of repair business falls into a gray area: it’s not essential in a severe crisis, but it’s critical. The company in Santa Fé was open and dispatched someone who knew the area. He understood my directions, like a local would, and arrived at my drive without problems.
I put on a mask to greet him, and he responded by doing the same. One of his first comments was that no one in Española was taking the need for protection very seriously. As I said, I haven’t been to Santa Fé to test the validity of his suggestion the city was doing better, but his comment on the locals rang true.
Sources:
"March Retail Sales Plummet During Coronavirus Pandemic." National Retail Federation press release. 15 April 2020.
Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in New Mexico." Updated 17 April 2020.
Shelves were still bare, but more things were available. I always buy toilet paper in individual rolls because I have no place to store a bulk package and keep its contents clean once it’s been opened. This restricted me to one brand, which had gotten shoddier over the years.
Today, the local grocery had individual rolls from several companies. They, or the distributors, have responded to the limits on purchases with packages that make it possible to honor those limits.
I had come to a crisis point with butter. The one I bought, because it was all that was left, turned out to have some chemical in it that was causing me to break out. The local grocery not only was resupplied with butter but had several brands, including an organic one I had used in the past.
My concerns with buying butter, rather than margarine, may make me sound elitist, but I’m probably just a variant in the mix that’s Española. The National Retail Federation released statistics on the impact of Coronavirus on sales. Clothing and automobile sales were down. They are something that can be postponed when one has lost income.
Most of the clothing comes from Asia, and the automobile manufacturers have stopped production. While demand was down, supply probably was also down so no inventories were accumulating.
Food store income was up, because people have to eat at home. I’m part of that 25.6% increase in sales, because I normally buy my groceries in a big box in Santa Fé, rather than in the local store.
The big boxes were classed as "general merchandise stores." Their increase was less, 6.4%. In some states, like Michigan, those outlets are required to close off their non-essential aisles, but here they are open. The probably saw the net effect of the shut downs: increases in grocery sales offset decreases in clothing and non-essential items. I haven’t been to one since I stopped going into Santa Fé.
The other type of store where I’ve been shopping also saw a slight increase: building materials and garden supply store sales were up 1.3%. It’s still going to be a very tough year for people like the local outlets and their suppliers. This is the only time in the year when nurseries have big sales, and many didn’t survive the economic problems of 2008. Those that did have faced tougher competition from the big boxes.
The one I visited today actually had the plants I wanted: pansies and snapdragons. They are cold weather annuals and this is the time they do well. However, I rarely can get what I want. The ones that become available in mid-May don’t do well.
I’m not sure why I was lucky. The person who runs that hardware store’s garden center is very active in finding things her customers want, and often from smaller suppliers. She may have been more successful this year.
The alternative is that things have trickled into our market because there’s less demand in large cities. The resulting surplus has been made available to people like my local store.
The one thing I noticed today was people were even less concerned about contracting the virus than last week. The number of confirmed cases is in Rio Arriba County increased from 7 to 10, but people still may not know anyone personally whose affected.
The grocery store remained the same. All the cashiers were wearing masks and gloves, and most of the customers were wearing masks. The ones who weren’t were men.
The post office was less wary. The people behind the counter weren’t wearing masks. Perhaps, they think they are adequately protected by the plexiglass shields. Unfortunately, it sends a message to customers that masks aren’t needed on the other side of the barrier. Only a few people were wearing them, and they tended to be older.
The message was reinforced by television coverage of protests in states like Michigan. I heard my first complaint about distancing from the man behind me in post office. The guy in front of me, backed out of the lobby and then wandered around, making it hard to stay away from him. When I moved back , the man behind said "I suppose we have to play these games."
My final stop was the hardware store, a different one that I had used earlier. Only one clerk was wearing a mask, and none of the customers.
When I got home my garage door wouldn’t close. The cables had frayed and broken loose. I managed to close the door enough using the manual override so the contents of the garage weren’t visible to someone driving by. But, there was still the chance of rain, and definitely small animals invading.
That kind of repair business falls into a gray area: it’s not essential in a severe crisis, but it’s critical. The company in Santa Fé was open and dispatched someone who knew the area. He understood my directions, like a local would, and arrived at my drive without problems.
I put on a mask to greet him, and he responded by doing the same. One of his first comments was that no one in Española was taking the need for protection very seriously. As I said, I haven’t been to Santa Fé to test the validity of his suggestion the city was doing better, but his comment on the locals rang true.
Sources:
"March Retail Sales Plummet During Coronavirus Pandemic." National Retail Federation press release. 15 April 2020.
Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in New Mexico." Updated 17 April 2020.
Friday, April 17, 2020
Journal of a Plague Year, Thursday, April 16
Things returned to normal today. My head and throat were clear, and I was able to work outside.
This has been an unusually warm spring. Our last frost day normally occurs in early May.
The apricots and peaches bloomed early, and completed flowering. The cherries and crab apples were starting to blossom.
Then, Monday, our typical spring returned. I had an inch of snow around my house. Much of it settled on flowers. The cherries blooms turned brown. The leaves were OK on everything except the new shrub I bought last Friday.
Wednesday, my outside thermometer read 15 degrees. That finished off any open blooms. Some buds may have survived.
Normal here may be a new phenomenon with everything closed, but normal to Nature has not been affected by any virus.
This has been an unusually warm spring. Our last frost day normally occurs in early May.
The apricots and peaches bloomed early, and completed flowering. The cherries and crab apples were starting to blossom.
Then, Monday, our typical spring returned. I had an inch of snow around my house. Much of it settled on flowers. The cherries blooms turned brown. The leaves were OK on everything except the new shrub I bought last Friday.
Wednesday, my outside thermometer read 15 degrees. That finished off any open blooms. Some buds may have survived.
Normal here may be a new phenomenon with everything closed, but normal to Nature has not been affected by any virus.
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Journal of a Plague Year, Tuesday, April 14
Nothing is more boring than someone else’s physical complaints. Mine don’t even interest me very much.
In normal times, when I felt like I did yesterday, I would have assumed my body was fighting whatever was going around and slept it off.
But, these are not normal times. Everything takes on an exaggerated significance.
The usual things may be in the air, but we don’t know. The time when Coronavirus was beginning to penetrate New Mexico was allergy season. I suspect people ignored symptoms because they always felt bad when juniper pollen was in the air.
We’ve lost that early innocence, and now suspect the worse.
Yesterday I took more precautions than usual. They say nothing helps, but I still took aspirin every four hours, rather than once a day.
Then I tried applying what little knowledge I had gleaned from the internet, that the virus lodged in the throat.
I started thinking about all the ways one could feed or destroy something located there. Should I drink more liquids, or would that give the organisms necessary moisture?
I remembered the medicinal mouth wash my dentist had given me. He seemed to think it was the best all-around antiseptic available. Once, when I had a cut on my finger, he asked if I had treated it with the mouthwash. It hadn’t occurred to me, but it’s what he would have done.
This time I looked more closely at the bottle. It clearly was marked for external use only. But it wasn’t like iodine. It had to be formulated so small amounts were safe, because klutzy people probably swallowed it.
I took a small amount and used it in the prescribed way, then swallowed a tiny bit. I don’t know if it did any good. All I know if the usual bad aftertaste extended to the base of my throat.
I woke again this morning sometime after 5 am sweating. It may have been hunger, it may have been heat building up in the room, it may have been anything except a sign of illness.
When I finally got up around 6:30, my throat was less sore. I used some of the expectorant I was hoarding to wash away whatever remained in the cavity.
During the day I had the symptoms of fatigue: sleepiness and weak knees. I was constantly hungry.
Then, by mid-morning my throat was OK, but I was stuffed up. Whatever was causing my problems had retreated to my head.
My stomach got more upset, but then why would it be happy with every odd thing I was sending it? It doesn’t much like aspirin, and taking more yesterday would have been enough to create turmoil.
Now I’m left with the final unknown. Was it simply a cold or something worse? I couldn’t have gotten tested: my symptoms weren’t severe enough to justify one.
Will it matter, if I’m OK now? No one knows. Those Germans I mentioned yesterday found evidence the virus remained in the body after people recovered, but their sample was too small to be useful.
Would it be like malaria or chicken pox, or malaria, or more benign? We may not know for a year if there are long-term consequences. Even then, we may not know because few would get the kinds of tests the German researchers were able to use on hospitalized patients.
Sources:
Roman Wölfel, Christian Drosten, et alia. "Virological Assessment of Hospitalized Patients with COVID-2019." Nature website. 1 April 2020.
In normal times, when I felt like I did yesterday, I would have assumed my body was fighting whatever was going around and slept it off.
But, these are not normal times. Everything takes on an exaggerated significance.
The usual things may be in the air, but we don’t know. The time when Coronavirus was beginning to penetrate New Mexico was allergy season. I suspect people ignored symptoms because they always felt bad when juniper pollen was in the air.
We’ve lost that early innocence, and now suspect the worse.
Yesterday I took more precautions than usual. They say nothing helps, but I still took aspirin every four hours, rather than once a day.
Then I tried applying what little knowledge I had gleaned from the internet, that the virus lodged in the throat.
I started thinking about all the ways one could feed or destroy something located there. Should I drink more liquids, or would that give the organisms necessary moisture?
I remembered the medicinal mouth wash my dentist had given me. He seemed to think it was the best all-around antiseptic available. Once, when I had a cut on my finger, he asked if I had treated it with the mouthwash. It hadn’t occurred to me, but it’s what he would have done.
This time I looked more closely at the bottle. It clearly was marked for external use only. But it wasn’t like iodine. It had to be formulated so small amounts were safe, because klutzy people probably swallowed it.
I took a small amount and used it in the prescribed way, then swallowed a tiny bit. I don’t know if it did any good. All I know if the usual bad aftertaste extended to the base of my throat.
I woke again this morning sometime after 5 am sweating. It may have been hunger, it may have been heat building up in the room, it may have been anything except a sign of illness.
When I finally got up around 6:30, my throat was less sore. I used some of the expectorant I was hoarding to wash away whatever remained in the cavity.
During the day I had the symptoms of fatigue: sleepiness and weak knees. I was constantly hungry.
Then, by mid-morning my throat was OK, but I was stuffed up. Whatever was causing my problems had retreated to my head.
My stomach got more upset, but then why would it be happy with every odd thing I was sending it? It doesn’t much like aspirin, and taking more yesterday would have been enough to create turmoil.
Now I’m left with the final unknown. Was it simply a cold or something worse? I couldn’t have gotten tested: my symptoms weren’t severe enough to justify one.
Will it matter, if I’m OK now? No one knows. Those Germans I mentioned yesterday found evidence the virus remained in the body after people recovered, but their sample was too small to be useful.
Would it be like malaria or chicken pox, or malaria, or more benign? We may not know for a year if there are long-term consequences. Even then, we may not know because few would get the kinds of tests the German researchers were able to use on hospitalized patients.
Sources:
Roman Wölfel, Christian Drosten, et alia. "Virological Assessment of Hospitalized Patients with COVID-2019." Nature website. 1 April 2020.
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Journal of a Plague Year, Monday, April 13
Today I developed a sore throat. That’s three days after my last trip into town.
I have no idea if I picked up the Coronavirus. It’s probably too soon to tell. I know I don’t have a temperature, because I checked.
I woke in the night feeling sweaty, but didn’t think much of it. The snow probably had started to fall, and I’m always restless at night when the weather is changing. My lungs seem to become more sensitive every year.
They probably didn’t develop normally when I was a child because both my parents smoked, and never aired out the house. I’ve just assumed I was the victim of second hand smoke. I’ve never smoked, and since I was able to control my destiny I’ve lived in non-urban areas with little smoke pollution. I curse every time the forest service sets a controlled burn and sends smoke my way.
