532 new cases!!

The grotto where John the
Baptist was born

Yesterday saw a jump from 300 to 532 infection cases!! It's no longer scary ... it's alarming. Medical experts are warning that thousands will be warded in hospitals in the coming weeks. It's going to be ugly. But people have become dulled to the warnings. People throw caution to the wind. And the govt lacks clear strategy and political will to resolve this definitively. And the police are not enforcing the law. All the elements are stacked against a comprehensive plan to contain the 2nd wave. We're doomed. It's each man for himself now. I'm not taking any chances. And news is now out that Israel has postponed the opening of its airport to foreigners by a month ... meaning August 1st. So the agreement with Greece and Cyprus to allow tourists to enter the country is now postponed to August ... and that also means other tourists will be delayed.

The tourist industry will suffer a greater blow with this new surge of infections. All our churches are still closed and rethinking what to do. We depend on pilgrim donations to survive. Now we're barely struggling. https://www.timesofisrael.com/virus-cases-surge-with-532-new-infections-in-past-day/?fbclid=IwAR0UpJ4LfaqGfYwNcMwqaXSVL1haciMrL8ZpRSRAbZW7tdg1GKx3njvThXA

I figured out why I was sick yesterday. I took my heart medicine as usual in the morning but I also drank 2 cups of lemon juice. Apparently the potassium interacted with the medicine and caused my heart to palpitate erratically. That made me very sick. I'll have to avoid lemon juice in the mornings now.

Anyway while buying medicine for the MC sisters to help the poor, the pharmacist told me that vitamin D is useful to preventing infection especially in the old and sick. So I bought a carton load to bring to Bethlehem ... and I'm taking the vitamin myself too. Today I'm recovering from yesterday ... but I also had 4 hours of classes. It's always fun to teach ... but it was also exhausting. Meeting others is great when I'm trying to isolate myself from the growing 2nd wave of coronavirus.

The umbrellas are
out - summer is in!

I'm completing a free online course on Health in Ancient Times. It was something to pass the lockdown and I enjoyed it. We read ancient greek and roman texts as well as archeological artefacts in order to know how people understood health and healing. I've been encouraging my students to sign up for any course as its free (for the moment) and we can learn so much while making good use of all this free time.    

The rhetoric on Israel's annexation of palestinian land is tuning up as more countries are loudly calling for or against it. It's making us nervous. Still I'm not going to let this all ruin my summer. I'll read, take long walks  (responsibly) and study more online courses. I'm going to enjoy summer.