Saturday, May 16, 2020

Alaska COVID-19 Count Saturday May 16, 2020 - 4 New Case, 2 New Hospitalizations, 1 New Recovery

The curve is starting to move back up.  After about ten days with increases between zero and three, we've now had 4 new cases three days in a row.  The chart just identifies the locations of three - Anchorage, Bethel, and Kenai.
We've had two days in a row with 2 new  hospitalizations - after a weeks of just a couple of increases.
It's about two weeks now since the governor started loosening the restrictions on businesses.  At that time - May 4 to be exact - we had 370 cases.  I said then that at the pace we were going we'd get to 400 in a week.  But the pace dropped off dramatically and we're only at 392 now.  But if we keep up our 4 a day pace, we'll hit 400 by Monday.

Staying home, masking when going out, and considering how your actions affect others takes a different kind of courage and thinking than we're used to celebrating in the US.


Boot camp is often considered a place where people are tested on their endurance, their ability to withstand hardship over a long period of time.  While there is clearly a mental aspect to it - to break people down so they obey orders immediately without question - the most obvious part is physical. But boot camp - whether entered into voluntarily or through the draft - has an end date.  People know how much longer they have to endure.  There's a strong, authoritarian hierarchy and a peer group that punish you for slacking off.

The Coronavirus is a cagier test of people's endurance and courage.  First, there's no clear end date.  Second, there's no visible danger. (In Alaska this is probably more true than in places like New York City where the effects of the virus are more visible.)  Third, the message from 'leaders' is mixed and confused.  Fourth, enforcement is lax.  The challenge of the virus is mental for most people, who aren't likely to get severely sick or die.  But the isolation rules also are physical, and for the poor, much more taxing than for others.  Of course, for those who require hospitalization, it's very physical.

As I watch those protesting lockdowns with guns on their backs and faces uncovered, I muse about them shooting at the virus.  But it's not the virus they threaten to shoot, but people who ask them to make some sacrifices to save lives.

The same things we say about our military all the time, and about police and fighter fighters.  I hope that when this is over, people start paying much more attention to ways to raise children so that they are both strong as individuals and understanding of how their personal strength has been helped by the community around them and how they owe that community.

The North Vietnamese used to say that they took the long view and could wait out the US which isn't as comfortable with long struggles.  The Taliban are probably saying the same thing.  The virus is a test of self strength and we're seeing people without masks* or carrying guns and protesting their lost freedoms, who are failing that test.



CONFIRMED COVID-19 CASES ALASKA MARCH/APRIL/May 2020
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySunday
new/totalhos=hospital

12th  = 0/013th = 1/114th = 0/115th = 0/1
16th = 0/117th = 2/318th = 3/619th = 3/920th = 3/1221st= 2/1422nd= 8/22
23rd=14/3624th =6/42
1 hos 1 dead
25th = 17/59
3 hos 1 dead
26th = 10/69
3 hos 1 dead
27th =16/89
5 hos 2 dead
28th = 13/102
6 hos 2 dead
29th= 12/114
7 hos  3 dead
30th=5/119
7 hos 3 dead
31st= 14/133
9 hos 3 dead





April 2020

1st=  10/143
hos 3 dead
2nd=8(6)/149
13 hos 3 dead
3rd=8(11)157
15 hos 3 dead
4th=15/171
16 hos 5 dead
5th= 14/185
20 hos 6 dead
6th=6/191
23 hosp
6 dead
7th= 22/213
23 hosp 6 Dead29 recovered
8th= 13/226
27 hosp 7 dead
32 recovered
9th= 9/235
27 hosp 7 dead
49 recovered
10th=11/246
28 hosp 7 dead
55 recovered
11th=11/257
31 hosp 8 dead
63 recovered
12th= 15/272
31 hosp 8 dead
66 recovered
13th= 5/277
32 Hosp 8 dead
85 Recovered
14th = 8/285
32 Hosp 9 dead
98 Recovered
15th= 8/293
34 Hosp 9 dead
106 Recovered
16th= 7/300
35 hosp 9 dead
110 recovered
17th=  9/309
36 hosp 9 dead
128 recovered
18th =  5/315
36 hos 9 dead
147 Recovered
19th= 4/319
36 hos 9 dead
153Recovered
20th 2/321
36 hos 9 dead
161 recovered
21st 8/329
36 hos 9 dead
168 recovered
22nd  6/335
36 hos  dead
196recovered
23nd  2/337
36 hos  dead
209recovered
24th  2/339
36 hos  dead
208recovered (-1 from 4/23)
25th  0/339
36 hos  dead
217recovered
26th  2/341
36 hos  dead
217recovered
27th  4/345
37 hos  dead
218recovered
28th  6/351
37 hos  dead
228 recovered
29th  4/355
36 hos  dead
240recovered
30th  0/355
36 hos  dead
252recovered



May 2020



1st  9/364
36 hos  dead
254recovered
2nd  1/365
36 hos  dead
261recovered
3rd  3/368
36 hos  dead
262recovered
4th  2/370
37 hos  dead
263recovered
5th  1/371
38 hos  dead
277 recovered
6th  1/372
38 hos 10 dead
284recovered
7th  2/374
38 hos 10 dead
291recovered
8th  3/377
38 hos 10 dead
305recovered
9th  1/378
38 hos 10 dead
318recovered
10th  1/379
38 hos 10 dead
324recovered
11th  1/381
38 hos 10 dead
328recovered
12th  2/383
38 hos 10 dead
334 recovered
13th  0/383
38 hos 10 dead
335recovered
14th  4/387
39 hos 10 dead
339recovered
15th  4/388
41 hos 10 dead
343recovered
16th  4/392
43 hos 10 dead
344recovered



State Charts




The screen shot is high resolution so you can click on them to enlarge and focus. Click here if you want to use the chart interactively, to play with the original and other charts they have.