Since I hadn’t slept well, I took several naps. As I’ve gotten older I’ve tended to take a nap around noon, especially if I’ve worked outside in the morning. It’s the best way to relax my muscles.
The more I read about Coronavirus, the more I’ve become aware of how little we know. The disease only appeared in China five months ago, and the reports we’ve had from there have been fragmentary. Part of that may be geopolitics, but it’s also the consequence of living through something that is unknown.
The Chinese quarantined every known infected person into a single residential area, and enforced the isolation. That very physical situation may have directed the way the virus developed there.
Most of our guidelines for social distancing are based on best practices in general. If it’s like influenza and other Coronaviruses, then covering one’s mouth and staying some distance from people is what has worked in the past.
And, as near as we can tell, it’s what is working now. All they mean when they say "flattening the curve" is the percentage of people getting infected each day is lower than the previous day. New Mexico peaked at 23% on April 3, but has seen 10% increases every day since. An average of 98 people still have been testing positive every day since April 7. [1]
The more people who are infected, the greater chance someone who catch it, regardless of the percentage calculated against an ever increasing base number. New Mexico’s 1174 twice more than the 496 when the percentage peaked.
Some facts began to emerge this month, when some Germans published a chronology of the virus in nine people with mild cases. They studied them every day, and found the virus lodged in the throat, not the lungs. That meant it was easily expelled into the air in the early phase before people suspect they were infected. [2]
I’ve also read that, in a Chinese hospital area where many people were inflected, the virus simply remained in the air, fell to the floor, and was tracked on the soles of shoes. [3] When people are separated from each other, that doesn’t happen and the air isn’t as contaminated. Again, these are facts that are beginning to be distilled from experiences.
The more people infected, the greater the chance. Rio Arriba County has 7 reported cases, and who knows how many unreported ones.
None is particularly reassuring. That woman who sneezed in the doorway of the post office, may have left an aura of the virus, even though she wore a mask. That meant, I could have picked something up simply by walking in an area where she had been in the time before the viruses in the air had become inactive.
Similarly, when I stood in the marked locations in lines in the grocery store and garden center, I may have been in areas where the virus concentrated because people were sent to those specific locations by the floor tapes that kept people six feet apart.
The other place where people were concentrated sequentially was the credit card reader. In both stores, plexiglass barriers kept bad air from the cashiers but guaranteed it couldn’t disperse on one side.
My loose fitting mask was no protection against a temporarily saturated environment.
Sources:
1. Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in New Mexico." Updated 11 April 2020. It calculates the percentage change which was 23% on April 4 when the total cases jumped from 40 to 92. I calculated the number of new cases a day from the total cases Wikipedia provided.
4/11 83
4/10 102
4/09 124
4/08 71
4/07 108
4/06 62
2. Roman Wölfel, Christian Drosten, et alia. "Virological Assessment of Hospitalized Patients with COVID-2019." Nature website. 1 April 2020. Summarized by "Coronavirus: Virological Findings from Patients Treated in a Munich Hospital." Science Daily Website. 3 April 2020. "This is an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. Nature Research are providing this early version of the manuscript as a service to our authors and readers. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting and a proof review before it is published in its final form." It’s remarkable the 18 authors were able to prepare a draft as quickly as they did.
3. Barbie Latza Nadeau. "CDC Study Shows Coronavirus Can Live on Floors, Shoes." The Daily Beast website. 12 April 2020. Those who dispute these observations are in different milieus. Our knowledge of the virus is at the stage of the three blind men who reported on the elephant’s form; each swore what they know was the whole truth.
I have no idea if I picked up the Coronavirus. It’s probably too soon to tell. I know I don’t have a temperature, because I checked.
I woke in the night feeling sweaty, but didn’t think much of it. The snow probably had started to fall, and I’m always restless at night when the weather is changing. My lungs seem to become more sensitive every year.
They probably didn’t develop normally when I was a child because both my parents smoked, and never aired out the house. I’ve just assumed I was the victim of second hand smoke. I’ve never smoked, and since I was able to control my destiny I’ve lived in non-urban areas with little smoke pollution. I curse every time the forest service sets a controlled burn and sends smoke my way.
Since I hadn’t slept well, I took several naps. As I’ve gotten older I’ve tended to take a nap around noon, especially if I’ve worked outside in the morning. It’s the best way to relax my muscles.
The more I read about Coronavirus, the more I’ve become aware of how little we know. The disease only appeared in China five months ago, and the reports we’ve had from there have been fragmentary. Part of that may be geopolitics, but it’s also the consequence of living through something that is unknown.
The Chinese quarantined every known infected person into a single residential area, and enforced the isolation. That very physical situation may have directed the way the virus developed there.
Most of our guidelines for social distancing are based on best practices in general. If it’s like influenza and other Coronaviruses, then covering one’s mouth and staying some distance from people is what has worked in the past.
And, as near as we can tell, it’s what is working now. All they mean when they say "flattening the curve" is the percentage of people getting infected each day is lower than the previous day. New Mexico peaked at 23% on April 3, but has seen 10% increases every day since. An average of 98 people still have been testing positive every day since April 7. [1]
The more people who are infected, the greater chance someone who catch it, regardless of the percentage calculated against an ever increasing base number. New Mexico’s 1174 twice more than the 496 when the percentage peaked.
Some facts began to emerge this month, when some Germans published a chronology of the virus in nine people with mild cases. They studied them every day, and found the virus lodged in the throat, not the lungs. That meant it was easily expelled into the air in the early phase before people suspect they were infected. [2]
I’ve also read that, in a Chinese hospital area where many people were inflected, the virus simply remained in the air, fell to the floor, and was tracked on the soles of shoes. [3] When people are separated from each other, that doesn’t happen and the air isn’t as contaminated. Again, these are facts that are beginning to be distilled from experiences.
The more people infected, the greater the chance. Rio Arriba County has 7 reported cases, and who knows how many unreported ones.
None is particularly reassuring. That woman who sneezed in the doorway of the post office, may have left an aura of the virus, even though she wore a mask. That meant, I could have picked something up simply by walking in an area where she had been in the time before the viruses in the air had become inactive.
Similarly, when I stood in the marked locations in lines in the grocery store and garden center, I may have been in areas where the virus concentrated because people were sent to those specific locations by the floor tapes that kept people six feet apart.
The other place where people were concentrated sequentially was the credit card reader. In both stores, plexiglass barriers kept bad air from the cashiers but guaranteed it couldn’t disperse on one side.
My loose fitting mask was no protection against a temporarily saturated environment.
Sources:
1. Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in New Mexico." Updated 11 April 2020. It calculates the percentage change which was 23% on April 4 when the total cases jumped from 40 to 92. I calculated the number of new cases a day from the total cases Wikipedia provided.
4/11 83
4/10 102
4/09 124
4/08 71
4/07 108
4/06 62
2. Roman Wölfel, Christian Drosten, et alia. "Virological Assessment of Hospitalized Patients with COVID-2019." Nature website. 1 April 2020. Summarized by "Coronavirus: Virological Findings from Patients Treated in a Munich Hospital." Science Daily Website. 3 April 2020. "This is an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. Nature Research are providing this early version of the manuscript as a service to our authors and readers. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting and a proof review before it is published in its final form." It’s remarkable the 18 authors were able to prepare a draft as quickly as they did.
3. Barbie Latza Nadeau. "CDC Study Shows Coronavirus Can Live on Floors, Shoes." The Daily Beast website. 12 April 2020. Those who dispute these observations are in different milieus. Our knowledge of the virus is at the stage of the three blind men who reported on the elephant’s form; each swore what they know was the whole truth.
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Journal of a Plague Year, Saturday, April 11
Gallop issued a new poll that said people who listen to Fox News and other conservative news outlets are more likely to think the Coronavirus pandemic is overhyped, and the disease is "‘less deadly or as deadly as’ influenza" than people who listed to CNN and similar liberal news services. [1]
This sounds like one of those surveys whose results were predetermined by finding people who could answer the questions. It apparently did not include the major television networks. I couldn’t find any recent statistics for which station is Albuquerque is most popular; such information is known to advertisers, but they pay to receive it. [2]
I suspect the primary news source now is whichever one has some kind of programming that’s interesting or amusing when so many shows are not being produced. One has no brand or station loyalty when one is bored. A group of Democratic supporters is spending less on television advertising because people are "visiting local news websites and checking Facebook more frequently." [3]
I suspect people’s perception of the virus are influenced by events. If they didn’t know it was a problem before the governor closed the public schools, they did when their children were home during the week. This influenced people, like the woman I met in a local drugstore, who bought paper products and cleaning supplies because they heard from relatives or friends they were getting scarce. [4]
Shopping patterns may make a difference. I went into town again yesterday. Cashiers in the local grocery store still were standing behind plexiglass shields and wearing gloves and masks. The post office had added plexiglass since last week, and the woman who handed me a package had added safety goggles to her protective garb.
I saw fewer customers wearing masks and gloves. Both are disposable. People wore them at first, but now they may have run out and probably can’t get replacements. [5] I was very thankful the women who sneezed as she passed me coming out of the post office was wearing a mask.
There was some sense that normalcy has returned. Both the mineral water and crackers were on sale. The one may have been a clearance item that hadn’t sold well, but the other was a large shipment sent by the manufacturer to sell crackers. Producers of non-essential foods still need to make money to pay their employees and creditors.
For the first time I drove north of Fairview to the big box with a garden center. It’s spring, and contracts for plants and supplies were signed months ago. Vendors are shipping, so they get paid, whether of not the retail outlets have the same needs.
I wanted a replacement shrub, and thought is it worth dying for? I would have preferred to go to Albuquerque, but wasn’t willing to take the risk. I decided to be cautious: if the store was busy and had long lines I wouldn’t go in. I grabbed the first shrub available, without looking at it carefully, and got in line.
This is where management’s attitude was important. It was obvious employees were not expected to wear protective gear. A few did wear masks, but not many. Those wearing gloves may have done so anyway to protect their hands from the stock. Barberry bushes and roses have thorns.
I think only a couple customers were wearing masks; one was hand made. None wore gloves.
There are differences between the customers for different stores. The less disposable income people have, the more they are going to shop where things cost less. The local grocery store, no doubt, is more expensive.
The post office has two types of customers. Those who pay to have a box, like me, instead of getting free delivery at their homes. People with PO boxes are the ones who are receiving packages, often from Amazon. The others only go the counter to buy stamps to pay bills or buy money orders because they don’t have checking accounts.
This particular garden center seems to be cheap, but in fact is more expensive than local nurseries because it only sells perennial items in large pots, and annuals in individual pots rather than six-packs. One only knows this if one shops in both types of places; those without surplus funds don’t venture into places they believe will be more expensive.
I wanted a shrub in a quart-sized pot, which usually costs about $10. All the garden center carried was two-gallon-sized ones that cost $20. It only had 75' garden hoses by the check-out lanes. I had gone to the local hardware two weeks ago to buy a replacement hose because it carried 25' and 50' lengths, as well as 75' and 100’ ones. My shorter hose may have cost more per foot, but the total cost was less.
I suggested above that people hear news about the virus from whatever media is available, radio, television, cable, or smart phones. People don’t evaluate it by the political bias of the source, but by what they see and hear around them.
Chris Cuomo’s reference to chicken soup [6] would have made more sense in New York than in New Mexico. Since the time of Sam Levinson and Jewish comedians in the 1970s, people have known it was a Jewish folk remedy. Other things are used in Española.
That news story had no influence on local buying habits. Some varieties of soup were sold out in the local market Friday, like chicken noodle preferred by children. Others were untouched, like cream of chicken and chicken broth.
If one only shopped at the local grocery one would have a different impression of the pandemic than if one only went to the garden center. Managers in the one took it seriously and protected its employees. The other has not. The environments the two companies have created tell customers more about the seriousness of the disease than the news outlets.
