Day Nine




Week one of the nationwide lockdown is over. It has passed off in the blink of an eye. Next 2 weeks will raise anxiety levels sky-high.

A very unfortunate thing has happened. Many from an ultraorthodox Islamic religious group attending a conference in Delhi have contracted the infection and spread it across the country. Even to Andaman. A blame game is on to fix the responsibility. This has given fodder to fuel a communal angle to the whole affair. How did the government fail to notice this conference, which had even overseas visitors?

Meanwhile BMC has issued orders that all those dying from coronavirus will be cremated, irrespective of religion.

A fresh debate has opened up on masks. US CDC is thinking of making it mandatory to wear in public. These are simple cloth masks (not surgical masks) and will prevent the aerosols from getting out when a person speaks.

It is startling to see the most developed country of the world struggle so badly to overcome the virus. They have been caught napping and the hospital infrastructure is crumbling in front of the tsunami of fresh cases every day. I am afraid this will be played out 10x tragically here in India.

With 176,500 cases, USA now accounts for more than 20% of the global cases. GM is only now gearing up to produce 50,000 masks per day. And Ford plans to manufacture 50,000 ventilators over the next 100 days. We are trying to procure masks and ventilators from China, despite their dubious quality.

And the brilliant Taleb suggests not to go out without a mask, however rudimentary, and has this chart for proof. 


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