Corona Daily 153: Yo-Yo Ma and ENO Breathe

Day before yesterday, at a Massachusetts vaccination site, the vaccinated crowd was sat socially distanced. Post the jab, one must wait for fifteen minutes or more for observation. A fairly unremarkable looking man wearing glasses, mask and a cap sat on a chair near the wall. From his case, he took out a cello and began playing the divine Ave Maria. He followed that with Bach’s Prelude in G Major. At the end of his mini-concert, everyone applauded and the man bowed to acknowledge.

*****

Yo-Yo Ma himself was sent to the observation center after his second shot.  One of the world’s greatest cellists, he has won 18 Grammy Awards and recorded nearly 100 albums. In 2020, he was included among the world’s 100 most influential people.

Last spring, when the pandemic began, he started streaming “Songs of Comfort” on YouTube and Social Media. The series allowed locked-down professional musicians to perform online with others. Virtual orchestras and occasional ballets in the kitchens were free for the locked-down viewers.

Last summer, Yo-Yo Ma broadcast a performance of Bach’s Cello Suites in honour of those lost to Covid-19.

At August end, along with Emanuel Ax, an equally renowned Piano player, Yo-Yo Ma began travelling in a flatbed truck. The travelling stage carried a unique wooden structure on which the two musicians sat and performed live on the streets. These pop-up concerts were for essential workers. This was an initiative of Yo-Yo Ma, and utmost secrecy was maintained. The surprise performances were given for UPS employees, public school bus operators, school teachers, food distribution center volunteers, farm employees, firefighters, health department employees and medical workers.

In December, Yo-Yo Ma released an album “Songs of Comfort and Hope” recorded with the pianist Kathryn Stott.

“People need each other for support beyond the immediate staples of life” said Ma, “They need music’’.

*****

On the other side of the Atlantic, Suzi Zumpe, a British Opera singer, has been training Wayne Cameron over Zoom. She first told him how to straighten the spine, broaden the chest, and start a series of breath exercises, exhaling short and sharp bursts of air. She showed him how to move the voice up and down, in cycles. Then she asked him to stick his tongue out, as much as he could, an essential workout for the facial muscles.

Suzi, a British Opera singer, usually trains young singers at the Royal Academy of Music or the Garsington Opera.

But Cameron, 56, is neither young nor a singer. He is a warehouse logistics manager. He has had a bad covid, known as “long covid”. The session with Suzi was prescribed by doctors as part of his recovery plan.

*****

English National Opera, the leading British Opera, like most cultural organisations, shut its doors since March. It decided to redirect its energies. Its wardrobe department started producing protective gear for hospitals. In summer, the opera management learnt people who suffered from “long covid” complained of chest pain, fatigue, brain fog and breathlessness. Breathlessness was chronic.

A new idea emerged. Opera is rooted in breath; breath is its expertise. The English National Opera in collaboration with a London hospital developed a six-week programme called ENO Breathe. It started with twelve patients. Online, the training began with posture, breath control, short bursts of humming and singing, and encouraging practice at home. The programme aimed to improve the lung capacity damaged by the virus, but also to teach the patients to breathe calmly and handle anxiety better. Popular lullabies are chosen to make singing easier and create an emotional bond.

Patients mentioned that before covid they had taken breathing for granted. The ENO Breathe has taught them how to breathe. At the end of January, the project that combines musical and medical expertise has been extended to 1000 patients. The programme is absolutely free-of-cost.

*****

Music becomes more powerful when accompanied by compassion.

Ravi 

Corona Daily 154: Unattended Retail

Vending machines have been around since the 1880s. In London, you could drop a coin to get a postcard. American machines started by selling gum. The coronavirus pandemic has triggered a revolution in the vending machine industry. You not only avoid contact with humans; you may buy by touching only your smartphone.

*****

In this $25 billion industry, worldwide there are 15 million machines, including 5 million in the USA. With 4 million machines, Japan tops the per capita. India, with more than two billion working hands, is the most reluctant nation to have vending machines.

Traditionally, in North America and Europe, machines can sell anything from food and drinks to engagement rings, morning-after pills and contraceptives, even live earthworms for fishing. However, the standard, known as “full-line” machines, have at least 75% space allocated to food and beverages.

Over the last twelve months, this assortment is expanding rapidly.

