Covid-19/Coronavirus

Delaware Park is Next Stop on “Covid-19/ Resurgence” Summer Tour

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on July 27, 2020

Posted in: Byron Brown, Cazenovia Park, City of Buffalo, Covid-19/Coronavirus, Olmsted Parks, South Buffalo. Leave a comment

Pints-in-the-Park Summer Tour 2020

Mayor Byron W. Brown issued a July 16, 2020 press release in which His Honor cautions City of Buffalo residents of the continued dangers we face regarding the coronavirus:

COVID-19 remains a threat to our community and we cannot afford to let our guard down at this time. We must remain vigilant and continue to take the necessary precautions to maintain public health and safety. Please continue to practice physical distancing and wear face coverings when going out.

The Mayor followed that plea with a press conference July 24^th announcing “an innovative and safe dining experience initiative that will enable restaurants to offer outdoor dining services to patrons” on a stretch of Chippewa Avenue. We were told that each of the 10 or so participating eating-and-drinking establishments “will safely operate while practicing New York State social distance guidelines and requirements.” Not only have their plans been reviewed by Mayor Brown’s Small Business Social Distancing Advisory Committee (SBDAC), but, as reported by WBFO, Mayor Brown said it’s important for patrons and proprietors to understand – this is not meant to be a block party: “This isn’t to allow mass gatherings on Chippewa. This is to allow more room to socially distance.”

No, the block party – where, it appears, you can get away with not wearing a face covering and adhering to social distancing and other health guidelines intended to slow the virus spread – was occurring on July 24^th and 25^th several miles away in South Buffalo’s Cazenovia Park.

While bicycling through my neighborhood park at 8 PM on the Friday the 24^thI observed at least 60 or 70 Pints-In-The-Park attendees, many of whom were not following the posted (and, by now, well known) Covid-19 protocols. I saw a similar scene at 6 PM on Saturday. Here’s a sampling:

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I have since confirmed that the City of Buffalo had issued a permit to (a rather aptly-named) Resurgence Brewing Company to host pop-up beer gardens – with the cutesy moniker, Pints-In-The-Park. Here’s how the events are described at Resurgence’s facebook page:

All Pints in the Park events will be held in Olmsted Parks with a portion of proceeds going toward the Olmsted Parks Conservancy.

Bring your own blankets and chairs and your mask for when you are up and walking around. We’ll provide the beer. Feel free to bring your own food as well. Bring the family, bring the dog and have a Pint, with us, in beautiful Cazenovia Park. We’ll be located next to the casino.

I found the city’s willingness to use our city park’s for this sort of commercial endeavor distasteful last year when I first became aware of it occurring in Caz Park. And, frankly, I was even more offended at that time when I realized Buffalo Olmsted Park Conservancy’s involvement – tacitly, or otherwise – in the endeavor.

But I find the concept of a pop-up beer garden in our public park’s even more problematic in the summer of 2020. It is hypocritical, at best, for Mayor Brown’s administration to issue public statements urging the public, on the one hand, ”not to let our guard down” and to “remain vigilant” to the threat of Covid-19, while it allows residents to gather in Cazenovia Park in large numbers and hold a pint of beer, in the other hand, without ensuring enforcement of our state’s social distancing guidelines and requirements.

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I know that my sentiment will not be universally popular. But, nonetheless, I want to provide this shoutout to my friends and colleagues in North Buffalo:

THE RESURGENCE BREWING COMPANY’S PINTS-IN-THE-PARK SUMMER TOUR IS SCHEDULED TO POP-UP IN DELAWARE PARK ON AUGUST 7 & 8.

With All Due Respect,

Art Giacalone

P.S. Concerns have been raised for months that the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in skyrocketing alcohol sales, and has raised concerns regarding substance abuse. See, for example, this.]

