Corona Daily 262: How Lockdown Affects Our Memory: Part I

In the last few months, some of my friends have wondered if their memory is getting worse. Talking about myself, I can’t confidently say the date unless I check it. In the B.C. (before coronavirus) era, I was good at knowing today’s date precisely. On the other hand, I still know the day of the week exactly. (Later this week, I will explain why.) Many people struggle when asked: What’s the day today? This week, I will try to list the different ways in which our memory can get affected in the lockdown and why. 

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Places play a big role in our memory. If you visit your school after many years, and take a walk inside, memories will come flooding in. Just as if those files were lying dormant in your brain, reactivated by the visit.

I had a strange experience in my twenties. I was living and working in Moscow. Only landlines existed then, with six-digit phone numbers in Bombay, and seven-digit numbers in Moscow. I was proud of my memory, and never wrote down a single number. Though not a switchboard receptionist, I easily remembered more than a hundred numbers each in Bombay and Moscow. International calls were very expensive. One year when calling became cheap following the Rouble’s collapse, I decided to call my Indian friends from Moscow. But as I started to dial with the receiver in hand, I was fumbling. Other than my parents’, I had difficulty recalling most numbers. However, when I returned to Bombay, I could recall all Bombay numbers with precision. Now the Moscow numbers had become foggy.

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In the last nine months, I have slept every night in the same house, in the same bed. It must be a personal record of some kind. Cognitive psychologists talk about the lack of cues to aid our memory. If you work in an office, there is the journey from the house. Whether you drive or use public transport, there is a change of scenery. The lift, garage, car, metro, trees on the street, building security gate, coffee machine in the office, all of them are daily milestones. I am not even talking of the people, the enormous number of strangers you come across in public transport, or while walking on the street. You may think of the commute to office and back as hell, but what it does is to train your memory all the time. With each place, some memory files are getting added to your brain. Your brain absorbs the background colours, the giant hoardings, the expressions of fellow travellers. Even when you know the names of all stations on your underground line, every time you travel, the names get reinforced in your memory.

Now, people working from home are in one place. The desk, the chair, and the computer screen. Little wonder the location-related memory power is inactive. The brain is not expanding.  

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Our brains have a seahorse-shaped component called the Hippocampus. (In fact, that’s the Greek word for seahorse). Thanks to the Hippocampus, we are able to find our way back home when we go out. This spatial ability, the skill to navigate is a critical memory function.

Some veteran London Black Taxi drivers boast of knowing every small lane in London. To verify this, one study actually invited them and scanned their brains. Without fail, all those drivers had much larger hippocampi compared to the average Londoner. People who for convenience use GPS or similar SatNav don’t allow their hippocampi to expand.

In one research neuroscientists found that if people’s lives become more confined and repetitive as they age, their use of the hippocampus decreases. The study didn’t see the current pandemic coming, but its conclusion is applicable to all of us, irrespective of age. In the lockdown, our use of the hippocampus is decreasing.

More on the subject tomorrow.

Ravi 

Corona Daily 263: A Horror Movie that Never Ends

INT DAY: EMERGENCY ROOM IN A SOUTH DAKOTA HOSPITAL (NOVEMBER 2020)

A patient Mr G with an oxygen mask on. He is trying to yell through the mask. Jodi, the emergency room nurse, is checking the various parameters on the screen. Wearing a PPE, only her eyes are visible:

MR G: Nurse, when will the hospital tell me what’s wrong with me? By the way, why don’t you take that stuff off… it’s like those Muslim women you know…. So difficult to talk with you.  

JODI: You’ve been told. You had breathing difficulties, you tested positive, that’s how you landed here. You’re lucky, the hospital has no free beds any more.

Mr G: I’ve had the flu before. Nobody ever took me to a hospital for flu. A friend was saying they give oxygen to pneumonia patients.

JODI: (Takes the patient card and shows to him): It’s Covid. You should rest.

Mr G: Come on. You know and I know there is no such thing. Don’t know who started it, maybe Bill Gates. Maybe China’s plan to topple our president. Every year flu happens, people get sick, some die. Did anyone ever ask us to wear masks? Stop working? Don’t keep saying Covid, Covid… I’m sick of hearing it.

