Corona Daily 010: Romeo Budhoo’s Story: Part Two

The unemployed Alfonzo Hill, Budhoo’s tenant, browsed the internet for days to learn about tenant rights, New York’s rent strikes, and the eviction moratorium. In the pandemic economy, the US government had banned all evictions until the end of July 2021 to avoid, or rather postpone, a historic housing crisis. Officially, more than 8 million American rental properties were behind on payments on average by six months. Most were owned not by big companies or banks, but by small landlords like Budhoo.

On TV, Alfonzo Hill watched Governor Cuomo say that inability to pay rent was the state’s number one issue, and the moratorium had taken it off the table. In the presidential campaign, Joe Biden said rents should be forgiven. Not delayed but forgiven. Hill made it a point to vote for Biden. After listening to the leaders, Hill’s conscience was clear. He spent the unemployment allowance and the four-figure stimulus checks to fix the broken engine in his minivan, buy some furniture, pay off the credit card debt, and gave his daughter a laptop for her virtual lessons. Why pay to Budhoo what may be forgiven by the new president?

*****

Budhoo dialed a number saved as “Julie eviction” on his cell phone. Her real name was Julie Horn. She owned a few properties herself, and specialized in the eviction business. This entailed helping landlords file court cases, notarize documents, serve eviction paperwork to tenants. Schenectady, with more than half its population renting, and about 1,000 tenants getting evicted each year, provided Julie with a decent amount of business. Julie’s card said “the Hit Lady”. She had met all kinds; tenants crying, begging, threatening or running away. In the pandemic, though, what she experienced was indifference.

Budhoo had sought her help in the past. Julie’s fees and eviction expenses were labeled as “routine turnover” in his books.

This year, Julie’s work had become difficult. The courts still heard eviction cases. But they asked for far more documents. A tenant who was a veteran couldn’t be evicted under any circumstances. Even if the court were to pass an eviction order, it couldn’t be served until the federal moratorium was lifted at the end of July 2021.

*****

Julie talked about the general perception. Budhoo was the landlord, the acknowledged villain. He was the greedy man trying to throw people on the streets.

Budhoo was trapped between non-paying tenants and the government demanding insurance, mortgage payments and property tax. One third of the American small landlords were about to go bankrupt.

“Have you thought of trading cash for keys?” Julie asked him. This was a new strategy in Schenectady. The landlord should pay $500 to the tenant; and forgive all overdue rent if the tenant moved out.  

“That’s crazy” said Budhoo. He didn’t have money to give to his tenants. He would rather commit suicide. Seriously, he told Julie.

“Have you thought about selling it?” Julie asked.

Budhoo doubted he would find a buyer willing to take the house along with its non-paying occupant. If he was lucky in finding a buyer, it would be to minimize his losses. He had put his entire life in the tenancy business. The work of twenty years was being erased in a single year.

*****

In the following month, Budhoo attended a meeting of the distressed landlords. Each of them was a rent creditor for more than $10,000. Most were immigrants who had saved the city twenty years ago. Now the city was trying to survive the pandemic by raising the trash fees and property taxes.

They shared their stories. Some were trading cash for keys as Julie had suggested. Others were cutting off heat in the houses, trying to force the tenants out. For fear of not getting rent, vacant properties were not rented out any more. One person told the story of an Albany landlord who had broken into his own apartment on a Sunday morning. At gunpoint, he had tied the tenants, and then dropped them at a cemetery 30 miles from the property.

Budhoo didn’t think that was a real solution.

*****

(The third and final part tomorrow.)

Ravi 

Corona Daily 011: Romeo Budhoo’s Story: Part One

Romeo Budhoo had looked forward to 1 August, 2021.

Budhoo is an immigrant from Guyana who lives in New York’s Schenectady. In the early 2000s, in another recession, his family had arrived in Schenectady which had lost half the factory jobs. One third of the residents had left town. The city had thousands of vacant homes. $18,000 per house was needed to demolish them. The mayor had a bright idea. He knew the resourcefulness of the Guyanese immigrants. The hard-working Guyanese were known for their ability to repair dilapidated houses. The mayor offered to sell the houses at peanut prices, some of them going for a token $1. In all, 5000 Guyanese bought them, repaired them, rented them out, and started paying property taxes to resurrect the city. Romeo Budhoo was one of them.