1 in 3 Young Adults is Medically Vulnerable to SEVERE covid-19 Illness

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on July 20, 2020

Posted in: Covid-19/Coronavirus. 1 Comment

The fact that this estimate is halved to 1 in 6 for non-smoking young adults is little comfort to this father of a son and daughter in their twenties.

The thought of writing about covid-19 and its impacts had not been part of my plans. That all changed this past weekend.

A beloved family member sent me a link to a July 9, 2020 video being disseminated across the internet by “reopen America” advocates. The so-called “facts” and “realities” expressed by the interviewed physician ranged from blaming the recent spike in covid-19 cases on “massive protests and rioting” across our country, to insistence that wearing masks has “very little utility in stopping the spread” of the virus and that hydroxychloroquine works “wonderfully well,” to espousing that schools reopen “with almost no restrictions.”

But what caught my attention and motivated this post was the commentators repeated claims that 31 year-olds – the average age of those currently testing positive for covid-19 – “have an easy time with the virus,” and should go about living their lives without worrying about being susceptible to the virus. I find these assertions reckless and dangerous.

According to health departments across the U.S., younger people are making up a higher percentage of those infected with the coronavirus. Seemingly, many younger Americans have the misimpression that their youth renders them invincible to any serious harm from covid-19. Perhaps a study published on July 13, 2020 in the Journal of Adolescent Health, will provide a strong dose of reality to the less-conscientious members of the younger generation (as well as their parents).

The study’s authors, analyzing National Health Interview Survey statistics for over 8,400 young adults aged 18-25 years, reached the following conclusions:

– Nearly one in three young adults are medically vulnerable to severe COVID-19 illness (32%).

– In contrast, in the nonsmoking young adult group, only about one in six is medically vulnerable to severe COVID-19 illness (16%).

– Among nonsmokers, females were significantly more likely to be medically vulnerable than males, because of their higher asthma and immune condition rates.

– Unexpectedly, the findings revealed a lower medical vulnerability of racial/ethnic minorities compared with the white subgroup, despite controlling for income and insurance status.

[Here’s the original article in its entirety: Medical vulnerability of Young Adults to Severe COVID-19 Illness 07-13-20 ; also, more generally, here’s a recent article at Johns Hopkins medical center’s website entitled, “Coronavirus and COVID-19: Younger Adults Are at Risk, Too”: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/coronavirus-and-covid-19-younger-adults-are-at-risk-too.]

While investigating the potential impact of covid-19 on younger Americans, I also came across information relating to two other specious assertions in the “reopen America” propaganda piece, the purported ineffectiveness of face masks and effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine.

Face masks: Intentionally or not, anti-mask advocates often blur two issues, the effectiveness of a mask in protecting its wearer from contracting Covid-19, and the usefulness of the mask as a tool to limit the spread of the virus, especially by an asymptomatic person. I find the explanations given by the Mayo Clinic and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) much more persuasive than assertions of the naysayers. Here’s what the Mayo Clinic says:

Can face masks help slow the spread of the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19? Yes, face masks combined with other preventive measures, such as frequent hand-washing and social distancing, help slow the spread of the virus.

So why weren’t face masks recommended at the start of the pandemic? At that time, experts didn’t know the extent to which people with COVID-19 could spread the virus before symptoms appeared. Nor was it known that some people have COVID-19 but don’t have any symptoms. Both groups can unknowingly spread the virus to others.

These discoveries led public health groups to do an about-face on face masks. The World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now include face masks in their recommendations for slowing the spread of the virus. The CDC recommends cloth face masks for the public and not the surgical and N95 masks needed by health care providers.

Hydroxychloroquine: I’m naïve enough to have been stunned to hear a self-proclaimed medical expert insist that research and studies show that hydroxychloroquine “works wonderfully well.” On July 16, 2020, a randomized trial with over 400 non-hospitalized participants, entitled, “Hydroxychloroquine in Non-hospitalized Adults With Early COVID-19,” was published in the American College of Physicians Journal, Annals of Internal Medicine. That study concludes that hydroxychloroquine “did not substantially reduce symptom severity in outpatients with early, mild COVID-19.” [I can’t help but wonder how soon the video’s propagandist will update his prior statements.]

