Corona Daily 440: Brave New World

Flavia Lavorino and Jose Perez, an Argentinean couple, had tried to have a child for fifteen years. When a friend mentioned Ukraine’s liberal surrogacy laws, Flavia Googled Ukraine. It was 12,800 km away from Buenos Aires.

In December 2018, they began correspondence with a Kiev surrogacy agency. Four months later, they reached the Ukrainian capital after changing three flights. On 22 April 2019, the clinic collected his sperm and her eggs. They would never know anything about the gestational mother. She would simply rent her womb, the child would be genetically theirs.

The fertility tourism package cost $ 40,000. Flavia and Jose needed to borrow from the bank as well as family. It was still much cheaper than in the USA.

Late July, they did a Tango on seeing the WhatsApp message from Kiev. The surrogate mother was successfully pregnant. She would deliver around 10 April 2020. The clinic sent scans every month. It was a boy. After deliberating for weeks, they decided to name him Manuel, Manu for short. But no need to inform the clinic in advance. They would be in Kiev in person to name their son.

Jose is a doctor in intensive care, and Flavia a health worker. They applied for leave well in advance and bought tickets for 2 April, with a stopover in Madrid. Flavia circled the date on her desk calendar.

***** 

In March 2020, 28-year old A. shared a rented Kiev flat with two other surrogate mothers. A. is a mother of two children aged 4 and 7 years old. She had travelled 500 km by train to reach Kiev, leaving her children with their father. The Ukrainian laws require the surrogate mother must have successfully delivered a child before. And the surrogate agency wanted her to be in Kiev, for the doctors to monitor her till delivery. She would spend weeks away from her family, but it was worth it. The money was good.  She didn’t know it but she was carrying a child whose parents were 12,800 km away.

In March, the Kiev subway and trams stopped. Ukraine closed borders to all foreigners. A. developed a routine. Morning exercise, breakfast with porridge, watching TV, and an occasional short walk in the neighborhood. The evenings were chilly and dark.

The thought that the parents would not be in the country when she delivers the child scared her. The agency said the baby will be looked after by a nanny until the parents arrived.

On 30 March, A. delivered. A little prematurely, but the baby was normal. As per the agreement, she left the hospital without coming in contact with the child. Transport permitting, she would go back to her family as soon as she finished the paperwork, and got paid.

*****

Eight weeks later, Flavia and Jose are still 12,800 km away from their son. A family court has now permitted them to make the trip when (and if) they can fly. Argentina has banned flights until the end of September.

Their son, Manu, is not the only one. There are 100 babies in a Kiev hotel whose parents are abroad. And if the lockdown continues, in a few months, the projected figure is 1000 babies.

Imagine being stranded upon arrival into the world. Details about the surrogate baby boom in Ukraine tomorrow.

Ravi

Corona Daily 441: Planes Can’t Just Fly

On 22 May, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight 8303 from Lahore to Karachi crashed killing all but two on board. The wheels didn’t open out when the pilot tried to land. In his Mayday call, he said the engines had failed, and the landing gear had problems. The plane landed in a residential area in Karachi, destroying eighteen houses. The 2004 Airbus A-320 was last checked on 21 March, and was declared fit to fly till 5 November 2020. The Pilots and crew were well qualified.

*****

During a lockdown, many people run the engines of their cars every week, some every day. An aircraft is a far more intricate mechanism than a car.

An estimated 70% of the world’s fleet is currently grounded. Parking is expensive. Delhi airport charges 1000$ per plane per day. US airlines are shuttling many planes for long-term storage. You can’t simply park and cover planes. Active parking includes running the engines every week, running major systems and maintenance. Oils and everything else that can be recirculated must be recirculated.

Qantas, advertised as the safest airline, has parked its planes in Australia’s major airports. The crew regularly hoses down the exterior, rotates wheels, changes tyres, starts the engines and inserts moisture absorbers in them to lower the humidity.

Many grounded planes will never fly again. US airlines will collectively retire 800-1000 aircraft this year, because they would be out of action for too long. China Airlines have 200 new-generation, long-haul, wide-body airliners they won’t need for the next five years. Parts of the retired planes are used or sold. This is called the tearing down process. Whatever remains is scrapped, and beer cans made out of the scrap metal.