*****

For the past fifteen months, on every first of the month, which Budhoo called “pay day”, he took his booklet of receipts and drove to his tenants. A hairdresser, a true gentleman, who owed Budhoo $7,000, gave $75 in cash to comfort him. On the receipt Budhoo wrote: “Thanks for at least trying to work with me.”

He then moved to his main source of income, a 1901 three story house at 1042 Cutler St. that was confiscated, condemned and about to be demolished when Budhoo bought it for $79,000, his life-long savings. He had personally worked on the wiring, plumbing, installed granite tops, and was renting it out for $950 a month. The house rent had paid for his daughter’s college degree. For the last twenty years, he had collected the rent on the first of the month. That process had come to a sudden halt in March 2020.

On 1 April, after missing the payment, he wrote to the tenant, “Just a friendly reminder.” A month later: “Good morning. Are you able to pay the rent?” In September, when he still hadn’t received a cent, the US government announced a national eviction moratorium. The first of several. “Please, I am willing to work with you” he wrote to the tenant, but didn’t receive an answer.

In May 2021, over a full year without payment, Budhoo was unable to use any of his credit cards, had applied for a secondary loan on his car, defaulted on $13,000 in property taxes and was taking medicines for panic attacks and stomach ulcers. He had started mowing people’s lawns for pocket money.

“This is robbery.” He wrote to his tenant. “You are stealing from me.”

*****

He got out of the car, and walked around the house soft-footed like a burglar. He didn’t knock, because the tenant had accused him of harassment, and police had read to him tenants’ rights. The police warned he would be charged for trespassing (though he was the owner of the house).

Inside he could see a TV and two heaters. The yard was dirtied with empty cigarette packs, wrappers and beer cans. The tenant was living free and damaging his home. Budhoo took a garbage bag out of his car, and began collecting the trash. Though he didn’t control the property, he was legally responsible for its maintenance. He had been fined four times for his tenant’s trash violations.

*****

Alfonzo Hill, 38, the tenant, watched Budhoo from inside. He made sure Budhoo’s car left before coming outside and smoking on the porch. Before the pandemic, he lived with his girlfriend and 13-year old daughter. Working as a cook at a local tavern, he was earning $700 a week until governor Cuomo banned indoor dining. He lost the job, and weeks later his girlfriend left him because he couldn’t pay the bills. After a year of surviving the pandemic, he was unemployed and broke. His daughter attended sixth grade virtually. They had a few dollars left. Poor and black, they were vulnerable to Covid.

“He is the exterminator and we are the rats.” He told her about Budhoo. “We’re not human to him. We’re money. It’s all a big game.”

*****

(Continued tomorrow. Source: Eli Saslow in Washington Post.)

Ravi 

Corona Daily 012: Long Covid and Children

The coronavirus naturally keeps looking for new victims to attack.

Israel, one of the top vaccinated countries (85%+ adults fully vaccinated), saw the number of cases become negligible at the beginning of June. Later in the month, cases rose to more than 100 a day, most of them children under 16. Hurriedly, Israel’s Ministry of Health recommended all 12-15 year olds get vaccinated.

In the USA and UK, covid is becoming a disease of the unvaccinated. That often creates an image of those refusing to take vaccines. But the unvaccinated population also includes children for whom no vaccines are available.

*****

An Italian pediatrician, Danilo Buonsenso, first tried to quantify Long Covid in children. His team interviewed 129 children diagnosed with Covid-19 last year, and found that more than half of them still had lingering symptoms four months after the infection. Insomnia, fatigue, muscle pain and a persistent cold were the common symptoms.

Surprisingly some children, who were asymptomatic or had a mild covid infection, had developed Long Covid. This finding is common to studies from most countries. The original infection doesn’t need to be severe for a child to experience Long Covid.

*****

The data from the UK office of national statistics (ONS) updated in April 2021 showed that 9.8% of children aged 2-11 and 13% aged 12-16 reported at least one lingering symptom five weeks after infection. Another report released in April found that 25% of children discharged from hospitals in Russia had symptoms more than five months later.

Everywhere, the numbers are lower than those reported for adults. However, the numbers still worry parents, because the initial assumption was that Covid-19 didn’t pose risks to children. If 10-15% of the children, asymptomatic or with mild infection do have long-term symptoms; that is a puzzle scientists would like to study.