JODI: Well, you know, I’ve been working in this awful dress every day, for 16 hours a day, haven’t taken an off for the last six months. I go home, put all clothes in the laundry, take a shower. Then horrible dreams if I can sleep. Back to hospital. I have no time to have proper meals. And you think this is all some kind of a hoax?

Mr G: Nurse, may I ask who you voted for? I hope not for that horrible man – Biden. He’ll ruin America, absolutely. We were doing so well, the greatest economy in the world, and then this conspiracy. Who did you vote for? Are you a Democrat? If you believe in this scam, it’s possible you are. Maybe you voted the fraudulent way, sent your vote by mail.

JODI: Listen, you are on 100% Vapotherm. Please don’t talk if it’s troubling you. I can see your oxygen level on the monitor. You need to rest. Already nearly a quarter of a million Americans have died of this virus. It’s real, very real.

Mr G: Our president is wrong. Governor Noem is wrong. And you are right. Wow! Governor Noem, a marvelous lady, she has made sure we in South Dakota remain free. No madness about washing hands with soap, and six feet distance and all that nonsense. If not for the Democrats, and that disastrous Fauci we could have continued with our lives… normally. This is no big deal. I think I have lung cancer and you are trying to hide it from me.

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INT: THE SAME HOSPITAL ROOM. LATER IN THE EVENING.

JODI: I’m afraid your oxygen level is very low. We’ll need to intubate you. Would you like to call your family? On Facetime? Talk to your kids? Wife? Friend? Brother? I can help you connect.

Mr G: (hardly audible) No, I’m fine. This is just some little flu.

The Nurse intubates Mr G.

Mr G: (Only he can understand what he says). This can’t be happening. It’s not real.

Saying this, Mr G dies.

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This is not a fictional screenplay. Jodi Doering, a South Dakota nurse, first tweeted and then narrated on CNN her experience. Mr G is not an exception, his is a representative case. She has seen hundreds of such cases. Jodi calls this experience “a horror movie that never ends”. South Dakota is one of the worst Covid sufferers. Its governor Kristi Noem, a Trump favorite, attributes the worsening picture to increased testing.

As to why increased testing should result in hospitals becoming full, and a record number of deaths, nobody bothers to explain.

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Ravi    

Corona Daily 264: Poland -Hungary Oppose the Rule of Law

Yesterday, Poland and Hungary threw the European Union into a major crisis.

Across the world, a rules-based liberal order has been gradually replaced by right-wing populism, conservatism; disregard for truth, decency and tolerance. The EU is the last major bastion of democracy and liberalism. After Brexit, it is still made of 27 different countries, each with its own culture and history. With no powerful head, major decisions must be taken through consensus by all 27 members. Important decisions take months to negotiate.

Since July, the EU leaders have been arguing about a Pandemic stimulus and a seven-year budget. Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Denmark are EU’s notorious “Frugals” who want to give less, with strict conditions. Managing them is part of Angela Merkel’s skillset. Economists have predicted the worst recession since WWII, with France, Italy and Spain suffering the most.

The negotiations concluded last week with a historic 1.8 trillion Euros agreed as the long-term budget, including 750 billion euros as pandemic help. The hardest-hit members would get grants, rather than loans. Holding the highest standards of democratic decision-making, EU requires not a majority but unanimity. Yesterday, Poland and Hungary vetoed, throwing EU into a crisis. Why did this happen?

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Poland was persecuted by Nazis, materially ruined by the Soviet Union, and resurrected by the European Union. I worked as a volunteer in Communist Poland in 1987, and then lived there between 1999-2002, when it was an aspiring EU member. Based on my experience, I always offer Poland as the best example of what political unity and removing of borders can achieve. Transformed beyond recognition, Poland in the twenty-first century became a very civilized place to live in.

In the last five years, it has been run by the Law and Justice (PiS) party, the name a perfect misnomer. PiS has tried to strike at the independence of media and judiciary. Andrzei Duda, the president who won a narrow victory this year, promoted hatred for gays, Jews and the liberals who supposedly conspire with foreigners to destroy Polish culture.

