Ghoulish interest

View north from Flinders Peak in the You Yangs

It's fascinating, in a sort of ghoulish way, to watch how the US deals with the COVID-19 pandemic.  Their libertarian heritage is incompatible with social compliance, and coupled with a good dose of denialism, the country seems destined to grapple with widespread COVID-19 infections for a long time to come.

Atop Flinders Peak

Only a month or two ago, I was telling friends that I had great confidence the US, after a slow start, would rise to the challenge of the pandemic, overcome it, and lead the world's economic recovery.  I was thinking of how they dealt with World War II and the Global Financial Crisis.  However, although I still think they will bounce back faster than many countries, economically, I think it will be accompanied by many deaths and social pain.

View from Flinders Peak

In the last few days I have read a number of startling statistics about the US reopening.

• Trump is going to resume campaign rallies on 19 June (in Oklahoma! ... see below).  Attendees will have to sign waivers absolving the Trump campaign of responsibility should they become infected.
• Florida, Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama and North Carolina have just reported their highest daily numbers of new cases.
• In Arizona, the number of infected people on ventilators has quadrupled since mid-May.
• Oregon and Utah are pausing their reopening because of a rise in new COVID-19 cases.
• US deaths from the virus are now projected to reach between 124,000 and 140,000 by 4 July, and some models are predicting a sharp jump in deaths in August and September.

I watch with interest.

I walked my scheduled 7km this morning, and later hiked 4km to Flinders Peak and back in the You Yangs with Julie.  The hip was still bothersome, but seems to warm up and become less painful the further I go.