Two final comments relating to the coronavirus.

First, if you’re into statistics and graphs, Johns Hopkins University has an up-to-date timeline of covid-19 policies, cases, and deaths in all 50 states, taking a look at how social distancing and other measures may have influenced those trends.

Second, as someone who took several constitutional law classes in law school, who has attended a variety of Continuing Legal Education seminars on constitutional law and civil rights over the decades, who has on occasion asserted constitutional claims on behalf of my clients (and, myself), and who continues to read and think about contemporary constitutional issues on a regular basis, I cannot fathom how any sensible lawyer could reach the conclusion that U.S. citizens have a constitutional right not to wear a mask in public. To me, that position is, frivolous, at best. It is akin to saying that we have a constitutional right not to use headlights or taillights when driving our cars at night, or windshield wipers when driving in the pouring rain, and proclaiming: Public safety and welfare be damned!

With All Due Respect,

Art Giacalone

P.S. I have intentionally not referenced the source of the offending video, or the speakers expressing their “realities’ and “facts.” I don’t wish to provide them any publicity. However, I did check into the background and funding sources of the website, and biographies of the two individuals on screen. In a nutshell, my research shows they all are so agenda-driven as to raise legitimate questions regarding the objectivity and accuracy of their assertions. Most troubling to me, as I attempt to conscientiously assess these complex scientific issues, is the primary funding source for the website: two billionaires who not only have spent a fortune advocating “human influenced climate change denialism,” but who are also believers in the scientific accuracy of the Bible.

Walking Beaver Meadow’s paths – self-isolation at its best

Posted by Arthur J. Giacalone on April 28, 2020

Posted in: Beaver Meadow nature preserve, Covid-19/Coronavirus, WNY Photos. 7 Comments

[Update: Jay Burney, my friend and someone who for decades has had an immeasurable impact preserving and restoring WNY’s natural resources, sent me two links this morning you may want to click. The first is to Jay’s Birds on the Niagara Festival website, and the second is his video of Spring Birds 2020 (with helpful bird titles!). Enjoy seeing and learning from a professional videographer and lifelong naturalist.]

I desperately needed to not only get out of my house last Friday, but to experience something that contrasted starkly with weeks of living alone in my South Buffalo home, and wasn’t overwhelming. Mission accomplished. I drove 32 miles to Beaver Meadow in North Java, New York, and enjoyed “self-isolation” at its finest.

In case you’re not familiar with this 324-acre nature preserve, the Beaver Meadow Audubon Center – 20 minutes or so outside of East Aurora – includes meadows, ponds, wooded uplands, wetlands with a boardwalk trail, and eight miles of trails (as well as an arboretum and hawk watch). And, if the photos that follow inspire you to take your first trip there, or motivate you to revisit this ecological gem, you can quickly brush up beforehand on North America’s second largest rodent by reading the Ontario Parks blog post entitled, “The beaver in winter.”

One last comment before sharing images from my 60-minute walk. Except for the following sign upon entering the nature preserve:

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and, the closing off of a small area meant for collaborative (and, creative) activities:

there were no reminders of the altered world I had left behind.

Time for a rest or to quietly wait to sight beavers at work. But, it turns out, beavers – while they don’t hibernate – tend to be more active at night this time of year. They also locate their den a distance from shore to help protect themselves from predators:

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The currently-closed visitor’s center (but, the trails remain open!):

With All Due Respect,

Art Giacalone

P.S. By the way, Beaver Meadow nature preserve is a remarkable place to visit when autumn brings a change in colors. I’d like to think our world will have returned to some semblance of “normalcy” by then. Here’s a few images from perhaps 20 or 30 years ago: