The May 2020 newsletter - Text Version
Updated 27-Apr-2020 ==== Copyright (c) 2020 Corvairs of New Mexico
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May 2020 / VOLUME 46 / NUMBER 5 / ISSUE 536
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First Place, Tony Fiore Memorial Chapter Newsletter Award, 2005 & 2012
Third Place, Tony Fiore Memorial Chapter Newsletter Award, 2010
EDITOR Jim Pittman
NEXT MEETING Regular Meeting: May 2nd at 10:00 AM
This meeting is CANCELLED due to Coronavirus / COVID-19
THIS MONTH
President's Message .................................... Dave Allin
Dues Due Dates ............................... Membership Committee
The Road to Lakewood (Corvair Models) .................. Dave Allin
April Meetings .......................... CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
Birthdays & Anniversaries .................... Membership Committee
Corvairs in the Time of Coronavirus .... Thanks to Contributions by
Lee Reider, Vickie Hall, David Neale, and some help from the Editor
Lost Memories of the Spanish Flu ...................... Jim Pittman
Corvair Activities from Facebook ....................... Tarmo Sutt
Twenty Years Ago: Due South: Tour Report ...... Elizabeth Domzalski
Treasury Report ..................................... Steve Gongora
Calendar of Coming Events ...................... Board of Directors
May Issues, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42 Years Ago ........ Club Historian
COVER It was Twenty Years Ago: Saturday April 15th, 2000
Steve's 1966 Corsa: Pecan orchard, Las Cruces, 2000
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OFFICERS and VOLUNTEERS
President Dave Allin 505-410-9668 dnjallin @ comcast.net
Vice President David Huntoon 505-281-9616 corvair66 @ aol.com
Co-secretary Linda Soukup 763-226-0707 studeboytony @ gmail.com
Co-secretary Kay Sutt 505-471-1153 tarmo @ juno.com
Treasurer Steve Gongora 505-220-7401 stevegongora @ msn.com
Car Council Dave Allin 505-410-9668 dnjallin @ comcast.net
Membership David Huntoon 505-281-9616 corvair66 @ aol.com
Merchandise Vickie Hall 505-865-5574 patandvickiehall @ q.com
Sunshine Heula Pittman 505-275-2195 heula @ q.com
Newsletter Jim Pittman 505-275-2195 jimp @ unm.edu
Old Route 66 David Huntoon 505-281-9616 corvair66 @ aol.com
Past President Ray Trujillo 505-814-8373 rtrujilloabq505 @ gmail.com
Past President Pat Hall 505-620-5574 patandvickiehall @ q.com
Past Vice-Pres Tarmo Sutt 505-690-2046 tarmo @ juno.com
MEETINGS: First Saturday of each Month at 10:00 AM
Highland Senior Center at 131 Monroe NE, Albuquerque, NM 87108
INTERNET CORSA's home page www.corvair.org/
CNM's newsletters www.unm.edu/~jimp/
New Mexico Council of Car Clubs www.nmcarcouncil.com/
SCHEDULE CNM: 12 months = $25.00 or 26 months = $ 50.00
OF CORSA: 12 months = $45.00 or 26 months = $ 90.00
DUES CNM & CORSA: 12 months = $70.00 or 26 months = $140.00
DUES DUE DATES MAY 2020
DUE LAST MONTH ====================== INACTIVE DATE
2020.04 Terry Hall 25-MAY-2020
2020.04 Conner Siddell 25-MAY-2020
2020.04 William Darcy 25-MAY-2020
2020.04 Deborah & John Dinsdale 25-MAY-2020
DUE THIS MONTH ====================== INACTIVE DATE
2020.05 NONE 25-JUN-2020
DUE NEXT MONTH ====================== INACTIVE DATE
2020.06 Lloyd Piatt 25-JUL-2020
2020.06 Art Gold 25-JUL-2020
DUE JUL 2020 ======================== INACTIVE DATE
2020.07 Maggie & Bob Kitts 25-AUG-2020
2020.07 Sarah & Terry Price 25-AUG-2020
INACTIVE ============================ INACTIVE DATE
2020.02 Larry Yoffee 25-MAR-2020
2020.03 Kelli & Mark Morgan 25-APR-2020
2020.03 Natalie Robison 25-APR-2020
Send your Dues to:
CNM Treasurer
Steve Gongora
c/o House of Covers
115 Richmond NE,
Albuquerque, NM 87106
Past due memberships become inactive after a one-month grace period.
The Club will mail in your National Dues if you send us the renewal
form from your Communique.
As of 25-Apr-2020 we have 43 active family memberships.
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PRESIDENT'S LETTER
Dave Allin
The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the world upside down, and we are scrambling to
adapt. As you already know, we had to cancel the Tri-State for this year, but
the good news is that it is simply being postponed until next year, same time,
same place. We have just negotiated a contract with the Marriott Pyramid that is
virtually identical to our previous contract, although the room rate will be $10
higher next year. That is still a good rate, however, and all the other features
remain the same. In addition, astronaut Harrison Schmitt has again agreed to be
our speaker next year, and Bianca Arellanes has been paid $200 for her work
designing the T-shirts, which had not yet been printed. Everyone who had sent in
money for the banquet has been refunded, and all hotel reservations for this
year have been cancelled without penalty. The two Colorado clubs have agreed to
the postponement, and all our preparations for this year's event will carry over
to 2021, so we are in an excellent position to present the Tri-State next year.
Let us all hope and pray that the pandemic is over and we can resume a normal
life then.
This month's meeting is cancelled, of course, while we wait to see what happens
next. By mid-May we should have a better grasp on the situation and be able to
determine whether the June meeting will occur, and under what circumstances.
Stay tuned.
On a different note, during the forced isolation I have been transcribing old
letters from Viet Nam. My mom kept all the letters I sent home, and I am typing
them up for my daughter and for my Army buddies, who appreciate my ability to
put a timeline on what happened over there. In one of my letters I told my folks
what car I wanted to buy when I returned home. As background, in 1965 I bought a
1962 Monza coupe, but in 1967 I traded it on a brand new Renault R-10 that I had
to sell a year later when I was drafted. Here is what I wrote in July, 1969:
You asked what kind of car I planned to buy when I get back. I've been giving it
a lot of thought, and have changed my mind several times. I had planned on
buying a new foreign car, perhaps a Simca or Fiat, but now I think I would be
better off with a used Corvair. My particular preference would be a 1964 Corvair
Spyder convertible. It would be inexpensive to buy, in light of the fact that
Chevy has stopped making Corvairs, but I believe resale value will go up. (In
Car and Driver there is an Edsel advertised for $7,500.) I really liked my old
Corvair, and could easily work on one. And for much less money than a new car I
could restore a used one to like new condition and equip it with all the
accessories I like. For instance:
1964 Corvair Spyder convertible--$700 approx.
Complete engine & transmission repair--$200
Brakes and suspension repair--$100
Body and Paint--$100
Top and Interior--$100
5 Michelin X radial tires--$150
Total $1350
That's a lot better than $2000 for a cheap foreign car that depreciates rapidly.
