CORONAVIRUS CURIOSITIES
Covid-19 lockdown has seen weird panics, bizarre policing and a boom in bunkers and horoscopes
COVID ASTROLOGY BOOM
In January 2020, celebrity astrologer Susan Miller appeared on CBS New York and predicted that 2020 would “be a great year, and it will be a prosperous year.” Capricorn would be the year’s “celestial favourite”, and Cancer was the most likely to wed; Libra was set to score in real estate and Taurus could expect a calendar full of international travel. After the scale of the coronavirus pandemic had become clear, users of her YouTube and Instagram feeds began to complain. “Susan, you’re a very good writer but you forgot about the Covid-19 virus and the loss of jobs,” said one. Another dissatisfied follower asked: “Why didn’t you predict this, Susan? Covid-19 was major enough to see it coming!”
Nevertheless, despite their failure to foresee the pandemic, astrologers are as popular as ever; in fact, several websites have reported higher-than-usual viewing figures for their horoscope-related stories. Major astrology sites like Astro and CafeAstrology and Susan Miller’s own AstrologyZone all reported increased traffic in March.
“Astrology for us is a consistently high-performing category across all our sites,” said Emma Rosenblum, editor in chief for the Bustle Digital Group’s lifestyle category. She suggests that some people are placing their faith in astrology rather than traditional religions and spirituality in this time of anxiety and uncertainty.
Soon after the consternation over her inaccurate predictions, Susan Miller’s followers began to ask her how she thought the pandemic would play out. In March, she issued a report laying the blame on Pluto, which “deals with huge financial matters, masses of people – and viruses”. She also explained why some countries have been affected more severely than others. Italy, for example, is ruled by Gemini, connected with the lungs, so it’s no surprise that the country was hit so hard. Miller’s report predicted the virus would be “raging” in the USA all through March, April and May, but would weaken in the summer months, reappearing in autumn and possibly as late as midDecember. Sceptics point out that this scenario is much the same as what many epidemiologists were forecasting around the same time. nytimes.com, 9 May 2020.
CAVE ISOLATION
Six foreign tourists interpreted India’s strict coronavirus lockdown measures in an unconventional
way by hiding out in a cave in northern India’s Uttarakhand state for a month. The group were found by police inside the cave near Rishikesh, the ‘yoga capital of the world’ made famous by The Beatles, who visited in 1968. The group, four men and two women from France, Turkey, Ukraine, the USA and Nepal, were asked to self-quarantine in a nearby ashram for two weeks, say police. They had initially been staying at a hotel, but when they ran out of money, decided to take refuge in the cave on 24 March. They had been attempting to ration their remaining food.
Indian and foreign tourists had been banned from entering Uttarakhand state since 20 March due to the coronavirus outbreak, and prime minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown on 24 March. Authorities have launched a ‘Stranded in India’ website designed to help foreigners stuck in the country during the lockdown. To date, India has recorded 191,041 coronavirus cases and 5,413 deaths. edition.cnn.com, 21 Apr 2020.
NZ BUNKER MENTALITY
For some years, New Zealand has been popular with affluent American survivalists who have purchased luxury bunkers designed to withstand nuclear war or another global disaster, and furnished with all the necessities required to survive a breakdown of civilisation.
Recently, the coronavirus pandemic and New Zealand’s unquestioned success at having limited the spread of the disease has seen a marked rise in demand for these survival shelters.
Swift closure of borders and implementation of a four-week lockdown, together with New Zealand’s island status and comparatively small population (c. five million), are regarded as factors in the country’s success in combatting coronavirus; as of 31 May there were 1,504 infections and 22 deaths. For comparison, the Republic of Ireland, another island with a population of five million, had suffered 24,990 infections and 1,652 deaths by the same date.
California-based underground global shelter network Vivos has already installed a 300-person bunker north of Christchurch on New Zealand’s South Island, according to its founder Robert Vicino. He says he received two calls last week from prospective clients eager to build additional shelters on the island. Twentyfour families moved into a Vivosconstructed 5,000-person shelter in South Dakota recently, a bunker on a former military base around three-quarters the size of Manhattan. Vivos has also built an 80-person bunker in Indiana, and is developing a 1,000-person shelter in Germany.