When PiS came to power, it tightened its grip on the state TV network TVP, national news agency PAP, and Polish Radio. They now broadcast round-the-clock propaganda.

Three weeks ago, in a choreographed move, America signed with 30 countries an anti-abortion declaration. The only European signatories were Belarus, Poland and Hungary. This was followed by the Highest Court of Poland introducing the toughest anti-abortion laws. Women went on protest marches across Poland.

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Viktor Orban is Hungary’s de-facto dictator. Over the past ten years he has abused the rule of law, the independence of judiciary and the rights of minorities. On one hand, he runs a “Stop Brussels” campaign, compares the EU to the USSR; on the other hand, uses EU as the cash machine. Orban’s family and friends routinely win EU-funded infrastructure contracts.

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Imagine EU as a school class teacher, with Poland and Hungary as two absolutely unruly boys. She should punish them or throw them out of the class. The punishment starts with a loss of voting rights, then sanctions, and the unlikely scenario of expulsion from the EU.

Poland (in 2017) and Hungary (2018) are the only two countries EU tried to punish for undermining the judiciary’s independence. Because of the unanimity principle, both attempts were foiled. Hungary and Poland vetoed to protect each other.

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The Frustrated EU has now tried to link the budget and Pandemic stimulus to “the rule of law”. In other words, money can be withdrawn from countries not following “the rule of law”. Poland called such linking political enslavement. Hungary termed it as attacking its sovereignty. They will not let the budgets pass until the “rule of law” is removed as an obligation. European parliament, the final authority, has said it will not pass the budget if “rule of law” is removed.

Two rogue governments, of Hungary and Poland, now hold hostage the needy population of EU.

Ravi 

Corona Daily 265: Asia Unites without India

Yesterday, on a virtual call hosted by Vietnam, fifteen Asia-Pacific countries formed the world’s largest trading bloc, bigger than the European Union. The diverse composition included: China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. With 30% of the world’s population and GDP, the block targets to eliminate 90% of duties over the next twenty years. This was China’s first ever multi-lateral trade agreement. Japan and China came together in a bloc for the first time. The fifteen countries were keener to sign the RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) because their economies are severely affected by the pandemic. The agreement was negotiated with blood, sweat and tears as described by Malaysia’s trade minister. The negotiations had started in 2012, and other than China, the most important member was expected to be India.

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A year ago, India decided to withdraw. India feared cheap goods from China flooding the Indian market, further widening the trade deficit. Dairy products coming from New Zealand would be so cheap as to threaten the livelihood of Indian dairy farmers. Narendra Modi invoked Mahatma Gandhi in his withdrawal announcement. Gandhi had advocated a self-reliant India with an aversion to foreign goods. This was pre-independence. After 1947, India adopted protectionism that caused substandard products, red tape, excessive duties and consequent smuggling until 1991. As the experience of communist countries showed, the fantasy of self-reliance usually ends in self-destruction. This is even more relevant in 2020. Supply chains are now global. Every time there is an opportunity to remove a border, a nation should pounce on it.

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India has been negotiating this agreement for seven years. China’s strengths are well known. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with having a trade deficit with China, every nation does. “Made in India” no longer means developed by Indians. My Nike shoes are made in Laos or Vietnam, they can be made in India in a trade-friendly environment. I-phones can be assembled in India and exported all over the world. The strongest point of this agreement is the unified “rules of origin”. If components are made in any of these fifteen countries, the final product will be eligible for the lowest duties. India now misses on it by being outside.

The threat of 5% dairy products from New Zealand ruining the other 95% is beyond my understanding of economics. If New Zealand can consistently supply milk powder at half the Indian rate, can someone please explain why.

The agreement offers each country a flexibility to specify protected items. Japan will maintain high import duties on “politically sensitive” agricultural products. Surely, India could have done the same with dairy products. If the intent was to join the agreement, this is a surprising failure of negotiations.

The more likely explanation is reverting to protectionism and mixing business with politics. Trump’s America first and withdrawal from the Trans-pacific partnership seems to have been photocopied by India. The USA and India share their dislike for China. But sustained enmity with a neighbour is a bad policy. Being part of a trading bloc could improve India-China relations. This agreement was a small step in an eventual grand single Asian market.