I believe the Corvair will appreciate in the years to come rather than
depreciate.
I can't help but wonder if prices were that much lower back then, or was I naive
about restoration costs. At any rate, later I was given an opportunity to buy a
1957 Porsche Speedster for $2250, and the Corvair idea was put on the back
burner for about fifty years.
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THE ROAD TO LAKEWOOD
Dave Allin
I recently completed building this model of a 1961 Corvair Lakewood station
wagon, and thought some people might be interested in how it came to be. I'll
have to give some history of car models in general, and resin models in
particular, so you may have a MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over) moment reading this.
In the fifties and sixties many new car dealers gave away promotional models
(promos) to potential customers who came in and took a test drive. These models
came from two main manufacturers, Johan and SMP (which later became AMT). The
models were all in 1/25 scale, and were very accurate representations, although
many came with flat metal chassis plates and friction motors. In order to have
the promos available at new-car introduction time, the car manufacturers allowed
the model makers very early access to view the secret finalized versions of the
upcoming cars so they could photograph and take measurements. That way the model
companies had time to create the molds and start producing the models.
In 1958 SMP/AMT started selling unassembled promos as kits, adding customizing
and racing parts such as louvers, fins, fender skirts, and decals, so they could
call them "3-in-1" kits. They were a huge success, even though the early kits
did not have engines or opening hoods. For years these "annuals," as they were
known, were based on the promos the model companies were producing for the
dealers.
When Chevrolet began producing the 1960 Corvair, the only body style available
at first was the four-door sedan, so AMT created a model of the sedan as a
promo, and then issued a kit of the same model, adding various customizing and
racing parts. For the 1961 promos and annuals, AMT was encouraged to issue
models of the 1961 Corvair convertible, which Chevy intended to introduce that
year. Unfortunately, after AMT had already created the molds for a convertible,
Chevy made a last-minute decision to delay the convertible until 1962. AMT had
to scramble to come up with something. For the promos, they took the molds for
the 1960 four-door sedan and modified them slightly to replicate the changes for
1961. AMT knew, however, that model car builders were not really interested in
four-doors, so they issued the convertible kits they had already created, adding
a hastily designed roof and rear window so the builder could make either a coupe
or a "custom" convertible.
I acquired one of those 1961 kits a few years ago, and discovered that the roof
and rear window were not at all accurate and did not fit well, so I suspect most
builders gave up and built those kits as convertibles. I was able to build mine
as a coupe, but it took a lot of bodywork, and it still didn't look right.
For 1962 the promos and kits were issued only as Monza coupes. For 1963 AMT
produced both convertibles and coupes as promos, but the kits were only issued
as convertibles. The 1964 promos were again Monza coupes and Monza convertibles,
but the kits were all Monza Spyder coupes. None of the early Corvairs were
modeled with opening engine covers and engines. The 1965 promos were Corsa
coupes and Corsa convertibles, with no engines. The 1965 kits were Corsa coupes
with an opening engine cover and a complete 140 engine. The kits also included a
convertible boot if the modeler wanted to cut off the roof, along with parts and
decals to make a Yenko Stinger or a Fitch sprint. The 1966 promos and kits were
essentially the same line-up as the 1965 versions. The 1967 promos were Monza
coupes, and these were the last Corvairs issued as promos. The 1967 kits were
also Monza coupes, with engines, but still included the parts (other than the
Corsa dash) to make a Stinger or Sprint or convertible. The 1968 and 1969 kits
were essentially the same as the 1967, with the addition of side marker lights
on the body and updated interiors. They all had 140 engines, and none came with
the mandatory smog equipment. The 1969 Corvair kit has since been reissued a
number of times, with varying extra parts, and usually with incorrect tires.
No one, however, produced a model of the Lakewood wagon.
In recent years a cottage industry has arisen which produces resin kits of model
cars that the major model companies never issued. An experienced modeler will
first take an existing kit and then modify it to represent a different version.
This usually means making a coupe into a convertible, a two-door into a
four-door sedan, or a sedan into a station wagon. Once the modeler had done all
the necessary body work, a rubber mold is made (often by someone else), and then
copies are produced by pouring resin into the mold and letting it harden. The
resin is like the stuff Fiberglass is made of, without the fibers. The quality
of the copies ranges from very poor to adequate. The molder then sells these
resin models on eBay, sometimes as complete kits, and other times as
"trans-kits" which require the addition of parts from a "donor" kit issued by
one of the model companies.
A few years ago I found a Lakewood resin kit on eBay and immediately bought it
(at an outrageous price). When it arrived, I was disappointed in the quality,
and put it aside. Last month I finally decided to build it, knowing it would be
a pain. After studying it, I figured out how the modeler had created the master
of the body, and he did an excellent job. He started with a 1961 four-door promo
and cut off the roof and the rear deck. Then he cut the wagon roof off a Johan
model of either the 1961 Buick Special or Olds F-85 wagon (GM used the same
wagon roof on all three cars that year) and grafted it onto the Corvair body. He
then did a great job of creating the unique Corvair rear end, tailgate, and
taillights.
Whoever created the interior for the kit, however, was not so skilled. The
interior and the body were molded in very thick resin, and the parts did not fit
together well. My kit had an original 1961 plastic windshield, but it took a lot
of grinding with a Dremel tool to thin the windshield pillars enough to allow
the "glass" to fit, and even then it's not perfect. The bumpers that were
provided had no mounting posts and were roughly cast, so I added metal pins and
sanded them until they were smooth. I also had to create mounting points to
attach the chassis to the body. I created the side and rear windows out of
acetate, and found a steering wheel in my parts box that is close, but not
entirely accurate. The dash was so poorly molded that I sanded down the
instruments and glove box and made decals from photos I found of those things on
eBay.
After much work sanding and filling, and multiple coats of primer, I managed to
get the body looking semi-decent. I cleaned up the wheels and tires that came
with the kit and detailed the hubcaps with paint. I chromed the bumpers with
chrome paint, and the headlights, taillights, and window frames with Bare-Metal
Foil. Since the original kit that the modeler had used to create the master was
a sedan, the wagon did not have the louvers on the rear fenders. I simulated
them by making decals that included the "Lakewood" script.
The end result is an okay model, but not up to my usual standards. On the other
hand, it's the only one I've seen of a Lakewood in that scale, and better than
the few smaller die-cast models that were issued back in the day. I owned a 1962
Monza wagon back in the early seventies, which I loved, but the floorboards had
completely rusted through. I lived in Denver then, but ironically I worked in
Lakewood, CO. At that time I was not in a position financially to have the car
repaired, so I sold it. I would like to have another wagon, but for now I'll
settle for a good model of one.