Jakob Armann, a German pediatrician, offers some positive news if his hypothesis is correct. Long Covid symptoms include fatigue, headache, difficulty concentrating and insomnia. Dr Armann says that other pandemic-related phenomena; school closures, isolation, no interaction with friends, in some cases family members falling ill or dying; could all produce the same symptoms. That would inflate the Long Covid stats artificially. To scientifically determine this, you need a control group, a group of non-infected children with similar symptoms.

Since May 2020, Dr Armann’s team has been taking blood samples from secondary-school children in Dresden to track rates of infection. In April and May 2021, over 1,500 German children were surveyed. Nearly 200 of them had antibodies suggesting prior infection. All children were asked questions to determine the proportion of Long Covid.

In May, Dr Armann reported the team found no difference in rates of symptoms between the two groups. (With and without prior covid-19 infection). This makes him believe Long Covid in children is probably much lower than suggested by many studies. It does exist, but the true figure is perhaps 1% rather than 10%, he says.

What is more important is to see how long the symptoms would last. If they were to last all their life, even 1% of children getting Long Covid is a serious issue, he adds.

*****

Most scientists are demanding a proper definition of Long Covid so that studies can decide how serious the problem is among children, and which children are at risk. Pediatricians know a great deal about chickenpox, because it has been around for seventy years, Covid only a little longer than a year.

Two weeks ago, a $40 million study was launched to examine Long Covid and MIS-C (multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children). In the USA, more than 3.6 million children have tested positive for covid-19 and more than 2800 cases of MIS-C, a serious condition possibly associated with the virus. MIS-C symptoms include fever, abdominal pain, bloodshot eyes, breathing trouble, rash, vomiting, diarrhea and neck pain. This can affect the heart function and blood pressure.

The study will enroll over 1,000 children (under 21) with confirmed history of covid infection. Another 1,000 children with no infection history will be enrolled as the control group.

Hopefully, the detailed study will produce results that are reassuring for parents the world over.

*****

Ravi 

Corona Daily 013: Long Covid: Part Two

In 2004, SARS had posed a similar riddle. Twelve months after contracting it, some patients continued to be unwell. There was no evidence of any lingering lung infection or the presence of the SARS virus. Still the patients were weak, extremely fatigued, with a constant body-ache, unable to work. Rather than long SARS, it was called the “post-SARS syndrome”. Harvey Moldofsky, a fatigue researcher from Toronto, found out that most of these patients were sleeping badly. He suspected it meant inflammation in the brain. However, he had no funds to investigate further.

A breakthrough came from China. Chinese scientists discovered SARS virus’s genetic material in the patients’ brain cells. The olfactory nerve connects our nose to the brain. Dr Moldofsky felt this was the route the virus had taken to reach the brain. The viral fragments interfering with the brain functioning probably caused sleep disruption and other issues.

Amy Proal, a microbiologist, believes viruses linger in the remote pockets of our bodies that are beyond the reach of the immune system. They cause several post infectious syndromes including CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) and long covid. Dr Proal says every major pathogen results in chronic cases. A huge number of studies show infectious organisms can persist in tissue, and contribute to diseases. Some viruses are highly “neurotrophic”, meaning they invade the nerves and hide out there. There is evidence the covid-19 virus is capable of this.

In the past, Dr Proal adds, many doctors thought those symptoms to be psychological. In the last ten years, though, survivors of Ebola, Zika and Covid-19 have suffered long-term illnesses that were real and not psychological.

*****

Scientists found that the Ebola virus can linger in the body for months or years. Dr Georgios Pollakis, a British microbiologist works with hospitals in Africa to monitor Long Ebola. One study found the antibody levels in Ebola survivors rising after a year. Dr Pollakis and others discovered the virus hidden in the body’s reservoirs, from the eye to the lymph nodes, and even in body fluids like breast milk and semen.

A paper this year suggested that an Ebola survivor recently caused an outbreak in Guinea. He had contracted the infection around 2015. The Ebola virus was dormant in his testes for over five years. The man infected his sexual partner with that hidden virus.

Dr Pollakis believes Long Covid just like Long Ebola happens because the body is unable to eradicate the virus within. The remaining hidden fragments of the virus periodically get back into the bloodstream, causing an immune reaction and other symptoms. Covid-19 virus is shown to be capable of infecting a wide range of tissues, from the brain to the testes. The virus can reside in the semen for a long time.

