Coronavirus daily update: Wednesday, Feb. 17

Ozzies take on social media

Australians refer to each other as “Ozzies,” often shouted three times in a row, to which the proper reply is, “Oy! Oy! Oy!” It is important that everyone be drunk for this ritual.

The Ozzies are big in the news today — moree specifically, news about the news, which we media types love.

Australia’s parliament passed a new law dictating that social media companies must pay news organizations for their content instead of just leaching off the good work of others for their entire business model. Two big things happened in response. Google cut a revenue-sharing deal with NewsCorp, Rupert Murdoch’s evil empire that includes Fox News and seemingly every shitty tabloid newspaper in the world. Conversely, Facebook Australia banned the posting and sharing of content from news sites like the New York Times, CNN and, probably, Triad City Beat. This is so they don’t have to pay for the content.

I’m calling it: This is the beginning of the end for Facebook. Five more years, tops. They have legal issues. They have business-model issues. They have political and legislative issues. Facebook ads don’t do shit. And the true death knell: No one under 25 years old uses it.

I have been avoiding Facebook lately except for professional stuff. I’m spending more time on Twitter, a better class of people who actually click the links you share before commenting (usually). But I got on Facebook for a while today and got into two arguments with people who did not do the reading. Wasn’t worth it.

Meanwhile, coronavirus has begun its retreat in North Carolina. Don’t believe me? Look at these numbers.

The numbers

• After a low count yesterday, we added 3,167 in NC today, which is still pretty good, making 829,507 total. 108 new deaths today (10,670), which sounds like a lot, but those are a lagging indicator and should start tapering off soon.
  • 1,954 hospitalized, trending down
  • 7.7 percent positive test rate
  • Vaccinations: 1,168,336 have had their first doses administered, 546,479 are fully vaccinated.
• Guilford County adds 156 for 37,874, with 11 new deaths (499). 3,451 current cases.
  • Vaccinations: 51,464 one dose, 26,711 two doses
• Forsyth adds 127 for 30,744, 323 deaths
  • Vaccinations: 44,120 one dose, 24,145 two doses.

A diversion

I’ve been checking out ReelBlack‘s YouTube channel for content today, a no-holds-barred look at Black cinema over the decades, warts and all, with emphasis on some frankly racist stuff. I don’t feel comfortable, as a white man, posting some of this shit, but this one seems okay: Come Back Charleston Blue, a flick from 1972, the sequel to Cotton Comes to Harlem, based on novels from a Black writer, Chester Himes.

Program notes

• “Auction Sale in Clinton Hall, New York, 1876” by Ignacio de León y Escosura is an exquisite example of subtext and composition. Thanks to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s public-domain collection.
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