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Happy May Birthday Wishes to:
Anne Mae Gold
Pat Hall
Happy May Anniversary Wishes to:
Darlene & Bill Darcy
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EFFECTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
I so much appreciated all the help and kindness shown to me during Bill's many
months in and out of rehab and assisted living, as well as all of the help I
received from the CNM members who spent time getting the Corsa ready to ship to
David Neale in England.
I want to thank CNM for the warmth and graciousness extended to Mr. Neale in
accepting him as an honorary member of the Club. Once we all get past the
Coronavirus restrictions, which are the same in England, I believe Mr. Neale
will share stories related to Bill's Corvair that will be of interest to all of
us here. Lee Reider
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EFFECTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
The Coronavirus has affected us in minor ways. Going to the grocery store has
never been one of my enjoyable things to do but when I had to go in order to
stock up, not hoarding, on items that we needed, I caught myself trying to hold
my breath, HA, and hurrying as fast as I could to get out of the store.
The worst effect on me, Vickie, is due to the fact that all the crazy people
that don't have anything else to do but get on their computers to send spam and
junk emails to my computer. Day after day I have received 100 plus emails that I
have to delete one at a time because the "delete all" icon is hiding from me and
I haven't been able to find it yet! A computer Guru I am not.
Pat says it hasn't affected him because he's still doing the same thing everyday
and that, of course, is working with our Corvairs.
We wish everyone good health. Vickie & Pat Hall
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EFFECTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Traffic! At first after businesses and schools were shut down and people were
begged to "socially isolate" it seemed there was far less traffic than normal
and driving seemed to be much safer. But as I spent a little more time driving
around I soon came to a different view. With less traffic people are driving
faster and less carefully. There may be less traffic overall but it seems more
dangerous to be on the road. People are angry at the restrictions we have to
live under. This transitions over to their approach to driving. It is like
afternoon rush hour when people are oblivious to all but getting home, or
getting to a bar, or getting to after-work chores. A time of coronavirus is
a dangerous time to be out driving if that's not what you do every day.
ANONYMOUS
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EFFECTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
I was most fortunate to acquire Bill Reider's '65 Corsa Coupe, my activities
surrounding the vehicle being confined thus far to just two things initially;
that is, to making the vehicle suitable for use on British roads, and secondly,
preparing it for its new paint job. With regard to suitability for British
roads, we of course drive upon the left side of the road. Although there is
literally nothing in law that says we must drive on the left, it is the
convention; and doing otherwise would cause serious consternation, and gnashing
of teeth, for other road users. The issue is simply that the front lights
currently dip to the right. For use here, they need to dip to the left. The
range of adjustment provided for aiming the lamps doesn't appear sufficient to
enable re-aiming to the left, and so some simple application of wit is required
to achieve the aiming correction.
Apropos preparation for paint, I have decided to have the car painted in Evening
Orchid, a factory colour option for '65 cars. I won't need to tell you what
preparations I will need to do to make it ready for the paint shop ... I had
considered painting it myself, but I know it isn't an easy thing to do,
especially as I've never done it before. If any CNM member has experience of
this, and tells me to "man up" and tackle it myself, I will reconsider! I thank
Providence that the car's body condition is very nearly as it was when it rolled
out of the Los Angeles GM plant all those years ago ... it has precious few, and
then only extremely minor, defects regarding rust, a concomitant of living in
New Mexico, presumably. I have seen a few cars that were beautifully painted by
their owners, because, I was told, many hours of hand finishing were required.
One was a '64 Spyder convertible, painted black ... not under cover ... using
the spraygun that once accompanied vacuum cleaners! It was flawless and
beautiful, but took many many hours. The present scourge has provided an
"excuse" ... actually an imperative ... to get done the myriad small jobs that
mounted over years, but getting Bill's Corvair ready for the shows next year,
(for this year there are now none), and for outings through small and winding
country roads to small villages, is very important. The car has been maintained
to a very high standard, unsurprisingly. As I consider myself merely a custodian
of the car, it will continue to be so maintained. I am extremely fortunate, too,
to have received a vehicle which several CNM members spent much time upon before
it was shipped to me here in England. Special people, for which I am so very,
very grateful.
I trust all CNM members have evaded the virus thus far, and beseech you all to
take the greatest of care. I look forward very much to meeting you next year,
when the situation should be very much better.
Kindest regards, David B. Neale
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CORONAVIRUS -- COVID-19 PANDEMIC
If you think this can't be happening, look up the 1918 "Spanish Flu" epidemic,
which killed more people worldwide than were killed by World War One. It
continued for three years and then disappeared.
This pandemic is similar but there are many differences. The 1918 flu rolled
across the world in slow motion. Thousands of people (many of them soldiers in
troop ships) traveled across the ocean at 20 miles per hour. When they got off
the ships they traveled throughout the country in trains at 50 miles per hour.
People innocently infected their friends and relatives wherever they went.
Medical science knew little about virus diseases but many communities attempted
quarantine. A few managed to avoid the disease (one example was Gunnison,
Colorado) but most did not. It got to them all eventually.
A hundred years later there were millions of people flying everywhere in the
world at 500 miles per hour. Now, once again, people are innocently infecting
their friends and relatives wherever they go. Once let loose in the world, the
virus is essentially going everywhere. Anyone infected can infect others, even
before feeling any symptoms of illness. You may be infected and never get sick.
Few of us are as careful as we could be to avoid the invisible virus. Some
foolishly barely even try. Some of us are at higher risk of getting infected and
of getting sick. And if we do get sick, many of us are at higher risk of dying
from it.
We can't expect a competent government to be able to do everything that will be
needed to deal with this pandemic. The United States of America, as has been
proved multiple times, does not currently have a competent government. It is not
clear that we are going to get a competent government anytime soon.
It is up to every individual to get informed. It is up to every individual to
act responsibly.
Stop shaking hands. Don't cough or sneeze near others. Be careful going near
other people. Try to obey the Six-Foot Rule. It is not easy. Conditions are
still going to get a lot worse before they get better.
ENCHANTED CORVAIRS NEWS ITEM - April 2020
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LOST MEMORIES OF THE SPANISH FLU
Jim Pittman
The Coronavirus / COVID-19 pandemic that is disrupting our lives is similar to
the great "Spanish Flu" pandemic of 1918. Similarities are, there was no
prevention and only primitive treatment; the flu was easily transmitted to
others; it killed a lot of its victims; its fame preceded its spread and
communities tried to wall themselves off from the illness. Differences between
now and then are that medical science now knows a lot more about how viruses
work, and we have years of experience making vaccines to prevent getting the flu
and certain other viral diseases. We don't yet know if the coronavirus pandemic
will last three years, if it will completely go away or if it will come back
every year, if we will be able to develop an effective vaccine. If an effective
vaccine is developed, will governments mandate that everyone get it?
