The Berlin Files #74: masking feelings
Masks are good. Guitars too. And much more on hopeful signals, quarantine life, and radical transformations
Hi all! Eric here. Not much to add up top this week except to say that I hope you enjoy this week’s edition and that I always love hearing your feedback (contact info below)...
Vaccine & Treatment Progress
What Christopher Mims says.
With that context in mind, it certainly seems positive that Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine -- which I learned from the embedded video above is a "genetic code" vaccine, one of four vaccine types -- “induced anti–SARS-CoV-2 immune responses in all participants, and no trial-limiting safety concerns were identified" and is headed to kick off its Phase III trial next week.
Prevention Progress
Everyone in the U.S. is increasingly supportive of wearing masks when in public. Including Republicans.
The biggest jump was among Republicans: 45% say they’re wearing a mask all the time, up from 35% at the end of June.
So, still a long way to go but if you're a glass half full kind of person, you could argue the tide is starting to turn on what could be the most critical preventative measure that can help prevent the spread of COVID.
The urgency of mask wearing and social distancing seems to be taking firmer root in American culture as new cases have spiked over the last few months in many parts of the country.
Here's but a tiny example.
And in lieu of a comprehensive national strategy, it's policies on the local, state, and corporation levels that will be vital in turning the tide. Here's a really noteworthy story from the last week with that in mind: "Walmart, the nation's largest retailer, will require face masks at all U.S. stores starting Monday."
With regard to the debate on reopening schools, I found this data point really interesting: "A key public health threshold for reopening schools and controlling community spread is an average daily infection rate under 5 percent." And, " Of the 10 largest U.S. school districts, only two meet that threshold."
Ever since I read about a study that appeared to show how coronavirus could spread to disparate areas of an indoor space through ventilation systems, I've been slightly obsessed with ventilation and airborne particles as a factor in the spread of COVID infection.
This Axios piece points to the way forward in this area in many ways, and left me quite encouraged -- above and beyond the work going on with regard to vaccine development -- about how technology and innovation are coming to the fore to help reduce the risk of infection while opening the door to something close to the return of a pre-pandemic way of life.
The means to protect people in public indoors spaces will range from low tech, low cost things like increasing the use of plants in offices to help literally clean the air, to "installing more sophisticated air filters, drawing more fresh air into buildings and cranking up the humidity, which tends to kill the virus." And then "environmental testing" of buildings themselves will help determine if indoor spaces are safe and when they need to be cleaned and decontaminated.
Finally, I would normally post something like this under Tweets of the Week, but it's mask wearing-related and, in my view, exceedingly brilliant.
Helping Out
Don't you just want to hang out with this guy and ask him questions about a century of life in Britain while he does his laps in his garden?
Quarantining
In my focus on covering the radical transformations taking place in our society and world stemming from the pandemic, I could never have guessed that one aspect would be leveraging the normalcy of mask wearing in public to score some booze for yourself and your high school-aged friends.
I enjoyed this Wired piece that's about how music, and playing the guitar specifically, is helping one guy and his family get through this rough time:
It became my retreat. It never told me millions of people were doomed, it never promised a miracle cure. It never told me to inject bleach. It stood there, analog, unbreakable. It was a way to unplug from everything. When you play music there is no past, no future, there’s just that moment, that note that you’re playing. The rest of the world ceases to exist.
While I wouldn't call myself a musician by any means, I can relate. I’ve already noted that I took precisely two guitar lessons before shelter in place orders were issued in Washington state. I had messed around with the guitar in my early twenties, mostly, which left me remembering how to play a power chord or two and a few open chords besides, but that's literally it. During the pandemic, I took that knowledge and my two lessons (with a really cool teacher named Matt in West Seattle), and began playing everyday on the old acoustic that we own.
Over time, I began to write little chord progressions of that, almost on their own over time, started to become little songs. Playing the guitar became that hobby that I was looking for over some number of years, something not associated with sitting in front of a computer (something I do way too much of already), something not associated with any ambition at all beyond being creative and maybe learning and getting better at something over time. And, best of all, it proved to be a really nice outlet during these long pandemic months.
The coolest thing of all was hearing myself play these little songs and recognizing the musical influences that were clearly packed into them. This had happened without any real intent, it just happened. Frank Black, The Lemondheads, Nirvana. Very alt-rock 1990s. Fun stuff.
The Music Club
I can't recall how and why I first stumbled across "My Silver Lining," by First Aid Kit, but I rediscovered it this week and have given it a listen a number of times now.
It's simply gorgeous, and I really like the line, "Gotta keep on keeping on."
True this.
The Comedy Club
I felt like going with something very light this week, and the Madagascar clip of "I Like to Move It" suits that mood while being, in my view, timelessly funny and entertaining.
Fun fact: many moons ago, I lived in New York City and was of an age when my friends and I would often head out and experience the nightlife of one of the world's great cities. "I Like to Move It," which turns out to be by Reel 2 Real featuring The Mad Stuntman, played constantly at the bars and nightlife-y spots that we tended to frequent. In fact, it got to the point where instead of saying, "Do you want to go out tonight?" one could alternatively ask, "Do you want to move it move it tonight?" So, there you go, a fact that's fun.
If after reading that you feel like moving it moving it more, this is for you.
Election 2020
Climate Watch
Tweets of the Week
It's a Wrap!
You made it. Now get back to wearing those masks, people.
Also:
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And one last time…