*****

Now you have bread-baking machines, customize-your-yogurt machines. Pizza machines that allow you to choose from three pizzas. Once you choose and swipe your credit card, it takes three minutes to cook the 10-inch frozen pizza. The cooking happens inside the machine, and the hot pizza ($8.50) is delivered to you in a box. This machine is considered ideal for college dorms once they open.

The vending machine hot meal has several advantages over ordering online. The vending machine serves you 24/7. When you are desperately hungry, online orders can take the maximum amount of time. Also, online may have a minimum order requirement.

*****  

People who have lost their jobs or incomes are looking at this business. If you find the right location to install your machine ($2000+), you may recover the costs and start making profits within six months.

Barry and Lori Strickland, a married couple from San Diego, run The Vending Mentors, an educational resource that offers both courses and consulting. Since the pandemic started, their business boomed, 200 new vendors signed up. Most of them are blue-collar workers who lost their jobs, or had hours cut, and are turning to vending as a part-time or full-time business.

*****

Technology has made management of the machines easier. Only a few years ago, the vending machine owner or operator needed to physically visit the machine, take stocks, replace the sold items. Now all machines are connected to the owner’s computer or smartphone. He gets alerts on which stocks need replenishment.

The hot meal revolution is getting streamlined as well. One vending machine that sells a Caribbean jerk chicken with corn salsa and dairy-free butter chicken, have the items refrigerated, not frozen. Each meal tends to last three or four days. If unsold, it is immediately sent to the nearest food bank.

Worldwide, hotels are getting buy-and-cook vending machines installed. Many hotels with customers have their restaurants and kitchens shut. Instead, a machine simply needs six feet along a wall with a plug and a reliable local vendor.

*****

Vending machines in Japan have masks, antibacterial wipes and rapid-testing kits. Japanese buyers then mail off a saliva sample for processing.

Singapore vending machines now offer salmon, crab, cacti, Wagyu beef, curry puffs, fresh pizza, fresh orange juice and “free masks”. One man and two women were arrested for stealing free masks, by punching in bogus names. Even in a strict State like Singapore, older citizens think stealing at an unmanned machine is safe.

In France, for 16 Euros a dozen, you can buy a meal of frogs. It can either be ready-to-cook or prepared with cream and wine as a cassolette. Snails are planned, but the progress is slow.

On a couple of English farms, cheese vending machines offer fresh cheddar, smoked and chili cheeses 24/7.

In Washington, after the 6 January riots, Congress staff is now relying on vending machines for meals. Earlier they ordered using Uber Eats or Grubhub, but now the delivery boys are not allowed anywhere near Capitol Hill.

India, as far as I know, has done nothing in terms of vending machines. However, Vendekin Technologies, an Indian platform, offers to turn existing vending machines into smart ones.  

Ravi 

Corona Daily 155: The Court Hearing that was Viewed a Million Times

What I am writing here is not a play-script. This took place in a court hearing in Michigan on 2 March. There are four key characters.

Mary Lindsey is a waitress who often works night shifts. She is the complainant. Coby Harris is, or rather was, her boyfriend. He is the accused. Jeffrey Middleton is the judge. Deborah Davis is the prosecutor.

Traditionally, in the name of openness and transparency, court proceedings are open to public. In lockdown times, most courts now allow trials to be conducted online. Proceedings such as this one are streamed live for the public to see. The Zoom recording is available for general public to view on the judge’s YouTube channel.

On 9 February, Coby Harris and his girlfriend Mary Lindsey argued. Not known what the argument was about. Harris assaulted her with the intent to “commit great bodily harm less than the crime of murder”. (In plain language, he beat her violently, without meaning to kill her). Lindsey called the police. Harris was taken to jail, and released on a bond that prevented him from coming anywhere close to Lindsey. On 2 March, the complainant, accused and the lawyers appeared before the judge on Zoom.

*****

The Zoom hearing begins with routine questions. Prosecutor Deborah Davis questions Lindsey about what took place during the February argument. Only seven minutes into the proceedings, Davis feels something is not right. Because Lindsey keeps looking to her left, her answers are evasive. She is not focusing on the proceedings.

Davis turns to the judge and says, “Your Honor, I have reason to believe the defendant (accused) is in the same apartment as the complainant right now, and I am scared for her safety. I want some confirmation she is safe before we continue.”

Judge Middleton asks Harris where he is. He gives an address. The Judge then orders him to walk outside and show the number of the home from which he is Zooming.