Another survival shelter company, Rising S Co, has also constructed about 10 private bunkers in New Zealand over the past few years. The average cost is $3 million (£2.5million), but the price can rise to $8million (£6.5million) with the addition of luxury bathrooms, game rooms, shooting ranges, gyms, theatres and surgical beds. In March, Rising S Co was contacted by a Silicon Valley executive who owned one of their multimillion-dollar bunkers in New Zealand, 11ft (3.5m) underground. He wanted to know how to open the bunker’s secret door as, never having used it before, he had forgotten the code. bloomberg.com, 19 Apr; npr.org, 25 Apr; BBC News, 26 Apr 2020.
INDIAN BANKNOTE PANICS
Three banknotes to the value of 800 rupees (£8.50) seen on a footpath in Surat, a city in Gujarat state, caused a coronavirus scare after some people claimed the notes had been thrown by a suspicious person loitering in the area who had applied his saliva and sweat to them. A Surat Municipal Corporation team collected the notes in a biomedical waste bag. The entire area was sanitised and vegetables from a nearby shop disposed of. Police are talking to local shop owners and asking them to check their CCTV. “The CCTV footage will help us identify the person who dropped the notes,” said a police officer. “Someone who has a business rivalry with the vegetable shop owner might be behind the mischief.” timesofindia.com, 19 Apr 2020.
• In Janakpur, Nepal, two women were arrested after throwing money in the street and running away. One of them later tested as coronavirus positive. A police spokesperson stated that the women had spat on 10, 20 and 100 rupee (6p/12p/66p) notes prior to flinging them down. Police identified the pair using CCTV footage. english.khabarhub.com, 18 Apr 2020.
• Several higher-value rupee banknotes lay scattered in the road in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, but no one dared pick them up, apparently fearing coronavirus infection. Four were 500 rupee (£5.30) notes and one was a 100 rupee (£1) note. After some discussion, officers from the local police station attended the scene and retrieved the cash. It appears that the banknotes fell from someone’s pocket, although CCTV cameras yielded no clue as to the original owner. Anyone who has lost 2,100 rupees (£22.25) is advised to approach police to collect it. english.newstracklive.com, 19 Apr 2020.
• Similar stories have been reported in the city of Mysuru (Mysore) in Karnataka state, southwest India. In one case, a tea seller who had picked up 15 one- and two-rupee coins was told to close his shop and stay at home under quarantine while officials tested the coins for possible infection. bangaloremirror.com, indiatimes.com, 24 Apr 2020.
• Police in the city of Nashik in Maharashtra state arrested a Muslim man who allegedly filmed himself licking and wiping his nose with a handful of banknotes while describing the coronavirus as “a punishment by Allah”. The video, circulated widely on social media, features the unnamed man threatening to distribute the notes around town in order to spread the disease. opindia.com, 24 Apr 2020.
WEIRD LOCKDOWN
An Indonesian official issued an unusual edict to combat the number of people visiting her region without first self-isolating for the required 14 days. Kusdinar Untung Yuni Sukowati, head of central Java’s Sragen Regency area, instructed local people to repurpose abandoned houses believed to be haunted. “If there’s an empty and haunted house in the village,” she said, “put people in there and lock them up.” Sragen Regency has recently seen an influx of people fleeing the capital Jakarta and other major cities. boingboing.net.23 Apr 2020.
• A Malaysian man is also making use of belief in ghosts and spirits to maintain lockdown in his village. Muhammad Urabil wears a white robe and a mask when he goes out on night time patrols in Kemaman, northeast Malaysia. Wild hair and a flowing beard add to his eerie appearance. Mr Urabil, 38, says he was prompted to act the phantom
after hearing about Malaysia’s growing coronavirus problems. “I am watching the news and I see more people are dead,” he told a reporter. “So I… decided to scare people,” His method appears to be having some success; belief in the supernatural runs deep in Malaysia, particularly in rural areas. Whenever village youngsters see him, says Mr Urabil, they “run like crazy back to their homes. Now before they go out, they have to check whether the ghost is around or not.” He was initially concerned about being arrested, but local police have thanked him for his efforts and had their photo taken with him. yahoo.com, 17 Apr 2020.