My Day-By-Day Chart

Today is the first entry on page 3.


Friday, May 15, 2020

Some Things You Might Not Have Seen - Island Boys And The N-Word

Here are a couple of things I thought others might find worth reading.  The first challenges the narrative of the Lord of the Flies with an account of a real group of boys who were stranded on a desert island for over a year.  The second one is Leonard Pitts calling out Senato McConnell on his rebuke of President Obama.


The Real Lord of The Flies Cooperated With Each Other

"Then, on the eighth day, they spied a miracle on the horizon. A small island, to be precise. Not a tropical paradise with waving palm trees and sandy beaches, but a hulking mass of rock, jutting up more than a thousand feet out of the ocean. These days, ‘Ata is considered uninhabitable. But “by the time we arrived,” Captain Warner wrote in his memoirs, “the boys had set up a small commune with food garden, hollowed-out tree trunks to store rainwater, a gymnasium with curious weights, a badminton court, chicken pens and a permanent fire, all from handiwork, an old knife blade and much determination.” While the boys in Lord of the Flies come to blows over the fire, those in this real-life version tended their flame so it never went out, for more than a year."


After Senator McConnell said, "“I think President Obama should have kept his mouth shut,” Leonard Pitts calls on McConnell to just say it.
"It’s not like the rest of us don’t hear it already in your contemptuous tone. If one didn’t know better, one might think you were addressing a not-so-bright junior staffer who spoke out of turn in a meeting, not a president of the United States. Former GOP Chairman Michael Steele certainly caught your meaning, retorting on Twitter, “I’m sure Mitch is aware that a grown-ass black man who happens to be a former president has agency to speak his mind on how his successor is managing this crisis, especially since his successor has yet to ‘keep his mouth shut’ about him.”

I also had a link here to a Twitter thread that gave a great detailed explanation of different kinds of ventilators, but when I checked the link before posting it was no longer there.

Alaska COVID-19 Count Monday May 11, 2020 - 1 New Case, 2 New Hospitalization, 4 New Recovery

We haven't had a new hospitalization for over a week, and then we got one posted yesterday and two more posted today.




CONFIRMED COVID-19 CASES ALASKA MARCH/APRIL/May 2020
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySunday
new/totalhos=hospital

12th  = 0/013th = 1/114th = 0/115th = 0/1
16th = 0/117th = 2/318th = 3/619th = 3/920th = 3/1221st= 2/1422nd= 8/22
23rd=14/3624th =6/42
1 hos 1 dead
25th = 17/59
3 hos 1 dead
26th = 10/69
3 hos 1 dead
27th =16/89
5 hos 2 dead
28th = 13/102
6 hos 2 dead
29th= 12/114
7 hos  3 dead
30th=5/119
7 hos 3 dead
31st= 14/133
9 hos 3 dead





April 2020

1st=  10/143
hos 3 dead
2nd=8(6)/149
13 hos 3 dead
3rd=8(11)157
15 hos 3 dead
4th=15/171
16 hos 5 dead
5th= 14/185
20 hos 6 dead
6th=6/191
23 hosp
6 dead
7th= 22/213
23 hosp 6 Dead29 recovered
8th= 13/226
27 hosp 7 dead
32 recovered
9th= 9/235
27 hosp 7 dead
49 recovered
10th=11/246
28 hosp 7 dead
55 recovered
11th=11/257
31 hosp 8 dead
63 recovered
12th= 15/272
31 hosp 8 dead
66 recovered
13th= 5/277
32 Hosp 8 dead
85 Recovered
14th = 8/285
32 Hosp 9 dead
98 Recovered
15th= 8/293
34 Hosp 9 dead
106 Recovered
16th= 7/300
35 hosp 9 dead
110 recovered
17th=  9/309
36 hosp 9 dead
128 recovered
18th =  5/315
36 hos 9 dead
147 Recovered
19th= 4/319
36 hos 9 dead
153Recovered
20th 2/321
36 hos 9 dead
161 recovered
21st 8/329
36 hos 9 dead
168 recovered
22nd  6/335
36 hos  dead
196recovered
23nd  2/337
36 hos  dead
209recovered
24th  2/339
36 hos  dead
208recovered (-1 from 4/23)
25th  0/339
36 hos  dead
217recovered
26th  2/341
36 hos  dead
217recovered
27th  4/345
37 hos  dead
218recovered
28th  6/351
37 hos  dead
228 recovered
29th  4/355
36 hos  dead
240recovered
30th  0/355
36 hos  dead
252recovered



May 2020



1st  9/364
36 hos  dead
254recovered
2nd  1/365
36 hos  dead
261recovered
3rd  3/368
36 hos  dead
262recovered
4th  2/370
37 hos  dead
263recovered
5th  1/371
38 hos  dead
277 recovered
6th  1/372
38 hos 10 dead
284recovered
7th  2/374
38 hos 10 dead
291recovered
8th  3/377
38 hos 10 dead
305recovered
9th  1/378
38 hos 10 dead
318recovered
10th  1/379
38 hos 10 dead
324recovered
11th  1/381
38 hos 10 dead
328recovered
12th  2/383
38 hos 10 dead
334 recovered
13th  0/383
38 hos 10 dead
335recovered
14th  4/387
39 hos 10 dead
339recovered
15th  1/388
41 hos 10 dead
343recovered






State Charts


The screen shot is high resolution so you can click on them to enlarge and focus. Click here if you want to use the chart interactively, to play with the original and other charts they have.


My Day-By-Day Chart