Sources:
1. Lloyd Grove. "Republicans Who Watch Fox News More Likely to Believe COVID-19 Falsehoods: New Poll." The Daily Beast website. 9 April 2020.
2. Nielsen ratings are proprietary. Wikipedia said KOAT (ABC) is more popular than KOB (NBC) and KRQE (CBS/Fox). [7] One knows this is dated information because it did not mention Telemundo’s KASA or cable programs. Yelp, a website that collects comments from users, places the Spanish-language KASA first. [8] This is, at best, anecdotal information that can be manipulated by the participants and thus has no scientific value.
3. Kevin Robillard. "Democratic Super PAC Is Using Memes To Bash Trump’s Coronavirus Response." Huffington Post website. 10 April 2020.
4. I mentioned the woman in the entry for March 9 posted on 28 March 2020.
5. I am not running around stores to see what shelves are empty. I might have in a less perilous time, but now I make no detours. I did notice the man in front of me at the garden center was buying two lilies on Good Friday, while the one behind me was purchasing two large arborvitae like the shrubs that line the entrance to the Santa Cruz church.
6. Cuomo was mentioned in the entry for April 10 posted on 11 April 2020.
7. Wikipedia. "KOAT-TV."
8. "The Best 10 Television Stations in Albuquerque, NM." Yelp website.
This sounds like one of those surveys whose results were predetermined by finding people who could answer the questions. It apparently did not include the major television networks. I couldn’t find any recent statistics for which station is Albuquerque is most popular; such information is known to advertisers, but they pay to receive it. [2]
I suspect the primary news source now is whichever one has some kind of programming that’s interesting or amusing when so many shows are not being produced. One has no brand or station loyalty when one is bored. A group of Democratic supporters is spending less on television advertising because people are "visiting local news websites and checking Facebook more frequently." [3]
I suspect people’s perception of the virus are influenced by events. If they didn’t know it was a problem before the governor closed the public schools, they did when their children were home during the week. This influenced people, like the woman I met in a local drugstore, who bought paper products and cleaning supplies because they heard from relatives or friends they were getting scarce. [4]
Shopping patterns may make a difference. I went into town again yesterday. Cashiers in the local grocery store still were standing behind plexiglass shields and wearing gloves and masks. The post office had added plexiglass since last week, and the woman who handed me a package had added safety goggles to her protective garb.
I saw fewer customers wearing masks and gloves. Both are disposable. People wore them at first, but now they may have run out and probably can’t get replacements. [5] I was very thankful the women who sneezed as she passed me coming out of the post office was wearing a mask.
There was some sense that normalcy has returned. Both the mineral water and crackers were on sale. The one may have been a clearance item that hadn’t sold well, but the other was a large shipment sent by the manufacturer to sell crackers. Producers of non-essential foods still need to make money to pay their employees and creditors.
For the first time I drove north of Fairview to the big box with a garden center. It’s spring, and contracts for plants and supplies were signed months ago. Vendors are shipping, so they get paid, whether of not the retail outlets have the same needs.
I wanted a replacement shrub, and thought is it worth dying for? I would have preferred to go to Albuquerque, but wasn’t willing to take the risk. I decided to be cautious: if the store was busy and had long lines I wouldn’t go in. I grabbed the first shrub available, without looking at it carefully, and got in line.
This is where management’s attitude was important. It was obvious employees were not expected to wear protective gear. A few did wear masks, but not many. Those wearing gloves may have done so anyway to protect their hands from the stock. Barberry bushes and roses have thorns.
I think only a couple customers were wearing masks; one was hand made. None wore gloves.
There are differences between the customers for different stores. The less disposable income people have, the more they are going to shop where things cost less. The local grocery store, no doubt, is more expensive.
The post office has two types of customers. Those who pay to have a box, like me, instead of getting free delivery at their homes. People with PO boxes are the ones who are receiving packages, often from Amazon. The others only go the counter to buy stamps to pay bills or buy money orders because they don’t have checking accounts.
This particular garden center seems to be cheap, but in fact is more expensive than local nurseries because it only sells perennial items in large pots, and annuals in individual pots rather than six-packs. One only knows this if one shops in both types of places; those without surplus funds don’t venture into places they believe will be more expensive.
I wanted a shrub in a quart-sized pot, which usually costs about $10. All the garden center carried was two-gallon-sized ones that cost $20. It only had 75' garden hoses by the check-out lanes. I had gone to the local hardware two weeks ago to buy a replacement hose because it carried 25' and 50' lengths, as well as 75' and 100’ ones. My shorter hose may have cost more per foot, but the total cost was less.
I suggested above that people hear news about the virus from whatever media is available, radio, television, cable, or smart phones. People don’t evaluate it by the political bias of the source, but by what they see and hear around them.
Chris Cuomo’s reference to chicken soup [6] would have made more sense in New York than in New Mexico. Since the time of Sam Levinson and Jewish comedians in the 1970s, people have known it was a Jewish folk remedy. Other things are used in Española.
That news story had no influence on local buying habits. Some varieties of soup were sold out in the local market Friday, like chicken noodle preferred by children. Others were untouched, like cream of chicken and chicken broth.
If one only shopped at the local grocery one would have a different impression of the pandemic than if one only went to the garden center. Managers in the one took it seriously and protected its employees. The other has not. The environments the two companies have created tell customers more about the seriousness of the disease than the news outlets.
Sources:
1. Lloyd Grove. "Republicans Who Watch Fox News More Likely to Believe COVID-19 Falsehoods: New Poll." The Daily Beast website. 9 April 2020.
2. Nielsen ratings are proprietary. Wikipedia said KOAT (ABC) is more popular than KOB (NBC) and KRQE (CBS/Fox). [7] One knows this is dated information because it did not mention Telemundo’s KASA or cable programs. Yelp, a website that collects comments from users, places the Spanish-language KASA first. [8] This is, at best, anecdotal information that can be manipulated by the participants and thus has no scientific value.
3. Kevin Robillard. "Democratic Super PAC Is Using Memes To Bash Trump’s Coronavirus Response." Huffington Post website. 10 April 2020.
4. I mentioned the woman in the entry for March 9 posted on 28 March 2020.
5. I am not running around stores to see what shelves are empty. I might have in a less perilous time, but now I make no detours. I did notice the man in front of me at the garden center was buying two lilies on Good Friday, while the one behind me was purchasing two large arborvitae like the shrubs that line the entrance to the Santa Cruz church.
6. Cuomo was mentioned in the entry for April 10 posted on 11 April 2020.
7. Wikipedia. "KOAT-TV."
8. "The Best 10 Television Stations in Albuquerque, NM." Yelp website.
Saturday, April 11, 2020
Journal of a Plague Year, Saturday, April 10
Pentecostal is a generic term that refers to an attitude toward contact with the Holy Spirit. The term, as we use it today, came from a revival led by William Seymour in Los Angeles beginning in 1906. The African American had studied with Charles Parham, who had tried to replicate the meeting described in Acts when the apostles "heard a wind, then saw tongues of fire come down and touch them." [1]
People who visited Seymour’s Azusa Street revival divided over the importance of speaking in tongues. The all-white Assemblies of God, following Parham, made it their primary evidence for conversion in 1913. Other groups accepted being healed by faith, hearing voices, or dancing as equally important signs of divine blessing.
Churches that elevate being healed by faith pose unique public health problems during the Coronavirus pandemic. Spiritual healing has always existed to handle those physical ailments that cannot be cured by the official doctors. The Roman Catholic church beatifies miracle workers; thousands flock to shrines like that at Lourdes.
On the one hand, people who attend churches where people are healed by faith are more likely to be exposed to someone who is sick, than those who go to other services. On the other, such churches are a refuge for those whose illnesses haven’t responded to western medicine.
Tony Spell refuses to close his Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He said, "When the paramedics can’t get there, when the law enforcement can’t get there, the holy ghost can get there it will make a difference in someone’s life." [2]
Spell’s church was founded by his grandfather, Bervick Atwood Spell, in 1953. [3] The elder Spell helped found the Apostolic Minister’s Fellowship in 1968. [4] It was descended from a group that separated from the Assemblies of God in 1915 over the nature of God.
The Oneness Pentecostal movement did not accept that God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost were the three separate entities defined by the Trinity. They believe God was a spirit who, when He needed to appear on Earth, took the form and name of Jesus. Since, when He needs to contact humans he does so in the guise of the Holy Ghost. [5] Spells adds speaking in tongues as "the definite, indisputable, supernatural witness or sign of the baptism of the Holy Ghost." [6]
Spell believes divine healing is available to all "who will come to Him in faith and obedience." [7] The particular method he espouses is laying hands on the sick. This is particularly fraught with Coronavirus, which is passed through droplets from one person to another.
There are other, safer ways. Guillermo Maldonado, who was mentioned in the previous post, recited an incantation like an exorcist: "I curse that virus from the root and from the seed, in Jesus’ mighty name, right now. Disintegrate, dissolve like the dust, in Jesus’ mighty name." [8]
Kenneth Copeland is not a Pentecostal. He believes God wants his people to prosper, and wealth is a sign of grace. Much of his ministry is through television programs. [9] He told people who were sick: "Put your hand on that television set. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord Jesus. He received your healing." [10]
Another preacher in Florida installed machines in his church that he said would vaporize the virus. [11] Rodney Howard-Browne was raised in a Pentecostal church in South Africa. [12] Pentecostalism was introduced there by followers of Parham. [13]
Lest one dismiss the acts of these men as aberrations, recall Chris Cuomo. The CNN newsman was infected by the Coronavirus. He made clear he is following his doctor’s orders, but, when asked what helped, he admitted he also was using chicken soup. [14]
In normal times, we maintain the older practices at the same time we call the doctor for an antibiotic. When times get bad, we do both, only more so. And, when there’s nothing to prescribe, traditional remedies are what’s left.
Sources:
1. Act 2:3, King James translation. In the Holy Family edition of the Catholic Bible, verses 2–4 are translated as: "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a violent wind blowing, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as of fire, which settled upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in foreign tongues, even as the Holy Spirit prompted them to speak." (Chicago: The Catholic Press, 1950.
2. Nexstar Media Wire. "Louisiana Church Hosts More than 1,800 People amid COVID-19 Outbreak." Posted by WGN-TV, Chicago, website. 23 March 2020.
3. I’m not sure if it is significant that some of the men who are turning their religious values into political confrontations inherited their positions. They did not build their institutions. Jerry Falwell’s father established the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, then opened Liberty University. Before he died, he made Jerry head of the college and his other son head of the church. Perhaps Falwell and Spell are like the second generation Puritans in this country who did not have conversion experiences. Their lives simply were different.
4. "Rev. B. A. Spell of Life Tabernacle Inducted into Ministerial Hall of Fame, Awarded ThD." Central City [Louisiana] News website. 7 November 2019.
5. "Apostolic Doctrine." Life Tabernacle Church website. "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are not names of separate persons, but titles of positions held by God."
6. "Apostolic Doctrine."
7. "Apostolic Doctrine."
8. William Bredderman and Will Sommer. "Trump’s Megachurch Allies Promise COVID-19 Snake Oil and ‘Miracles’." The Daily Beast website. 23 March 2020.
9. Kenneth Copeland Ministries website. "KCM’s purpose is to mature believers worldwide in the use of their faith. Our vision is to see believers experiencing the fullness of THE BLESSING which includes divine healing, supernatural prosperity, the God kind of love and more."
10. Bredderman.
11. Hemant Mehta. "Pastor: If You Have Faith in God, He’ll Multiply Your Toilet Paper Rolls." Friendly Atheist website. 29 March 2020.
