Mostly Covid-19: the Sleep of Reason

25 Saturday Sep 2021

Posted by michelinewalker in COVID-19, Pandemic

Tags

Bill 105, Covid-19, Cultist, debt ceiling, Francisco Goya, Loi 105, Pandemic, The Sleep of Reason

FRANCISCO GOYA, *EL SUEÑO DE LA RAZÓN PRODUCE MONSTRUOS (THE SLEEP OF REASON PRODUCES MONSTERS)*, 1799, PRINT N°43 OF THE *CAPRICHOS* SERIES (MUSEO NACIONAL DEL PRADO, MADRID). (PHOTO CREDIT: WIKIPEDIA)

I have used the above image several times. It is Goya’s 43^rd print in his series of 80 prints entitled Los Caprichos. It is a fine illustration of cultism and extremism.

—ooo—

The Debt Ceiling

I will be writing about Covid-19. Cases are numerous and given the number of individuals who are contracting Covid-19, we are looking at the harm anti-vaxxers are causing, including self-harm. Reason has fallen asleep. Let us first look at the need to raise the US debt ceiling.

Some of my readers may not have understood a reference to the debt ceiling. It applies to the economy of the United States. This subject is both difficult and easy to understand. Superficially, it goes as follows. If the United States does not raise its debt ceiling, it is proving that it hasn’t enough money to pay its debts. If it does not raise the debt ceiling, it can no longer borrow money and it loses the confidence of investors, the stock market. If investors do not invest, and the United States cannot borrow money, a recession, if not a “crash,” is unavoidable. The pandemic has been very costly, which means that the debt is high, and that the debt ceiling must be raised. A nation cannot put aside its economy. The following article contains a little drawing that may be helpful.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/09/22/debt-ceiling-explained/

At this point, the Republicans (Mr Trump’s party) are suggesting that they may not allow the Biden administration to raise the debt ceiling. It’s a nasty game. If the Republican party prevents the United States from raising its debt ceiling, everyone would be hurt, including the Republicans and our global economy. Therefore, in a comment, I used the expression “to cut your nose off to spite your face,” which means that Republicans would hurt themselves in an attempt to hurt the Democrats. Therefore, sanity and plain common sense dictate a rise in the debt ceiling. One must cultivate a conciliatory spirit.

Covid-19

—ooo—

Loi 105

Manifestations antivaccins: Québec adopte à toute vapeur le projet de loi 105 (msn.com)

MSN Actualités | Actualité du Québec, actualité de Montréal, MSN Canada

Quebec rapidly passes ban on COVID-19-related protests near schools, hospitals (msn.com

Quebec records 795 new COVID-19 cases, five more deaths (msn.com)

Similarly, sanity dictates vaccination. People who are not vaccinated are at risk and these unvaccinated individuals are probably cultists. Tens of thousands will die and the dead will soon be anti-vaccination militants. We are no longer looking at unvaccinated individuals who were neglectful. If they have lost a dear-one in the Pandemic, these persons may be convinced to be vaccinated. Cultists will not. They do not believe in Covid-19 and think the vaccine will poison them. If one tries to persuade them that Covid kills and that the vaccine is “adequate” protection, cultists will dig in their heels. Cultists do not think. They do not use “reason.”

There is plentiful evidence that millions have died globally. Moreover, there is plentiful evidence that following sanitary rules and vaccination provide “adequate” protection. President Biden and Dr Fauci have not died. Nor have the people living in this building. They have followed the rules and most, if not all, have been vaccinated.

So, yesterday, Quebec passed a law prohibiting demonstrations by anti-vaxxers and by Covid related activists near schools or near institutions where persons have not been vaccinated. They must keep 50 meters away. Initially, children did not contract the coronavirus. They are, therefore, the last to be vaccinated, hence Bill 105. If one cannot reason with someone else, a law is passed. Governments protect their endangered population. A person who sues the government for violating his or her freedom will lose. Yet, anti-vaxxers may sue. Under Bill 105, protestors will pay a fine, but they are not facing imprisonment. Not yet.

