October 23, 2020
I have put together the following report, cobbled from different sources. It is sobering, and should challenge us to keep doing the good things we’ve been doing to keep us safe. Please. Don’t shoot the messenger.
“It is a really dangerous time,” said Dr. Tom Inglesby, an infectious-disease expert at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Inglesby is talking about a spike in coronavirus cases that is pushing us to prepare for what could be the worst phase of the pandemic. The U.S. is bracing for another wave of coronavirus as cooler weather moves people indoors and pandemic fatigue sets in.
The nation is currently averaging 59,000 new cases a day, the most since the beginning of August. Midwestern states such as Wisconsin have overtaken the northeast (in the spring) and the south (in the summer) as coronavirus hot spots. The newest surge sets the stage for a grueling winter that will test the discipline of many Americans who have spent warmer months gathering in parks and eating outdoors, where the virus is known to spread less easily.
In a sign of how quickly the virus is spreading in many parts of the Midwest and the Great Plains, infections recently overtook a private nursing home in Kansas. The nursing home, “Andbe Home,” noticed the first sign of a problem October 7, when a single resident tested positive. But within days, the virus had run rampant, sneaking from room to room. Two weeks later, all 62 residents who live there were been infected, and 10 have died. At least 12 employees have also tested positive. The home has barred all visitors, and residents are isolated in their rooms.
Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming each set seven-day case records Tuesday. Even New Jersey, once a model for bringing the virus under control, has seen cases double over the past month. “The majority of states are on the rise,” Dr. Inglesby said. And at the same time, “there are very few places where things are stable and going down.”
The latest wave threatens to be the worst of the pandemic yet, coming as cooler weather is forcing people indoors, and as many Americans report feeling exhausted by months of restrictions. Unlike earlier waves, which were met with shutdown orders and mask mandates, the country has shown little appetite for widespread new restrictions.
“We’re seeing spread virtually everywhere,” said Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio, where 69 of 88 counties are now considered “high incidence,” meaning at least 100 virus cases per 100,000 people in the past two weeks. But at a news conference Tuesday, DeWine, who was among the first governors to shut down businesses this spring and who imposed a statewide mask mandate this summer, did not announce new measures to curb the spread. “The fastest way we can do it is not for me to issue some order that you can’t enforce or would be difficult to enforce but rather for every Ohioan to take this seriously.”
The rising case count has so far not translated to increased deaths: about 700 people are dying on average each day, a high but steady rate. The latest developments represent a serious new level of spread. Deaths are considered a lagging indicator of new infection, and experts believe the daily toll is likely to rise in the coming months. Nationwide, hospitalizations, the most accurate gauge of how many people are sick from the virus, are already trending upward, at a pace slightly lower than new infections. So far, more than 220,000 Americans have died from the virus.
👉 In things far less important, let’s return to yesterday’s jukebox for one more video of “Save the Last Dance For Me.” This one by Michael Bublé, is great. I love the bit of steam escaping from the radiator near the end https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSKMx36L5Ws. Enjoy.
👉 Here are a couple more uses of the modern phone:
👉 All 12 Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to approve Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination yesterday, clearing the way for the full Senate to vote on her confirmation Monday. Democrats had opted to boycott the hearing, hoping to delay the vote. The boycott was an unsuccessful attempt at stalling the federal judge’s confirmation to the high court. Without a Democrat in the chamber, Republicans moved forward with the vote, quickly approving her.
👉 Speaking of not being there, departing the premises, of flying the coop, today is the day the swallows depart San Juan Capistrano for their winter home in Goya, Argentina.
In his book, Capistrano Nights, Father St. John O’Sullivan, Pastor of Mission San Juan Capistrano from 1910-33, relates how one day, while walking through town, he saw a shopkeeper, broomstick in hand, knocking down the conically shaped mud swallow nests that were under the eaves of his shop. “What in the world are you doing?” Father O’Sullivan asked.
“Why, these dirty birds are a nuisance and I am getting rid of them!” the shopkeeper responded. Father O’Sullivan then said, “Come on swallows, I’ll give you shelter. Come to the Mission. There’s room enough there for all.” The very next morning, the padre discovered the swallows building their nests outside the sacristy.
One of Father O’ Sullivan’s companions at the Mission, José Cruz, believed that the swallows flew over the Atlantic Ocean to Jerusalem each winter. In their beaks they carried little twigs, on which they could rest on water when tired. But Jerusalem or Goya, they will be back on St. Joseph’s Day, March 19th.
👉 We have not closed with the story behind a hymn for some time, so with my thoughts returning to the opening piece, and a declaration of the Apostle Paul to Timothy, his son in the faith, that “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7) here is “Only Trust Him.”
Many stirring invitation hymns were products of great revivals such as those led by Dwight L. Moody and Ira Sankey. These hymns were simple and spoke directly to the heart with an invitation to respond to the gospel message. According to Ira Sankey, Moody’s music director, he was meditating on “Only Trust Him,” written by John H. Stockton, and decided to: “Change the chorus and asked the people to sing, ‘I will trust Him.’ Then as we sang I decided to change it once more and asked them to sing, ‘I do trust Him.’ God blessed this rendering of the hymn to eight persons present who testified afterward that by the change they were all led to accept salvation.”
Come, every soul by sin oppressed; There’s mercy with the Lord, And He will surely give you rest By trusting in His Word.
Only trust Him, only trust Him, Only trust Him now; He will save you, He will save you, He will save you now.
For Jesus shed His precious blood Rich blessings to bestow; Plunge now into the crimson flood That washes white as snow.
Only trust Him, only trust Him, Only trust Him now; He will save you, He will save you, He will save you now.
And in a coronavirus pandemic, the message in this powerful, and moving worship video is the same https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnOAUk2P3DI is the same: Only Trust Him!
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