The 1918 flu has been called the most severe pandemic in recent history, yet
when I grew up in the 1940s and 1950s I never heard about it. My dad was born in
1911. I had an uncle from Louisiana who enlisted in the Army with his brother
(one of them lied about his age to get in) and was sent to France in World War
One. My uncle came back okay but never spoke of the war nor of the "Spanish"
flu. Surely they knew about the flu pandemic. But, I do not recall ever hearing
a word about it from any family member. Until....
In the 1970s my dad, now retired, developed an interest in traveling around the
country. He bought a fifth-wheel camper and he and my mother enjoyed driving and
camping for weeks at a time. He became interested in genealogy and on their
trips across the southeast he'd look for information on ancestors.
One way to get genealogical information is to go to state capitals or court
houses and look through government archives. Another is to visit old family
cemeteries, some of them far out in the country, and record names and dates from
tombstones. When I made my occasional visit back home to southern Mississippi
we'd sometimes drive around the county visiting cemeteries. We got many names
and dates of ancestors, and my dad could often remember the names and could put
them in the proper relationships.
One day we had just gone by an old Methodist church with cemetery that had many
of my ancestors and as we headed for home he said, let's stop by the old (some
family I don't remember) graveyard just to see if we know anybody there. We
found the cemetery and walked around, looking at names and dates but finding
none of our family members. Suddenly my dad stopped at two graves side by side.
I don't remember the names and dates so I'll make them up:
Thom. M. Smith 1872-1918
Johnny R. Smith 1899-1918
My dad said, Oh, that's Cousin Johnny. He went off to the army and got sick in
camp and they sent him home. But he got sicker and died. And that's his papa.
When Johnny was sent home his papa nursed him until he died, but then he got
sick too and he died.
This had to be a result of the "Spanish Flu" and Johnny had to be one of the
many boys who volunteered for the Army but got sick without going overseas to
fight. But my dad never said "Spanish Flu" or the "1918 Flu" or anything else
about an epidemic. And he would never have told me this story if we had not been
in that cemetery and seen those two gravestones. Well, a hundred years ago there
were plenty of untreatable diseases and it was common for people to get sick and
die. Maybe the only unusual thing about this story for my dad was the
coincidence of almost the same dates on these two tombstones.
Had I known anything about the Spanish Flu I might have looked in this cemetery
for other gravestones of people who died in 1918.
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EFFECTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
I have always hated going to the grocery store. Back in the day, I'd go as
seldom as possible and stock up on non-perishable items. I am finding that
coronavirus is severely disrupting my food habits.
I found out about a "seniors hour" and went to a grocery store at the 8:00 AM
starting time. I had a mask and one of those insulated bags to put frozen items
in. At the entrance many people were in line, most of them wearing masks. A
woman said to me, "They don't let you take your own bags into the store." So I
took the insulated bags back to the car, then went back to find the end of the
line.
There were some 20 people sort of milling around, or maybe loosely in line.
Standing at the end of the line I relished the peace and quiet and the beautiful
morning weather. Once inside the store it was great to have a much less crowded
shopping environment. People were keeping their distance and there was no
conversation to be overheard. It was all very businesslike.
The checkout people were super polite as they stuffed my groceries into huge
doubled paper bags. Huge doubled paper bags that I would have no future use for.
My collection of reusable fabric bags will just have to wait for "normal" times
to roll around again. If they ever do.
I survived the trip but there were certain items I could not buy to take home to
hoard. Because others had hoarded them before me. Watching those news stories of
farmers ploughing under perfectly good vegetables because of lack of markets
and lack of transport was depressing and sobering. How can this go on? Every
aspect of our lives is connected to other people. How fragile these connections
are has never been so obvious.
ANONYMOUS
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EFFECTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
It was the summer of 1950 and families were terrified. A contagious disease was
striking children at random. Little was known about the disease; there was no
treatment or vaccine. Those diagnosed were kept isolated from others. No one
knew what caused it. It was called Infantile Paralysis. Perhaps some knew that
as a young man President Franklin Roosevelt had been crippled by the disease.
I was one of those who contracted polio. Since the virus affected my respiratory
system and breathing was difficult on my own, I was placed in an Iron Lung. I
stayed for six months. I was paralyzed from my neck down and was totally
dependent on others.
After many long months and years of physical therapy I regained the use of my
left leg. Surgical procedures were done to a knee and ankle to make walking
easier. I had braces on my legs. I later walked with crutches and eventually
discarded the crutches, walking with my "good" leg doing all the work. Thus I
went through the rest of my life as a polio survivor.
The first effective vaccine for polio happened in 1955 and a mass immunization
campaign was promoted by the March of Dimes. Millions of children sent in their
dimes. The Sabin oral vaccine appeared in 1961. The Americas were declared
polio-free by 1994. Other countries followed. By now polio exists in only three
or four countries where vaccination cannot be carried out effectively.
Fast forward seventy years. Most people have completely forgotten the terror of
the Polio epidemic. But just like then, even with all our sophisticated
technology we have no real treatment or vaccine for the Covid-19 illness. Will
we develop a vaccine? Will we find effective treatments? Right now no one knows.
I can tell you it is no fun to be stricken by a debilitating disease.