Covid-19 and its Variants: an alarming number of cases

After hearing that we were required to obtain a vaccine passport and that healthcare workers who were not vaccinated before 15 October 2021 would be replaced, I could see light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, but I now see darkness. Governments know how many have died of Covid-19, and they know that the vaccine is “adequate” protection. So, cultists are like Republicans contemplating not raising the debt ceiling. They may and will die to avoid death. Extremism is very dangerous.

Would that their defiance and plain arrogance did not boil down to anti-social behaviour. Cultists are not mere Doubting Thomases. As inferred above, doubting Thomases will be vaccinated if they lose a wife or a husband. I agree, some medications, including the vaccine, are potentially harmful. But the vaccine is all we have.

Once again, humans are proving that they are their own worst enemy. Not only are the unvaccinated cutting off their nose to spite their face, but they are causing others to contract the coronavirus, thereby making themselves agents of the virus, and worse… They themselves will suffer the death they wished to avoid: their own death.

Cultist | Definition of Cultist by Merriam-Webster

Everything you need to know about COVID-19 in Alberta on Wednesday, Sept. 22 | CBC News Alberta doctor under fire for spreading ‘completely false’ COVID-19 claims | CBC News

N.S. top doc says anti-vaxx video claiming girl’s heart stopped after vaccine is false | CBC News

Hospital protests pushing already exhausted staff to the brink, says Vancouver doctor | CBC Radio

Manque d’infirmières : Legault défend sa « petite révolution » (msn.com)

—ooo—

Love to everyone 💕

Gnossienne N°1 Alexandre Tharaud (Erik Satie : Gnossiennes)

*The Incredulity of Saint Thomas*
by Caravaggio, c. 1602

Chronicling Covid-19 (13): Reopening

08 Friday May 2020

Posted by michelinewalker in Canada, Covid-19, Pandemic

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Doug Ford, François Legault, Pandemic, Quebec, Reopening, Testing, The Good Samaritan, Top Doctors

800px-Balthasar_van_Cortbemde_-_The_Good_Samaritan

The Good Samaritan by Balthasar van Cortbemde (Wikipedia)

The Good Samaritan by Rembrandt (Wikipedia)

I’ve been away for a long time. I had to attend to various little duties and I remain very sad. So many have died and they are mostly older people, the poor, the black, the homeless. Covid-19 does not discriminate, but too many victims had no shelter or false shelters.

Scheherazade

For my part, an old injury resurfaced: ulcers. I also remembered my mother teaching us that death, God Himself, came in the night, like a thief, and took us away. Vigilance was necessary. We prayed before going to bed, but all I had to ask God was to wait another day. Asking for more would burden Him. Scheherazade told the first part of a tale that so intrigued the king that he let her live another day to hear the remainder. He didn’t kill her until the story had been told in full. Centuries later, perhaps millennia, a little child in Quebec prayed so her death would be postponed by one more day.

As you can see, Covid-19 has taken its toll on me. Why am I thinking that death will take me in the middle of the night? That feeling is best described as archaic, but we die.

Schools

Today’s big debate in Quebec and the rest of Canada is whether and when to reopen schools. Life at home with the children may be too difficult. In theory, schools were to reopen on Monday, May 4^th, but although governments have a duty to provide children with an education, reopening was postponed until May 19^th, but the government will not demand that parents send their children to school. Reopening may again be postponed. The virus is still active and remains lethal in too many cases. Viruses run their course and find epicenters. The State of New York and New York city were the United States’ epicenter. I hope therefore that United States President Trump will bail out the State of New York. In Canada, Quebec was targeted and Montreal was Covid-19’s epicenter. All one could do was create rules of engagement: washing one’s hand, distancing, wearing a mask and locking down infested areas.