12. Wikipedia. "Rodney Howard-Browne." His Tampa, Florida, church is The River at Tampa Bay.
13. Wikipedia. "Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa."
14. Brian Stelter. "Chris Cuomo Shares Covid-19 Experience: ‘The Beast Comes at Night’." CNN website. 3 April 2020.
People who visited Seymour’s Azusa Street revival divided over the importance of speaking in tongues. The all-white Assemblies of God, following Parham, made it their primary evidence for conversion in 1913. Other groups accepted being healed by faith, hearing voices, or dancing as equally important signs of divine blessing.
Churches that elevate being healed by faith pose unique public health problems during the Coronavirus pandemic. Spiritual healing has always existed to handle those physical ailments that cannot be cured by the official doctors. The Roman Catholic church beatifies miracle workers; thousands flock to shrines like that at Lourdes.
On the one hand, people who attend churches where people are healed by faith are more likely to be exposed to someone who is sick, than those who go to other services. On the other, such churches are a refuge for those whose illnesses haven’t responded to western medicine.
Tony Spell refuses to close his Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He said, "When the paramedics can’t get there, when the law enforcement can’t get there, the holy ghost can get there it will make a difference in someone’s life." [2]
Spell’s church was founded by his grandfather, Bervick Atwood Spell, in 1953. [3] The elder Spell helped found the Apostolic Minister’s Fellowship in 1968. [4] It was descended from a group that separated from the Assemblies of God in 1915 over the nature of God.
The Oneness Pentecostal movement did not accept that God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost were the three separate entities defined by the Trinity. They believe God was a spirit who, when He needed to appear on Earth, took the form and name of Jesus. Since, when He needs to contact humans he does so in the guise of the Holy Ghost. [5] Spells adds speaking in tongues as "the definite, indisputable, supernatural witness or sign of the baptism of the Holy Ghost." [6]
Spell believes divine healing is available to all "who will come to Him in faith and obedience." [7] The particular method he espouses is laying hands on the sick. This is particularly fraught with Coronavirus, which is passed through droplets from one person to another.
There are other, safer ways. Guillermo Maldonado, who was mentioned in the previous post, recited an incantation like an exorcist: "I curse that virus from the root and from the seed, in Jesus’ mighty name, right now. Disintegrate, dissolve like the dust, in Jesus’ mighty name." [8]
Kenneth Copeland is not a Pentecostal. He believes God wants his people to prosper, and wealth is a sign of grace. Much of his ministry is through television programs. [9] He told people who were sick: "Put your hand on that television set. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord Jesus. He received your healing." [10]
Another preacher in Florida installed machines in his church that he said would vaporize the virus. [11] Rodney Howard-Browne was raised in a Pentecostal church in South Africa. [12] Pentecostalism was introduced there by followers of Parham. [13]
Lest one dismiss the acts of these men as aberrations, recall Chris Cuomo. The CNN newsman was infected by the Coronavirus. He made clear he is following his doctor’s orders, but, when asked what helped, he admitted he also was using chicken soup. [14]
In normal times, we maintain the older practices at the same time we call the doctor for an antibiotic. When times get bad, we do both, only more so. And, when there’s nothing to prescribe, traditional remedies are what’s left.
Sources:
1. Act 2:3, King James translation. In the Holy Family edition of the Catholic Bible, verses 2–4 are translated as: "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a violent wind blowing, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as of fire, which settled upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in foreign tongues, even as the Holy Spirit prompted them to speak." (Chicago: The Catholic Press, 1950.
2. Nexstar Media Wire. "Louisiana Church Hosts More than 1,800 People amid COVID-19 Outbreak." Posted by WGN-TV, Chicago, website. 23 March 2020.
3. I’m not sure if it is significant that some of the men who are turning their religious values into political confrontations inherited their positions. They did not build their institutions. Jerry Falwell’s father established the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, then opened Liberty University. Before he died, he made Jerry head of the college and his other son head of the church. Perhaps Falwell and Spell are like the second generation Puritans in this country who did not have conversion experiences. Their lives simply were different.
4. "Rev. B. A. Spell of Life Tabernacle Inducted into Ministerial Hall of Fame, Awarded ThD." Central City [Louisiana] News website. 7 November 2019.
5. "Apostolic Doctrine." Life Tabernacle Church website. "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are not names of separate persons, but titles of positions held by God."
6. "Apostolic Doctrine."
7. "Apostolic Doctrine."
8. William Bredderman and Will Sommer. "Trump’s Megachurch Allies Promise COVID-19 Snake Oil and ‘Miracles’." The Daily Beast website. 23 March 2020.
9. Kenneth Copeland Ministries website. "KCM’s purpose is to mature believers worldwide in the use of their faith. Our vision is to see believers experiencing the fullness of THE BLESSING which includes divine healing, supernatural prosperity, the God kind of love and more."
10. Bredderman.
11. Hemant Mehta. "Pastor: If You Have Faith in God, He’ll Multiply Your Toilet Paper Rolls." Friendly Atheist website. 29 March 2020.
12. Wikipedia. "Rodney Howard-Browne." His Tampa, Florida, church is The River at Tampa Bay.
13. Wikipedia. "Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa."
14. Brian Stelter. "Chris Cuomo Shares Covid-19 Experience: ‘The Beast Comes at Night’." CNN website. 3 April 2020.
Friday, April 10, 2020
Journal of a Plague Year, Thursday, April 9
Every religion has one day in the liturgical year that is more important than the others. For many in the United States, it’s Christmas that matters. Easter is the primary ritual for the Eastern Orthodox. Here in the Española, it’s Good Friday.
For the first time in as long as anyone can remember, the Santa Fé diocese is not sponsoring the annual pilgrimage to Chimayó. Pope Francis has cancelled masses and issued a dispensation for those who don’t attend. He celebrates mass with only the other necessary assistants; no one else is allowed inside.
Some Protestant preachers in this country have refused to cancel their public services, despite their state governors issuing orders that limit the number of people who can assemble. Some, like Jerry Falwell, are motivated by politics as much as by religion. [1]
However, for some Pentecostals the need to meet flows from the Calvinist roots of the Anglo-Scots Reformation.
Calvin had argued not everyone was saved and God alone determined who was among the Elect. This led Michael Wigglesworth to write a poem in which he said infants who died before they had sinned would be given the easiest room in hell. [2]
This would make no sense to a Roman Catholic. If one was baptized, and followed other rules, one was guaranteed salvation. In the early years of the Santa Cruz colony, when priests were few and assigned to the pueblos, anyone could baptize an infant, so even those who died soon after birth were within the community of God.
Since Calvinists did not know if they were saved, they continually were looking for signs they were blessed. This part of the Reformation coincided with the early developments in science in England, and the two movement converged in their concern with questions of what constituted proof.
John Wesley rejected predestination, but not the rest of the Calvinist heritage. A man or woman could be saved, but they needed proof they were born again. The nature of the evidence has changed, but not the insecurity of not knowing.
The most extreme example are people who handle rattlesnakes. If they are not bitten, it’s through God’s grace. [3]
Pentecostals believe an individual is saved through contact with the Holy Spirit. For many, since the early twentieth century, that has meant speaking in tongues.
One pastor in Miami has been using attendance at his services as evidence of faith. Guillermo Maldonado tells his followers they must use "the power of God to demonstrate that God is active in the world." [4]
Following the scientific bent of this branch of Pentecostalism, he says "nothing happens by chance." Illness is caused by an evil spirit that must be discovered and cast out. [5]
This meant one cannot become ill by going to church, because that was the one place where no demonic spirit would enter. He asked, "Do you believe God would bring his people to his house to be contagious with the virus? Of course not." [6]
It becomes an act of faith, proof that one is saved, to attend services. Conversely, failure to attend is a sign of weak commitment to Christ.
I said that many aspects of the Anglo-Scots Reformation would make no sense to Roman Catholics. Maldonado would seem to disprove that contention. He was born in Hondurus, and most of the people who attend El Rey Jesús speak Spanish.
Beliefs in contact with the spirit world predate both Roman Catholicism and Pentecostalism. This more ancient attitude animates much of what Maldomado believes. It does not preclude an acceptance of the mundane world. On March 22, he suspended public gatherings. [7]
In the announcement on his website, Maldomaldo said he would continue to deliver his sermons on line, and was keeping his call center open so members still could request a prayer. [8]
Sources:
1. Jane Coaston. "Liberty University’s Choice to Stay Open During Coronavirus, Explained." Vox website. 25 March 2020. Falwell is a strong supporter of Donald Trump. At one time he argued Coronavirus was a media ploy to destroy Trump’s presidency.
2. Michael Wigglesworth. "Day of Doom." Cambridge, Massachusetts: Samuel Green and Marmaduke Johnson, 1662.
3. Wikipedia. "Snake Handling in Religion."
4. Wikipedia. "Guillermo Maldonado (Pastor)."
5. Guillermo Maldonado. "The Mystery of Praying in Tongues." King Jesus International website.
6. Bianca Padró Ocasio "‘Demonic spirit:’ Miami Pastor Rejects Coronavirus Warning." Miami Herald website. 15 March 2020.
7. William Bredderman and Will Sommer. "Trump’s Megachurch Allies Promise COVID-19 Snake Oil and ‘Miracles’." The Daily Beast website. 23 March 2020.
8. "News of the Coronavirus (COVID-19)." King Jesus International website.
For the first time in as long as anyone can remember, the Santa Fé diocese is not sponsoring the annual pilgrimage to Chimayó. Pope Francis has cancelled masses and issued a dispensation for those who don’t attend. He celebrates mass with only the other necessary assistants; no one else is allowed inside.
Some Protestant preachers in this country have refused to cancel their public services, despite their state governors issuing orders that limit the number of people who can assemble. Some, like Jerry Falwell, are motivated by politics as much as by religion. [1]
However, for some Pentecostals the need to meet flows from the Calvinist roots of the Anglo-Scots Reformation.
Calvin had argued not everyone was saved and God alone determined who was among the Elect. This led Michael Wigglesworth to write a poem in which he said infants who died before they had sinned would be given the easiest room in hell. [2]
This would make no sense to a Roman Catholic. If one was baptized, and followed other rules, one was guaranteed salvation. In the early years of the Santa Cruz colony, when priests were few and assigned to the pueblos, anyone could baptize an infant, so even those who died soon after birth were within the community of God.
Since Calvinists did not know if they were saved, they continually were looking for signs they were blessed. This part of the Reformation coincided with the early developments in science in England, and the two movement converged in their concern with questions of what constituted proof.
John Wesley rejected predestination, but not the rest of the Calvinist heritage. A man or woman could be saved, but they needed proof they were born again. The nature of the evidence has changed, but not the insecurity of not knowing.
The most extreme example are people who handle rattlesnakes. If they are not bitten, it’s through God’s grace. [3]
Pentecostals believe an individual is saved through contact with the Holy Spirit. For many, since the early twentieth century, that has meant speaking in tongues.
One pastor in Miami has been using attendance at his services as evidence of faith. Guillermo Maldonado tells his followers they must use "the power of God to demonstrate that God is active in the world." [4]
Following the scientific bent of this branch of Pentecostalism, he says "nothing happens by chance." Illness is caused by an evil spirit that must be discovered and cast out. [5]
This meant one cannot become ill by going to church, because that was the one place where no demonic spirit would enter. He asked, "Do you believe God would bring his people to his house to be contagious with the virus? Of course not." [6]
It becomes an act of faith, proof that one is saved, to attend services. Conversely, failure to attend is a sign of weak commitment to Christ.
I said that many aspects of the Anglo-Scots Reformation would make no sense to Roman Catholics. Maldonado would seem to disprove that contention. He was born in Hondurus, and most of the people who attend El Rey Jesús speak Spanish.
