LAST WORD

The Bluesman is a Maltese sound engineer working in New York.

PESTILENCE

The Bluesman analyses COVID pandemic measures undertaken in the hope that eventually the pandemic, like previous ones, will be a thing of the past in no time.

There was a pestilence in the air, yet some saw it not. There was a pestilence in the air, yet some chose to flirt with it. There was a pestilence in the air, and many died. It crept upon us as far as public awareness or notification was concerned much like the sickening miasma that was thought to arise from the swamps in Louisiana at night. In truth, the theory had come into being far away from any Louisiana swamp although it did have a firm grip on folklore and Louisiana.

Before the understanding of the spread of disease was spawned and grew in acceptance, your average man in the street, field, and palace was baffled by sickness. The devil and witches were one thing, everybody was happy to have a scapegoat, and the lonely crones and their demon familiars were easy targets. But by the early 1700s, the enthusiasm for witch trials was dying. Probably because burning these poor women wasn’t having the desired effect and cures weren’t forthcoming. One woman was pardoned after conviction and set free in England, highlighting this loss of appetite for burnings. A couple of years later in Scotland, Kate Nevin after being hunted for three weeks was put to death by Faggot and Fire [not what you think] in Perthshire. It took another 70 years before Europe put a halt to these horrendous proceedings, Switzerland being the last country to do so.

Now folk needed to understand where cholera, chlamydia the Black Death and other fine ravagers of humankind were coming from. In their minds, the idea took hold that it was a miasma [from the Greek for pollution], a form of bad air. Florence Nightingale, the Lady with the Lamp, the nurse who came to prominence during the Crimean War where she was a managing nurse. She used to walk through the wards at night carrying a lamp, to check up on patients, hence the name she was known by, and she was a firm believer in this theory. Her work making sure that hospitals were fresh and airy to combat this ‘bad air’ causing ‘miasma’ helped pave the way to the spotlight being turned on ‘microbes’ as being the cause of this decaying matter fouling the air and eventually being identified as the cause of infection.

A sceptic of this Miasma Theory, however, was a fellow named John Snow. He espoused the idea that it was contaminated water, not air that spread disease and his attention was drawn to the fact that amid the 1854 cholera pandemic he observed a high mortality rate

among the residents in the proximity of a pump in Broad St, Soho. He published his findings and even persuaded the Parish [the Beadle, one supposes] to remove the handle and pump fresh water from a different source rather than the current source close to and possibly mingled with effluvium from those new-fangled water closets. Snow didn’t quite understand how it happened, but he did feel that sewage dumped in the rivers [there were and still are many undergrounds, in London] or close to wells serving the towns, contaminated the water supply and spread the contagion. He lived close to Soho, which I’m sure spurred his efforts to prove it. This during the worldwide cholera outbreak that lasted from 1846 to 1860. I’m sure there were those claiming it was their right to, dammit, drink sewage if they wanted to.

One might argue that the City of Westminster is still foul with contagion, but that’s an argument for another time.

Snow was eventually vindicated, albeit after his death when the run of discussion on the subject beginning way back with Hippocrates [of the Oath] petered out by the middle of the 19th century and hammered home by the work of Louis Pasteur and his views pointing to germs and microbes. The unseen enemy. One can hear the exchange from the Charge of the Light Brigade movie between Harry Andrews and David Hemmings:

“Attack what, attack where?” “Germs, Mr Nolan!”

An apt reference I think, as the Battle of Balaclava took place in 1854.

So, over the centuries, the difficulty people have with understanding this invisible enemy out to destroy us waxes and wanes. Now evidence in this latest blight upon us is being poohed. Despite the big one just over a century ago, with at least two junior ‘almosts’ in the not too distant past, the face of death tolls all over the world. There is folk proclaiming that it is all a plot to keep us subjugated or the effects of 5G phone transmissions as manifested by contrails. What has humanity garnered in scientific knowledge over the millennia and to what end if we are so ready to crawl back into the womb cover our ears and hum denial? Happily go from Moonwalkers back to Arthur C Clarke’s Moonwatcher—the hominid who sat before the Monolith in 2001, A Space Odyssey, and understood the message of progress and the beginning of thought leading to his clan’s gradual success against their competitors.

Here we are facing what could quickly have become our road to extinction had scientists not issued warnings and precautions we need to take to limit the damage until weapons could be developed in defence. It’s a long road, and for large numbers of us, it’s too long. They are not that inclined to wait, preferring to lull themselves into thinking it’s not as dire. No miasma to smell must be safe.

This is not new. During the 1918 pandemic, there were sceptics too. Granted that crowded troop carriers, as soldiers were returned home after the Great War significantly contributed to the spread of the disease. Still, the parades celebrating the end of hostilities was an option that should have been avoided. A lot of people thought masks were an imposition and preferred inhaling friends’ and strangers’ virus-laden sputum. Possibly if people sneezed out a reddish or yellow cloud, everybody within range would be more than happy to hold a cloth to their faces.

And so history seems to be repeating itself in our current viral fight, and with most activities at a standstill or virtual standstill, we are left to wonder how long this episode will last. Even with government aid, a lot of needs are not being met and are being put on hold. In the US, the Administration has been remarkable tight-fisted with any assistance

A lot of people thought masks were an imposition and preferred inhaling friends’ and strangers’ virusladen sputum

and stopped all extra Federal money going to those who need it most. Multi-billiondollar corporations, on the other hand, were recipients of much largesse in the form of taxpayer money. The Republican-controlled Senate has now returned from their summer recess [they work so hard poor dears] and found it within themselves to squeeze out a few more drops of lucre. Mustn’t let the hoi polloi think they can relax.

Meanwhile, the pestilence rages on with no effort made by the powers-that-won’t to issue standardised guidance and recommendations and the plague carts roll on. New work practices get established because other than those who can pick up and work remotely there are those, like in my industry, who are more hands-on, but stagehands in theatre and film have no sets to build if there are no productions. Broadway is shuttered until possibly March of 2021 but not if COVID is still being spread. In my field, workarounds are being planned, mainly with hybrid live presence and video events. Other than live bodies which can be arranged to be the required distance apart and food which can be safely served, protocols need to be in place regarding masks, and the handling of microphones and their sanitisation after every use. There are shrouds available [I had even used a condom in rainy weather some years ago] and lamps to beam UVC light over the equipment.

It will be a slow start, but that would be the only way to start the rebuilding of the industry safely.

At some point, a vaccine will be proven effective and safe [I’d prefer a cure while we wait] and enough made for distribution. Then humanity will shrug it off and move forward until the next one unless the melting ice caps drown us first.

PHOTOGRAPHER

Marvin Grech

MODEL

Luigi @ Models M