We have learned, however, that long-term care facilities could not cope with this new reality. One could not distance patients or residents so, the staff of these homes were overwhelmed. Many walked out for fear of catching an easily transmissible virus.

We have also learned that certain populations were more vulnerable than others. The old are at risk, but also the black. Scientists have therefore begun studying vulnerability. I quoted Dr. Vinh-Kim Nguyen in my last post. (See RELATED ARTICLE) Dr Vinh-Kim Nguyen has been studying Aids/Sida, and his regional area of expertise is West Africa (see Dr Vinh-Kim Nguyen). Studying regions, populations, and the origin of a pathogen is legitimate. Other scientists study the benefits and harm attached to confinement.

© Pierre Obendrauf. “We’ve done things in grocery stores to make them safer,” says Dr. Jay Kaufman, regarding the plan to let other businesses in Montreal reopen on May 18. “If we can go into a store safely to buy a head of lettuce, we should be able to go into a store and safely buy a pair of shoes.”

Canada’s top doctor, Dr Theresa Tam is continuing to focus on her work, despite allegations of conspiracy with China. Determining the origin of the outbreak is necessary, but accusing Dr Theresa Tam of conspiracy with China smacks of racism. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has defended Dr Tam.

https://globalnews.ca/video/6903338/coronavirus-outbreak-when-it-comes-to-anti-chinese-sentiment-freeland-says-a-canadian-is-a-canadian-is-a-canadian

One of the good news is that an antibody could prevent infections. This is progress. But we are dealing with the novel coronavirus. It is a new virus and it may have infected people months before its breakout in Wuhan.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/groundbreaking-discovery-of-antibody-which-prevents-infection/ar-BB13AyKM

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/shutdown-must-end-with-safety-measures-says-mcgill (this link has expired)

It has been noted that the poor are at risk. Montreal’s outbreak has affected the residents of Montreal-North. Its residents are poor. They do not have computers, cell phones. In short, they did not have access and protective garments (PPE). Finding masks, gloves and shields, PPE, has bedeviled the pandemic, but it killed the poor and the homeless. Shame on us.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling for a national policy on contact tracing, even at this point. Had such a policy been put into place at an early date, it would have lessened the severity of the pandemic. But it seems we were all caught by surprise.

https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB11L7dC.img?h=579&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1175&y=632

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/ontario-calls-for-a-national-strategy-on-contact-tracing-of-covid-19-cases/ahttps://globalnews.ca/news/6907247/coronavirus-doug-ford-local-medical-officers-testing/

However, testing is slow, which is the main problem. Had it worked immediately, the Spartan cube could have helped determine who was infected and who wasn’t. This would have benefited the economy. However, the Spartan Cube has not proven as reliable “in person” as it did in a lab. Adjustments have to be made. This is a sign of the times. Covid-19 is a new virus and we were not prepared when it hit.

Both Doug Ford, Ontario’s Premier and François Legault, Quebec’s premier, hesitate to lift the lockdown. It could backfire, so everyone is worried.

There is some validity to the notion of herd immunity, but there can be no doubt that self isolating and distancing have spared countless lives. It is as in Giovanni Boccacci’s Decameron. Therefore, Premiers Doug Ford of Ontario and François Legault of Quebec are not pushing people back to work. They are testing, and testing, and testing, but cannot test everyone.

https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2020/05/update-on-canadian-armed-forces-response-to-covid-19-pandemic.html

Conclusion

I believe this is my last post on the pandemic. It tested us and researchers will have much to study. I have in fact discovered areas of learning. Our top doctors are the heroes of the day. Dr Bonnie Henry of British Columbia looks very tired, but women want to purchase the shoes she wears. Premiers Doug Ford and François Legault joined hands in battling a common enemy that has yet to be defeated. There may be a second and a third wave. I expect changes in many sectors.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/a-matter-of-trust-covid-19-pandemic-has-tested-public-confidence-in-science-like-never-before/ar-BB13LaM5?ocid=msedgdhp

I offer my deepest condolences to the persons who have lost a dear one or dear ones.