Harris doesn’t move. “I don’t think this phone has the charge for that. I’m at like 2% right now. I’m hooked up to this wall charger right here.” He says.

(The Zoom call also has a police officer. While the conversation is on, he manages to call and send a real police officer to Lindsey’s house. That policeman promptly rings her doorbell.)

The police are at Miss Lindsey’s door, says the prosecutor. “Take your phone with you, so that I know you’re okay”, she tells Lindsey.

Lindsey walks to the door, but her connection to the call drops. Harris also vanishes from the call.

The judge. police and prosecutors are seen sitting silently for several moments on the Zoom screen. (In a real court, the complainant and accused can’t suddenly vanish).

When Lindsey’s livestream returns, they see a handcuffed Harris. He has a cigarette in his mouth. The judge cancels his bond, and sends him back to jail.

This is an issue we didn’t have when we had live court, says the judge. It’s the first time he ever had an accused sitting in the next room, potentially intimidating the victim.

*****

The YouTube post of this dramatic hearing had 1.2 million viewers. The judge removed the YouTube post, and asked the complainant’s face and name to be blurred. Despite that, the recording is freely available.

In a real court, perhaps five people would have attended the hearing, not a million. It raises an important issue. Virtual calls are not a simple substitute for reality. Miss Lindsey’s address and other details are there for anyone to see. Viewers who don’t understand the different forms of domestic violence are blaming Lindsey for allowing Harris in her apartment (as if she had a choice). Openness and transparency are important, but they can’t come at the cost of someone’s privacy. When a constitution mentioned “open courts”, broadcasting a hearing to a million people was not expected.

Judge Middleton should think long and hard before posting the next Zoom hearing.

Ravi 

Corona Daily 156: BFF

Ilse Kohn and Anne Marie Wahrenburg were born in 1929, in Germany. After their first meeting in the school courtyard, they were inseparable. They shared a bench in the classroom, went to ballet class and synagogue together. Jewish girls were banned by the German government from playing in the parks, bicycling, visiting theatres or swimming pools. While their Aryan schoolmates went about freely, the two girls spent time in each other’s houses. The Nazi regime in a strange way bonded Ilse and Anne Marie closer.

In November 1938 the infamous Kristallnacht (night of broken glass) happened. Jewish homes, hospitals, schools were attacked, looted and demolished. In total 267 synagogues were destroyed. More than one hundred Jews were killed, 30,000 arrested and sent to concentration camps. Historians consider Kristallnacht as the starting point of the holocaust that murdered six million Jews.

Anne Marie’s father was arrested and sent to a concentration camp. Both girls were told it was too dangerous to live in Germany, and escape plans were hatched. In the spring of 1939, the girls met for the last time. Ilse’s family managed to buy tickets on a ferry to Shanghai. China took in Jews without visas. Ilse and Anne’s last meeting was traumatic. They promised to keep in touch, and meet again.

Ilse’s family fled to China. Except her parents and Ilse, everyone in the extended family was killed by the Nazis. In China, life was difficult, with not enough food, no medicines. Ilse got married and became Betty Grebenschikoff. Soon after, China had a communist revolution. Eight months pregnant, Betty had to flee again, along with her husband. The family finally settled in the USA.

*****

After that fateful day when they parted in Berlin, Betty never learnt anything about her friend Anne Marie. Whenever databases appeared, she looked for her friend. As a holocaust survivor, Betty gave speeches about her experiences and life in Nazi Germany.

In 1993, at the age of 63, Betty published a memoir (Once my name was Sara). It had an entire chapter devoted to Anne Marie and their friendship.

Steven Spielberg has founded the USC Shoah foundation which collects audiovisual testimony of holocaust survivors. Its archives have more than 55,000 video testimonies. In 1996, Betty recorded her testimony for four hours. In that interview she says: “I had one particular girlfriend whose name I always mention. Her name was Annemarie Wahrenberg. I never knew what happened to her…She probably died in the war but I’m not sure.”

*****

Ita Gordon is an indexer in this foundation. Organizing and cataloguing testimonies is her job. Last November, she was invited to attend a webinar hosted by the Latin American network for the teaching of the Shoah (Hebrew for holocaust). In normal times, the speeches happened in person, and there was no question of Ita attending a speech in Chile. But the pandemic had converted all lectures to webinars allowing anyone in the world to join. A 91-year-old survivor was telling the story of how her family fled Berlin for South America after the 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom. The Spanish speaker’s name was Ana Maria Wahrenberg. She mentioned her childhood friend Ilse Kohn.

*****

Ita, a professional indexer, with a phenomenal memory, sensed she knew a similar story, but didn’t know where or when. When she tried different searches with a variety of spellings, Wahrenberg appeared in a single four-hour interview from 1996. Ita sat listening to the interview, and heard: “I had one particular girlfriend whose name I always mention. Her name was Annemarie Wahrenberg.”

*****

Betty nee Ilse, 91, lives in Florida. Anne Marie, 91, lives in Santiago. On 19 November, they spoke on Zoom after a gap of 82 years. Ignoring the gap, they straightaway began talking in German, reminiscing. They spoke for over two hours.

Betty has five children, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Anne Marie has two children, six grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. Most of them were mute spectators on that zoom call with eyes wet. Then they raised champagne glasses on their respective screens.

Betty and Anne Marie now connect on phone and zoom regularly. Anne Marie plans to visit Miami for Rosh Hashanah (in September).

“I just want to hug her again.” Says Betty. “It would be a culmination of a lifelong journey.”

Ravi 

Corona Daily 157: The Emergent Story: Part Final

In 2017, just a year after threatening to go bankrupt if the government didn’t bail it out, Emergent spent $200 million acquiring Sanofi’s smallpox vaccine, and GlaxoSmithKline’s anthrax treatment, two products with established pipelines to the stockpile. Eyebrows were raised and questions were asked as to how a poor and nearly bankrupt company could spend $200 million.

The company’s financial disclosures show it has received since 2017 a half-billion dollars in federal research and development funding. “We know ahead of time when funding opportunities are going to come out. When we talk to the government, we know how to speak the government’s language around contracting.” Said Emergent’s VP in 2017.

*****

Dr Nicole Lurie from the Obama administration had tried to reduce the BioThrax purchases. Trump replaced her with Dr Robert Kadlec, a biodefence expert obsessed with biological and chemical weapon threats. He repeatedly said Mother Nature was not a thinking enemy capable of inflicting harm to the USA. It was the man-made threats the stockpile should focus on.

Under the guise of removing bureaucracy, Dr Kadlec concentrated all decision-making in his own hands. He dismissed warnings from scientists that a natural pandemic could also be devastating. Citing limited budgets, Kadlec cancelled an Obama-era $35 million initiative to build a machine to produce 1.5 million N95 masks every day.   

It must be mentioned here that in summer 2012, Kadlec and El-Hibri had formed a biodefence company together. El-Hibri is the founder and managing director of Emergent. Later, Kadlec worked as a biosecurity consultant for Emergent. In July 2017, when Trump nominated him, he was required to fill the questionnaire for the Senate interview. He was asked to mention any work with companies that would create a potential conflict of interest. Kadlec wrote: none. He reported all jobs since the 1980s, but forgot his consultancy work with Emergent.

As soon as the Senate confirmed him, the stockpile focus began to shift further from infectious diseases to man-made threats. Large transparent gatherings were replaced by secret meetings for decision-making. “There has been foreign penetration by hostile governments stealing our national security information. So, we don’t hold it in the open anymore.” Said Kadlec.

*****

In July 2017, four days after Kadlec’s nomination, Emergent acquired the rights to a smallpox vaccine from the government’s previous supplier. Sanofi, the supplier, was charging $4.27 per dose.

The CDC in August 2018 said it intended to sign a five-year contract with Emergent for the smallpox vaccine. A month later, Kadlec declared the contract with Emergent was for ten years, and Emergent would be paid $9.44 per dose in the first year, a figure that would rise in succeeding years. Smallpox remains a potential threat to security, he said.

CDC mentioned on its website USA had enough smallpox vaccine for every American. In effect, every year the oldest stocks expired, were destroyed, and replenished by new stocks.

Kadlec also awarded Emergent a contract for $535 million to supply a product to take care of the side effects of smallpox vaccination. Another $67 million were paid to Emergent for a drug to treat cyanide exposure.

In March 2020, when testifying before Congress, Kadlec said he had not fully accounted for a scenario like the covid-19 crisis. “We thought about vaccines. We never thought about respirators being our first and only line of defence for health-care workers.” He said.

*****

In the last twelve months, Emergent has signed collaboration agreements with Novavax, J&J, and AstraZeneca for Emergent to manufacture their covid-19 vaccines at the Baltimore plant. Emergent petitioned and was approved to manufacture those vaccines. For the 2020 elections, Emergent handsomely contributed to both Republicans and Democrats.