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India’s decision is perplexing. The parties are given two years to ratify the agreement in their parliaments. India’s signing could have allowed the parliament and public to better debate it. India could have joined yesterday’s engagement ceremony, and refused to marry later, or divorce if the marriage didn’t work. The step to run away before the engagement is timid and embarrassing.

Ravi    

Corona Daily 266: The Most Disadvantaged Negotiator

Expressions like ‘a great loss’ or ‘a void’ are often used when a well-known person dies. Most such tributes are a matter of protocol. The obituary doesn’t mean what it says. That was not the case with Saeb Erekat, the secretary general of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation), who on 10 November died of Covid-19.

Saeb Erekat, 65, was better known as the Chief Palestinian Negotiator. For the last thirty years, he was part of every negotiation. He was a spokesman, and the single-point organizational memory of the whole negotiating process for the Palestinians. Against all odds, he had managed to leave Palestine for a university education. He was fluent in English following his double graduation in the USA and doctorate in the UK. He was also articulate and witty.

“I try to understand the Israelis’ fears and aspirations, but they can get too complicated for me. Every day, there’s something going on, like the cats outside my window at night, and I never know if they’re making love or fighting or both.” He said in an interview.

Fighting against an occupying, land-grabbing Israeli state, supported by its veto-powered sponsor USA, Erekat was dealt a bad hand. He called himself “the most disadvantaged negotiator since Adam negotiated with Eve.” (My detailed five-part series analyzing the history of the Israel Palestine conflict is here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. It explains how Israel is an occupying power engaged in modern apartheid).

Though Israeli politicians and population thought of him as firebrand, Erekat supported peace and non-violence. He was the man in a suit carrying a briefcase, making his arguments rationally, and sticking to his demands with little bargaining power. He was instrumental in negotiating the Oslo accord (1995), Hebron protocol (1997) and the Wye river memorandum (1998), all three of them transferring some Israeli-controlled territory to the Palestinians.

“As a Palestinian father,” he repeatedly said, “I want my children to be journalists and schoolteachers and professors and musicians. I don’t want them to be suicide bombers. But in order to do so, I need to provide hope that they will live in freedom away from occupation.”

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More than a month ago, he tested positive for Covid-19. As someone with a lung transplant, he was in the high-risk category.

When an ambulance carried him to the Hadassah Ein Karem hospital in Jerusalem, protestors gathered outside. “Let him die” read one poster. Social media champions on both sides called him a ‘hypocrite’ for taking treatment from the enemy. (Palestine doesn’t have a hospital which could have treated his condition). Newspaper columnists openly condemned hosting an enemy and treating him. Some people accused Erekat of occupying a bed that an Israeli patient could have had.

Fortunately, Israel still has people who can deal with others as human beings. Israeli negotiator Gilead Sher called Erekat a respectable, remarkable human being. The hospital director emphasized a ground reality, “We have Arab doctors and Jewish doctors, Arab nurses and Jewish nurses taking care of all patients without fear or favour.”

Erekat’s hospital treatment needed approval from the Israeli government. Some parliament members asked Netanyahu to negotiate concessions in exchange of treatment. Benny Gantz, the defence minister, ignored his colleagues and decided to allow unconditional care for Erekat.

Enmity and hatred are amplified by politicians, not citizens. On Erekat’s death, neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor the Israeli President Reuven Rivlin offered any condolences, not even a tweet.

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Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, is 85 and not in good health. Saeb Erekat, twenty years younger, had an excellent chance to replace him. With Biden replacing Trump, hopes for a Palestinian state could have been revived. Instead, the ailing Abbas himself will now replace Erekat as a negotiator.

Erekat falling a victim to Covid-19 is a true tragedy for the Palestinian cause.

Ravi   

Corona Daily 267: Denmark’s Mink Variant

Last week’s news from Denmark may either be very significant, or may turn out to be nothing at all.