Heula Pittman
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CURRENT: TREASURY REPORT FOR 03-28-2020 to 04-25-2020
DATE CHECK# AMOUNT PAYEE DESCRIPTION BALANCE = $8,271.30
========== ==== ========== =========== ========================================= =========
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2020.03.31 J.Pittman Newsletter Postage 34 x $0.70 -$ 23.80 $8,203.40
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2020.04.02 +$ 25.00 Dues Gordon Johnson 12 m CNM +$ 25.00 $8,222.93
2020.04.02 +$ 30.00 Steve & Rita Gongora Anniversary Dinner +$ 30.00 $8,252.93
2020.04.07 2371 -$ 80.00 David Allin Tri-State Refund -$ 80.00 $8,172.93
2020.04.07 2372 -$ 40.00 Steve Gongora Tri-State Refund -$ 80.00 $8,092.93
2020.04.07 2373 -$ 80.00 David Huntoon Tri-State Refund -$ 40.00 $8,052.93
2020.04.07 2374 -$ 80.00 Bruce Levitch Tri-State Refund -$ 80.00 $7,972.93
2020.04.07 2375 -$ 80.00 Tarmo Sutt Tri-State Refund -$ 80.00 $7,892.93
2020.04.07 2376 -$ 80.00 Larry Blair Tri-State Refund -$ 80.00 $7,812.93
2020.04.07 2377 -$ 80.00 John Green Tri-State Refund -$ 80.00 $7,732.93
2020.04.07 2378 -$ 160.00 Richard Hawk Tri-State Refund -$160.00 $7,572.93
2020.04.07 2379 -$ 80.00 Gordon Johnson Tri-State Refund -$ 80.00 $7,492.93
2020.04.07 2380 -$ 80.00 Steve Johnson Tri-State Refund -$ 80.00 $7,412.93
2020.04.07 2381 -$ 50.00 Christine Kimberly Tri-State Refund -$ 50.00 $7,362.93
2020.04.07 2382 -$ 120.00 Bob Kitts Tri-State Refund -$120.00 $7,242.93
2020.04.07 2383 -$ 80.00 Terry Price Tri-State Refund -$ 80.00 $7,162.93
2020.04.07 2384 -$ 40.00 Kenneth Schifftner Tri-State Refund -$ 40.00 $7,122.93
2020.04.07 2385 -$ 40.00 Brenda Stickler Tri-State Refund -$ 40.00 $7,082.93
2020.04.07 2386 -$ 80.00 Pat Hall Tri-State Refund -$ 80.00 $7,002.93
2020.04.07 2387 -$ 80.00 Leroy Alderete Tri-State Refund -$ 80.00 $6,922.93
2020.04.12 2388 -$ 200.00 Bianca Arellanes Tri-State - Artwork Logo -$200.00 $6,722.93
2020.04.20 2389 -$ 35.00 CORSA Annual Chapter Fee -$ 35.00 $6,687.93
2020.05.01 MAY NEWSLETTER ===================================================== $6,687.93
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Tarmo pointed out that during this time of enforced stay-at-home to avoid
Coronavirus illness, many people were working on their cars and posting about it
on Facebook Corvairs Owners' Group. Maybe a few such items will be of interest.
03.31 10:39:39 FROM TARMO: I went out yesterday, first time in a week and was
also surprised how much traffic there was, don't know that that means. The
weather is having a hard time warming back up again, maybe later this week. The
activity around Corvairs is very heavy on Facebook, Corvairs Owners Group,
people are buying and selling cars and parts, they are working on their cars,
asking question how and what, everyone is answering, big discussions with
answers. Thinking if other people don't see this activity, they probably think
Corvairing has just about died off.
03.31 10:44:38 TO TARMO: Be good if someone compiled newsworthy items from
Facebook and put it an article for the May issue of the newsletter.
03.31 10:55:13 FROM TARMO: I could get some newsworthy screen shots from the
Corvairs on the group on FB, put together something.
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DUE SOUTH
Elizabeth Domzalski
On Saturday, April 15th, a few of us met at the Pump-N-Save on Gibson near I-25
to head south for Las Cruces. Sylvan, our fearless leader, was there with his
traveling companion, LeRoy Rogers. Steve Gongora and Bernadette were also
waiting.
We left promptly at 8:00 am. We picked up Ollie and Mary Alice on the way. In
Las Cruces we met southern members Wayne Ward and Bo Belt who led the way to
lunch at one of the three Farley's in New Mexico. It is a unique and fun place.
There are baskets of peanuts on the table to munch on (peanuts - not the
basket). You just throw the shells on the floor. Everyone but Steve, who had a
neat little pile of shells on the table. Bernadette said "My Dad can't do that.
He just can't." We waited throughout the meal for the moment when Steve would
just rake those hulls onto the floor with wild abandon. Didn't happen. The food
was great.
We then went to the Farm and Ranch Museum. What a treat. It is a beautiful
facility with a courtyard and a walkway that passes though an arroyo to the
museum's dairy. Inside the museum were many interesting exhibits. The featured
exhibit was a walk through 3,000 years of farming in New Mexico.
The most fascinating facts were related to the dairy industry. New Mexico leads
the way in many areas, such as hay, the largest herds and milk production.
Others I don't remember. Move over Wisconsin... We learned that a Holstein mom,
just after calving, can produce over 16 gallons of milk per day.
My favorite part was the milking demonstration when this fellow dressed like a
cowboy, as he was lowering a projection screen, addressed the audience with "We
gun watch this movie, then we'll milk a cow." Lights out. A man of few words. It
turns out that he was very knowledgeable. Obviously he had been in the business
for a long time. Then we witnessed a Guernsey cow being milked by the latest
method which is automated.
We left the Farm and Ranch Museum and visited Wayne's collection of 31 Corvairs
safely kept in a fenced area underneath pecan trees. Wayne's dad, C.W., told us
that the pollen from the trees actually protected the paint. I won't do this
part of the trip justice - just ask Mark, Steve, Ollie, Sylvan or LeRoy and they
will give you all of the glorious details. It was impressive to see so many
Corvairs in one spot. Most of them doubled as storage for more Corvair parts.
We experienced wonderful hospitality from Wayne's parents. We caravaned to their
home that has a huge metal garage/storage facility out back. Their home is about
5,000 square feet. C.W. said that they had to increase the size of the house to
hide the garage. I have to tell you - that metal building still makes its
presence known. We were shown Wayne's beautifully restored 1964 Aqua Azure
Spyder Convertible. He purchased it in 1969. He restored it for its 30th and his
40th. It is restored to original with an historically significant fraternity
decal on the driver's vent window. A gorgeous car. Wayne will display it at the
Tri-State in May. We were then treated to coke and iced tea. We all met Wayne's
son C.W. III. What a lovely family.
We motored on to El Paso, leaving about a half hour later than planned. C.W.
found Mark a 1962 NM license plate in his collection. We arrived safely at the
Comfort Inn, checked in and met for dinner. We tried the Stateline restaurant,
but it was Prom Night. The wait was two hours and since it was already 8:00 pm
we decided to return to the motel and eat at the Carrow's next door.
Up Sunday morning, we met Bo at the Village Inn at 9:30. We caravaned to the War
Eagles Air Museum. Another great find!! A wonderful collection of WWII planes
and paraphernalia from all over the world. There was an exhibit that featured
women and flying.
Outside we watched people parachute. The sky was blue as blue can be. Seeing
those parachutes against that sky was dramatic.
Now it was here, outside the museum, that we learned something about Ollie. It
was made known that this wonderful, reserved and distinguished man killed the
family turtle. It is a great story!! Ask Ollie and Mary Alice to share it with
you.
I think the old adage "there is power in numbers" does not apply to Corvair
tours. The Salmon Ranch tour was just a small band of us Corvair folks and it
was grand!
This tour was an outstanding adventure! Thank you Sylvan for organizing the trip
and Ollie for suggesting the Farm and Ranch Museum!
-- Elizabeth Domzalski
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| May 2020 | June 2020 | July 2020 |
| Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa | Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa | Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa |
| 1 2 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 | 1 2 3 4 |
| 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 | 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 |
| 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 | 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 | 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 |
| 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 | 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 | 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 |
| 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 | 28 29 30 | 26 27 28 29 30 31 |
| 31 | | |
============================================================================
SAT 02 MAY 10:00 AM Meeting: >>>>> CANCELLED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS <<<<<
>>> 36TH ANNUAL TRI-STATE CORVAIR MEET <<<
>>> CANCELLED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS <<<
>>> RESCHEDULE TO 2021 <<<
WED 20 MAY 5:00 PM Board Meeting: Highland Senior Center at 131 Monroe NE
WED 27 MAY 7:30 PM NEW MEXICO CAR COUNCIL MEETING OLD CAR GARAGE 3232 GIRARD NE
FRI 29 MAY 9:00 PM Deadline for items for June 2020 newsletter
MON 01 JUN >> TARGET FOR PRINTING AND MAILING JUNE NEWSLETTER <<
============================================================================
SAT 06 JUN 10:00 AM Meeting: Highland Senior Center at 131 Monroe NE
WED 17 JUN 5:00 PM Board Meeting: Highland Senior Center at 131 Monroe NE
FRI 26 JUN 9:00 PM Deadline for items for July 2020 newsletter
MON 29 JUN >> TARGET FOR PRINTING AND MAILING JULY NEWSLETTER <<
WED 24 JUN 7:30 PM NEW MEXICO CAR COUNCIL MEETING OLD CAR GARAGE 3232 GIRARD NE
============================================================================
SAT 04 JUL 10:00 AM Meeting: Highland Senior Center at 131 Monroe NE
>>> International CORSA Convention in San Diego <<<
>>> CANCELLED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS <<<
WED 15 JUL 5:00 PM Board Meeting: Highland Senior Center at 131 Monroe NE
WED 22 JUL 7:30 PM NEW MEXICO CAR COUNCIL MEETING OLD CAR GARAGE 3232 GIRARD NE
FRI 24 JUL 9:00 PM Deadline for items for August 2020 newsletter
MON 27 JUL >> TARGET FOR PRINTING AND MAILING AUGUST NEWSLETTER <<
============================================================================
SAT 01 AUG 10:00 AM Meeting: Highland Senior Center at 131 Monroe NE
WED 19 AUG 5:00 PM Board Meeting: Highland Senior Center at 131 Monroe NE
WED 26 AUG 7:30 PM NEW MEXICO CAR COUNCIL MEETING OLD CAR GARAGE 3232 GIRARD NE
FRI 28 AUG 9:00 PM Deadline for items for September 2020 newsletter
MON 31 AUG >> TARGET FOR PRINTING AND MAILING SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER <<
============================================================================
See the New Mexico Council of Car Clubs Web Site for more "NMCCC" activities
======================== http://www.nmcarcouncil.com/ ======================
SUGGESTION: A visit to the Telephone Museum on Fourth Street
SUGGESTION: A visit to the new WEATHER LAB at the Balloon Museum
SUGGESTION: A visit to the Soaring Museum in Moriarty
SUGGESTION: Activities with other clubs such as VMCCA.
============================================================================
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SEVEN YEARS AGO [ MAY 2020 VOL 46 Nr 5 ISSUE 536 ]
Jim Pittman
2013 V.39 Nr 5 #452
The cover: Corvairs lined up at the old pueblo church ruins at Abo during Vickie
and Pat Hall's road trip from Los Lunas to Mountainair and Tijeras. It was one
of the club's legendary excursions. We rolled across a railroad crossing just
ahead of a train, had a fine lunch in Mountainair, visited the ruins at Abo and
Quarai and drove along east side of the Monzano mountains to Tijeras. New
members were Allan and Stacey Greer. The Car Council, to Robert Gold's great
relief, gave up its attempt to be a 501(C)(4) organization. A new machine called
the Geoblaster was described as working great for removing old paint and rust.
Jim reviewed Richard Finch's book How to Keep Your Corvair Alive and said every
serious owner of a Corvair should have a copy. Protos from Jim's 1968 engine
rebuild project were included. Ollie Scheflow reported on the first Old Route 66
cleanup of the year.
2006 V.32 Nr 5 #368
The cover: LeRoy Rogers' Corsa coupe was at our anniversary dinner. Flo & Bill
Hector re-joined the club. Wendell said we had $2,769 in the bank. Tarmo Sutt
received our Ike Meissner Award. We appreciated Jerry Goffe and Mark Domzalski
for organizing tours to Bosque del Apache. Chuck Vertrees received a form from
the IRS asking for our financial information for 2005. Bill Reider gave a talk
on improving gas mileage in our Corvairs. LeRoy previewed the Tri-State at
Montrose, Colorado. Ray Trujillo told about our recent econorun to Madrid and
had a funny story centered on the number Six. David Huntoon organized the
econorun and reported the winner: Bill Reider, 1965 Corsa 140 coupe, 35.4 MPG.
Richard Finch told about overhauling a 1961 Rampside. Photos showed a beautiful
white-with-blue vehicle. John Priddy (Cactus Corvair Club) told how to put your
clutch back together. Finally, we reprinted Steve Gongora's article on the trip
to Montrose, Colorado for the very first Tri-State event in 1976.
1999 V.25 Nr 5 #284
The cover: Mark Domzalski's Rampside during restoration. President Dennis Pleau
told us that Paul Campbell was leaving, so we needed a new vice-president. We
had $6,058 in the bank and planned to move some cash to a money market fund. We
had news on the Museum car show, a show at the new Cottonwood mall, a Reliable
Chevrolet show, the NMCCC picnic, the CORSA convention in Tahoe, a camping trip
to the Pecos, the Fall swap meet, and a drivers' education program at Southwest
Auto Sports. Charles Incendio made a presentation on the proposed Wheels Museum.
Ollie announced our first 1999 Old Route 66 cleanup, postponed three times
already!
A letter from former member Bob Beasley told us he was working in the aerospace
industry in Dalesville, Alabama. Ilva Walker contributed "THE STRIPPERS OF RIO
RANCHO" which told about, well, recent activities of strippers in Rio Rancho.
There were photos.
Larry Claypool (Chicago club) replied to Mark Martinek's recent article on the
heater hose shorting out and draining the battery. Sylvan Zuercher told about a
140 that wouldn't run with a NEW set of points. The points were non-original,
and installing the distributor cap pushed on the points, changing the dwell. So,
be careful if you get "Corvair" points from Auto Zone. Ray Sedman mentioned
several lower-cost, higher-performance items on modern cars, some of which can
be adapted to Corvairs. An article told what to use for various sandblasting
jobs. Sand is not always best and walnut shells, glass beads, aluminum oxide,
poly abrasive, silicon carbide or black beauty slag may be better.
1992 V.18 Nr 5 #200
The cover: A New Mexico map of the "Viva Las Vegas" Tri-State area. President
Steve Gongora presided. Wendell Walker reported $963 in the bank. We planned for
the July 4th car show in Santa Fe: we'd need to be there by 5:00 AM. Debbie and
Dennis reported on the rally they put on for CNMers. It was a great rally but
perhaps a little too long. We had many suggestions of places to go and things to
see in and near Las Vegas, New Mexico. A tech tip told why you might want a
magnet in your transmission.