• Local Philippines officials dressed as Star Wars characters to encourage compliance with coronavirus quarantine measures. Youth leaders in Darth Vader and Stormtrooper outfits made from rubber mats and old plastic caught the attention of villagers on the outskirts of Manila, who were then reminded to stay indoors. On 4 May, internationally recognised as ‘Star Wars Day’, government workers in costume also rode small wooden boats to distribute relief packs containing rice and canned goods. yahoo. com, 4 May 2020. FISH TANK FATALITY
An Arizona man died after he and his wife, both in their 60s, drank fish tank cleaner containing chloroquine phosphate. The anti-malaria drug chloroquine had been promoted by President Trump as a coronavirus treatment. Unfortunately, the dose taken by the couple proved vastly higher than that in a malaria pill. The wife, who keeps koi carp, said the couple had been selfisolating and thought they were becoming ill. “I saw the cleaner sitting on the back shelf and I said, ‘Hey isn’t that the stuff they were talking about on TV?’” They became ill minutes after drinking the liquid. Her husband died in hospital. Metro, 25 Mar 2020
COVID-19 EXORCISM
A West African king has held a form of exorcism ceremony designed to stave off coronavirus. King Amon N’Douffou V is ruler
of the Akan people who live in Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Ghana. He arrived in the capital of his Sanwi kingdom, the village of Krindjabo, to the sound of tam-tam drums, explaining via an announcer (royals don’t address the public directly) that they had gathered here to ward off the “bad spell”, also referring to coronavirus as a “bad spirit”.
“I ask God… to protect the population and keep this virus away from the kingdom, Ivory Coast and the world,” said the King. “Human beings have to redefine their space in this world and respect nature,” he declared. “Without that, we will always be confronted with these epidemics”. He then poured two bottles of alcohol onto the ground as an offering. Such events, held to ward off natural disasters like flooding or drought, are usually attended by hundreds, but owing to coronavirus restrictions limiting public gatherings to less than 50 people, only a few were present. ‘Komians’, traditional female healers dressed in white, purified the royal court by sprinkling alcohol on the ground, and those in attendance daubed their faces with the wet earth as a sign of obeisance to the king, lifting
their heads towards the Sun.
“In Africa, we live in two worlds”, said Ben Kottia, the King’s counsellor, “the visible and the invisible.” He explained that only kings have the power to request the protection of the invisible world. Another potential ceremony, if the king decrees it, is the ‘adjalou’, a procession through the village intended to protect people.
“During Adjalou, these women are naked and we confine men and children in their homes,” explained Mr Kottia. “The women erect barricades at the entrance of villages to prevent bad spirits from entering and claiming lives.”
Around 20 per cent of Côte d’Ivoire’s population are animists, with Christians and Muslims accounting for 40 per cent each, although it is not uncommon for people of either faith to also practise animist rituals. dailytrust.com.ng, 27 Apr; guardian.ng, 28 Apr 2020.
SPANISH FLU SURVIVOR TO CORONAVIRUS VICTIM
A 108-year-old woman who survived the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic is believed to have become the UK’s oldest coronavirus victim. Hilda Churchill died at a
care home in Salford, Manchester, hours after testing positive for Covid-19, and eight days before her 109th birthday.
The current pandemic had prompted her to reminisce about the Spanish flu, according to her grandson, Anthony Churchill. “When I visited her last, we talked about coronavirus and mentioned we might not see her for a while,” he recalled. “She said it was very similar to the Spanish flu, but in her day there were no planes and somehow it still managed to spread everywhere.”
Mrs Churchill, a seamstress, became infected with Spanish flu along with most of her family in their home in Crewe. They all survived, except for her 12-monthold baby sister, Beryl May. “She remembered standing at her bedroom window and seeing this little coffin carrying her baby sister being put into a carriage and being taken away,” her grandson said. “She remembers everyone getting it and her mother trying to look after them and her father collapsing and having to be carried home. She was saying how amazing it is that something you can’t see can be so devastating.” guardian.co.uk, 29 Mar 2020.