Special Entry – Easter

Sunday, April 12th, 2020

The word “apocalypse” caught my eye in a headline on the front page of The New York Times yesterday. I didn’t read the article to see if it mentioned a “fire drill” as per the recent letter from Wyoming urging me to head for the hills.

Saint Peter’s Square in Rome is fenced off. The Pope celebrated Easter mass with a few masked helpers.

In France, a Good Friday Mass was held at Notre Dame Cathedral amidst charred timbers and melted scaffolding. The seven in attendance wore hard hats.

Spain plans to restart part of their economy tomorrow, I assume by allowing more people to go back to work, even though the number of deaths went up yesterday.

England’s Prime Minister was released from the hospital after contracting Covid. Despite the upbeat reports about his health, he said, “It could have gone either way.”

China is slowly reopening. Students in Beijing will go back to school in two weeks.
Not much in the recent news cycles about Africa or the Indian subcontinent.

In the Americas, it has been a month since anyone has seen Nicaragua’s President Ortega, the authoritarian leader and former revolutionary Marxist guerilla. Sounds like the government is being led by Vice President Rosario Murillo (the president’s wife), who has been actively encouraging people to go out for Easter celebrations.

Brazil is right in step with Nicaragua; President Bolsonaro, like our president, has called Covid-19 “a little flu” and “a fantasy” promoted by the media.

Not much news from Canada. A friend in Nova Scotia sent me a picture from one of his walks. Only one human was visible in what must have been a mile of open beach. A few days later he sent a letter to say that the beaches were closed. I guess you can’t be too safe.

Around the US, the virus is spreading. Social distancing appears to be helping slow new infections. Mask usage is on the rise. More than 800 humans die every day in New York. But, that number is no longer increasing.

I have been noticing boarded-up storefronts again, like after 9/11. I thought little of them until I passed a team boarding up a fancy store in Soho after 6 PM on Sunday evening. Why? Could the boarding be an insurance requirement; if so, to protect against what? Pending unrest, riots, revolution? Is boarding up considered “essential work?”

Gallery: Eight downtown storefronts
click photo below to view