Beliefs in contact with the spirit world predate both Roman Catholicism and Pentecostalism. This more ancient attitude animates much of what Maldomado believes. It does not preclude an acceptance of the mundane world. On March 22, he suspended public gatherings. [7]
In the announcement on his website, Maldomaldo said he would continue to deliver his sermons on line, and was keeping his call center open so members still could request a prayer. [8]
Sources:
1. Jane Coaston. "Liberty University’s Choice to Stay Open During Coronavirus, Explained." Vox website. 25 March 2020. Falwell is a strong supporter of Donald Trump. At one time he argued Coronavirus was a media ploy to destroy Trump’s presidency.
2. Michael Wigglesworth. "Day of Doom." Cambridge, Massachusetts: Samuel Green and Marmaduke Johnson, 1662.
3. Wikipedia. "Snake Handling in Religion."
4. Wikipedia. "Guillermo Maldonado (Pastor)."
5. Guillermo Maldonado. "The Mystery of Praying in Tongues." King Jesus International website.
6. Bianca Padró Ocasio "‘Demonic spirit:’ Miami Pastor Rejects Coronavirus Warning." Miami Herald website. 15 March 2020.
7. William Bredderman and Will Sommer. "Trump’s Megachurch Allies Promise COVID-19 Snake Oil and ‘Miracles’." The Daily Beast website. 23 March 2020.
8. "News of the Coronavirus (COVID-19)." King Jesus International website.
Thursday, April 09, 2020
Journal of a Plague Year, Wednesday, April 8
Today is the first day I heard anyone doing work of his house. Down the road, three men were working on a flat roof, and someone else received a load of concrete.
The roof work may have been done by a hired crew, but more likely was done by the owner with the help of kin folk or friends. Usually two men come with a cement mixer, and leave as soon as the pour is complete. Then a group, again usually kin, work to spread and smooth it.
It would seem an ideal time to be doing home repairs, if one has the money to buy materials. Hardware stores are considered essential businesses. If one doesn’t go early in the morning, when, in normal times, contractors are there, one probably sees fewer people than at the grocery store. So far, I’ve only gone to one of the local ones in mid or late morning, so have no idea if it is busy earlier.
Last Friday when I was in town, I noticed a number of cars parked outside an automotive parts supplier. Cars are another thing that always can use some maintenance: an oil change or new spark plugs.
Enforced idleness is difficult. A few days may seem like a vacation, only individuals can’t leave their homes. With children kept from school, many may feel the need to get busy again.
Woman, of course, can always catch up on the laundry and do the cleaning they’ve meant to do. That is, assuming they have the chemicals they need.
Cutting down weeds seems to be the first thing men in my area did. Now that’s done, and the motors on the string trimmers are heard less often. Until we get some rain, there’s nothing more to do.
The roof work may have been done by a hired crew, but more likely was done by the owner with the help of kin folk or friends. Usually two men come with a cement mixer, and leave as soon as the pour is complete. Then a group, again usually kin, work to spread and smooth it.
It would seem an ideal time to be doing home repairs, if one has the money to buy materials. Hardware stores are considered essential businesses. If one doesn’t go early in the morning, when, in normal times, contractors are there, one probably sees fewer people than at the grocery store. So far, I’ve only gone to one of the local ones in mid or late morning, so have no idea if it is busy earlier.
Last Friday when I was in town, I noticed a number of cars parked outside an automotive parts supplier. Cars are another thing that always can use some maintenance: an oil change or new spark plugs.
Enforced idleness is difficult. A few days may seem like a vacation, only individuals can’t leave their homes. With children kept from school, many may feel the need to get busy again.
Woman, of course, can always catch up on the laundry and do the cleaning they’ve meant to do. That is, assuming they have the chemicals they need.
Cutting down weeds seems to be the first thing men in my area did. Now that’s done, and the motors on the string trimmers are heard less often. Until we get some rain, there’s nothing more to do.
Wednesday, April 08, 2020
Journal of a Plague Year, Tuesday, April 7
I write this after seeing photographs of people voting in Wisconsin. All one can say is: we may be provincial, but we’re not dumb.
Wisconsin has 2,578 active cases of Coronavirus. 1,323 are in Milwaukee County and 289 in Dane County, with the state capital of Madison. Spatially, the state still is rural. The only other places with more than 100 cases are industrial centers in Kenosha and Waukesha counties.
But think, 100 cases. The New Mexico total is 794, and growing by 80 to a 100 a day. The worse hit county, Bernalillo with Albuquerque, has 246 positive tests. Rio Arriba is still at six.
Our primaries are held in June, which means we never have a say in the selection of the president. But, because this essentially is still a one party county, the primary is the time one’s vote for county offices matter.
I keep telling my neighbor that if he cares who’s sheriff, he needs to register as a Democrat. It doesn’t define his choices in November. This, however, offends his sense of himself as an independent, and so all he can do is complain.
One year someone had the bright idea of having an earlier caucus. It was the year Obama was upsetting the coronation of Hilary Clinton, and I think it was the idea of Clinton supporters.
Since it wasn’t a primary, and the party had to pay all the costs, there was only one place to vote: the gymnasium of the old middle school.
As I recall, there were four lines defined by letter of the alphabet that moved very slowly. As we were approaching the entrance to the gym someone came out and reclassified the lines. One was reassigned specifically to anyone with Martínez as a last name. People laughed, but no one changed lanes.
Politics aside, and politics are deeply embedded in Wisconsin election, its fiasco is the result of different parts of the government acting independently of each other. On March 17, the governor issued an order banning all gatherings over 10 people. This alone should have precluded holding an election. But, Republicans, who are more numerous in rural areas, refused to postpone the vote.
The last time we had such a problem was the year the county redefined everyone’s address to make it easier for emergency crews to locate people. Simultaneously, the governor decided to clear up the lists of eligible voters by sending postcards to everyone who was registered. The state then used the returned cards to flag people whose status was questionable.
Of course, no one in my precinct had changed his or her address with the county registrar. No one had physically moved. It was enough of a headache to deal with companies that sent bills from computer systems that couldn’t handle our County Road 9 Building 9 format.
When I arrived at my precinct to vote no one was eligible.
The state had a provision that one could vote, if one filled out the official change of address form. I was at the poll before 9 am, and it already was running out of forms.
I don’t know any of the election workers, although many are known to other voters. I remember, years ago, I recognized one woman who worked in our precinct from seeing her in Cooks. She was there for years.
Then, there was a complete change in the personnel. Since, I vaguely recognize the man running the machine that registers the vote as one who has done that before. He might even have been the one who managed the machines when those were used.
A couple years ago officials further tightened the voting procedures. We had to recite our physical address. Since I have a post office box, I rarely use mine. It’s much easier to give people directions that a meaningless address.
As a result, I sometimes confuse the road and building numbers. Fortunately, the poll worker was forgiving. He said that that year the county reidentified us, his address changed three times.
Sources:
Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in New Mexico." Updated daily.
Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in Wisconsin." Checked 7 April 2020.
Wisconsin has 2,578 active cases of Coronavirus. 1,323 are in Milwaukee County and 289 in Dane County, with the state capital of Madison. Spatially, the state still is rural. The only other places with more than 100 cases are industrial centers in Kenosha and Waukesha counties.
But think, 100 cases. The New Mexico total is 794, and growing by 80 to a 100 a day. The worse hit county, Bernalillo with Albuquerque, has 246 positive tests. Rio Arriba is still at six.
Our primaries are held in June, which means we never have a say in the selection of the president. But, because this essentially is still a one party county, the primary is the time one’s vote for county offices matter.
I keep telling my neighbor that if he cares who’s sheriff, he needs to register as a Democrat. It doesn’t define his choices in November. This, however, offends his sense of himself as an independent, and so all he can do is complain.
One year someone had the bright idea of having an earlier caucus. It was the year Obama was upsetting the coronation of Hilary Clinton, and I think it was the idea of Clinton supporters.
Since it wasn’t a primary, and the party had to pay all the costs, there was only one place to vote: the gymnasium of the old middle school.
As I recall, there were four lines defined by letter of the alphabet that moved very slowly. As we were approaching the entrance to the gym someone came out and reclassified the lines. One was reassigned specifically to anyone with Martínez as a last name. People laughed, but no one changed lanes.
Politics aside, and politics are deeply embedded in Wisconsin election, its fiasco is the result of different parts of the government acting independently of each other. On March 17, the governor issued an order banning all gatherings over 10 people. This alone should have precluded holding an election. But, Republicans, who are more numerous in rural areas, refused to postpone the vote.
The last time we had such a problem was the year the county redefined everyone’s address to make it easier for emergency crews to locate people. Simultaneously, the governor decided to clear up the lists of eligible voters by sending postcards to everyone who was registered. The state then used the returned cards to flag people whose status was questionable.
Of course, no one in my precinct had changed his or her address with the county registrar. No one had physically moved. It was enough of a headache to deal with companies that sent bills from computer systems that couldn’t handle our County Road 9 Building 9 format.
When I arrived at my precinct to vote no one was eligible.
The state had a provision that one could vote, if one filled out the official change of address form. I was at the poll before 9 am, and it already was running out of forms.
I don’t know any of the election workers, although many are known to other voters. I remember, years ago, I recognized one woman who worked in our precinct from seeing her in Cooks. She was there for years.
Then, there was a complete change in the personnel. Since, I vaguely recognize the man running the machine that registers the vote as one who has done that before. He might even have been the one who managed the machines when those were used.
A couple years ago officials further tightened the voting procedures. We had to recite our physical address. Since I have a post office box, I rarely use mine. It’s much easier to give people directions that a meaningless address.
As a result, I sometimes confuse the road and building numbers. Fortunately, the poll worker was forgiving. He said that that year the county reidentified us, his address changed three times.
Sources:
Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in New Mexico." Updated daily.
Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in Wisconsin." Checked 7 April 2020.
Tuesday, April 07, 2020
Journal of a Plague Year, Monday, April 6
Two weeks ago, television news was filled with reports of the large increase in national unemployment claims, and the local media followed suit.
We were told New Mexico reported the state had processed 31,849 new claims. That was an increase from 700 the previous week. [1]
This past week the increase was old news and not reported anywhere, except, of course by the state. The number was 28,344, [2] for a total of 60,193 in the two reporting periods.
No details have been provided by county or type of employer. Española may be in an ironic position of having an economy that’s weak in normal times because it’s dependent on the government, rather than private enterprice, but somewhat insulated from layoffs by the nature of those government jobs.
The national lab is the biggest employer in the area. According to Wikipedia, LANL provides paychecks for 12% of the local workers. [3] It hasn’t shut down, and, so far as I know, hasn’t cut back on the maintenance work that pays so many local men. However, I also do not hear traffic or see cars moving across the river when people are going to and from Los Alamos.
Of course, we know the largest factor motivating the lab to continue its support functions may be the fear that if it doesn’t spend its allotted budget by October 1, funding will be cut in the next fiscal year. It wouldn’t be the first time institutional preservation carried a higher priority to managers than lowly skilled tradesmen.
Five of the other top employers in the city also are government: the city schools, college, gaming commission, city, and county offices. The state also employs many. We know the schools are closed, while other offices have limited the hours they are open to the public.
The pueblos closed all their businesses, the casinos, hotels, and restaurants. The Northern Pueblos Gaming Council probably still is open because many of its reporting functions continue.
The other large employers are deemed essential businesses: Walmart, Lowe’s, and the hospital. These are the people who are at the greatest risk of being infected by a stranger. In the other work locations, contact with outsiders is minimal, and individuals only have to worry about their co-workers.
For instance, today is trash day. The people who drive and service the trucks are critical to disposing waste. The ones on my route work in small teams of two, possibly three men. They know each other, and hopefully peer pressure will keep them safe. I doubt a man would dare sneeze in the presence of others.
