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| How the Coronavirus Is Transforming July 4 in Los Angeles | How the Coronavirus Is Transforming July 4 in Los Angeles |
| (14 days later) | |
| LOS ANGELES — Fireworks have been lighting up night skies across America, despite normally being set off almost exclusively on July 4. Red, white, blue and bright, these low-impact pyrotechnics are to “America’s birthday” as quickly melting candles on a cake are to yours or mine. | LOS ANGELES — Fireworks have been lighting up night skies across America, despite normally being set off almost exclusively on July 4. Red, white, blue and bright, these low-impact pyrotechnics are to “America’s birthday” as quickly melting candles on a cake are to yours or mine. |
| With coronavirus cases steadily climbing in states across the country, though, the holiday — and the public, community-oriented traditions that honor it — is being compromised this year. | With coronavirus cases steadily climbing in states across the country, though, the holiday — and the public, community-oriented traditions that honor it — is being compromised this year. |
| Los Angeles, like many cities, is figuring out how to celebrate Independence Day at a distance. California’s virus cases have been steadily climbing since March, and more than 100,000 of the state’s infections have been detected in Los Angeles County. (Hospitalizations in the Golden State recently swelled by 51 percent in two weeks after the reopening of bars and restaurants.) | Los Angeles, like many cities, is figuring out how to celebrate Independence Day at a distance. California’s virus cases have been steadily climbing since March, and more than 100,000 of the state’s infections have been detected in Los Angeles County. (Hospitalizations in the Golden State recently swelled by 51 percent in two weeks after the reopening of bars and restaurants.) |
| Local holiday traditions, many of them being redesigned for the first time in their history, are moving online. It’s a concession to safety that may sacrifice a bit of the explosive fraternity bursting from a day that is reserved for American patriotism for some, and backyard bonding and good food for others. | Local holiday traditions, many of them being redesigned for the first time in their history, are moving online. It’s a concession to safety that may sacrifice a bit of the explosive fraternity bursting from a day that is reserved for American patriotism for some, and backyard bonding and good food for others. |
| In Pasadena, the Rose Bowl is a veritable pilgrimage site on July 4; AmericaFest, hosted annually by the sports stadium since 1927, is a fireworks show flanked by tailgates, live music and motorcycle stunts for an audience of families. | In Pasadena, the Rose Bowl is a veritable pilgrimage site on July 4; AmericaFest, hosted annually by the sports stadium since 1927, is a fireworks show flanked by tailgates, live music and motorcycle stunts for an audience of families. |
| The festival usually attracts about 60,000 attendees, who either sky-gaze from stadium seats inside the bowl or set up folding chairs and picnic around the perimeter. | The festival usually attracts about 60,000 attendees, who either sky-gaze from stadium seats inside the bowl or set up folding chairs and picnic around the perimeter. |
| Based on early registration numbers, the organizers at the Rose Bowl expect to have a similarly large audience this year. But spectators will be looking at their computers or phones from home instead of up at the sky from the stadium grounds. | Based on early registration numbers, the organizers at the Rose Bowl expect to have a similarly large audience this year. But spectators will be looking at their computers or phones from home instead of up at the sky from the stadium grounds. |
| Darryl Dunn, the stadium’s chief executive and general manager, said the event was usually a “gathering place” for families looking to celebrate the holiday together. | Darryl Dunn, the stadium’s chief executive and general manager, said the event was usually a “gathering place” for families looking to celebrate the holiday together. |
| “It’s a spectacular show that oohs and aahs people — it’s all about patriotism,” he said. “We’re very proud of our history and our traditions. July 4 is one that we embrace.” | “It’s a spectacular show that oohs and aahs people — it’s all about patriotism,” he said. “We’re very proud of our history and our traditions. July 4 is one that we embrace.” |
| Mr. Dunn and his team quickly realized that socially distancing at a fireworks show would be impossible, so they pivoted to engineering a virtual event for Pasadena residents (and admirers further afield) to watch from home. | Mr. Dunn and his team quickly realized that socially distancing at a fireworks show would be impossible, so they pivoted to engineering a virtual event for Pasadena residents (and admirers further afield) to watch from home. |
| “We thought, if we’re going to say no, we have to do something,” Mr. Dunn said. “We have to make some lemonade out of this.” | “We thought, if we’re going to say no, we have to do something,” Mr. Dunn said. “We have to make some lemonade out of this.” |
| This year’s virtual AmericaFest will be prerecorded and will stream Saturday afternoon on the stadium’s social media channels. It will feature a solo cello concert from the telescope dome atop the Mount Wilson Observatory, and a prism-centric art installation called “Sunstar,” a collaboration between an artist and an astrophysicist. | This year’s virtual AmericaFest will be prerecorded and will stream Saturday afternoon on the stadium’s social media channels. It will feature a solo cello concert from the telescope dome atop the Mount Wilson Observatory, and a prism-centric art installation called “Sunstar,” a collaboration between an artist and an astrophysicist. |
| This experimental festival will end with a flyover piloted by Gabe Lopez, who will be accompanied by his father, Edward J. Lopez, 96, a World War II veteran. | This experimental festival will end with a flyover piloted by Gabe Lopez, who will be accompanied by his father, Edward J. Lopez, 96, a World War II veteran. |