The latest numbers of confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4 a.m. ET on May 8, 2020:

There are 64,922 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada.

Quebec: 35,238 confirmed (including 2,631 deaths, 8,673 resolved)
Ontario: 19,121 confirmed (including 1,477 deaths, 13,569 resolved)
Alberta: 6,017 confirmed (including 114 deaths, 3,809 resolved)
British Columbia: 2,288 confirmed (including 126 deaths, 1,512 resolved)
Nova Scotia: 1,007 confirmed (including 44 deaths, 708 resolved)
Saskatchewan: 531 confirmed (including 6 deaths, 329 resolved)
Manitoba: 272 confirmed (including 7 deaths, 243 resolved), 11 presumptive
Newfoundland and Labrador: 261 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 244 resolved)
New Brunswick: 120 confirmed (including 118 resolved)
Prince Edward Island: 27 confirmed (including 26 resolved)
Repatriated Canadians: 13 confirmed (including 13 resolved)
Yukon: 11 confirmed (including 11 resolved)
Northwest Territories: 5 confirmed (including 5 resolved)
Nunavut: No confirmed cases
Total: 64,922 (11 presumptive, 64,911 confirmed including 4,408 deaths, 29,260 resolved)

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2020

RELATED POST

Chronicling Covid-19 (12): The Caregivers (17 April 2020)

JS Bach, Partita in A minor, BWV 1013 —Emmanuel Pahud

Girl Sleeping by Rembrandt (art.com)

Paul Robeson sings “Joe Hill” (2)

19 Sunday Apr 2020

Posted by michelinewalker in Pandemic, The United States

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Human Rights, Joe Hill, Organize, Pandemic, Paul Robeson, President Trump

Paul Leroy Robeson (wiki2.org)

I reread my post and made a change. If one returns to work untested and works in a contaminated environment, one’s life is a stake and contagion will continue exponentially.

To liberate…

The Washington Post has stories and pictures that tell the unacceptable. President Trump is smiling as he encourages States to end the lockdown using the word “liberate.” “Liberate?” People may return to work because they have yet to receive money from Washington. What happened to the “stimulus” fund?

https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?e=bWljaGVsaW5lLndhbGtlckB2aWRlb3Ryb24uY2E%3D&s=5e9b5f6afe1ff6038c0af295&linknum=1&linktot=58

If a person has not received an income for two months, he or she may return to work at the cost of his or her life, which is scandalous. Before a person reënters the workplace, that person has to test negative and the workplace must be as safe an environment as possible.

There is enough money in the United States to keep people secure for a few more weeks. At the moment, returning to work is unsafe. Moreover, some people will have suffered emotionally and mentally. They require help.

Paul Robeson was a magnificent singer.

RELATED ARTICLES

Executed Today.com (19 November 2007)
Paul Robeson sings “Joe Hill” & the News (12 August 2012)
Joe Hill (wiki2.org)

Love to everyone 💕

Robeson in football uniform at Rutgers, c. 1919 (wiki2.org)

The Coronavirus.1

10 Tuesday Mar 2020

Posted by michelinewalker in Disease, Middle Ages, Songs

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Coronavirus, Epidemic, Giovanni Boccacio, la peste noire, Pandemic, Self-Isolation, the Black Death, The Decameron

La peste noire en Europe a également au des conséquences dramatiques sur le reste du monde

Burying victims of the Bubonic Plague at Tournai

In this history book written in the 1340s by the French chronicler and poet Gilles li Muisis, residents of a town stricken by the plague burn Jews, who were blamed for causing the disease. (Royal Library of Belgium)

About Covid-19

A potentially deadly virus is threatening lives everywhere. It may have started in China, and it may not. It seems that viruses and other pathogens can lie in a dormant state for years, perhaps centuries, only to rise again here and there. The Black Death is still alive. The Black Death so horrified Europeans that many of Europe’s inhabitants would not take baths fearing that freshly-cleansed skin could absorb pathogens.