*****

Dr Heightman thinks that in some patients Covid provokes the immune system to attack the body’s own tissue. This is similar to autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis or multiple sclerosis. This theory may explain the higher proportion of women suffering from Long Covid. (Though more men are infected and die of covid itself). In Heightman’s clinic, 66% of the long covid patients are women.

Another hypothesis is Covid-19 triggering re-activation of other viruses hidden in our bodies. Viruses causing Chickenpox or the EBV from the Herpes family are known to lie dormant in human bodies for years or decades. A group of scientists speculates that covid may re-activate such viruses that result in the new chronic symptoms.

Currently, there are no approved medicines for long covid.

The good news is that many long Covid patients simply get better through natural recovery. Since covid-19 is only 18 months old, we don’t yet know how long the Long Covid can be. Despite death rates falling, the risk of Long Covid remains alive. UK has so far awarded scientists at the University of Birmingham £2.2 million to study Long Covid. Far more has been requested in the USA and Europe. A significant number of Long Covid patients are health care workers. It is in societies’ interest to make them healthy and productive faster.

*****

(Continued tomorrow)

Ravi 

Corona Daily 014: Long Covid: Part One

The pandemic is now over 18 months old. Out of the nearly 200 million coronavirus cases, 15 million are currently active, either isolated, or in hospitals; asymptomatic, mild or serious. Out of the remaining 185 million cases, called closed cases, over 4 million have died. The surviving 180 million+ are classified as recovered. 2% of the closed cases have died. 98% have recovered.

Sequela is a medical term that describes a condition resulting from a disease, injury or other trauma. The disease or trauma is over, but a chronic condition follows as its consequence. A rape victim may feel a post-traumatic stress disorder for years. That disorder is a psychological sequela of rape.

Long Covid is a long term sequela of Covid-19. No pandemic dashboard gives you the “Long Covid” patient numbers. If not dead, patients are classified as recovered.

Not all of them have recovered.

***** 

In July 2021, there was a flood of articles on Long Covid. Enough time has passed to understand covid’s “longness”. When the pandemic started, many thought covid would be similar to flu – once over, everything would be fine.

In May 2020, Melissa Heightman started the UK’s first post-Covid clinic. BBC’s David Cox talked to her at length. More than a year after setting up the clinic, one third of the clinic’s patients are still unwell, and mostly unable to work. More than half the clinic’s patients were never hospitalized for covid-19.

The clinic regularly gets patients, relatively young, without comorbidities or health conditions. Most of them had a mild covid infection. However, after the virus supposedly leaving their bodies, their new ailments continue for weeks or months.

The most common long covid symptom, experienced by 80% of Heightman’s patients, is a crippling fatigue, making even the simplest tasks difficult to execute. Research studies elsewhere find persistent fatigue in 62% of long covid patients.  Scientists now estimate that one in every 10 covid patients will still have symptoms 12 weeks later. (Despite testing negative).

*****

The medical fraternity classifies the long covid patients into two groups: those who were admitted to a hospital and those who weren’t. Ironically, doctors find it easier to manage the patients who were hospitalized. As a rule, their lungs or heart were damaged by an acute viral infection, or the damage was caused by cytokine storm, where an overreacting immune response attacks the patient’s own tissues. CT (computerized tomography) and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans clearly show the extent of the damage. Drugs such as colchicine are used to treat the lingering inflammation. It takes up to six months to see improvements in the scans. Except those who were in the ICU for a long time, all are expected to have no permanent abnormality.

The non-hospital patients display a puzzling variety of symptoms. Dr Heightman says the peak age for this group is 35-49, and some surveys have identified 98 different symptoms. The top ones are fatigue, brain fog, muscle and joint pain, sleep disturbances, migraines, chest pain, skin rashes, sensitivities to smells and tastes, and dys-autonomia, a rare condition causing rapid, uncomfortable increase in heartbeat during any activity.

*****

Globally, there are still very few clinics like Heightman’s. PLRC (Patient-Led Research Collaborative) is a self-orgnised group of “Long Covid” patients who share their symptoms and experiences. They published two papers last year. Anyone suffering from long covid is welcome to join the group.