*****

Both people and planes have been locked down for two months. Planes grounded for two months first need to be tested by flying them without passengers.

Unfortunately, the aviation laws in Pakistan and India require such a test only if the aircraft is stuck in a hangar for a long time. If the plane was parked under the blue sky, no such test is required. A test flight costs 40,000 $ in India. Naturally, the bankrupt airlines are unwilling to incur that cost. They will risk flying planes that are not airworthy.

Pilots and crew who have not worked for 2-3 months are required to get fresh flying hours. These are called recency requirements. Pilots are expected to make up hours in flight simulators before entering the actual cockpit. Did pilots in Pakistan and India do this during the lockdown? Only they know.

*****

India plans to begin domestic flights tomorrow, 25 May. Indian planes have been silent for two months in humid weather. Was anybody working on starting the engines, rotating tyres, recirculating oils regularly? There are no reports about that.  

As passengers, all we can do is to avoid air travel in airlines that we suspect don’t run test flights.

The lockdown has been a unique thing to aviation. Its focus has been on disinfection, sanitization, keeping the middle seats empty. If the plane crashes, all those precautions come to nothing.

Ravi

Corona Daily 442: Livestock Holocaust

The last two months produced a holocaust for pigs and poultry. In the USA alone, 10 million chickens were culled. By September, an estimated 10 million pigs will be depopulated.

What is unusual about this? They are bred to be killed, aren’t they?

Different operators specialise in this food chain. Pig farms breed and raise the pigs. On reaching the required market weight, the pigs are despatched to the slaughterhouses. The slaughterhouses slaughter them as per the law of the country. Animals are supposed to be sedated before being killed.  Meat packing giants such as Tyson foods (USA) are responsible for processing, packaging and distribution of meat that is served in a restaurant or sold in the supermarket.

In the USA, slaughterhouses possibly have the worst working conditions. Mostly undocumented workers are cramped in unhygienic conditions; accidents are three times higher than average, amputations are a weekly affair. (Difficult to decide whose life is more miserable: those who kill or those who get killed). If a passionate meat-eater were to visit a slaughterhouse, he may convert to vegetarianism.

In March, the slaughterhouses became incubators for Coronavirus. Half of the American Covid-19 hotspots were linked to meat processing. By 8 May, at least 30 major slaughterhouses were shut because of the outbreaks, affecting 45,000 workers, reducing pork slaughter capacity by 40%. More than 6500 workers were infected, and 30 died.

Once the slaughterhouses closed, the pig farms and poultries were in a fix. Pigs grow in six months, and broilers in six weeks. Sows (female pigs) were already pregnant, delivering piglets. Piglets would take the place of those sent to the slaughterhouse. The farms and poultries ran out of space with so many pigs and chicken. (Cows are not yet severely affected because they are on ranches). With business busted and supply chains disrupted, costs must be cut. No sense in feeding livestock when it can’t be converted into meat. In such cases, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) recommends “depopulating” (or euthanizing) animals.

Farmers who raise the pigs don’t have the facilities of a slaughterhouse. Killing is not their job. AVMA’s preferred methods are: injectable anesthetic overdose, gassing, shooting with guns, electrocution and manual blunt force trauma. These are the “more humane” methods. If that is not practical, in constrained circumstances (such as the current pandemic), ventilator shutdown (VSD) combined with CO2 gassing and sodium nitrite is suggested. Fire fighting foam has been used in places, which prolongs the suffering. Nitrogen gas must be added, if possible, to make the death faster.

Leah Garces, president of “Mercy for animals” described it graphically: “manual blunt force is slamming piglets against the ground, and VSD is cooking pigs alive”.

Disposing of the thousands of carcasses is another problem farmers are not familiar with. They try to rent trailers to haul the carcasses away.

In April and May millions of animals had to be depopulated by suffocation, drowning, shooting or smothering by water-based foam. Meanwhile, six-mile long queues wait outside food banks and millions face hunger.

Ravi

Corona Daily 443: The Case of a Choir Rehearsal

Last week, Skagit County, Washington, published the report of its investigation into the local choir group.

