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Wednesday, June 30, 2021

June 30, 2021

 This week's news from Sanur is about the same as last week's news, only generally worse. Since the beginning of last week, Indonesia has recorded the highest number of new COVID-19 infections since the beginning of the pandemic, with 21,342 infections recorded on Sunday, June 27th. Hospitals in several regions of Java have erected tents out front for patient care, as they have run out of beds and are generally out of space to accommodate the growing number of patients. COVID-19 deaths have also reached the same record level as earlier this year. 

In the midst of all this, authorities nationwide have detected a growing number of falsified COVID-19 test certificates. These fake certificates are being sold at airports across the country, because, you know, people don't really wanna bother with all this COVID requirement shit when they could just pay to get around it. Now how irresponsible is that? 

Moreover, also in the midst of all this, the long hoped for reopening of Bali, slated for July, appears very unlikely to occur. The Bali Tourism Association has expressed their disappointment, saying that many tourism players on the island have invested time and money to prepare for the proposed July opening. In other words, they counted their chickens before they were hatched. It is worth noting, the Sanur Weekly reports, that "despite the repeated proposals by the Ministry of Tourism and the Balinese government, this plan has never been approved by the Home Ministry or by Indonesian President Joko Widodo." A case of wishful thinking, which is another common sort of pandemic in Indonesia.  

In an incident similar to one covered in a previous blog entry, yet another Kuta resident has been caught red handed in an act of thievery, this time involving a bottle of shampoo at a minimarket. The man received a heavy beating by a mob of local residents before the police came to his rescue. The man is now facing up to five years in jail for a bottle of shampoo. It's not even the man's hair was terribly dirty, apparently. Rather, he meant to later sell the shampoo on the street for a lower price.

Back in old Portland town Oregon, late June temperatures have hit 116 degrees. Say what?! That's right, 116, and expected to rise. This is just unreal. The highest temperature I ever experienced in 55 years in Oregon was 108, and that was in August and in Central Oregon, not Portland. Good Lord. What's going on? Is this the end? Or maybe the beginning of the end? Stay tuned. 

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