Their recent survey presents a depressing picture. Out of 3,762 long covid patients, 77% still experienced fatigue after six months, 72% struggled with post-exertion discomfort and pain, 55% suffered from cognitive dysfunction and 36% of female patients experienced issues with their menstrual cycles. Hannah Wei, one of the PLRC leaders, said her own cycle disappeared for three months.

For many non-hospital long covid patients, symptoms came and went in three different waves. (Wave 1): dry cough and fever. (Wave 2): dysautonomia for about two months. (Wave 3): skin rashes, muscle pain, new allergies and brain fog. Usually happening four months after the initial infection, this wave just keeps going.

*****

Tomorrow, I will write about the different theories around this mystery. What may be causing Long Covid?

Ravi 

Corona Daily 015: Fake Corpses and Suspended parliaments

Six months ago, in “A Riotous January”, I described how 2021 had started with riots and violent protests in at least seven countries. This weekend’s Economist tells us how matters have become worse, particularly in middle income countries.

*****

Thailand has adopted a new form of protest. Fake corpses are spread across central Bangkok. White sacks are stuffed with hay, and sprayed with red paint to denote Thai covid victims. A giant portrait of Prayut Chan-o-cha, the Thai Prime Minister, is displayed next to the corpses. Protesters set fire to the PM’s portrait.

The protests began on 18 July, with the Delta variant spreading rapidly, causing Thailand’s worst wave. Only 5% of the population is fully vaccinated, hospitals are overwhelmed, the economy is sinking.

*****

The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), a think tank based in Sydney, found that in 2020 civil unrest rose by 10%. It tabulated over 5,000 instances of pandemic-generated violence in 158 countries. After 2008, last year witnessed the most violent protests as well as peaceful demonstrations. In the first year of the pandemic, another NGO logged 51,549 demonstrations/riots.

In a paper “A vicious cycle: how pandemics lead to economic despair and Social unrest”, published in October 2020, the authors analysed data from 133 countries over the past twenty years. They found that social unrest starts to increase 12-14 months after the onset of an epidemic (meaning May 2021?) and peaks after two years (meaning March 2022?). This conclusion is based on epidemics such as Zika. Covid-19, being far more severe, longer and global, may produce worse disruption and after-effects.

The direct cause of protests, the paper says, is economic hardship. Earlier this month, I wrote about Cuba. A week later, on 11 July, thousands marched in more than 50 Cuban cities, chanting Freedom and overturning police vehicles. In the last sixty years, Cuba had never seen such a massive show of anti-government anger.  

In Belarus as well, the father of the nation Mr Lukashenko dismissed covid-19 as mass hysteria. It could be cured with vodka, a steam bath and riding a tractor, he said. The Byelorussians came out on the streets to stand up against the regime. Though they haven’t yet succeeded in toppling Lukashenko, the masses could sense solidarity and an opportunity to rebel.

*****

South Africa is in bad shape, too. Jacob Zuma, the jailed ex-president is trying to provoke his supporters to demonstrate. Protests this month culminated in mass looting and burning of shops and businesses. The main reason was the growing unemployment and poverty.

South Africans are sick of the draconian and sometimes silly restrictions. For a few months, buying “open-toed sandals” was banned. While rich Africans have well stocked cellars, the periodic bans on alcohol have deprived the poor of a key pleasure in life. When the riots happened this month, liquor shops were the first to be looted.

*****

In Malaysia, people hang white flags in windows to seek food and help.

Now the young Malaysians have started a black flag (Bendera Hitam) movement. The educated young are venting their frustration at the government’s incompetence. Like in many countries, delay in vaccine ordering, vaccine shortages, new waves, lockdowns, and the economic slump make people furious.

Meanwhile, this week; an emergency, a presidential rule, has been imposed on Tunisia (Tunisia appeared in my January article as well). Kais Saied has suspended parliament for thirty days, and sacked the Prime Minister. Ten years ago, Tunisia had succeeded in getting rid of its dictatorship. Ten governments in ten years have failed to reduce corruption or improve the economy. In the pandemic, the economy shrank by 8.6%. In the new wave, the health system has collapsed. Oxygen is in shortage and expensive. Every day, over 200 Tunisians are dying of covid-19.

*****

Freedom House, a watchdog, says 158 out of the 193 UN countries have placed new restrictions on public protests. Most governments are using Covid-19 as an excuse to lock up opposition and suppress dissent. While anti-government demonstrations are banned, the governing party is seen holding huge rallies in some countries.