In ‘Bye Bye Mink’ I had talked about minks getting infected and dying on the breeding farms. Netherlands has decided to end the mink industry in 2021. Six countries had earlier reported outbreaks on mink farms: Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Italy and the USA. Yesterday, Greece joined with infections on two farms.

Denmark is the world’s second-largest exporter of mink fur, after China. It accounts for nearly half of the 35 million minks farmed in Europe.

Initially, Denmark had decided to cull (kill) all minks on the infected farms. Then on 7 July, it decided to isolate them with strict hygiene rules. A humane decision, but probably a blunder. The virus struck back with renewed vigour. By 6 November, 216 farms were infected.

The infected minks have now passed on the virus to 214 humans, a reverse zoonosis. The age range of the infected Danes is 7 to 79 years. Twelve cases have a unique variant.

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Years ago, I had read about a linguistic experiment. A reputed university had asked various bilingual translators to translate a story sequentially. For example, the English-Mandarin translation was followed by Mandarin-Spanish, Spanish-Hindi, Hindi-Arabic, Arabic-French, and back into French-English. The translators were professional and well qualified. Still, the first and the final English versions were dramatically different, in some parts the story becoming unrecognizable.

It is similar with the coronavirus. If it was transmitted from bats to humans (not confirmed), then humans to minks, and back from minks to humans, it can change significantly. The mutation may not be more contagious or lethal, but it may make the vaccines ineffective. The worst-case scenario is the Denmark Mink variant starting to spread globally, and causing another pandemic. It’s too early to panic, Denmark hasn’t yet shared the variant’s genetic data with scientists. If the variant is not too different, vaccines can be tweaked. Flu vaccines are altered every year to counter mutations. And Denmark will try to kill the variant before it leaves Denmark’s borders.

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With that in mind, Mette Frederiksen, Denmark’s young PM, ordered culling of all 15 million minks across the country. Skins and furs from healthy minks from non-infected farms can be pelted and sold, but all other minks must be buried without skinning. Military would be used for the massive CO gassing operation as well as the mass burials.

Just as the military and farmers were getting ready for the mink extinction project, the opposition objected. Like in most countries, Denmark’s government and parliament are at loggerheads. Frederiksen’s actions were considered illegal. She apologized. It may take some time before compensation to farmers is agreed, the data evaluated and a bill passed to make the culling legal. Meanwhile, the risk exists.

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Terrified by the news, other governments have issued strict rules for arrivals from Denmark. UK refused entry to lorry drivers coming from Denmark. (Good rehearsal for January). All cars, buses and trains from Denmark have been halted within their borders. Plans of the international football teams are disrupted, with eight Premier League stars affected.

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Minks belong to the weasel family, that along with ferrets can easily get infected with the coronavirus. Their crowded conditions are ideal for virus spreading. They can become quite sick and die. Fortunately, no other animal has passed on the Covid virus back to humans. If pigs or chicken were to contract it, or transmit it back to humans, the consequences would be apocalyptic.

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Do we learn our lessons? Not really. Palm Civet was a suspect source in SARS 2003. It probably was an intermediary between bats and humans. In different parts of Asia, palm civets are now farmed intensively, fed coffee beans, and the beans collected from its faeces make the world’s most expensive coffee, kopi luwak.

Ravi 

Corona Daily 268: Good News from the UK, Finally

Yesterday, UK became the first European country to pass 50,000 official coronavirus deaths. At least 600 Brits are dying daily of covid.

“The milestone was a terrible indictment of poor preparation, poor organization by the government, insufficient infection control measures, coupled with late and often confusing messages for the public.” Said the chairman of the British medical association.

This week is the first of a new 4-week national lockdown. Over the next two months, the pandemic is expected to get worse.

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While hospitals get overwhelmed and people work from home, Brexit will happen. From 1 January, UK will be a proud, independent, sovereign nation.

Northern Ireland continues to be a stumbling block. UK wants it to be in the UK and EU at the same time, which is logically impossible after Brexit. Johnson will therefore break a treaty that he signed a year ago. He was hoping for a Trump win, which would make his illegal actions legal. There is a real risk of an EU deal not happening, a hard border inside Ireland, restart of the Troubles, and finally Northern Ireland leaving the UK. Even with a deal, January will be chaotic where the post-Brexit lorry queue is projected to make Kent the Toilet of England.