Skagit Valley Chorale has 122 members, between the ages of 31 and 83 though the majority is in their late sixties. 84% of the singers are women. Practice is religiously held every Tuesday evening. Many veterans, part of the choir for more than fifteen years, eagerly look forward to these Tuesday gatherings. Skagit valley’s famous Tulip festival in April attracts a million visitors, so the months of practice in February and March are particularly special.

On 6 March, Adam Burdick, the 49 year old conductor, emailed the group: “Amid the stress and strain of concerns about the virus, practice would proceed as scheduled at Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church. I’m planning on being there this Tuesday, March 10, and hoping many of you will be, too.”

The evening of 10 March was chilly. 61 members turned up. Instead of the usual handshakes and hugs, everyone sanitized hands at the entrance and carried their own music sheets. Members sat in their usual chairs and practiced for 40 minutes. To energise the group, Burdick began with Sing on! Whatever comes your way, sing on! Sing on!  Singing was as powerful as ever.

Then they split into two smaller groups, and practiced for 50 minutes. Cookies and oranges were served in the fifteen minute break. Going back to their original seats, they rehearsed for another 50 minutes. Everyone put back their own chair, perhaps causing a little crowding at the chair rack. The 61 singers were present from 0630 to 0900 pm. Then they drove away in their individual cars.

*****

In three days, Carolyn Comstock, 62, a soprano, felt chills and a temperature. She couldn’t taste or smell the sauce she put on her pizza. 24 hours later, Burdick woke up with a temperature of 103 F.

Out of the 61 attendees, 53 developed a cough, fever, muscle ache and headache. Later a few suffered diarrhea, nausea and abdominal cramps. The more serious had viral pneumonia and respiratory failure.

On 18 March, Nancy Hamilton, 83, a soprano, sent Burdick a message saying she was worried about the condition of another. Burdick talked to comfort Nancy, but Nancy herself died the next day.

On 27 March, Carole Woodmansee died on her 81^st birthday.

*****

One singer had a cold since 7 March. That index patient was identified (but not named) as the super-spreader. The 10 March choir practice is termed a super-spreading  event, where a single person caused mass transmission. (On 11 May, in Ghana, one factory worker infected 533 co-workers).

The powerful singing was near fatal. When they projected their voices, they also projected more virus. Loud singing, even loud talking, emits more aerosols, risking greater spread of the virus. And the choir can’t rehearse with masks on.

***** 

The lessons: 80+ should be super-careful. Avoid big parties or gatherings. Talk softly. Wear masks. If you must attend a birthday party, please don’t sing ‘happy birthday’ at the top of your voice.

Ravi

Corona Daily 444: Back to School

Boris Johnson now wants his country to recover as rapidly as he did. The ‘Stay at home’ order has been replaced by a somewhat confusing ‘stay alert’. Last week, Johnson published a sixty page document detailing his plan to rebuild the UK, in which he wants to relax the restrictions on educational institutions. An Eton and Oxford scholar himself, little wonder he is keen to get the kids back to school. And who better to start with than the youngest? On 1 June, nursery, early years, reception (age 3-6) and grade 6 (age 10-11) will return to schools.

A meticulously prepared plan has been published for their school-coming. Here are the highlights.

The class will be split in two. No more than fifteen pupils with a single teacher will form a ‘protective bubble’.

Staggered timings for arrivals, assemblies, breaks, lunch times and departures prevent crowding and students are forbidden to bring anything to school – no schoolbag, no PE kit, no toys, not even pencil kits. As soon as they enter the school, they should wash their hands thoroughly. Every hour or so, staff will clean the classrooms, and pupils will wash their hands.

Pupils should ideally keep a distance of 2 meters all the time. (The UK formally use the word ‘ideally’ when they know it’s not going to happen).

Pupils may not recognize the classrooms they left in March. All soft toys and dinosaurs have been removed, because they can’t be cleaned. Desks are separated. Doors and windows are open. Corridors have been marked to ensure one-way-traffic. Sharing is caring, but not until the pandemic is over. No water play, no sand, no play dough is allowed. Each class will be given a box of books each day. After school the box will be put in quarantine. Nothing can be taken home, not even the pictures they have drawn. Playgrounds are marked off with sports cones. The school can use only easily cleanable equipment, like hoops or balls.