| “The fun part of this whole thing is we’re flying an airplane that he first learned to fly in, in 1943,” Gabe Lopez said of his father, who was a member of the 365th Fighter Bomber group known as the Hell Hawks. The aircraft they’ll be flying across the San Gabriel Valley is a sunflower-yellow 1940 Stearman, a model that Navy and Army Air Corps cadets used during training. | “The fun part of this whole thing is we’re flying an airplane that he first learned to fly in, in 1943,” Gabe Lopez said of his father, who was a member of the 365th Fighter Bomber group known as the Hell Hawks. The aircraft they’ll be flying across the San Gabriel Valley is a sunflower-yellow 1940 Stearman, a model that Navy and Army Air Corps cadets used during training. |
| “You can’t get much more social distancing than an airplane flying over,” said Mr. Lopez, who plans to have a camera installed on board that will transmit live footage to people watching at home. “You will see as if you were sitting on my wing,” he said. | “You can’t get much more social distancing than an airplane flying over,” said Mr. Lopez, who plans to have a camera installed on board that will transmit live footage to people watching at home. “You will see as if you were sitting on my wing,” he said. |
| So while the camaraderie that comes from attending the daylong tailgate is lost, the symbiotic relationship between technology and self-isolation may allow for a new American tradition to take hold. | So while the camaraderie that comes from attending the daylong tailgate is lost, the symbiotic relationship between technology and self-isolation may allow for a new American tradition to take hold. |
| Roughly 40 miles from the Rose Bowl sits the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, in Ventura County’s Simi Valley. The library, which suffered considerable damage in a wildfire last October, typically holds a daylong celebration on July 4 that draws between 3,500 and 4,500 people. | Roughly 40 miles from the Rose Bowl sits the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, in Ventura County’s Simi Valley. The library, which suffered considerable damage in a wildfire last October, typically holds a daylong celebration on July 4 that draws between 3,500 and 4,500 people. |
| “We’ve been doing this for over 20 years,” said Melissa Giller, chief marketing officer at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, adding that July 4 was President Reagan’s favorite holiday. | “We’ve been doing this for over 20 years,” said Melissa Giller, chief marketing officer at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, adding that July 4 was President Reagan’s favorite holiday. |
| Daytime activities for children abound, including face-painting, water-balloon tosses and horseshoes. “We have an indoor section where various look-alikes of our forefathers give 45-minute presentations on their life,” Ms. Giller said. An official Los Angeles Police Department band usually performs too. | Daytime activities for children abound, including face-painting, water-balloon tosses and horseshoes. “We have an indoor section where various look-alikes of our forefathers give 45-minute presentations on their life,” Ms. Giller said. An official Los Angeles Police Department band usually performs too. |
| Updated July 7, 2020 | |
| The coronavirus can stay aloft for hours in tiny droplets in stagnant air, infecting people as they inhale, mounting scientific evidence suggests. This risk is highest in crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation, and may help explain super-spreading events reported in meatpacking plants, churches and restaurants. It’s unclear how often the virus is spread via these tiny droplets, or aerosols, compared with larger droplets that are expelled when a sick person coughs or sneezes, or transmitted through contact with contaminated surfaces, said Linsey Marr, an aerosol expert at Virginia Tech. Aerosols are released even when a person without symptoms exhales, talks or sings, according to Dr. Marr and more than 200 other experts, who have outlined the evidence in an open letter to the World Health Organization. | |
| Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days. | |
| Scientists around the country have tried to identify everyday materials that do a good job of filtering microscopic particles. In recent tests, HEPA furnace filters scored high, as did vacuum cleaner bags, fabric similar to flannel pajamas and those of 600-count pillowcases. Other materials tested included layered coffee filters and scarves and bandannas. These scored lower, but still captured a small percentage of particles. | |
| A commentary published this month on the website of the British Journal of Sports Medicine points out that covering your face during exercise “comes with issues of potential breathing restriction and discomfort” and requires “balancing benefits versus possible adverse events.” Masks do alter exercise, says Cedric X. Bryant, the president and chief science officer of the American Council on Exercise, a nonprofit organization that funds exercise research and certifies fitness professionals. “In my personal experience,” he says, “heart rates are higher at the same relative intensity when you wear a mask.” Some people also could experience lightheadedness during familiar workouts while masked, says Len Kravitz, a professor of exercise science at the University of New Mexico. | |
| The steroid, dexamethasone, is the first treatment shown to reduce mortality in severely ill patients, according to scientists in Britain. The drug appears to reduce inflammation caused by the immune system, protecting the tissues. In the study, dexamethasone reduced deaths of patients on ventilators by one-third, and deaths of patients on oxygen by one-fifth. | |
| The coronavirus emergency relief package gives many American workers paid leave if they need to take time off because of the virus. It gives qualified workers two weeks of paid sick leave if they are ill, quarantined or seeking diagnosis or preventive care for coronavirus, or if they are caring for sick family members. It gives 12 weeks of paid leave to people caring for children whose schools are closed or whose child care provider is unavailable because of the coronavirus. It is the first time the United States has had widespread federally mandated paid leave, and includes people who don’t typically get such benefits, like part-time and gig economy workers. But the measure excludes at least half of private-sector workers, including those at the country’s largest employers, and gives small employers significant leeway to deny leave. | |