*****

If you live in a country outside the USA, and are ashamed of the level of corruption in your country, you don’t need to be. Developed countries have more developed and sophisticated ways of corruption. Through checks and balances, independent judiciary, media scrutiny; corruption finds its way and prospers year after year. That is another issue the pandemic has succeeded in highlighting.

Ravi   

Corona Daily 158: The Emergent Story: Part Two

In 2007, an expert firm was invited to analyse the benefits of anthrax vaccines. Its analysis showed antibiotics were important in an anthrax attack, vaccines didn’t add any real additional value. Over the next ten years, analysts wrote the same conclusion: anthrax vaccine benefits were marginal.

The Emergent spokeswoman, while dismissing the analysis, said the government considered “many different factors” before making the purchase.

The stockpile always had a goal of maintaining a minimum of 75 million doses of the anthrax vaccine, which considering anthrax was not infectious, was a very high figure. What was the science behind this figure? NYT’s interview with Dr Kenneth Bernard, a biodefence advisor to George Bush, revealed it. He recalled a casual meeting after the 2001 attacks. One person at the meeting said he couldn’t imagine the terrorists attacking more than three cities simultaneously. So, they took the population of a large city (say, New York: 8+ million) and multiplied it by three to get 25 million. Since the anthrax vaccine needed three doses, the figure became 75 million. This informal talk from 2001 led to a contractual commitment to Emergent.

*****

To the media, and the stock markets, Emergent kept hammering the message: If you ask the head of the House intelligence committee what worried him most, he would say: Number one – anthrax. Number two-anthrax. Number three-anthrax. (Parallelly, work was carried out to influence the intelligence committee so they should really start believing in it).

Emergent’s board openly said they had no marketing expense, only lobbying expense. Since 2010, Emergent spent $3 million a year on lobbying, an enormous budget considering the size of the company.

In 2015, in view of the tight budgets, the stockpile managers recommended reducing anthrax vaccine purchases and using the money for other needs. That year, Emergent spent $4 million on lobbying. Lamar Alexander, a Republican senator, was an influential member of two committees overseeing the stockpile. His private firm was appointed to lobby against the proposals. Alexander received campaign contributions. In the USA, lobbying and campaign contributions legitimize and purify corruption.

The Emergent spokeswoman said the lobbying was necessary because government investment in biodefence had not been as strongly prioritized as it should be.

Chris Frech, who worked for George Bush, was appointed Emergent’s chief-in-house lobbyist. That year, Emergent contributed to the campaigns of all Democrats and Republicans on key committees that mattered.

When the Obama administration tried to reduce the purchases of anthrax vaccine, the Republican Congress accused them of going soft on terrorism.

The 2015 lobbying proved effective. Senate overseers opposed the reduction, and bought $300 million worth of BioTherax vaccine that nobody really needed.

*****  

In 2016, CDC announced the new contract would be for six rather than nine million doses. Emergent stock price plummeted. Emergent lobbyists promptly swung into action. They reached out to Senator Roy Blunt, the head of the committee controlling the stockpile budget. The same week, Emergent donated $10,000 to Blunt’s re-election campaign. Through the media, Emergent warned of job losses and ruin for the company if contract volume was reduced. Michigan, where Emergent was situated, was a swing state, and job losses there would hamper Hillary Clinton’s chances in the state. The US government gave in, and offered a $100 million bailout to Emergent, and retained the volumes.

*****

In the same year, 2016, one company had pitched a reusable mask for the stockpile. Federal officials were interested, but had no money. In April last year, the US government placed an order for 10 million masks with the same company. Faced with manufacturing challenges, it was unable to supply and the deal was cancelled. The current goal of the stockpile is to have 300 million respirators. When coronavirus emerged last year, the stockpile had 12 million.

*****

(Third and final part tomorrow).

Ravi 

Corona Daily 159: The Emergent Story: Part One

Tomorrow, on 10 March, the US president Joe Biden was scheduled to visit Baltimore. A company called “Emergent BioSolutions” has started producing the J&J and AstraZeneca vaccines in its Baltimore factory. Emergent promises to produce one billion doses a year. Biden planned to tour the factory tomorrow.

The visit was announced last Friday. Yesterday, it was cancelled.

******

Because on the weekend the New York Times published a story about Emergent. The story is big, and may be turned into a novel/movie in the future.