1985 V.11 Nr 5 #116
The cover: Mark Morgan's fantasy Corvair called XSZ-2. President Francis
Boydston presided. Sylvan Zuercher reported $480 in the treasury. Bill McClellan
continued his series on welding with the article, "Gas Welding, Part 1."
Clayborne Souza reported on the White Sands Fun-Khana trip and Karen Jackson
reported on our flea market. Tech tips? Clear out carb dirt by putting your palm
over the carb for a second... Part numbers for brake parts for 95's.
1978 V.4 Nr 4 #32
The cover: a drawing from CORVAIRSATIONS the Tucson Corvair Association's
newsletter. President Joel Nash presided. A talk by Dave Clawson discussed
turbocharging in Spyders and Corsas. Ike Meissner provided a technical article,
Horsepower, Corvair Style, which included detailed diagrams. Ike told about on
Corvair horsepower ratings and how they were derived. Mark Morgan's cartoon
showed an old junker Corvair and two CORSA members itching to own it. Tech tips:
when installing a clutch, check for uneven finger heights. Use a mirror and drop
light to help you see the top of the shock tower when changing shocks on a FC
vehicle.
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Enchanted Corvairs Newsletter is published monthly by Corvairs of New Mexico,
chartered Chapter #871 of CORSA, the Corvair Society of America. Copyright by
the Authors and by Corvairs of New Mexico. Articles may be reprinted in any
CORSA publication as a service to CORSA members, provided credit to the Author
and this Newsletter is clearly stated. All opinions are those of the Author or
Editor and are not necessarily endorsed by Corvairs of New Mexico or CORSA.
Material for publication should reach the Editor by the 15th of the month. Send
material via e-mail ( jimp @ unm.edu ) or submit a readable manuscript. I prefer
ASCII TEXT, but MS Word or RTF are fine. Photographs are welcome. The newsletter
is composed using Apple computers. Software includes Mac OS-X, AppleWorks,
Photoshop CS, GraphicConverter, BBEdit and InDesign CS. If you care, ask for
more details. When I'm 64, I'll get by with a little help from my friends.
======~=====~=====~=====~=====~=====~~=====~=====~=====~=====~=====~=====~======
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From the BBC:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200325-covid-19-the-history-of-pandemics
COVID-19: THE HISTORY OF PANDEMICS =--= 25th March 2020
By Bryan Walsh
The novel coronavirus pandemic, known as Covid-19, could not have been more
predictable. From my own reporting, I knew this first-hand. In October 2019, I
attended a simulation involving a fictional pandemic, caused by a novel
coronavirus, that killed 65 million people, and in the spring of 2017 I wrote a
feature story for TIME magazine on the subject. The magazine cover read:
"Warning: the world is not ready for another pandemic."
There was little special about my insight. Over the past 15 years, there has
been no shortage of articles and white papers issuing dire warnings that a
global pandemic involving a new respiratory disease was only a matter of time.
On BBC Future in 2018, we reported that experts believed a flu pandemic was only
a matter of time and that there could be millions of undiscovered viruses in the
world, with one expert telling us, "I think the chances that the next pandemic
will be caused by a novel virus are quite good." In 2019, US President Donald
Trump's Department of Health and Human Services carried out a pandemic exercise
named "Crimson Contagion," which imagined a flu pandemic starting in China and
spreading around the world. The simulation predicted that 586,000 people would
die in the US alone. If the most pessimistic estimates about Covid-19 come true,
the far better named "Crimson Contagion" will seem like a day in the park.
As of 26 March, there were more than 470,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 around
the world and more than 20,000 deaths, touching every continent save Antarctica.
This was a pandemic, in reality, well before the World Health Organization
finally declared it one on 11 March. And we should have seen it coming.
Covid-19 marks the return of a very old -- and familiar -- enemy. Throughout
history, nothing has killed more human beings than the viruses, bacteria and
parasites that cause disease. Not natural disasters like earthquakes or
volcanoes. Not war -- not even close.
MASS KILLERS
Take the mosquito-borne disease malaria. It has stalked humanity for thousands
of years, and while death tolls have dropped significantly over the past 20
years, it still snuffs out nearly half a million people every year.
Over the millennia, epidemics, in particular, have been mass killers on a scale
we can't begin to imagine today -- even in the time of the coronavirus.
The plague of Justinian struck in the 6th Century and killed as many as 50
million people, perhaps half the global population at the time. The Black Death
of the 14th Century -- likely caused by the same pathogen -- may have killed up
to 200 million people. Smallpox may have killed as many as 300 million people in
the 20th Century alone, even though an effective vaccine -- the world's first --
had been available since 1796.
Some 50 to 100 million people died in the 1918 influenza pandemic -- numbers
that surpass the death toll of World War One, which was being fought at the same
time. The 1918 flu virus infected one in every three people on the planet. (Read
more about how the 1918 flu changed the world). HIV, a pandemic that is still
with us and still lacks a vaccine, has killed an estimated 32 million people and
infected 75 million, with more added every day.
If these numbers shock, it's because today epidemics are rarely discussed in
history classes, while in the not so distant past, they were simply a terrible
fact of life. There are few memorials to the victims of disease. The historian
Alfred Crosby was the author of AMERICA'S FORGOTTEN PANDEMIC, one of the great
books on the 1918 flu. But Crosby was only prompted to begin researching the
pandemic when he stumbled on the forgotten fact that American life expectancy
had suddenly dropped from 51 years in 1917 to 39 years in 1918, before
rebounding the following year. That plummet in 1918 was because of a virus just
120 nanometers wide.
VIRAL ADVANTAGE
Pathogens make such effective mass killers because they are self-replicating.
This sets them apart from other major threats to humanity. Each bullet that
kills in a war must be fired and must find its target. Most natural disasters
are constrained by area: an earthquake that strikes in China can't directly hurt
you in the UK.
But when a virus -- like the novel coronavirus -- infects a host, that host
becomes a cellular factory to manufacture more viruses. Bacteria, meanwhile, are
capable of replicating on their own in the right environment.
The symptoms created by an infectious pathogen -- such as sneezing, coughing or
bleeding -- put it in a position to spread to the next host, and the next, a
contagiousness captured in the replication number, or "R0" of a pathogen, or how
many susceptible people one sick person can infect. (Imperial College London has
estimated the novel coronavirus's R0 at 1.5 to 3.5.) And because human beings
move around -- interacting with other human beings as they do so in every manner
from a handshake to sexual intercourse -- they move the microbes with them.
(Read more about what makes viruses so difficult to outsmart).
No wonder militaries have long tried to harness disease as a tool of war. No
wonder that, until recently, far more soldiers died of disease than died in
combat. A pathogen is a perfectly economical weapon, turning its victims into
its delivery system.