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This week, not deterred by COVID-19 or Brexit, the kingdom announced some inspiring, delightful news.

In 2022, Queen Elizabeth II will complete 70 years of her reign as the British monarch. An extra bank holiday, and a four-day weekend have been announced to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee. This blockbuster, once-in-a-generation show will happen from 2 June- 5 June 2022.

Oliver Dowden, the cultural secretary, said, “Her Majesty’s platinum jubilee will be a truly historic moment, and one that deserves a celebration to remember. We will put on a spectacular show that mixes the best of British ceremonial splendor with cutting edge art and technology. It will bring the entire nation and the commonwealth together in a fitting tribute to Her Majesty’s reign.” England will host the Commonwealth games in Birmingham and the festival of Brexit to showcase the best of Britain.

The Queen hopes that as many people as possible will have the opportunity to join the celebrations.

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In a 1947 broadcast the Queen had said,” I declare that my whole life, whether long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.” Now we know her life has been long rather than short.

In the 1960s, an Operation London Bridge plan was created. The plan detailed the actions in the event of the Queen’s death. The monarch’s death is a more catastrophic event for Britain than Covid or Brexit.  “London Bridge is down” was the agreed phrase to communicate her death to the Prime minister. That plan has been scrupulously updated every year, for more than fifty years. Many of the planners are no longer around.

The joyous opportunities for the British people (with the exception of Prince Charles) are unending. In 2024, at the age of 98, the Queen will become the longest ruling monarch ever (beating France’s Louis XIV). In 2026, the Queen turns 100. In 2027, she will celebrate the Palladium Jubilee of her rule.

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A committee comprising MPs and Lords has been formed to decide gifts for the queen. In the meetings held this week, the committee acknowledged it was not an easy job.

On 19 March, the Queen left London, and has been living in Windsor Castle in Berkshire. Her absence for eight months was making the Brits uncomfortable, giving them a strange feeling of belonging to a republic.

The Platinum Jubilee announcement and an extra bank holiday in 2022 finally bring cheer to Britain and the whole world.

Ravi    

Corona Daily 269: Have a Beard? Join UPS

Two years ago, David Hunger, 48, from Derbyshire, UK went to a job fair. At his age, getting a job was not easy. He was interviewed at the UPS (United Parcel Service) stall. The interviewers liked him. Based on his experience, he would be an ideal candidate. As he started filling out the application form, he was stunned by one of the job requirements. The job aspirant must shave off his facial hair.

When asked, the recruiter pointed to David’s beard and said, ‘You can’t have that, the beard. Unfortunately, the policy dictates you can’t have a beard because that could be offensive to the customer.’

David had his beard for more than twenty years. It was not an unruly, thick, Osama-Laden type beard, but a well-groomed one, only a centimeter long.  David’s choice was clear: take off his beard, or give up the UPS job opportunity.

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United Parcel Service is a multinational delivery giant. It employs more than half a million people, many of them delivery drivers. The company was founded more than 100 years ago by Jim Casey who insisted on always wearing a suit. The strict UPS uniform policy regulates hair on the face and head. Ideally clean shaven, no beard, moustache, if at all, should not cover the upper lip. No afro, no braids please. Hair never longer than the collar. Tattoos, if they exist, should not be on the visible part of the body. Piercings restricted to earrings, which must be small and business-like. Length of uniform shorts is prescribed in proportion to the employee’s height.

In the USA, lawsuits were filed against the policy. It violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibits employers from discriminating on religious basis. Muslims, Sikhs proud of their beards could not get public-facing UPS jobs. Black people with natural Afro hairstyles couldn’t either.

In 2018, UPS settled a class religious discrimination lawsuit for $4.9 million. It also introduced something called a “shaver waiver”. Potential employees could produce evidence confirming religious or medical reasons for the beard. David Hunger from Derbyshire had no religious reason to apply for a waiver.