*****

The mass protests would be worthwhile if they can topple a couple of dictatorships.

Ravi 

Corona Daily 016: A Violinist and a Nigerian

Violinist Philip Payton, like most musicians who play in an orchestra, was neither rich nor poor. Playing regularly in Disney’s musical “Frozen” allowed him to pay his bills, and have a summer vacation. March 2020 shut down the orchestra. Philip applied for unemployment insurance. From April, he started receiving $504 a week, and an extra $600 authorized by the Congress. That is the good thing about America. It takes care of every citizen in crisis times. Philip could live normally. Locked up in the house, his expenses had come down anyway.

In the middle of September, the weekly payments suddenly stopped. The pandemic was on, the orchestra was shut, no reason why payments should have stopped. Philip contacted New York’s Department of Labor. He was told the payments had stopped because he was claiming the allowance in another state. For two months, nobody told him what the whole thing was about. He stopped receiving any money.  

By January 2021, his only success was to learn the name of the state where he was reportedly claiming the unemployment allowance –Texas. It took him another couple of months to reach the Texas commission. The commission told Philip he was on the black list of people who had tried to claim the benefit in several states.

In all, Philip Payton didn’t get his unemployment allowance for eight months, though he was out of job for the entire period. His name had a “fraud block” placed on it.

*****

Abidemi Rufai works as a senior special assistant to the governor of a Nigerian state. On 14 May 2021, with a first-class cabin boarding pass in hand, he was ready to board the flight at John.F. Kennedy international airport. Rufai’s brother lives in New York. Before he could board, FBI agents arrested him, and charged him with stealing more than $350,000 in unemployment benefits from Washington State alone.

Rufai used stolen identities to claim unemployment benefits in 11 states, including more than 100 applications in Washington. State auditors found 250,000 potentially bogus claims totaling $1.1 billion.

Rufai used variations of his email sandytangy58@gmail.com. Gmail allows its user to place, move or delete the dots in any place. The Gmail owner still receives emails irrespective of the dot placement. Rufai modified the mail address into variations like san.dyta.ngy58@gmail.com or sa.nd.ytang.y58@gmail.com .The state servers treated each as a separate person, allowing such addresses to be filed in several states. Rufai could still carry out the correspondence from a single email thanks to the Gmail feature.

Rufai and his allies asked the states to pay benefits into “Green Dot” online banking accounts, a popular fintech platform reportedly loved by criminals. Alternatively, they used “money mules” ( Last September, I wrote about this mechanism).

*****

FBI found in Rufai’s email account a mind-boggling amount of stolen information, including passwords to people’s email accounts, security questions and answers, driver’s licence numbers, bank accounts and routing numbers, and more than 1000 stolen tax returns.

Rufai has pleaded not guilty. In the bail application filed in June, his lawyer said Rufai has no criminal record. The prosecutors are deliberately offering false information and exaggerating the alleged crimes. They are trying to malign the reputation of a well-respected Nigerian government official.

*****

ProPublica is a New York based organization that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. It has won five Pulitzer prizes for its stories.

This week, ProPublica has published a detailed report on how unemployment insurance fraud exploded during the pandemic. They feel this is perhaps the largest fraud wave in history. For those interested or curious, I recommend reading the article by Cezary Podkul in ProPublica.

*****

Ravi 

Corona Daily 017: Pandemic Playmates

Only a fence separates the homes of Benjamin Olson and Mary O’Neill. Benjamin is 2 years old, and Mary will celebrate her 100th birthday in December this year. Benjamin lives with his parents. Mary lives on her own since she lost her husband 37 years ago. Though the Olson family lives next to Mary for the past twelve years, they have had little interaction.

Before Benjamin could talk, the pandemic began. At first, Mary began waving at the toddler from behind her window. Once the lockdown started, with nowhere to go and no one to meet, she started spending more time in her backyard to get fresh air. On the other side of the fence, she saw Benjamin walking his first steps. Mary started saying hello to him.

Mary uses a cane. Once, Benjamin threw a ball that landed close to the fence. With her cane, Mary reached over the fence and hit the ball towards him. Then Benjamin threw it back. That’s how their first sports activity began. Mary called it the Cane-ball game.

In a few weeks, Benjamin learned to open the gate separating him from Mary.