I remember reading that Henri IV of France sent for his advisor, Maximilien de Béthune, Duc de Sully, but that hearing from his messenger that Sully had just taken a bath, Henri IV asked that he stay indoors for a few days. The Black Death also survived in songs and in literature. Camus (7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) wrote La Peste (The Plague), 1947, but we will focus on Giovanni Boccacio’s Decameron. The Decameron was completed in 1353, as the Black Death (1347-1351) was waning. Wikipedia reports the “[i]n total, the plague may have reduced the world population from an estimated 475 million to 350–375 million in the 14^th century epidemics.” The Decameron had an enormous influence on Geoffrey Chaucer‘s (1340 – 1400) Canterbury Tales. But we are not looking at the Decameron, as a work of literature. The Decameron, written in Florentine Italian, is an example of self-isolation to avoid contagion, and, in our case, an epidemic heralding a pandemic.

Black Death, pandemic that ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1351, taking a proportionately greater toll of life than any other known epidemic or war up to that time.[1]

A Tale from the Decameron by John William Waterhouse, 1916 (Wikipedia Commons)

The Decameron: self-isolation

The Decameron consists of a hundred tales told by seven young women and three young men who had self-isolated outside Florence. Self-isolation may well be the best option is a global attempt to save humanity. It’s a form of containment.

I believe that persons who can afford to self-isolate have a better chance of surviving Covid-19. The affluent and employees who benefit from sick leave may be able to self-isolate. But what about citizens who have been fired because they are not needed and may not have sick leave? These would be, for instance, persons working in travel agencies or for an airline company that may go bankrupt.

The agora is no longer a safe area and people should travel and use public transportation as little as possible. What happens to the individuals who have no sick pay? One cannot live without an income, but if earning an income means not only possible, but probable exposure to the coronavirus, remaining in the agora is unacceptable.

Flagellants-Black-Death-Netherlands-atonement-sins-God

Flagellants in the Netherlands scourging themselves in atonement, believing that the Black Death is a punishment from God for their sins, 1349 (Britannica)

We spend billions on defence: war. And we may have to spend billions on another type of defence: a war on a devastating virus now deadlier than war. China is building hospitals and hospitals might be built elsewhere. But time is of the essence. Bill Gates and other wealthy people have donated huge amounts of money to essential research. But, again, time is of the essence. A researcher may have a brilliant idea tomorrow, but that may not happen. Moreover, producing the vaccine or remedy may also take time. In such a case, it is perhaps best to stay home at the government’s expense. Research is essential, but who and when will researchers discover the cure.

These viruses are unpredictable and fickle. The 1918 Spanish flu killed three grown sons in a day, but a daughter and her child survived. Coronavirus seems to attack the elderly and spare children. But we are all at risk, including those who recover. One will recover, but will one recover fully? They may find it difficult to earn a living even if they can manage their illness.

I caught a virus (H1N1) in February 1976. It did not kill me, but caused a permanent disability that eventually cost me my position and my blue house. My employers knew I needed more rest than other persons, but my workload grew heavier than the workload assigned to my colleagues.

But the current case is the novel coronavirus.

We must help those who cannot help themselves for lack of an income. We all pay taxes. Once this outbreak is under control, planes will fly again and travel agencies will reopen, but our current obligation is to save lives and contain the disease, which may mean self-isolation. Moreover, among the persons who survive, some may not be as strong as they were before their illness. Will employers everywhere increase their workloads, causing them to fall ill? That’s what they did to me.

It may cost a great deal of money, but we must save humanity. Let’s go through this horror with dignity, calm, and as charitably as we can. All of us must avoid exposure, and the elderly are at a terrible risk.

Life will be normal again.

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