Back to school, again
The big news today is that Gov. Cooper is allowing some K-5 public school programs in the state to begin full-time, in-school instruction on Oct. 2. Rules include a mask mandate, social distancing and sanitation requirements.
Is it the right call? Or is he bowing to political pressure from the GOP? We will know the answer to this question by mid-October.
Just don’t ask the UNC-Charlotte football team, which had to cancel its game against UNC-Chapel Hill this weekend because of a coronavirus exposure on its offensive line.
As in everything else, the numbers will tell the story.
The numbers
- I see 1,552 new cases in North Carolina today, and I’m like, Screw you, coronavirus. It’s the most we’ve had since Sept. 5 — almost two weeks. And it kinda brings me down
- That makes 189,576 total, with two more dead to make 3,176.
- 24 fewer people in the hospital — 896 total.
- Positive test rate jumps to 5.6 percent.
- Guilford County adds just 39, for 7,937, no new deaths (168) and 4,617 recoveries (+36). Leveling off?
- Forsyth County adds 13 new cases for 6,707, no new deaths (94) and 6,102 recoveries (+25).
A diversion
While you’re sitting on your couch watching “Cobra Kai,” I want you to remember where it all began: Vaudeville. The medium was the apogee of popular entertainment for 50 years, before radio and film, and those acts became fodder for the new media. I combed YouTube and found some actual footage of some vaudeville acts — not a documentary about vaudeville, not a tribute to vaudeville, not something called “vaudeville” that is actually something else. The film is silent because, duh, there was no sound in movies yet. But you will get the idea. Trigger warning: It’s inherently racist, with a juggler in blackface.
Program notes
- For tonight’s featured image, we’ve got “Piping Shepherds,” by Aelbert Cuyp, 1643-44. Taken from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s public-domain collection. And hey: The Met is now open on Fifth Avenue in NYC, if you’re in town.
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