*****

In the spring, Mary gifted Benjamin her late son’s toy truck collection. It was lying in the basement for years. Benjamin loved the toys, and he began to recognize colours from the toys.

After receiving the toys, Benjamin decided to give Mary something in return. He grasped a pile of dirt and with a smile handed it over to Mary. In his little hands, sometimes he carries leaves, sometimes dirt.

Mary talked to him all the time. Despite Benjamin’s age, she found his understanding was excellent. He didn’t talk much, but it was clear he understood what she was saying.

Recently, Benjamin started speaking more words. He called her “Mimi”. He would say Mimi, and his parents knew their son was planning to visit the neighbor.

Playing with a two year old, Mary rediscovered her childlike spirit. The pair is often seen playing with bubbles and water guns.

*****

Mary, who lives in Minneapolis, has two children, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. However, all of them live in other states, far from Mary. In the pandemic, it was impossible for her to see any of them.

If not for her young friend, the months of pandemic isolation would have been a lot lonelier. ‘I wouldn’t have had anything to do’, Mary said. Playing with Benjamin was something she looked forward to every day.

Mary keeps careful count of Benjamin’s milk teeth, and progress of his walk and talk. He is the nearest thing to a grandchild, she says.

*****

Recently, NBC interviewed Mary and Benjamin’s mother, Sarah Olson.

Mary said she missed Benjamin on the days when it was too cold or rainy to go outside. She looked forward to meet her young friend every day.

Sarah said her son’s friendship with the neighbor was formed naturally. “We didn’t have to work on it at all, it just happened really naturally.” Sarah said she was teary-eyed when listening to Mary. Mary is fiercely independent, and doesn’t show emotions easily. “Mary really is Benjamin’s best friend. She’s his first best friend.”

The Olson family has been invited to Mary’s 100th birthday. Her friend, 98 years younger than her, will surely bring her more leaves and dirt as a birthday gift.

*****

Ravi 

Corona Daily 018: Chaos in Dushanbe

Last week, on 20 July, the younger sister of the president of Tajikistan died. Her three sons immediately attacked the country’s health minister and a senior doctor. The two severely beaten gentlemen sustained serious injuries, have been hospitalized, and not been seen since.

Tajikistan is one of the ex-Soviet Muslim republics north of Afghanistan. Dushanbe is the capital. Emomali Rahoman, the 68-year old dictator has been ruling the country since 1994. He has nine children from the first lady Azizmo Asadullayeva. Rahoman’s extended family and network of friends control every business, from airlines to banks. Opposition parties are either banned as extremist, or the opposition leaders assassinated. Rustam Emomali, the president’s son will replace his father when he eventually dies.

In April 2020, when other countries were locked down, president Rahoman continued to appear at large public gatherings, surrounded by dozens of women dressed in Tajikistan’s traditional attire.

*****

On 26 January this year, president Rahoman made a remarkable announcement in the parliament. Tajikistan became the first country in central Asia to eradicate covid-19. All cases had either recovered or died.

Tajik media is owned by the state. Independent television and radio stations focus on entertainment programmes. They lose their licences if they try to air independent views. Radio Ozodi (liberty) run by RadioFreeEurope tries to broadcast real news about Tajikistan from abroad. Some brave Tajiks anonymously write comments on social media.

The government said that for half a year, from 1 January to 20 June, there was not a single covid case in the country. The health ministry spokesman Emomali Mirzoyev told Radio Ozodi that people may have symptoms, but the tests were all negative. “Many people, during the heat of early June, drank excessively cold and even ice-cold water and swam in cold water.” That was the reason they were running high temperatures, nothing to do with the coronavirus.

Some unpatriotic people tried to post their positive results online.

*****

On 5 July, President Rahoman’s mother-in-law Uzbekbi Asadulloeva, 88, died of covid-19. This was not officially announced, but the local media reported it.

Few days later, a prominent imam called for prayers for the president’s son-in-law, a powerful business tycoon, Shamsullo Sohibov, who was down with covid-19. He was reportedly flown in the president’s plane to Germany for treatment.

The president’s influential brother-in-law Hassan Asadullozoda runs a bank, the national airline and many other businesses. He is reported to be in serious condition as a result of the coronavirus.

President’s younger sister Qurbonbi Rahmonova, was infected by the same eradicated virus. Medical experts from Germany, Russia and Uzbekistan were flown in to treat her. However, on 20 July, she succumbed to covid-19.