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The clean-shaven policy can be seen among US presidents as well. In the last 100 years, there has not been a US president with any type of facial hair. Other than the business suit, most of UPS policies apply to the US presidents as well. Some historians attribute it to America’s enemies. Hitler, Stalin, Fidel Castro, Emperor Hirohito, Yasser Arafat, Ayatollah Khomeini, Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein. Surely, no American president wants to join their ranks. A red face and orange hair are ok, but not facial hair.

Clean-shavenness has become part of the corporate uniform.

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Yesterday, UPS abandoned the policy. From today, all UPS employees, customer-facing included, are free to sport beards, moustaches, afros, braids, curls, coils, locks, twists, knots. The company spokesman said they wanted UPS employees to feel comfortable, genuine and authentic. (Meaning until now they felt uncomfortable, fake and spurious). The company wants to celebrate diversity rather than corporate restrictions.

UPS now has Carol Tome, the first woman CEO. This change of policy could be related to that. But I think there are two more reasons.

The pandemic lockdown revolutionized the world’s outlook. Look at TV anchors.  Look at Justin Trudeau. Look at CEOs working from home. They want to feel relaxed. If we are having such a rotten time, let us express it. This could be the end of the world, let me at least enjoy not shaving. There is this freedom in the air, and UPS employees are entitled to share it.

Secondly, UPS delivery business is booming. UPS hired 39,000 permanent employees in Q2 (2020), and intend to hire another 100,000. What difference would it make if the delivery driver had a stubble or an Afro hairstyle?

Ravi 

Corona Daily 270: Shhhh…. The Cathedral Trial is on

During the pandemic, social media is hyperactive. When locked down, this is your only socialization. Recently, a new phenomenon has startled users. Their tweets may get deleted, or hidden behind a warning. (Not only Trump’s). A former ambassador’s account was blocked for retweeting a math theory proving the USA election fraud. Same with Facebook. Coronavirus denial for FB is equivalent to the holocaust denial. How much can be censored and by whom? This week an interesting trial, Cathedral Trial-II, is happening in Australia.

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Coincidently, yesterday itself, the Vatican published a voluminous report on a sexually abusing Cardinal. Theodore McCarrick is now 90 years old and defrocked as a result of his passion in younger years. His episodes with altar boys, seminarians, other priests were well known. Pope John Paul II had asked him if any of the rumours were true. He denied them. The large-hearted Pope believed him. Pope Benedict XVI went on record saying ‘male celibate priesthood was morally superior to other sections of society’. McCarrick had compromised that celibacy more with adults, less with minors. That perhaps justified his transgressions.

Pope Francis is different. In July 2014, he said about 2% of the Catholic clergy, including cardinals and bishops were pedophiles. (Like covid cases, this could be an under-reported statistic.) Pope Francis not only defrocked McCarrick, but instituted an enquiry, which published its findings in the 449-page report yesterday. If you are a diehard Catholic, please don’t read it.

Pope Francis is to the Vatican what Mikhail Gorbachev was to the USSR. While Twitter and FB are blocking, Pope Francis is willing to wash Vatican’s dirty linen on the internet. (He just needs to take care the Vatican doesn’t go the way Soviet Union did).

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The Cathedral Trial in Australia is different but related to this story. An Australian cardinal George Pell, now 79, was the third most powerful man in the Vatican. He was the Vatican treasurer.  Last year, he was found guilty of rape and sexual assault of two 13-year old choirboys in the mid-1990s. He was sentenced to six years in a Melbourne prison.

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Australian judges have the power to suppress reporting court trials. The court used this right during George Pell’s jury trial. Australian media was prohibited from reporting it, because Pell was to face another case. The learned judge didn’t wish to prejudice the jury’s mind in the next case. As a result, when this highest-ranking cardinal was sentenced to six years, there was no media coverage.

However, the gagged Australian media tried to improvise.

Melbourne’s tabloid, the Herald Sun, had a black front page with CENSORED written large. “The world is reading a very important story that is relevant to Victorians”. That was all the editorial said.

“A high-profile Australian known across the world has been convicted of a serious crime but the details can’t be published in this country.” Said another report.