Masks are not necessary. However, if a pupil develops Coronavirus-like symptoms, the relevant teacher and staff should use gloves, an apron and a face mask. If someone tests positive, the entire bubble must go into self-isolation at home for two weeks.

Every day, when the child reaches home, parents must wash the child’s clothes.

*****

Johnson’s rational plan has surprisingly faced some resistance. Williamson, the education secretary, said the latest scientific evidence indicates it is safe to restart schools but the scientific advisor, Dame McLean said a full test, track and trace program should be in place first.

A small rebellion has begun. 35 councils and up to 1500 primary schools defy reopening. Teachers’ unions have called the plan irresponsible. Many parents don’t like the idea of offering their offspring as guinea pigs.

Education is devolved in the UK. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have confirmed they won’t reopen schools. On 1 June, it will be interesting to visit primary schools in England to find disciplined 3-year olds not licking their fingers, not picking their noses, and staying two meters away from one another.

Ravi

Corona Daily 445: Cameroon’s Miracle Healer

39 year old Frankline Ndifor, the pastor from Cameroon, is better known as Prophet Frank. In the 2018 elections, he was a presidential candidate. His popularity, though, is based on his miraculous healing powers. He founded the Kingship International Ministries Church. Cameroon’s Christian believers flock to the church to listen to him and seek his blessings.

Since March he had been on his toes, protecting people from Covid-19. Everyday a long line of followers queued up outside his home, waiting for the great man to bless and protect them. He would shut his eyes and place his hands on the person kneeling in front of him. His magical hand was the vaccine and the drug. If flights were still operating, Donald Trump might have invited him to the White House.

In the month of May, without any announcement, the prophet stopped seeing people. The worshippers coming to his house were sent back, disappointed.

Early morning on 16 May, Doctor Gaelle Nnanga was asked to visit his house. He found God’s man gasping for breath. Prophet Frank was in agony, displaying all the symptoms of Covid-19. In ten minutes he died.

*****

The family and the hundreds of followers dismissed the doctor’s verdict. Prophet Frank was only 39, and known for administering divine cure. He had gone on a spiritual retreat with God. The family told the doctor the pastor would be resurrected in a day or two.

Crowds gathered outside his house and began praying and singing. The singing was broadcast on Douala’s radio stations. Douala is Cameroon’s largest city and the commercial capital. Prophet Frank lived and died here. The city’s governor called the family to offer his condolences. The family asked him not to worry; the pastor would certainly get resurrected. Just give us 48 hours, let him rest in bed for two days, they said, and he will be back in action.

The governor, apparently, was not a spiritual man. He sent a large team of police in what are known as riot vehicles. When reason failed, the police used tear gas to disperse the crowd. The Gendarmerie entered the barricaded house by force, along with the disinfection and intervention team from the Covid centre. When everyone ran away, medical staff wearing protective gear took the body of the prophet and buried it in front of his residence.

Prophet Frank leaves behind him a large number of followers who may have become infected. The Governor of Doulala has urged all of them to rush to the local hospital and get tested.

Ravi

Corona Daily 446: Refugees without Refuge

Human suffering is limitless.

On 14 May, Kutupalong, near Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh had its first case of Coronavirus. The sprawling stretch of 34 refugee camps, the world’s biggest, shelters nearly a million Rohingya refugees. A few of them have now tested positive, a dreaded scenario for Bangladesh.

Rohingyas originated in Myanmar (formerly Burma) nearly five thousand years ago, when Islam didn’t exist. Converted to Islam by Arab merchants, they were concentrated in Arakan. In the 1970s, the Burmese army and dictatorship began its relentless campaign against Rohingyas. Arakan was renamed Rakhine, after the Buddhist Burmese people. Rohingyas were (falsely) called Bengali immigrants, made stateless, their legal rights withdrawn. With a combination of apartheid and genocide, the brutal Burmese Junta tried to get rid of them. Aung San Suu Kyi, an otherwise respectable woman, lost many admirers due to her silence around the atrocities.

In 2017, 800,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh to find shelter in the now infamous refugee camps. Bangladesh is a reluctant host. The refugee camps are covered with barbed wires not for the protection of refugees, but of Bangladeshis. The government has cut off all phones and internet from the camps. Rains and floods cause chaos in the monsoons. The camps are located on the roads that were previously an elephant migration route. Occasionally, wild elephants enter the camps and trample a few refugees.

