It's been like watching a crash in slow motion. We were warned about the dangers of reopening. We watched aghast as revelers gathered over Memorial Day weekend. We were reminded that it would take weeks to register new cases, new hospitalizations, and increased fatalities. And yet, when we hit phase 1 in our area, I noticed fewer people wearing masks and I had a harder time maintaining appropriate distance from people in public, because they just wanted to crowd in and take up my space. Then we hit phase 2, and the social media posts showing people enjoying their new freedoms, sans masks, abounded. Participation in protests increased, and the photos showed plenty of people standing close together with or without masks. What happened to our outrage at those early photos from Memorial Day weekend? If we don't learn to behave ourselves, we may lose our post-lockdown privileges. Yikes! I can't face another lockdown.
We're now starting to see the results of increased activity, with surges of new cases and hospitalizations in some areas. When I first read the numbers, I was underwhelmed, frankly. I even wondered if news media were overblowing results to have a compelling story. Then I learned how close some of these areas are to hospital and ICU capacity -- South Carolina is at up to 77% capacity right now. While the total number of cases and the percent increase in new cases pales in comparison with New York at its height, the lack of hospital and ICU capacity to cover these increasing numbers makes these increases just as worrisome. Context is everything. And some experts insist that this is not a second wave -- we're still in the first.
Meanwhile, recently published studies showed shutdowns prevented approximately 60 million infections in the US and 285 million in China and saved 3.1 million lives in Europe (paywall). So, will we take these latest studies to heart, and recommit to the measures we know work to reduce infection? After so many months living inside, the temptation to play freely in the sun may just be too great.
Nonetheless, we continue to learn more about this virus, and how it works, and we now feel like we know some things for sure. Chief among them, though, may be that masks work! In fact, you may remember the two hairstylists with the virus working in Missouri I mentioned a few newsletters ago. Well, the wonderful news is that although they saw 140 clients, there were no new infections linked to the salon. Experts credit the wearing of masks by workers and clients. And resistance to the return to ignorance continues! A Florida data scientist has started publishing her own dashboard on Florida testing statistic online for all to see, after being fired from the Department of Health for refusing to comply with what she saw as unethical requests to modify Florida's public dashboard. The information is out there, if you're willing to look for it.
In unrelated news: Support for Black lives matter continues to grow, which is exciting! I've been sharing charts on the spread of the virus periodically in this newsletter, but here's a wonderful chart on our change in thinking.
This week's recipe
Finally, in honor of Juneteenth, a few red recipes. I've just learned that Juneteenth recipes often include red drinks as a reminder of the red kola nuts and hibiscus tea brought to the Americas as part of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Sweet Mint-Hibiscus Tea
1 Gallon water
2 handfuls sweet mint sprigs
1/4 c dried hibiscus flowers (you can find these at Asian markets)
Agave syrup to taste
Boil water. Add mint and flowers, and boil for 30 seconds. Turn off heat and steep for 30 minutes. Chill fully and drink as is or add agave to taste.
Red Velvet Cake
1 c milk
2 Tbs vinegar
½ c butter
1 ½ c sugar
2 eggs
2 Tb cocoa
2 tsp vanilla
2 Tb red dye
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
2 ½ c flour
Mix milk and vinegar and let stand to make a home-made buttermilk. Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs, and cream thoroughly, scraping sides as needed. Cream together cocoa, vanilla, and dye in a small bowl with the back of a spoon. Add to butter mixture. Mix flour, salt, and soda. Add to butter mixture alternating with buttermilk. Bake in 2 buttered and lined 8-inch round pans (or 24 lined cupcake tins). Cut top domes of cake level. Crumble removed domes to small crumbs and let stand to get stale while you ice (place back in oven if needed). Fill and ice with vanilla cream cheese icing. Cover side edge of cake with crumbles and decorate the remainder of the cake with extra icing.
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