“Can’t tell you who it is.” The Sydney radio commentator said,” I encourage you to Google high-profile Australian/ worldwide reputation/ conviction of an awful crime, and you’ll find out who he is.”

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21 publications, 6 corporate groups, and 19 individual journalists are charged with breaching the suppression order, a serious crime. If convicted, they face imprisonment up to five years and fines of up to AU$ 500,000.

The Washington post and other foreign newspapers could not be charged. The Australian population that gleefully spread the news on social media couldn’t be charged.

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This was a jury trial. Australia’s highest court reconsidered the case, and during the pandemic, acquitted Pell. After spending 400 days in prison, he was free. Though he hasn’t got his position back, he is on good terms with the Pope.

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Cardinal Pell is back in Vatican. And the journalists who tried to find clever ways of bypassing suppression may go to the prison that Pell left.

Ravi 

Corona Daily 271: Pfizer Vaccine – Celebrate with Caution

In an earlier chapter on the vaccine race, I wrote: God forbid Pfizer wins the race. God answered my fears. Yesterday, Pfizer announced with aplomb a 90% effective vaccine. Editors changed headlines, stock markets vaulted, people made new Christmas plans, respectable newspapers foresaw the end of the pandemic.

The Pfizer vaccine needs to be stored at -80 C (-112 F) all the time. The ultracold logistics rule out most of Asia and Africa. In the best case, it is accessible to 2.5 billion people in 25 countries, mainly North America and Europe.

Dr Fauci called the results extraordinary, at the same time admitting he hadn’t seen the data yet. May the vaccine truly have extraordinary success, and spell the end of the pandemic.

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When such joyous news is announced, it is in bad taste to criticize or express concerns. The critic will be termed a spoilsport, a pessimist, a conspiracy theorist, or antivaxx activist. I am none of these. I am, however, puzzled by the way Pfizer has gone about the process. I would like to voice these concerns so as to tone down the hype, if it is hype.

As I wrote earlier, in the trials, the company must reach pre-agreed numbers of Covid-19 cases, in the vaccine and the placebo groups. Since the beginning, Pfizer has been aggressively demanding more interim points, and fewer cases. Their minimum point for seeking authorization was 32. (32 patients among 30000 participants). Anybody who has studied statistics would know the number doesn’t look significant. In fact, scientists not working for Pfizer raised this concern. This was summer time, and the curve was going down. The Pfizer scientists were worried about the time it may take to reach a higher figure. But they amended protocol to look at the data at 62 cases. Not only the numbers, Pfizer’s plan allowed the mildest cases to be counted.

 Most other trials including Johnson & Johnson and Oxford, even the Chinese vaccine trial currently, were paused because of adverse events. This is when a participant develops a condition that may have been caused by the vaccine. The trial remains paused until the condition is investigated. Pfizer enlarged its sample size to 44,000 but didn’t face a single adverse event, which must be attributed to its luck.

On 26 October, Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s CEO said they didn’t have 32 covid cases yet. The interim data, when available, is reviewed by an independent board. Pfizer was once again lucky, the cases surged dramatically. On Sunday, 8 November, the independent board came, reviewed the data of 94 cases, and let the company management know the conclusion without sharing data.

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The trial is not over. It will be over once Pfizer reaches 164 cases. The right thing was to wait till the end of the trials, and then publish the data in a medical journal for peers to review. Once it is peer-reviewed, the results can be published worldwide. Instead of that, Pfizer opted to release unpublished, unreviewed half-baked data as news.

Not only that, the news was released consciously early on Monday morning before the US stock markets open. Stock markets are like dogs who will drool and jump at the sight of a dummy bone. When the markets opened, Pfizer shares leaped by 15%, its partner BioNTech’s by 24%, and the major indexes reached new records. Such outright corruption was glossed over in the euphoria of the 90% effective vaccine.

FDA now has stricter standards after botching hydroxychloroquine and plasma episodes. Scott Gottlieb, the previous FDA commissioner, is now on Pfizer’s board. That may help in the approval process.

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Though times are exceptional, and any vaccine may be better than no vaccine, knowledge of Pfizer’s maneuvers dilutes the joy of their 90% effective news.

Ravi