The Vote is in!

                                                                    

Not that vote.  But an important vote in our family.  As a diversion from the corona virus, election and other upsetting stories in the daily news, we have been finding wonderful food that can be ordered on-line.  A few weeks ago we ordered babkas from Zabar’s in New York for ourselves and our kids.  They were wonderful.  Even our grandkids were thrilled.  We had tasted Zabar’s babka in the past, but it has been awhile, and we had forgotten how good they could be.

 

But then the question came up—is the chocolate babka better than the cinnamon babka?  You may remember the Seinfeld episode about babkas.  Jerry and Elaine were standing in line, waiting to buy a chocolate babka as hostess gift for the dinner party they were going to.  But the couple a head of them buy the last chocolate babka.  The baker offers to sell them a cinnamon babka, which Elaine calls “the lesser babka.”

 

We thought a taste test of our own was appropriate.  Jerry and Elaine went to Royale Bakery for a babka, but it has closed.  A New York friend of ours said the place to go when you are bringing a babka as a gift is Green’s Bakery in Brooklyn.  So we placed our order.

 

The vote is in.  The winner is (drum roll)  -- the cinnamon babka from Zabar’s.  The consensus was that Green’s chocolate babka was better than Zabar’s, but Zabar’s cinnamon babka was the best overall.  Not the lesser babka at all.

 

FYI.  The Seinfeld episode, “The Dinner Party,” is Season 5, Episode 13, and is available on Prime Video.

  

What’s in a Name? Could COVID-19 Be too Mild a Name to Gain Compliance with Preventive Approaches?

Why has it been so hard to get people to comply with simple protective approaches that reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus?  It is a simple matter to wear a mask outdoors and in shops.  It is simple to maintain a safe distance.  Yet go almost anywhere and you see someone with the mask below the nose or hanging below the chin.  Or someone who gets far too close to you.  People complain bitterly that these restrictions are trampling on their freedom. Freedom to infect others?

 

Part of the problem, of course, is due to the politicians, starting at the top, who have minimized risks from the beginning and encouraged people not to take any precautions.  But maybe the problem is partly due to the name, COVID-19 Pandemic.  The word “COVID” does not sound threatening.  It doesn’t carry any meaning.  Would a different name be more motivating for people to take precautions?

 

Looking back in history, plagues had more evocative names.  The Great Plague, also called the Black Death or Bubonic Plague, swept across Europe and Asia several times.  In the 14^th century, the Great Plague wiped out between two thirds and three quarters of the population in parts of Europe.  Those names carry some heft to them.  Likewise, other illnesses that led to widespread infection and death had names that conveyed threat:  Small pox, typhus, typhoid, cholera, malaria.  Or more recent names—Ebola and Zika.  And of course, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV/AIDS).  They sound ominous.  Even “Spanish flu” sounds more serious than just ordinary influenza or H1N1 flu.  

 

And why call it a pandemic?  Plague is more dramatic.  It’s something people react to.  The term “plague” calls to mind all those apocalyptic paintings of victims from the 14^th century and later plague outbreaks.  New York Times columnist Roger Cohen recently quoted Camus, who wrote that the plague “never goes away. It is waiting to exploit stupidity.”  That fits our response. 

 

What, then, should we call it that would better get attention?  President Trump started calling it the China Virus, which everyone saw as just another attempt to divert attention from his incompetence in letting the virus spread in the US, even as much of the world was implementing shutdowns and other efforts to control the virus. Such as wearing masks.

 

But it is not just that COVID-19 originated in China.  Viruses have regularly been making the jump from animals to humans in China.  The source is believed largely to be markets where wild animals are sold for food.  For years, the US and other countries have been talking with China about closing these markets, and there is some indication that they may be willing to do so. That would be an important step that could reduce the annual flu epidemic and prevent other novel viruses such as COVID-19.

 

To further that goal, we thought that COVID-19 should be re-named for one of its animal hosts, bats.  Bats are ugly.  We use their images for decorations for Halloween.  But Bat Virus is not strong enough.  Bats play an important role in eating mosquitoes in this country, and, after all, they are not responsible for the virus.  So we propose instead that COVID-19 be renamed the Bat Shit Plague.  There’s nothing nice or comfortable about that.  The bat isn’t being blamed directly.  And the name conveys how terrible the virus has been.  Maybe people unwilling to take precautions for COVID-19 will take steps to avoid the Bat Shit Plague. It’s a thought.