The constant threat of disease, as much as any other factor, kept the reins on
human development and expansion. At the dawn of the 19th Century, global life
expectancy was just 29 years -- not because human beings couldn't live to much
older ages even then, but because so many of us died in infancy from disease, or
from infection during childbirth or after a wound. (Read more about whether our
life spans are really longer than that of our ancestors).
The cities of the pre-modern era were only able to keep up their populations
through a continual infusion of migrants to make up for citizens who died off
from disease. The development first of sanitation, and then of countermeasures
like vaccines and antibiotics, changed all that.
"The defeat of infection overcame these barriers and allowed us to have these
great global cities," says Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at the Center for
Global Development, a think tank in Washington DC, and the author of the
forthcoming book Winning the War on Death: Humanity, Infection and the Fight for
the Modern World.
It was a victory that won us the modern world as we know it.
A BETTER ERA
It can be difficult to comprehend how quickly that war was seemingly won. My
great-grandparents could have fallen victim to the 1918 flu. My grandparents
lived their infancy and youth before penicillin was developed. My parents were
born before the polio vaccine was invented in 1954. Yet by 1962, the Nobel
Prize-winning virologist Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet could note that "To write
about infectious disease is almost to write of something that has passed into
history."
In the developed world, and increasingly in the developing world, we are now far
more likely to die from non-communicable diseases like cancer, heart disease or
Alzheimer's than from a contagion. The decline of infectious disease is the best
evidence that life on this planet truly is getting better.
While reporting my book END TIMES, I visited the epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch at
his office at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston one rainy
morning in the spring of 2018. Lipsitch is one of the most influential
epidemiologists in the United States, and one who takes seriously the
possibility that disease pandemics might constitute a true global catastrophic
risk -- which is why I was there to see him.
But that morning Lipsitch showed me something I wasn't expecting: a chart that
graphed infectious disease mortality in the United States over the course of the
20th Century.
What it shows is a drastic decline, from around 800 deaths from infectious
disease per 100,000 people in 1900 to about 60 deaths per 100,000 by the last
years of the century. There was a brief spike in 1918 -- that would be the flu
-- and a slight and temporary upturn during the worst of the AIDS epidemic in
the 1980s. But, Lipsitch told me, "Death rates from infectious disease dropped
by nearly 1% a year, about 0.8 % per year, all the way through the century."
NOT OVER YET
That's the good news. The bad news, as Covid-19 reminds us, is that infectious
diseases haven't vanished. In fact, there are more new ones now than ever: the
number of new infectious diseases like Sars, HIV and Covid-19 has increased by
nearly fourfold over the past century. Since 1980 alone, the number of outbreaks
per year has more than tripled.
There are several reasons for this uptick. For one, over the past 50 years,
we've more than doubled the number of people on the planet. This means more
human beings to get infected and in turn to infect others, especially in densely
populated cities. We also have more livestock now than we did over the last
10,000 years of domestication up to 1960 combined, and viruses can leap from
those animals to us.
As Covid-19 is painfully demonstrating, our interconnected global economy both
helps spread new infectious diseases -- and, with its long supply chains, is
uniquely vulnerable to the disruption that they can cause. The ability to get to
nearly any spot in the world in 20 hours or fewer, and pack a virus along with
our carry-on luggage, allows new diseases to emerge and to grow when they might
have died out in the past.
For all the advances we've made against infectious disease, our very growth has
made us more vulnerable, not less, to microbes that evolve 40 million times
faster than humans do.
Antibiotics have saved hundreds of millions of lives since the serendipitous
discovery of penicillin in 1928, but bacterial resistance to these drugs is
growing by the year, a development doctors believe is one of the greatest
threats to global public health. In fact, 33,000 people die each year from
antibiotic resistant infections in Europe alone, according to a 2018 study. The
"antibiotic apocalypse", as England's former chief medical officer, Sally
Davies, called it, puts us in danger of returning to a time when even
run-of-the-mill infections could kill.
Back in 2013, a World Bank estimate of how much the 1918 flu could cost our now
much richer and more connected global economy put the figure at more than $4
trillion, nearly the entire GDP of Japan. Early estimates of the economic damage
from Covid-19 have already crossed the trillion-dollar mark.
The World Health Organization, which performed so well under the stress of Sars,
has botched more recent outbreaks so badly that experts have called for the
entire organisation to be overhauled. Climate change is expanding the range of
disease-carrying animals and insects like the Aedes aegyptimosquitoes that
transmit the Zika virus.
Even human psychology is at fault. The spread of vaccine scepticism has been
accompanied by the resurrection of long-conquered diseases like measles, leading
the WHO in 2019 to name the antivaccination movement one of the world's top 10
public-health threats.
Covid-19 is very much a disease of the moment, emerging in a crowded city in a
newly prosperous and connected China before spreading to the rest of the world
in a matter of months. But our response to it has been both hyper-modern -- and
practically medieval. Scientists around the world are using cutting-edge tools
to rapidly sequence the genome of the coronavirus, pass along information about
its virulence, and collaborate on possible countermeasures and vaccines, all far
quicker than could have been done before.
But when the virus arrived among us, our only effective response was to shut
down society and turn off the assembly line of global capitalism. Minus the text
alerts, the videoconferencing and the Netflix, what we were doing wasn't that
different from what our ancestors might have tried to halt an outbreak of the
plague. The result has been chemotherapy for the global economy.
Just as the eventual emergence of something like Covid-19 was easily
predictable, so too are the actions we should have taken to shore ourselves
against its coming.
We need to strengthen the antennae of global health, to ensure that when the
next virus emerges -- which it will -- we'll catch it faster, perhaps even snuff
it out. The budget of the WHO, the agency ostensibly charged with safeguarding
the health of the world's 7.8 billion citizens, is somehow no more than that of
a large urban hospital in the U.S.
We need to double down on the development of vaccines, which will include
assuring large pharma companies that their investments won't be wasted should an
outbreak end before one is ready.
We need to build more slack into our public health systems. Just as the US
military is designed -- and funded -- to fight a war on two fronts, so our
health care systems should have the surge capacity to meet the next pandemic.
One ongoing challenge in pandemic preparation is what experts call shock and
forgetting. Too often politicians make funding promises in the immediate
aftermath of a crisis like Sars or Ebola, only to let those pledges lapse as the
memory of the outbreak fades.
Somehow, I expect that won't be the case with Covid-19. We need to do all we can
to not just survive this pandemic, but to ensure it remains a throwback from the
past, not a sign of things to come.
* Bryan Walsh is the Future Correspondent for Axios and the author of
* END TIMES: A Brief Guide to the End of the World, from which this story
* was adapted and updated. END TIMES is published by Hachette Books.
Copyright (c) 2020 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external
sites. Read about our approach to external linking.
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