For the past four years, Bangladesh has been planning to relocate Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char, a nearby island. In 2006, the 15 sq mile island was formed naturally by the millions of tons of silt that flow from the peaks of the Himalayas. Between June and September, the island disappears under water. The Bangladeshi government has not allowed foreign observers or Rohingya representatives to visit the island. Recently over 300 refugees tried to flee to Malaysia by boats (another name for the Rohingya refugees: the Boat People). The Bangladeshi navy caught and placed them on this island. The fate of these first residents will be known in June when the floods begin.

Rohingya refugees, the world’s most persecuted people, have so far survived Burmese brutalities, malnutrition in camps, rains, elephants and the dreaded transfer to Bhasan Char Island. Coronavirus is their latest, but not the last challenge.

Tomorrow, on 20 May, a category four super cyclonic storm Amphan (meaning sky) is going to hit Bangladesh and the North East of India. A five to ten feet high storm followed by floods is expected to cause havoc in low lying areas.

In the Rohingya refugee camps, the danger signal has been elevated to 6.

Ravi

Corona Daily 447: Is Covid a He or She?

If you were to cross the scenic Pont des Arts from the Louvre in Paris, you will reach the magnificent Académie Française on the other side of the Seine. A heritage building founded in 1635, it is the custodian of the purity and authenticity of the French language. A maximum of forty invited and elected members, (expensively dressed and entitled to carry swords) issue rules and guidelines for French speakers. Though they are not, they are called the immortals - a reference to the language they guard.

Mostly comprising elderly gentlemen and occasionally a lady (732 immortal men and nine women, until now), they have carefully protected the French language. The group includes novelists, poets, literary critics, philosophers, historians and the odd foreigner who commands mastery over the French language.

Since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, les immortelles have been upset and disturbed because they see and sometimes hear la covid, other times le covid. Of course it is not possible for Covid-19 to be both masculine and feminine, pushing these expert French linguists to heatedly debate its gender, on video, of course. With 25,000 French citizens already dead of Covid-19, they finally issued their verdict on 7 May.

Covid is feminine.

Like primary school teachers, they offered a detailed philological explanation. An acronym or abbreviation must first be unfolded to see its full form. Then the gender of the key word looked at and applied to the acronym. That is why FBI is masculine, but CIA is feminine. Because bureau is masculine, whereas agency (agence) is feminine. Disease (maladie) is a female in French, therefore Covid becomes a female as well.

*****

What the legendary Académie Française pronounces is not binding on the public. These old masters try to stop the invasion of English language into France. They recommended mobile multifonction when smartphones appeared. And tried to replace the catchy le wifi with l’access sans fil a internet. If you use that phrase no Parisian will understand what you are saying.

*****

In Indian languages, both ‘virus’ and ‘disease’ are masculine. (And everybody knew it without an academy). Italian, Spanish and Portuguese languages declared Covid-19 to be feminine in March itself. Russian and Polish also have genders for nouns. It is important to know the gender before you can translate novel coronavirus. In Polish, a novel boy would be nowy, a novel girl nowa, and a novel child, nowe. Just to clarify: Covid-19 is called a coronavirus infection in Russian, and is feminine, because infection is feminine. In Polish, Covid is feminine because disease (choroba) is feminine. Virus is masculine in both.

In short, in European languages a nasty male results in a dangerous female.

Ravi

Corona Daily 448: Operation Tiger in Kent

On Saturday, 2 May, at 10.23 a.m., the Sevenoaks police station phone rang. The Kent police have been overwhelmed with complaints about those breaking stay-at-home orders. But this call was different. The caller had seen a large wild tiger at Mote road in Ightham village. As per procedure, the police constable noted the caller’s details. He then informed his superior, who whistled on hearing it. Everyone was overworked, but a tiger was more exciting than a virus.

It took the efficient Kent police only twenty minutes to organize ten armed police officers. Ightham was merely four miles away. The village, known for cob trees, is surrounded by massive woods. The police Land Rovers would need to cover a large area. The police chief had asked for a helicopter to assist them. It would be easier to sight the wild cat from the skies.