 

 

  

  

In the Midst of the Covid19 Crisis, Ageism Raises Its Ugly Head

Ageism been there all along during the COVID pandemic.  There was the quote a few months ago from Dan Patrick, the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, “Lots of grandparents would rather die than see health measures damage the US economy.”  It was only a matter of time before a national politician would raise that argument.  And there it was last week.  President Trump passed along a tweet claiming that only 6% of all deaths attributed to COVID 19 were actually due to the virus, and “the other 94% had 2-3 other serious illnesses & the overwhelming majority were of very advanced age.”  So they don’t matter.  The figures are, not surprisingly, also wrong.  But the truth is that many people are willing to write off the deaths of older people.

 

This is particularly the case of older people from disadvantaged groups.  Scholars who study age prejudice often talk about “double jeopardy,” that ageist beliefs and behaviors have an even greater impact on minorities.  Infections and death rates are higher among African Americans.  That’s not surprising, given long-standing disparities in income and access to health care.  African Americans are also more likely to hold jobs that could expose them to COVID 19 and less likely to be able to work remotely.

 

It’s not only despicable politicians and social media trolls who are saying ageist things.  Ageism has been part of the response to COVID 19 in the mainstream media, as documented in a recent article by Bronwen Lichtenstein in The Gerontologist.  Examining the media in the US, United Kingdom and Australia, she found that the vulnerability of older adults was frequently described with name-calling, blame, and “so-be-it” reactions.  There was also considerable debate in the articles she reviewed herd immunity.  Like the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, proponents argued that the herd immunity approach was the best way to support the economy, even though it would likely increase mortality substantially among older people.

 

The country that went full speed ahead to try to reach herd immunity was Sweden.  Their approach of minimizing restrictions had the expected effect of higher rates of illness and mortality, with older people paying a disproportionate price.  Drawing on recent data in the Washington Post, Sweden has a death rate of 575 deaths per million people in the population.  That compares to 610 deaths per million in the UK (which also took a herd immunity approach initially but has since pulled back on it), 545 deaths per million in the US, 111 deaths per million in Germany, and 9 deaths per million in Japan.  Likewise, Sweden is at the high end of countries for deaths in care homes.  Forty-seven percent of all deaths in Sweden occurred in care homes, compared to 45% in the US, 39% in Germany and 14% in Japan.  

 

But despite the expectation that the economy would not suffer if businesses and social interactions continued as usual during the pandemic, Sweden’s economy is not doing particularly well, and certainly not better than its Nordic neighbors, which have much lower rates of infections and mortality.  For example, Denmark has 623 total deaths (107 deaths per million), Norway has 264 deaths (48 deaths per million), and Finland has 335 deaths (60 deaths per million).  

 

The throw away attitude toward older people is most apparent in the death rates in care homes.  Basic procedures for containing infection were woefully inadequate in some facilities in the US and in other countries.  And then there is Japan, which stands out for its very low rate of deaths in care facilities.  It’s not because of a smaller proportion of the population in care facilities. Japan has a universal long-term care insurance program and the number of people in care facilities has grown steadily, and is now about equal to the US, according to the Washington Post article.  The article went on to speculate on what led to the low rates of deaths in care facilities.  One factor was that rates remained low in the population as a whole.  Beyond that, three other factors played a role:  implementation of stronger measures to prevent infections, higher standards of hygiene, and perhaps not surprisingly, the traditional importance of elders in Japanese culture.  

 

Photo:  We found the graffiti message on this old viaduct to be intriguing.  Is it a comment on our times?

 

Source of Statistics for the Nordic countries:  Statista:  https://www.statista.com/statistics/1113834/cumulative-coronavirus-deaths-in-the-nordics/

 

Washington Post, Japan Has the World’s Oldest Population. Yet It Dodged a Coronavirus Crisis at Elder Care Facilities.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/japan-coronavirus-elderly-death-rate/2020/08/29/f30f3ca8-e2da-11ea-82d8-5e55d47e90ca_story.html

https://www.boomlive.in/world/donald-trump-endorses-false-claim-that-cdc-cut-covid-19-death-toll-9580