Cashiers in Walmart and Lowe’s probably are more vulnerable than the ones in the smaller stores I tend to use. It’s simple mathematics: the more customers, the more risk. Whether or not the relative income level makes a difference won’t be known until the pandemic is over and experts can evaluate the data.
The fourth largest employer in the city, AKAL Security, is the only one that is a locally owned private enterprise of the type that sustains economies in other parts of the country. Many of its customers may have closed.
The others who probably lost their jobs work in the smaller business, or the cash economy. One quickly learns in Santa Fé there are customers who simply refuse to pay the gross receipts tax, and insist on paying in cash. There also are small entrepreneurs who prefer being paid in cash for the same reason. Now those people will have a hard time establishing a claim without risking scrutiny from the state tax offices. They suggest the actual level of unemployment is greater than the unofficial numbers.
Sources:
1. New Mexico, Department of Workforce Solutions. "Unemployment Insurance Claims for March 19 through March 26." News release. 27 March 2020.
2. New Mexico, Department of Workforce Solutions. "Unemployment Insurance Initial Claims for March 27 through April 2." News release. 3 April 2020.
3. Wikipedia. "Española, New Mexico."
We were told New Mexico reported the state had processed 31,849 new claims. That was an increase from 700 the previous week. [1]
This past week the increase was old news and not reported anywhere, except, of course by the state. The number was 28,344, [2] for a total of 60,193 in the two reporting periods.
No details have been provided by county or type of employer. Española may be in an ironic position of having an economy that’s weak in normal times because it’s dependent on the government, rather than private enterprice, but somewhat insulated from layoffs by the nature of those government jobs.
The national lab is the biggest employer in the area. According to Wikipedia, LANL provides paychecks for 12% of the local workers. [3] It hasn’t shut down, and, so far as I know, hasn’t cut back on the maintenance work that pays so many local men. However, I also do not hear traffic or see cars moving across the river when people are going to and from Los Alamos.
Of course, we know the largest factor motivating the lab to continue its support functions may be the fear that if it doesn’t spend its allotted budget by October 1, funding will be cut in the next fiscal year. It wouldn’t be the first time institutional preservation carried a higher priority to managers than lowly skilled tradesmen.
Five of the other top employers in the city also are government: the city schools, college, gaming commission, city, and county offices. The state also employs many. We know the schools are closed, while other offices have limited the hours they are open to the public.
The pueblos closed all their businesses, the casinos, hotels, and restaurants. The Northern Pueblos Gaming Council probably still is open because many of its reporting functions continue.
The other large employers are deemed essential businesses: Walmart, Lowe’s, and the hospital. These are the people who are at the greatest risk of being infected by a stranger. In the other work locations, contact with outsiders is minimal, and individuals only have to worry about their co-workers.
For instance, today is trash day. The people who drive and service the trucks are critical to disposing waste. The ones on my route work in small teams of two, possibly three men. They know each other, and hopefully peer pressure will keep them safe. I doubt a man would dare sneeze in the presence of others.
Cashiers in Walmart and Lowe’s probably are more vulnerable than the ones in the smaller stores I tend to use. It’s simple mathematics: the more customers, the more risk. Whether or not the relative income level makes a difference won’t be known until the pandemic is over and experts can evaluate the data.
The fourth largest employer in the city, AKAL Security, is the only one that is a locally owned private enterprise of the type that sustains economies in other parts of the country. Many of its customers may have closed.
The others who probably lost their jobs work in the smaller business, or the cash economy. One quickly learns in Santa Fé there are customers who simply refuse to pay the gross receipts tax, and insist on paying in cash. There also are small entrepreneurs who prefer being paid in cash for the same reason. Now those people will have a hard time establishing a claim without risking scrutiny from the state tax offices. They suggest the actual level of unemployment is greater than the unofficial numbers.
Sources:
1. New Mexico, Department of Workforce Solutions. "Unemployment Insurance Claims for March 19 through March 26." News release. 27 March 2020.
2. New Mexico, Department of Workforce Solutions. "Unemployment Insurance Initial Claims for March 27 through April 2." News release. 3 April 2020.
3. Wikipedia. "Española, New Mexico."
Monday, April 06, 2020
Journal of a Plague Year, Sunday, April 5
Tomorrow is trash day, and the consequences of substitutions are becoming obvious.
I normally buy mineral water in 16.9 ounce plastic bottles. What’s available locally are 11.15 glass bottles.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had to worry about broken glass.
Back when that was all that was available, I had a full-sized refrigerator and bottles would fit on the shelves. Now I have a counter-top model; the only place a bottle will fit is in the door. The compartment does not have a rigid bar to hold things in place.
It was no problem if a plastic bottle fell out, other than the explosion when it was opened. Now, I have to think to open the door slowly.
Glass is heavier than plastic, which means bottles will weigh down the trash. The young and the husky might not think this is a concern. That probably means they live in town and/or someone else takes out the garbage.
It’s more than 225 feet from my house to the road along a gravel drive. Those plastic containers don’t move well on gravel, especially in the winter.
I leave the trash container near the road, and drive my trash to it on Monday morning. Several of my neighbors, who also are past 70 years of age, do the same.
Down the road, individuals platted their land into small lots on private drives that are much longer than my drive.
The trash company doesn’t go down many of the dirt roads. Trash bins are gathered together at the main road, as many as a dozen in places.
I’ve seen people attach small wagons or trailers to their lawn tractors to move the containers from their houses to the roads.
Beyond weight, the difficulty with glass is that, if it breaks, it can tear through a plastic trash bag. That was especially a problem when the trash men had to pick up the bags and throw them into the trucks. If a bag broke, I was the one who had to pick up the debris that blew into the weeds.
Even now, if I have to throw out something with sharp edges, I put it inside a box or fabric. I’m using less paper, and don’t have enough protectors for the bottles.
The local trash company has changed to automated trucks, so the men won’t notice the bags are heavier. But I will, when I’m moving them from my car trunk to the container. And, I still can’t have a bag rip open.
I normally buy mineral water in 16.9 ounce plastic bottles. What’s available locally are 11.15 glass bottles.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had to worry about broken glass.
Back when that was all that was available, I had a full-sized refrigerator and bottles would fit on the shelves. Now I have a counter-top model; the only place a bottle will fit is in the door. The compartment does not have a rigid bar to hold things in place.
It was no problem if a plastic bottle fell out, other than the explosion when it was opened. Now, I have to think to open the door slowly.
Glass is heavier than plastic, which means bottles will weigh down the trash. The young and the husky might not think this is a concern. That probably means they live in town and/or someone else takes out the garbage.
It’s more than 225 feet from my house to the road along a gravel drive. Those plastic containers don’t move well on gravel, especially in the winter.
I leave the trash container near the road, and drive my trash to it on Monday morning. Several of my neighbors, who also are past 70 years of age, do the same.
Down the road, individuals platted their land into small lots on private drives that are much longer than my drive.
The trash company doesn’t go down many of the dirt roads. Trash bins are gathered together at the main road, as many as a dozen in places.
I’ve seen people attach small wagons or trailers to their lawn tractors to move the containers from their houses to the roads.
Beyond weight, the difficulty with glass is that, if it breaks, it can tear through a plastic trash bag. That was especially a problem when the trash men had to pick up the bags and throw them into the trucks. If a bag broke, I was the one who had to pick up the debris that blew into the weeds.
Even now, if I have to throw out something with sharp edges, I put it inside a box or fabric. I’m using less paper, and don’t have enough protectors for the bottles.
The local trash company has changed to automated trucks, so the men won’t notice the bags are heavier. But I will, when I’m moving them from my car trunk to the container. And, I still can’t have a bag rip open.
Sunday, April 05, 2020
Journal of a Plague Year, Saturday, April 4
The number of Coronavirus cases in New Mexico has doubled since there were 237 on March 30 and yesterday when there were 496. [1] Rio Arriba County is up to five. [2] Bernalillo County with Albuquerque still has the highest number of cases.
The statistics are useful if you’re comparing them with other parts of the country. You can say, "oh, we’re not so bad." After all, one county in Louisiana has about as many people as Rio Arriba, but almost 300 people have tested positive for Coronavirus. [3]
Published reports don’t include the number of individuals who are in hospitals, which is more important if you’re planning a public health response. The local hospital has a total of 34 beds, and experts believe it can handle "16 to 20 COVID-19 hospitalizations." [4]
The New York Times provided more useful information for understanding the seriousness of the contagion in a specific area. It calculated the number of cases per 100,000 people. [5]
By this measure, Sandoval County, between Albuquerque and Santa Fé, has the highest infection rate, 46.9, in the state. Three of the next six are in Navajo country: McKinley County has 43.9, San Juan 39.2, and Cibola 29.7 reports per 100,000 people.
The tourist meccas of Taos (39.5) and Santa Fé (34.9) are higher than Bernalillo (29.8). The governor’s orders that stopped the easy movement of people between these areas probably helped Española because local people had fewer contacts with tourists in hotels, restaurants, and other places in those cities.
The disease rates are lower in Chaves County (Roswell) with 19.9 and Rio Arriba with 12.7 cases per 100,000 people.
One reads these numbers for one reason: to assess one’s chance of getting sick. If the numbers remain stable, one feels a bit relieved; if they increase, one considers more ways to avoid contact with silent carriers.
This is the reason one would like to know more about the demographics. In China, we were told the people who died tended to older. Many were men who had smoked, and thus had weakened lungs. [6]
This reinforced the feelings of invincibility among the young.
It also led some to think that since the people who were affected no longer were making contributions to the economy, the disease should run its course without impairing the ability of the middle aged to continue working. This was promoted on Fox News by Tucker Carlson and Brit Hume. [7]
No one is reporting ethnicity, except the head of the Navajo nation. And for good reason. Asian-Americans already have been attacked on the streets. [8] But still, I’m sure many would like to know if the unique genetic inheritance of people descended from the earliest settlers in New Mexico makes them more or less vulnerable to the Coronavirus.
Sources:
1. Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in New Mexico." Updated daily.
2. "Coronavirus in New Mexico: Map and Case Count." The New York Times website. Tab US Cases. Tab Select a State. Updated 4 April 2020.
3. Dan Goldberg and Alice Miranda Ollstein. "Virus Hot Spots in South Poised for Disproportionate Suffering." Politico website. 3 April 2020. The total population of Saint John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, was 45, 924 in 2010; [9] the number in Rio Arriba that year was 40,246. [10]
4. Lauren Reichelt, Rio Arriba County Health and Human Services Director. Quoted by Molly Montgomery. Rio Grande Sun, Española, New Mexico, website. 19 March 2020; last updated 26 March 2020. "We estimate that we can handle 16 to 20 COVID-19 hospitalizations before we become overwhelmed. That means we can effectively address from 80 to 100 cases of COVID-19 in the Española Valley, which is the hospital’s catchment area."
5. The New York Times. The problems in the northwestern part of the state were mentioned in the second entry for March 25.
6. Karen Weintraub. "Coronavirus’ Top Targets: Men, Seniors, Smokers." WebMD website. 26 February 2020.
7. Matthew Rozsa. "Fox News’ Brit Hume: ‘Entirely reasonable’ for elderly to risk getting coronavirus to save economy." Salon website. March 25, 2020. Many others reported these comments at time they were made; this source was still available this morning.
8. Steve Mullis and Heidi Glenn. "New Site Collects Reports Of Racism Against Asian Americans Amid Coronavirus Pandemic." National Public Radio website. 27 March 2020. Russell Jeung, San Francisco State University, set up website to track attacks on Asian-Americans. It received 650 reports in eight days.