Two cyclists were stopped next to Ightham Mote, the well known medieval manor house. The cyclists without masks were terrified, but what the police said surprised them. ‘Get out of the area, as soon as you can, and don’t leave the main roads, because a tiger is on the loose’.

Fortunately, there weren’t any people on the roads. The police had decided not to use the megaphone. It may provoke the tiger into action. From the jeeps, they saw the roving helicopter above them. Phone contact was established. It was a matter of minutes before they would locate the tiger.

*****

With a population of about two thousand, Ightham is not large. Last few weeks were quieter than usual. The sound of the helicopter made the residents restless and puzzled. Many came out of their houses to watch it.

85 year old Juliet Simpson was in the kitchen when her son, Duncan, called her. ‘Mum, there are armed police on the hill going in the direction of your house. Don’t know what’s happening.’

My goodness, said Mrs Simpson and came out of the house. She saw the approaching Land Rovers. The police chief, carrying his loaded gun, came out of the car. He was informed by the helicopter pilot that the tiger sat basking in the sun in the garden of this house.

‘Would you like to be introduced to the tiger?’ The smiling Mrs Smith asked the policemen. They all followed her.

*****

Juliet Simpson is a sculptress. Twenty years ago, she had sculpted the tiger with wire and resin. It looked admirably lifelike. The relieved police chatted pleasantly for twenty minutes and left. As to why the tiger that was stationary in the same place for twenty years should cause such mayhem today, the police explained later.

It seems in March and April; Netflix showed the documentary series ‘Tiger King- murder, mayhem and madness’. This series was watched widely during the lockdown in Kent.

Ravi

Corona Daily 449: Seksbuddies in Netherlands

On 15 May, the Netherlands officially advised single men and women to find themselves a seksbuddy (sex buddy) or a cuddle buddy.

Netherlands is a marvelous nation, perhaps the freest on earth. It is open, transparent, equal-for-all, matter-of-fact and no-nonsense. Going Dutch is a term we are familiar with. Recreational drugs are officially sold. Amsterdam’s De Wallen is a glamorous, picturesque red light district. It is a rare country where patients in extreme agony can peacefully end their life with the doctor’s help.

On 23 March, Netherlands began its strict lockdown. Neighbouring UK advised couples not living together “to test the strength of their relationship”. (A famous George Mikes quote: On the continent people have sex; in England they have hot-water bottles).

The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) gives official advice to its citizens. Some FAQs on their website asked “Can I still have sex now that coronavirus is in the Netherlands?”

Yes, the advice said, you can have sex. But keep a distance of 1.5 meters. Webcam sex or DIY (do it yourself) is allowed. Group sex is no longer possible. But group sexting on Skype or Zoom is possible. The Dutch call theirs an ‘intelligent lockdown’.

While keeping a distance of 1.5 meters, the couples were advised to tell each other erotic stories. It is possible the Health institute started online storytelling classes. (If they are in Dutch, English subtitles should be added so that other nations can benefit).

Over the last six weeks, the government realized they had forgotten about the singles. Singles had nobody to tell stories to. One love expert said sex is a human right. Another called the deprivation “skin hunger (huid honger)”.

Finally, yesterday, as a measure of relief to the singles, the government officially advised them to find “sex buddies” or “cuddle buddies.” Of course, great care should be taken in the selection process. Buddies and their contact-circle should be disease-free. Singles and their buddies should come to a mutually satisfactory agreement to keep themselves safe.

They should not use public transport to visit each other. Before starting anything, they should wash hands. After it is over, they should wash hands. After that, the advice becomes a bit ambiguous when it says: wash hands when you touch your partner. What does that mean? Does the government expect the romance to happen next to a washbasin? Or in a bathtub?

*****

Anyway, the humane advice of the Dutch government appeared to be misunderstood or distorted on the Dutch social media today. Multitudes of texts asked for buddies. Hundreds of ads appeared online as well.

Frightened by this response, the government Health institute removed the words ‘sex buddy’ and ‘cuddle buddy’ from the website. It also clarified that its nuanced message was distorted. It never intended to promote arbitrary sex. The Dutch government wants singles to have safe sex with someone in a committed relationship.

Ravi