The story surprisingly begins with Bill Clinton reading a thriller in 1998. Clinton himself has written two thrillers in collaboration with James Patterson. (His second novel The President’s Daughter will be published in June this year.) In 1998, he read The Cobra Event by Richard Preston. A mad scientist cum bioterrorist creates a virus named Cobra and launches it on New York City. Such stories are nightmares for sitting presidents.

Until then, the USA had an emergency healthcare stockpile for military personnel, but not for civilians. It would be great for America’s preparedness to have a stockpile of masks, ventilators, PPEs, drugs, vaccines that can immediately respond to a man-made or natural crisis. This project eventually took the shape of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS). If a year ago, the stockpile mechanism had functioned as it was supposed to, the USA could have had enough masks, protective gear, and ventilators and a few thousand lives could have been saved.

*****

Those old enough to remember 11 September 2001 may also recall the Anthrax bioterror attack that soon followed it. Media offices and a few senators received the anthrax virus by post. The packages killed five and infected seventeen people. Coming so soon after 9/11, the bioterror attempt terrified the nation and some senators became paranoid about opening their postal packages. It must be noted this was the last Anthrax incident in the USA.

Emergent BioSolutions became the sole company to supply anthrax vaccines to the US government.

*****

In 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, US health workers didn’t have enough masks or protective gear. Some of them substituted trash bags for masks. State governors were screaming for ventilators. The pandemic has so far claimed more than half a million Americans.

While this was happening, the US government paid $626 million to Emergent for anthrax vaccines.

*****

The Stockpile and its twelve locations are a secret. The US government contracts with companies such as Emergent are also secret. The volumes, value or inventory are not in the public domain.

The New York Times investigative journalists studied 40,000 documents and talked to more than sixty people with inside knowledge of the stockpile.

In 2015, the US government had approved a plan to buy tens of millions of N95 respirators, lifesaving equipment for doctors and nurses. But there was no money for it. Already Emergent was paid more than $1 billion for anthrax and smallpox vaccines.

Emergent has only a single customer. The US government. And US government has agreed to keep buying Anthrax vaccines only from one supplier. Emergent. This monogamous relationship has allowed Emergent to increase their demands every year. It insists the government must increase investment to keep it safe from terrorists. If-you-don’t-invest-more-we-will-go-bankrupt is one of the negotiation tactics they use. When threatened, the government has obliged by paying them $100 million more.

In 2016, the stockpile already had enough doses to vaccinate 10 million people against anthrax. Anthrax is not infectious; it doesn’t spread like covid. Since 2012, not a single intelligence report mentions anthrax as a possible threat. The risk is possible, but not large enough to have an emergency stockpile filled with nothing but anthrax vaccines.

*****

2020 was the strongest and most profitable year in Emergent’s history – thanks to the anthrax and smallpox vaccines. Last month, the founder and the chairman cashed in their shares and options worth $42 million. Since then, the share price fell by 30%.

*****

(continued tomorrow)

Ravi 

Corona Daily 160: Girls not Brides

There is no joy in reading the UNICEF report published this morning to coincide with International Women’s Day. The report describes the huge threat posed by Covid-19 to wipe out the progress made in fighting girl child marriage.

Worldwide, 650 million girls and women are married while underage. The UN definition includes both formal and informal child marriages. In many countries, underage marriages are illegal, but they still happen without being registered. An unregistered marriage of a minor girl equally damages her life. Each year, about 12 million minor girls get married. These five leading countries account for more than half of them: India, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Brazil.

Worldwide efforts on several fronts had reduced the numbers by some 15%. In the last decade, an estimated 25 million girls were saved from premature marriages. A single year of the pandemic has changed all that. Now it is feared we will see an additional 10 million child brides in the next ten years.

*****

An underage girl thrust into a marriage is robbed of her childhood. Her education stops. She starts living in a family of strangers. Traditional families expect her not to work outside the home. There is family pressure and societal expectation for her to get pregnant. She is neither physically nor mentally mature. In developing countries, many young girls die of pregnancy complications or during childbirth. If she survives the childbirth, housework and children become her function in life. This allows patriarchal societies to perpetuate the gender imbalance and remain backward.

The same girl, by postponing marriage for another ten years, can graduate, become employable for a decent job, be financially and psychologically independent, and able to control her life and maternity better.

*****

Covid-19 has shaken the life of a child girl more than we can imagine.