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Right after her death, and before the burial on the following day, her three sons went to attack Jamoliddin Abdullozoda, the health minister. Once he was thrashed to their satisfaction and sent to the hospital, the three got hold of Kholmuhammad Rahimzoda, the chief of the presidential hospital, and assaulted him. He landed in the ICU of the hospital he headed. Several other doctors escaped with minor injuries.

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In the news conference on Monday, 26 July the deputy health minister Gafur Mukhsinzoda blamed the reported wave of infections in Tajikistan on the delta variant, which he said probably entered Tajikistan from Russia. He offered no explanation for the absence of his boss, the health minister. He was not aware as to why he was not present at the press conference. When asked about the low numbers of cases and deaths in Tajikistan, he said all countries in the world had problems with counting the cases accurately.

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Though the presidential palace is infected, president Rahoman is reportedly fine and going around his business as usual. Coronavirus has so far maintained social distancing from all the dictators.

Ravi 

Corona Daily 019: A Minor Consent

An interesting debate has started in the USA this month. So interesting, it has gone to a Law Court.

In October 2020, the Washington D.C. municipality passed an Act that allows children as young as 11 to get vaccines without their parents’ knowledge if a doctor determines the child is capable of informed consent. The law was passed before any coronavirus vaccines had become available. Now, as you know, USA has vaccines available for anybody 12 and above. There are several parents who for religious or other reasons don’t want their child to get the shot. But what if the child wants to get the vaccine?

Last week, four parents of children who attend the Washington D.C. public schools sued the mayor and the municipality saying the law subverts the right and duty of parents to make informed decisions about whether their children should receive vaccinations. The law violates their religious liberty and their fundamental right to direct the care and upbringing of their children.

The parents are particularly upset because the new law allows the doctors to leave students’ immunization records blank (so that the parents don’t know about the vaccine).

The lawsuit was brought by the anti-vaccine activist, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, one of the disinformation dozen I wrote about earlier.

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Such laws were mainly created for the HPV or meningitis vaccine. HPV vaccine protects teenagers against a sexually transmitted infection that can cause cancer. Teenagers having sex and wanting to protect themselves by taking a shot, rarely wish their parents to know about their sexual life. In developed countries, as a rule, young teenagers make their own decisions about contraception and sexually transmitted infections. The doctors, schools and authorities are usually protected for advising or treating the children without the parents’ knowledge. Courts have also allowed minors to seek treatment for anxiety or depression when a parent objects to psychotherapy.

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Elizabeth’s (who allowed the newspaper to publish only her middle name) parents are divorced. She is 17. Her mother supports vaccinating her daughter, but the father is a staunch anti-vaxx. He has threatened her mother against attempts to vaccinate Elizabeth. The laws of the state require Elizabeth has consent from both parents. She somehow managed to get vaccinated. She has kept it a secret from both.

Now she is in a real fix. Her school requires all students to get vaccinated for the fall semester. Her father has started a fight with the school, he may even go to the court. If the school learns she is vaccinated, she will be disciplined for deceiving vaccinators.

The web is full of such stories. Isabella, another teenager, whose mother didn’t allow her said, “it’s my body.” The mother said, “It’s my body until you’re 18.”

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Kelly Danielpour, 18, daughter of a pediatric neurosurgeon and an intellectual property lawyer, has started a website VaxTeen.org. It offers guides to state consent laws, links to clinics, resources on information about covid-19 and advice for how teenagers can engage parents. Kelly started the website before covid, when she realized most children were not aware of the legal rights they have or about recommended vaccine schedules.

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In the UK, where the issue will arise once vaccines are approved for 12+, the law seems to be clearer.

Children below 16 can consent to their own treatment or vaccines if they are believed to have enough intelligence, competence and understanding to fully appreciate what is involved in their treatment. This is known as being “Gillick competent.” (Ironically, the test is named after Victoria Gillick, an activist, who campaigned against a minor’s consent.)

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16, 18, 21 are arbitrary numbers defining legal adulthood. Every new generation is physically and intellectually maturing earlier. The debate is not merely about vaccines. How long do parents have a right to insist their children are vegetarians/non-vegetarians? Religious/atheists?

If in such matters 12 year old children hold opposing views to their parents, they are probably mature enough to take their own decisions. In this, civilized laws and courts should support the child.

Ravi