9. Wikipedia. "St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana."
10. Wikipedia. "Rio Arriba County, New Mexico."
The statistics are useful if you’re comparing them with other parts of the country. You can say, "oh, we’re not so bad." After all, one county in Louisiana has about as many people as Rio Arriba, but almost 300 people have tested positive for Coronavirus. [3]
Published reports don’t include the number of individuals who are in hospitals, which is more important if you’re planning a public health response. The local hospital has a total of 34 beds, and experts believe it can handle "16 to 20 COVID-19 hospitalizations." [4]
The New York Times provided more useful information for understanding the seriousness of the contagion in a specific area. It calculated the number of cases per 100,000 people. [5]
By this measure, Sandoval County, between Albuquerque and Santa Fé, has the highest infection rate, 46.9, in the state. Three of the next six are in Navajo country: McKinley County has 43.9, San Juan 39.2, and Cibola 29.7 reports per 100,000 people.
The tourist meccas of Taos (39.5) and Santa Fé (34.9) are higher than Bernalillo (29.8). The governor’s orders that stopped the easy movement of people between these areas probably helped Española because local people had fewer contacts with tourists in hotels, restaurants, and other places in those cities.
The disease rates are lower in Chaves County (Roswell) with 19.9 and Rio Arriba with 12.7 cases per 100,000 people.
One reads these numbers for one reason: to assess one’s chance of getting sick. If the numbers remain stable, one feels a bit relieved; if they increase, one considers more ways to avoid contact with silent carriers.
This is the reason one would like to know more about the demographics. In China, we were told the people who died tended to older. Many were men who had smoked, and thus had weakened lungs. [6]
This reinforced the feelings of invincibility among the young.
It also led some to think that since the people who were affected no longer were making contributions to the economy, the disease should run its course without impairing the ability of the middle aged to continue working. This was promoted on Fox News by Tucker Carlson and Brit Hume. [7]
No one is reporting ethnicity, except the head of the Navajo nation. And for good reason. Asian-Americans already have been attacked on the streets. [8] But still, I’m sure many would like to know if the unique genetic inheritance of people descended from the earliest settlers in New Mexico makes them more or less vulnerable to the Coronavirus.
Sources:
1. Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in New Mexico." Updated daily.
2. "Coronavirus in New Mexico: Map and Case Count." The New York Times website. Tab US Cases. Tab Select a State. Updated 4 April 2020.
3. Dan Goldberg and Alice Miranda Ollstein. "Virus Hot Spots in South Poised for Disproportionate Suffering." Politico website. 3 April 2020. The total population of Saint John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana, was 45, 924 in 2010; [9] the number in Rio Arriba that year was 40,246. [10]
4. Lauren Reichelt, Rio Arriba County Health and Human Services Director. Quoted by Molly Montgomery. Rio Grande Sun, Española, New Mexico, website. 19 March 2020; last updated 26 March 2020. "We estimate that we can handle 16 to 20 COVID-19 hospitalizations before we become overwhelmed. That means we can effectively address from 80 to 100 cases of COVID-19 in the Española Valley, which is the hospital’s catchment area."
5. The New York Times. The problems in the northwestern part of the state were mentioned in the second entry for March 25.
6. Karen Weintraub. "Coronavirus’ Top Targets: Men, Seniors, Smokers." WebMD website. 26 February 2020.
7. Matthew Rozsa. "Fox News’ Brit Hume: ‘Entirely reasonable’ for elderly to risk getting coronavirus to save economy." Salon website. March 25, 2020. Many others reported these comments at time they were made; this source was still available this morning.
8. Steve Mullis and Heidi Glenn. "New Site Collects Reports Of Racism Against Asian Americans Amid Coronavirus Pandemic." National Public Radio website. 27 March 2020. Russell Jeung, San Francisco State University, set up website to track attacks on Asian-Americans. It received 650 reports in eight days.
9. Wikipedia. "St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana."
10. Wikipedia. "Rio Arriba County, New Mexico."
Saturday, April 04, 2020
Journal of a Plague Year, Friday, April 3 (continued)
My shopping strategy changed today. Instead of buying things to get through a month, I began thinking in longer terms.
The supplies of mineral water and crackers had been restocked. It looked like they will not become a problem.
While there had been some paper goods two weeks ago, today there was done. Fortunately, I had restocked before the crisis, and don’t have to worry. Much of these manufacturing processes are automated, and so I have faith things will be available when I need them.
I realized I would need aspirin in about two months. Despite the demand for pain relievers and cough medicines, it was still available.
I calculated I would run out of lentils in another month. There was only bag of lentils left in the grocery.
Several years ago they disappeared from the stores. I looked online to see if there had been crop failures or a recall, but could find nothing. I was able to get some from Amazon, but they were expensive, as was the shipping by the pound.
Eventually, one local grocery brought in supplies from various Mexican companies. I don’t believe that store still has the same vendors. However, they still are available online.
When lentils did reappear it took about a year before they were clean. Debris falls to the bottom of those large storage silos, and I had to check every spoonful I cooked for bits of rocks. This was true of both the gourmet brands on Amazon and the generic ones normally availably locally. It was a function of gravity aggravated by a failure to fully clean facilities between cargoes.
Rice is the problem. Three days ago when I went looking for it on Amazon, the Wall Street Journal published an article on its pay-to-view website on commodities shortages. [1] Others followed up.
The concerns were wheat and rice. The supply of the first is caught in the mesh of Trump’s trade policies. Prices are rising in the commodities markets, in part, because farmers are planning to plant fewer acres, and changing over to soybeans. [2]
Rice is more complex. The variety I buy comes from California, but most rice in this country is grown in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. [3] These are states that have been slow to respond to the threat of the Coronavirus pandemic. However, most of the work now is done by machines.
The prime rice producers in the international market are Thailand, Vietnam, and India. The primary customers are China, India, and other parts of southeastern Asia. [4] Thailand is recovering from a drought, [5] while Vietnam and Cambodia have banned exports. [6] This creates more demand for American-grown rice in the international trade.
The current supply is low. Dwight Roberts of the Rice Producers Association, says there’s "virtually nothing left" for commodities brokers "to trade." However, he said crops are being planted now, and there’s some expectation that "there will be a large amount of acres planted in 2020." [7]
Rice is planted in March, and harvested in September. It’s then threshed, dried, and milled. [8] This year’s crop probably won’t be available until October.
I just looked at my credit card records, and saw that I buy it about every five months. I last got some the end of January. I’ll have none left by the end of June. Then it’s four months til the new crop comes into the market.
The local grocery store still had some rice, but limited supplies to one per customer. I bought what is likely a three-week extension.
The rice and legume shelves in the local grocery were bare of other items. Some green and yellow peas remained. And, so far, there’s no shortage of pinto beans.
Sources:
1. "Wheat and Rice Prices Surge in Coronavirus Lockdown." Wall Street Journal website. 30 March 2020.
2. Alexandra Kelley. "Prices on Some Food Items Are Surging During Coronavirus Pandemic." The Hill website. 31 March 2020.
3. Matt Shipp. "Rice Crop Timeline for the Southern States of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi." United States Department of Agriculture, Integrated Pest Management Centers website. 1.
4. "Rice." Trading Economics website.
5. Dwight Roberts. "Rice Market Update: Coronavirus + Planting New Crop = ???" Ag Fax website. 12 March 2020.
6. "Cambodia To Ban Some Rice Exports Due to Coronavirus. Fact Box website. 30 March 2020."
7. Roberts.
8. Shipp. 63. I could find out much on the delays between reaping and shipping to customers, but didn’t get the impression it was long.
The supplies of mineral water and crackers had been restocked. It looked like they will not become a problem.
While there had been some paper goods two weeks ago, today there was done. Fortunately, I had restocked before the crisis, and don’t have to worry. Much of these manufacturing processes are automated, and so I have faith things will be available when I need them.
I realized I would need aspirin in about two months. Despite the demand for pain relievers and cough medicines, it was still available.
I calculated I would run out of lentils in another month. There was only bag of lentils left in the grocery.
Several years ago they disappeared from the stores. I looked online to see if there had been crop failures or a recall, but could find nothing. I was able to get some from Amazon, but they were expensive, as was the shipping by the pound.
Eventually, one local grocery brought in supplies from various Mexican companies. I don’t believe that store still has the same vendors. However, they still are available online.
When lentils did reappear it took about a year before they were clean. Debris falls to the bottom of those large storage silos, and I had to check every spoonful I cooked for bits of rocks. This was true of both the gourmet brands on Amazon and the generic ones normally availably locally. It was a function of gravity aggravated by a failure to fully clean facilities between cargoes.
Rice is the problem. Three days ago when I went looking for it on Amazon, the Wall Street Journal published an article on its pay-to-view website on commodities shortages. [1] Others followed up.
The concerns were wheat and rice. The supply of the first is caught in the mesh of Trump’s trade policies. Prices are rising in the commodities markets, in part, because farmers are planning to plant fewer acres, and changing over to soybeans. [2]
Rice is more complex. The variety I buy comes from California, but most rice in this country is grown in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. [3] These are states that have been slow to respond to the threat of the Coronavirus pandemic. However, most of the work now is done by machines.
The prime rice producers in the international market are Thailand, Vietnam, and India. The primary customers are China, India, and other parts of southeastern Asia. [4] Thailand is recovering from a drought, [5] while Vietnam and Cambodia have banned exports. [6] This creates more demand for American-grown rice in the international trade.
The current supply is low. Dwight Roberts of the Rice Producers Association, says there’s "virtually nothing left" for commodities brokers "to trade." However, he said crops are being planted now, and there’s some expectation that "there will be a large amount of acres planted in 2020." [7]
Rice is planted in March, and harvested in September. It’s then threshed, dried, and milled. [8] This year’s crop probably won’t be available until October.
I just looked at my credit card records, and saw that I buy it about every five months. I last got some the end of January. I’ll have none left by the end of June. Then it’s four months til the new crop comes into the market.
The local grocery store still had some rice, but limited supplies to one per customer. I bought what is likely a three-week extension.
The rice and legume shelves in the local grocery were bare of other items. Some green and yellow peas remained. And, so far, there’s no shortage of pinto beans.
Sources:
1. "Wheat and Rice Prices Surge in Coronavirus Lockdown." Wall Street Journal website. 30 March 2020.
2. Alexandra Kelley. "Prices on Some Food Items Are Surging During Coronavirus Pandemic." The Hill website. 31 March 2020.
3. Matt Shipp. "Rice Crop Timeline for the Southern States of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi." United States Department of Agriculture, Integrated Pest Management Centers website. 1.
4. "Rice." Trading Economics website.
5. Dwight Roberts. "Rice Market Update: Coronavirus + Planting New Crop = ???" Ag Fax website. 12 March 2020.
6. "Cambodia To Ban Some Rice Exports Due to Coronavirus. Fact Box website. 30 March 2020."
7. Roberts.
8. Shipp. 63. I could find out much on the delays between reaping and shipping to customers, but didn’t get the impression it was long.
Friday, April 03, 2020
Journal of a Plague Year, Friday, April 3
It felt a bit like it was Halloween when I made my weekly trip into town today.
I decided I should treat it the way I treat going out to spray the fruit trees for insects. Instead of dressing up, I put on some summer work clothes which I could lay aside and was separately. Instead of taking a shower this morning, I took it after I got home.
Adding to the sense of theatricality, I wore a mask for the first time and had my hands in the gallon plastic bags.
It had been two weeks since I had been inside any place in Española. Last week I was able to do everything at a distance.
However, our Brand X telephone company dictated a change. It has the shortest time between when it sends bills and when they are due. This is a gimmick to make it more likely people have to pay late fees.
Last Friday when I went to the post office, I had bills from two companies that are due on the 15th, but not the telephone company which is due on the 10th. As a result, I went to my box and grabbed my mail, then sat in the car to write a check.
I had the choice of taking a stamp with me, or replenishing my supply. I decided on that latter, which is why I had to go into the lobby.
