Day 140: Rise of the Masks

Although the weak science behind masks hasn't changed any over the past week, the protests have proven virally harmless, the weather is improving, and American coronavirus numbers are flatlining at about a 1% rise a day, several states and jurisdictions have nevertheless jumped on the mask requirement bandwagon in the past day or so.

Most notably, the entire state of California is now under the mask. (The link is well worth a click for the photo of Governor Newsom touching his ersatz mask as he's holding it below his nose.) Despite the usual confused reporting, the new mask requirement there does not require masks outdoors when you can socially distance instead. PlagueBlog expects some pushback from uppity counties that refused the mask before.

If you read the tea leaves just the right way, the governor of Texas is now allowing local jurisdictions to require the mask. So far Bexar County (including San Antonio) and the mayor of Austin are on the bandwagon, and Houston is making noises about jumping aboard as well.

Yesterday in Florida, the mayor of Tampa announced a mask order starting at 5pm today. (Her faith in masks appearing out of the ether is touching, but does not take into account shipping times.) Miami-Dade already had a mask ordinance, which is now facing a legal challenge.

On the international front, Spain has been withholding its death count for about two weeks now, due to an alleged review of the provincial numbers and death dates that the government seems incapable of actually completing. PlagueBlog readers will recall this is not Spain's first bout of fudging the numbers, having previously dropped tens of thousands of positive antibody test results from their official total.

In Russia, a Stalinist Orthodox priest and his armed congregants have somehow seized a convent, apparently in retaliation for a church ban against his preaching that COVID-19 does not exist. He is holding services there at which one can, presumably, hear the forbidden sermons. He spent some time on YouTube before the occupation and is chock full of conspiracy theories, some of which sound much like ours (though without the involvement of Bill Gates). But other aspects of his position do not translate well—for example, his come-and-get-me defiance:

"You have the experience — you will have to kick us out from the monastery with police and national guard," he said. "I have a casket, I have a cross, I have nails — I'm awaiting your decision."

In Beijing, case counts from the wholesale market cluster continue to rise at what would be a rather lazy and negligible rate anywhere else. There, 183 cases counts as an "extremely severe" situation, even a wave, and is grounds for a "soft lockdown":

Now flights are being canceled, schools have been told to shut back down, and entire communities near the market, or with known COVID-19 cases, have been closed off and their residents barred from leaving. So far 29 neighborhoods have been completely fenced off.

Intercity travel has been largely suspended, especially outbound, and public facilities are limited to 30% of capacity.

Massachusetts' numbers will be out later today. While we've been creeping along, a couple of the hotspots have jumped past Pennsylvania. While Florida just made the leap yesterday, Texas is already on our heels and could surpass us today if they have a particularly bad day.

P.S. Globo reports that Brazil has hit a million cases. Also, the Boston Globe reports Governor Baker has announced that indoor dining can resume on Monday. Tables must be six feet apart and parties are limited to six persons.

P.P.S. Massachusetts cases are up a fifth of a percentage point today.