School closures are perhaps the biggest factor. In many developing countries, schools provided meals and security. Maharashtra, the Indian state I live in, provides free education to girls until 18 years of age. Uninterrupted education is a major tool for women empowerment. Some schools also provide sanitary products. Their supply became unreliable during the pandemic. Even in richer countries like Australia and Ireland, women reported price rises and shortages.

Economic shocks have contributed. Poor people have lost jobs, and must feed children who would have received meals at schools. For these families, education and marriage compete, rather than complement. It is convenient to give off the daughter and reduce the burden. With girls not going to school, the risk of sexual violence is high. S0me parents arrange a daughter’s marriage in the belief it will protect her from violence from other men in the community. In countries like India, where weddings are expensive, dowry is prevalent, parents are taking advantage of lockdowns to arrange an economical wedding and avail dowry discounts. In the marriage market, the younger the bride, the lesser the dowry.

Support services are interrupted. Several helplines and support centers normally exist to prevent child marriages, to counsel the girls about contraception and pregnancy, to dissuade parents from giving away their minor daughter, offer financial support. In the lockdown, many such services were inaccessible. Schools were often a good mediating point. Contraception supplies became erratic. Unwanted teen pregnancies sometimes translated into unwanted marriages.

*****

India has done good work in the last few decades in terms of incentivizing parents who keep their daughters in education, starting helplines for girls, running awareness campaigns. In many families, tradition is still stronger than the law. Every year 1.5 million underage Indian girls are thrown into a marriage. In the pandemic, reports say there are instances of 12/13-year-old girls marrying.

India and all developing countries in Asia and Africa should focus on reopening schools. Immediately. They have been shut for nearly a year now. The virus damage as a result of schools reopening can’t be worse than a child marriage. Because nothing can be worse than a child bride.

Ravi   

Corona Daily 161: A Bright Orange Label 139

Christians, Muslims and Jews generally bury their dead, Hindus and Buddhists cremate them. A rumour says the resurrection of Jesus Christ provoked burials, with every Christian hoping to emulate the feat of Jesus. A more likely explanation is a practical one. When space for the living is limited, they can’t keep sharing it with coffins and tombstones. In China, since 2016, “vertical” burials are encouraged to save space. No Resting In Peace, I don’t think. Indian churches usually shift the bones to a pit after 2-3 years to make space. An Indian court has recommended building multi-story graveyards. In the pandemic, since March 2020, Sri Lanka forced Muslims and Christians to cremate. WHO has clarified burials of virus positive bodies don’t really pose a risk. After domestic outrage and international criticism, Sri Lanka amended the law last week to allow burials.

***** 

In the USA, many families are dispersed. Some have attended funerals on zoom, memorial services have been delayed or cancelled. In 2020, more than 3.2 million Americans died, an all-time record. Unusually, more than half were cremated. (In 1960, only 4% were cremated).  

USPS, the official federal service is the only post allowed to send the “cremated remains”. The box carries a bright orange sticker, with Label 139 printed on it. Label 139 increases visibility during processing and transportation. A sealable plastic bag, bubble wrap and cardboard box is the special kit for human ashes. Sent by priority express mail, it requires a signature before the box is handed over. It would be too cruel to come back home, and find cremated remains in the post-box.

Though it is ‘priority express’ mail, Americans are facing inordinate delays. The USPS website warns about delays because of the sheer volume. One Charlotte man lost his mother in September. This was followed by lockdowns and winter storms. Then he lost his mother again, when the post misplaced the box. He finally received it a week ago. In some cases, people have received wrong boxes. Apparently, after cremation due to its high temperature burning, DNA testing can’t tell whose ashes are in the box. At an additional cost, one can ask for a witness cremation, where the tag and the loved one are identified before going to the cremation chamber.

Stan Reese, 56, has started a new business called “Eternal Alaska”. He personally collects ashes, and hand carries them to scenic places. On a video call, he scatters them for the relatives to see.

*****

Finances play a role. Casket and a cemetery plot are prohibitively expensive for many. Cost of dying keeps going up as well. An average funeral in the USA costs $9000. After housing and car, death care services are said to be the third costliest expense in life (or afterlife). Funeral poverty is a term increasingly used in pandemic times. The US government has set aside $2 billion to help with funeral costs. It promises to reimburse up to $7000.

Cremation, on the other hand, is simple and inexpensive. Unlike a buried body, ashes are portable (can be sent by post), divisible, and easily scattered.