Before I wrote checks this morning, I reconciled my credit card and bank statements. I discovered two weeks ago a clerk had entered 28, instead of 17 as the number of items I purchased. As I result I overpaid the store some $30. I should have noticed this at the time; there’s no way I can prove anything now. I ascribed it to fatigue by the cashier.
The other problem was the ink was so light in places on a receipt, I had mistaken an 8 for a 3. This was from the day when the lines were long, and the cashiers probably didn’t have time to service their registers’ printers.
The last time I went into the post office or stores, the ones in Española were taking precautions, but not the ones in Santa Fé. This time, all the employees in the grocery store were wearing masked with their gloves. Likewise, the people in the post office were so guarded.
Last time, only a few customers were wearing masks or gloves. There’s been news stories speculating that Trump would recommend everyone wear a mask or scarf, although experts weren’t sure they were 100% reliable. Today, more were wearing masks, but no one wore gloves. One older woman was using a scarf.
The post office had installed a barrier so customers couldn’t get close to the counter, while the hardware store had put up a plexiglass sheet by one cashier’s register. It had a hole through which one place small items to be scanned. For larger ones, the person had to reach to the hole with the scanner.
Both also had marked off six-foot divisions, one with pieces of tape, the other with cut outs of feet. I was reminded of a childhood game like Musical Chairs when we all moved forward one position when a person vacated their position. One woman made a point of planting her feet exactly in the markers.
The only ones who were not using all the precautions were the beautiful young women. One cashier wasn’t wearing a mask like the others; another wasn’t wearing gloves like she was two weeks ago. Plexiglass is like a mask: only a barrier, not a guarantee.
I decided I should treat it the way I treat going out to spray the fruit trees for insects. Instead of dressing up, I put on some summer work clothes which I could lay aside and was separately. Instead of taking a shower this morning, I took it after I got home.
Adding to the sense of theatricality, I wore a mask for the first time and had my hands in the gallon plastic bags.
It had been two weeks since I had been inside any place in Española. Last week I was able to do everything at a distance.
However, our Brand X telephone company dictated a change. It has the shortest time between when it sends bills and when they are due. This is a gimmick to make it more likely people have to pay late fees.
Last Friday when I went to the post office, I had bills from two companies that are due on the 15th, but not the telephone company which is due on the 10th. As a result, I went to my box and grabbed my mail, then sat in the car to write a check.
I had the choice of taking a stamp with me, or replenishing my supply. I decided on that latter, which is why I had to go into the lobby.
Before I wrote checks this morning, I reconciled my credit card and bank statements. I discovered two weeks ago a clerk had entered 28, instead of 17 as the number of items I purchased. As I result I overpaid the store some $30. I should have noticed this at the time; there’s no way I can prove anything now. I ascribed it to fatigue by the cashier.
The other problem was the ink was so light in places on a receipt, I had mistaken an 8 for a 3. This was from the day when the lines were long, and the cashiers probably didn’t have time to service their registers’ printers.
The last time I went into the post office or stores, the ones in Española were taking precautions, but not the ones in Santa Fé. This time, all the employees in the grocery store were wearing masked with their gloves. Likewise, the people in the post office were so guarded.
Last time, only a few customers were wearing masks or gloves. There’s been news stories speculating that Trump would recommend everyone wear a mask or scarf, although experts weren’t sure they were 100% reliable. Today, more were wearing masks, but no one wore gloves. One older woman was using a scarf.
The post office had installed a barrier so customers couldn’t get close to the counter, while the hardware store had put up a plexiglass sheet by one cashier’s register. It had a hole through which one place small items to be scanned. For larger ones, the person had to reach to the hole with the scanner.
Both also had marked off six-foot divisions, one with pieces of tape, the other with cut outs of feet. I was reminded of a childhood game like Musical Chairs when we all moved forward one position when a person vacated their position. One woman made a point of planting her feet exactly in the markers.
The only ones who were not using all the precautions were the beautiful young women. One cashier wasn’t wearing a mask like the others; another wasn’t wearing gloves like she was two weeks ago. Plexiglass is like a mask: only a barrier, not a guarantee.
Thursday, April 02, 2020
Journal of a Plague Year, Thursday, April 2
I originally planned to post my old notes on Coronavirus each day until I reached the present. I assumed by then things would have reached some equilibrium and there might be little to say.
That changed yesterday. I saw the number of cases of Coronavirus in the state had more than doubled in three days. Wikipedia says we had 136 cases on March 26 and 191 on March 27, a 40% increase. By March 31, the total was up to 315.
That sounds alarming, as if everything we’d done to stop the spread had been futile. However, the case isn’t quite so glum if one applies the 18-day time lag. Individuals who tested positive on March 27 were exposed sometime after March 10. The governor closed the schools on March 13, just as she was getting indications the problem could be serious.
Non-essential businesses were closed March 23, which means their latest onset date for Coronavirus for that action would be this Friday, April 10. The storm is still gathering.
My problem wasn’t with the statistics, but that I didn’t know it was happening. I checked the internet every night, and little was reported. Rio Arriba County’s total cases remained officially at two. Now it’s four.
One sometimes wonders why Fox is more popular than our local television stations, and why people ready The New York Times rather than local papers. Fox broadcasts what people want to hear. Not everything may be true, but something is better than no information in a time of crises.
The local television stations were posting stories that were a day or two old, then stopped.
Their failure to rise to the occasion forced me to find other sources. First it was a Politico website that only provided state totals. Then it was Wikipedia which has more detailed information, but only through March 31 as of this morning.
It was The New York Times that alerted me the doubling in the number of cases. It only brought its website online yesterday, and, unlike some local newspapers, has made its coverage of Coronavirus available to everyone, not just subscribers.
The title for this section of this blog is taken from a novel written in 1722 by Daniel Defoe about the London plague of 1665. I also could have borrowed a title from a novel by Gabriel García Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera. Both books have dropped in demand on Amazon since I last looked. Currently the García Marquez book ranks 873, down from 736. Many editions of Defoe’s Journal of a Plague Year are available. The best selling one now ranks 4,103, down from 1,323. His style is much harder to read.
Sources:
The New York Times website. Tab US Cases. Tab Select a State.
Politico website. "How Many Coronavirus Cases Have Been Found in Each U.S. State?"
Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in New Mexico."
That changed yesterday. I saw the number of cases of Coronavirus in the state had more than doubled in three days. Wikipedia says we had 136 cases on March 26 and 191 on March 27, a 40% increase. By March 31, the total was up to 315.
That sounds alarming, as if everything we’d done to stop the spread had been futile. However, the case isn’t quite so glum if one applies the 18-day time lag. Individuals who tested positive on March 27 were exposed sometime after March 10. The governor closed the schools on March 13, just as she was getting indications the problem could be serious.
Non-essential businesses were closed March 23, which means their latest onset date for Coronavirus for that action would be this Friday, April 10. The storm is still gathering.
My problem wasn’t with the statistics, but that I didn’t know it was happening. I checked the internet every night, and little was reported. Rio Arriba County’s total cases remained officially at two. Now it’s four.
One sometimes wonders why Fox is more popular than our local television stations, and why people ready The New York Times rather than local papers. Fox broadcasts what people want to hear. Not everything may be true, but something is better than no information in a time of crises.
The local television stations were posting stories that were a day or two old, then stopped.
Their failure to rise to the occasion forced me to find other sources. First it was a Politico website that only provided state totals. Then it was Wikipedia which has more detailed information, but only through March 31 as of this morning.
It was The New York Times that alerted me the doubling in the number of cases. It only brought its website online yesterday, and, unlike some local newspapers, has made its coverage of Coronavirus available to everyone, not just subscribers.
The title for this section of this blog is taken from a novel written in 1722 by Daniel Defoe about the London plague of 1665. I also could have borrowed a title from a novel by Gabriel García Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera. Both books have dropped in demand on Amazon since I last looked. Currently the García Marquez book ranks 873, down from 736. Many editions of Defoe’s Journal of a Plague Year are available. The best selling one now ranks 4,103, down from 1,323. His style is much harder to read.
Sources:
The New York Times website. Tab US Cases. Tab Select a State.
Politico website. "How Many Coronavirus Cases Have Been Found in Each U.S. State?"
Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in New Mexico."
Journal of a Plague Year, Wednesday, April 1
It’s spring, and the ditches have begun running. The apricots and peaches started blooming early, and so far no frost has killed the potential harvest.
The heat began early, and the rain has been sparse. Plants that respond to temperature have begun to leaf, even though the water is disappearing from the soil.
This week I began watering some fruit trees. And, as happens every year, I discovered hoses that had failed during the winter, or been attacked by ground squirrels.
However, the greatest problem every year with hoses is that the local stores get their stock in late winter, and it isn’t replenished. When problems arise in the heat of summer, nothing is available.
As you can guess from earlier posts, my response was to find on-line sources. Even they go dry in summer. Last year I ordered enough to get me though until this spring. I’ve used half my reserve already.
Today I was able to order more, with reasonable delivery times.
In the scheme of things, these are not essential items. If Amazon has them in stock, it’s because they received their inventory before they shut their doors to non-critical items. I suspect it wants nothing more than to ship them out, and free more space for diapers.
However, when I was on line today I saw a new story telling me it was immoral to order now. Even though the employer might want to sell, the employees are endangered by being at work, and the post office employees by having to make deliveries.
I understand the problems with going out of the house, and hope the package will fit into one of the post office’s lockers. I don’t want to go into the counter area anymore than they want me there. However, the alternative for the Amazon employees is unemployment.
These are hard decisions that are exploited by the Puritans among us who want us to feel guilty about any pleasure. They would like to extend their warning to don’t buy non-essential items ever.
I first noticed it when the advice that one not touch one’s face was turned into don’t touch yourself. The first was a recognition that people could pick up the virus from some surface, and then infect themselves when they put their uncleaned hands near their mouths or noses. The other sounded like a continuation of adolescent sex education.
Sources:
Monica Torres. "Why You Shouldn’t Order Nonessential Packages During The Coronavirus Pandemic." Huffington Post website. 31 March 2020.
The heat began early, and the rain has been sparse. Plants that respond to temperature have begun to leaf, even though the water is disappearing from the soil.
This week I began watering some fruit trees. And, as happens every year, I discovered hoses that had failed during the winter, or been attacked by ground squirrels.
However, the greatest problem every year with hoses is that the local stores get their stock in late winter, and it isn’t replenished. When problems arise in the heat of summer, nothing is available.
As you can guess from earlier posts, my response was to find on-line sources. Even they go dry in summer. Last year I ordered enough to get me though until this spring. I’ve used half my reserve already.
Today I was able to order more, with reasonable delivery times.
In the scheme of things, these are not essential items. If Amazon has them in stock, it’s because they received their inventory before they shut their doors to non-critical items. I suspect it wants nothing more than to ship them out, and free more space for diapers.
However, when I was on line today I saw a new story telling me it was immoral to order now. Even though the employer might want to sell, the employees are endangered by being at work, and the post office employees by having to make deliveries.
I understand the problems with going out of the house, and hope the package will fit into one of the post office’s lockers. I don’t want to go into the counter area anymore than they want me there. However, the alternative for the Amazon employees is unemployment.
These are hard decisions that are exploited by the Puritans among us who want us to feel guilty about any pleasure. They would like to extend their warning to don’t buy non-essential items ever.
I first noticed it when the advice that one not touch one’s face was turned into don’t touch yourself. The first was a recognition that people could pick up the virus from some surface, and then infect themselves when they put their uncleaned hands near their mouths or noses. The other sounded like a continuation of adolescent sex education.
Sources:
Monica Torres. "Why You Shouldn’t Order Nonessential Packages During The Coronavirus Pandemic." Huffington Post website. 31 March 2020.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)