| So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was “very rare,” but she later walked back that statement. | |
| Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus — whether it’s surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks. | |
| A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study. | |
| If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.) | |
| If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others. | |
| This year, the marketing team started to brainstorm ways to shift the event online. It filmed Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln doppelgängers delivering monologues, and Boy Scout troops pledging allegiance to the flag from the library. Many of the arts and crafts activities — like coloring sheets and presidential bingo — can be downloaded on the library’s website. | This year, the marketing team started to brainstorm ways to shift the event online. It filmed Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln doppelgängers delivering monologues, and Boy Scout troops pledging allegiance to the flag from the library. Many of the arts and crafts activities — like coloring sheets and presidential bingo — can be downloaded on the library’s website. |
| The program is set to run roughly two hours, and will be streamed on YouTube. “What we’re losing is togetherness,” Ms. Giller said. “But what we’re gaining, the Reagan library as a brand, is we’re actually reaching more people now than we’ve ever reached before. We’ve been able to attract people who otherwise might not be able to come.” | The program is set to run roughly two hours, and will be streamed on YouTube. “What we’re losing is togetherness,” Ms. Giller said. “But what we’re gaining, the Reagan library as a brand, is we’re actually reaching more people now than we’ve ever reached before. We’ve been able to attract people who otherwise might not be able to come.” |
| Of course, there’s the possibility that losing traditions on a holiday like July 4 provides the chance to reimagine how Americans define nationhood, what this country symbolizes, and what is even worth celebrating. | Of course, there’s the possibility that losing traditions on a holiday like July 4 provides the chance to reimagine how Americans define nationhood, what this country symbolizes, and what is even worth celebrating. |
| “Its really about the ritual, and it’s not really about the meaning of the holiday itself,” said Nina Eliasoph, a sociology professor at the University of Southern California who specializes in political and cultural sociology. | “Its really about the ritual, and it’s not really about the meaning of the holiday itself,” said Nina Eliasoph, a sociology professor at the University of Southern California who specializes in political and cultural sociology. |
| “The origin of the word ‘holiday’ is ‘holy day,’ and holy days were mandatory — things that everyone got a day off for,” she said. “The Middle Ages had millions of Saint Days, which were sort of a way of orienting yourself in time. That’s one of the big functions of a holiday, and the other is getting together.” | “The origin of the word ‘holiday’ is ‘holy day,’ and holy days were mandatory — things that everyone got a day off for,” she said. “The Middle Ages had millions of Saint Days, which were sort of a way of orienting yourself in time. That’s one of the big functions of a holiday, and the other is getting together.” |
| For many Americans, the Fourth of July has become more about thematic barbecues and, if you’re lucky, time-and-a-half pay for clocking in to work, and less about the signing of the Declaration of Independence. | For many Americans, the Fourth of July has become more about thematic barbecues and, if you’re lucky, time-and-a-half pay for clocking in to work, and less about the signing of the Declaration of Independence. |
| “The ritual is disconnected from the event it celebrates,” Dr. Eliasoph said. “It’s more about declaring, ‘I’m a member of this group.’” | “The ritual is disconnected from the event it celebrates,” Dr. Eliasoph said. “It’s more about declaring, ‘I’m a member of this group.’” |
| So, then, how do we demonstrate that we are American without well-worn traditions — most of which require being in close contact — to do the gesturing for us? | So, then, how do we demonstrate that we are American without well-worn traditions — most of which require being in close contact — to do the gesturing for us? |
| “Historians have this concept of ‘invented tradition’ and of ‘imagined community,’ and the idea is that your nation or your tradition exists only when it is symbolized,” Dr. Eliasoph said. National totems, like maps and newspapers and flags, come to define a nation more than any one concept or identity, she said. | “Historians have this concept of ‘invented tradition’ and of ‘imagined community,’ and the idea is that your nation or your tradition exists only when it is symbolized,” Dr. Eliasoph said. National totems, like maps and newspapers and flags, come to define a nation more than any one concept or identity, she said. |
| What that suggests is that even beyond the coronavirus, traditions around Independence Day — which, like independence itself, can mean completely different things to different Americans — will continue to shift and adapt to new eras. | What that suggests is that even beyond the coronavirus, traditions around Independence Day — which, like independence itself, can mean completely different things to different Americans — will continue to shift and adapt to new eras. |
| And people may ultimately just want the fellowship that springs from waving the same flag. Even if it’s over the internet. | And people may ultimately just want the fellowship that springs from waving the same flag. Even if it’s over the internet. |