American people who were married a few times, often request to divide their ashes and give equal share to each spouse. (When the spouses die, in ash form, they can be united with each of them). Parents’ ashes are usually divided when given to children.

Many cities have created scattering gardens. In particular, ashes are scattered in the garden which was the favorite of the departed soul. Boat owners ferry families three miles off shore (requirement of the environment protection agency) in case they wish to immerse ashes in a river or sea. In view of the shift to cremations, cemeteries are now planning to build more columbarium, structures with individual niches for a person’s ashes. Designers are developing new urns made of classic Carrara marble boxes or other custom-made designs.

With the post office delivering cremated remains (called cremains), the cremation stigma doesn’t exist any more. The shape of the post-pandemic world for the living is hard to predict. For the dead, though, it looks like cremation would become the first choice.

Ravi 

Corona Daily 162: Your Car is not Safe

Last month, Michael Kevane, an economics professor living in San Jose, California, parked his 2005 Prius out on the driveway. Next morning, when his son went to start it up, it sounded like a drilling machine. All the neighbours in the block could hear it. Two days later, the professor’s sister Jean, who lives in Los Angeles, had an identical experience with her 2003 Honda Accord LX. This can’t be a coincidence, thought Michael Kevane.

In another American state, Minneapolis, Andrew Reichenbach’s repair shop has had three Mitsubishis come in with their exhaust pipes sawed off. In recent months, dozens of cars were landing at the repair shop with the same limb missing. Mitsubishis seem to be the new target, said Reichenbach. He called it a pandemic within a pandemic.

This international crime wave is reported in the USA, Europe, UK, India and other places. The cars’ catalytic converters are being stolen.

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Catalytic converter is the exhaust emission control device.  It reduces toxic gasses and pollutants. America, Europe, Asia and China keep on raising emission standards.

This device is located under your car. A professional thief can unscrew the device in minutes, and take it away. But most thieves in pandemic times are not professionals. They come with a pipe-cutter or a saw and while cutting the converter also cause much damage to other car components, such as the alternator, wiring or fuel lines.

What is so attractive about Catalytic converters right now?

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They have a mix of precious metals such as platinum, palladium and rhodium. Except those with PhDs in chemistry, few would have heard of Rhodium (Rh).

Rhodium (meaning rose in Greek) is a silvery-white material, mainly used in the automobile industry. It is the best-known metal to remove the most toxic pollutants from the vehicle exhaust. As regulations on emissions become stricter, the demand for rhodium grows.

Rhodium’s price in August 2016 was $625 an ounce. Today, it has skyrocketed to $29,000 per ounce. (Making it 17 times more expensive than Gold, which is $1700 an ounce). Since the start of the pandemic, it is steadily climbing, making our cars (or rather one of their components) more expensive. And accordingly, prone to be stolen.

Why is the Rhodium price rising, and will it come down?

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South Africa is the key producer of Rhodium. If their mines were to produce more Rhodium, the prices can come down. But they won’t. Because Rhodium is not produced by itself, it is a byproduct. Each unit of ore mined typically contains 60% platinum, 30% palladium and 8% rhodium. Unless platinum is mined, rhodium can’t be produced. And currently platinum and palladium suffer from excessive supply. Rhodium shortages are estimated to be over 150,000 ounces, and expected to grow until a substitute is found or vehicles switch over to electric. The price is expected to keep rising till 2025. The risk to our cars as well.

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Since 2020, many thieves have become unemployed, and some unemployed have become thieves. Pockets are more difficult to pick in lockdown times. Cars are stationary, and some thefts are not noticed for weeks. Law enforcement is slack. A few minutes’ work under the car can fetch you over $500. The thief sells the anonymous converter in the black market, the scrapyard sells it to recyclers who extract the metals. Older cars tend to contain more of the precious metals than newer ones. Hybrid cars (using a combination of petrol/diesel and electric) contain more precious metals. Honda Jazz, Toyota Prius, Toyota Auris, Lexus RX and Mitsubishi are some of the reported popular models.

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Because no other party is involved, like in an accident, insurance generally doesn’t cover this theft. The car owner loses about $2000. It is important to park your car in secured places, and get effective alarms. If you see someone suspiciously under any vehicle, call the police.

Though they are not PhDs in chemistry or MBAs in finance, thieves worldwide have learnt to keep an eye on the price of Rhodium.

Ravi