Today is Saturday, September 2, 2023. No one wants to hear this, but authorities are tolling the bell on a surge of COVID cases right here in the United States over the summer. The online story appears in a CNN article by Deidre McPhillips entitled “It seems like everyone has Covid-19. Here’s why this wave is probably worse than official data suggest.”

And this is called the “coronavirus diary,” and I haven’t written about the pandemic in a long time – until now. Thus the article mentions that “Virus levels in the US have been on the rise for weeks, but it’s hard to know exactly how widely it’s spreading.”

One good piece of news from all this, though: “federal data suggests that the current increases have stayed far below earlier peaks and notable surges.” According to what people are saying, though, cases of COVID-19 seem to be rising among family, friends, and coworkers. So far, this has not been my experience as of yet. We did hear of Elliot’s first girlfriend coming down with the virus a few months ago. She has since recovered.

There were about 15,000 new hospital admissions for COVID-19 in the week ending August 19, according to Centers for Disease Control (CDC) data – less than half of what the numbers were at this time last year and lower than they were for about 80 percent of the pandemic.

Although hospitals are still required to report any positive cases, they’ve eased back on testing to be more in line with guidance around other infectious diseases. The focus is on those who are symptomatic, have been exposed, or might be around other high-risk patients.

A more consistent approach to monitoring the amount of virus shed in sewage systems is through wastewater surveillance. But interpreting that data can be complicated – and with COVID, wastewater levels can’t be translated to case counts.

The amount of virus that an infected person sheds depends on many factors, including the presence of antibodies from a vaccine or previous infection and the severity of the current infection.

Even though the parameters of gauging the amount of people succumbing to new cases is beclouded, many key measures are indicating an increase.

Weekly hospital admissions have nearly doubled over the past month, including a 19 percent bump in the most recent week, CDA data shows. And a sample of laboratories participating in a federal surveillance program show that test positivity rates have tripled in the past two months.

However, despite the clear signs of a summer surge, a voice from the past debunked the view of Americans who are living in a “fantasy world” where people pretend COVID-19 is “not relevant,” and that voice is the former White House Coronavirus Response Task Force coordinator during the Dumpf administration, Dr. Deborah Birx (she with the numerous floral wraps worn around the neck), who told ABC’s Start Here podcast that COVID-19 was not ever going to be compared to the flu. She explained that the virus comes in more frequent waves, makes people sicker, kills more people, and can have longer-term complications such as long COVID. She added, “So let’s just all agree it’s not flu. Following it and surveying for it like we do for flu will never be adequate in this country.”

Experts say that precautions such as masking and staying-up-t0-date on vaccinations are especially important as this rise in COVID-19 carries into the broader respiratory virus season, as the fall indicates.

That’s why learning that updated virus vaccines are coming mid-September comes as welcome news to me in the wake of this rise in virus cases. I’m sure Elliot and I will hasten to our closest CVS or Walgreen’s to take that jab to the arm as soon as the update is made available.

Who knows? – it might be time once again to hunt for those hidden face masks and start wearing them again. Oye! I know no one would relish doing this again. But if there is an uptick in new cases, maybe it’s the right thing to do. What do you think?

So today I drove to LaGuardia Airport to pick up Elliot coming back from Florida. I’m not a fan of picking anyone up from any airport, but there were only a few moments of stress related to not finding Elliot by the arrivals area, and worrying that I would have to leave the area and circle right back. I couldn’t call Elliot either since his cell phone died. Thus I had to rely on sighting him among the crowd of milling travelers. After scanning the crowd, I eventually picked him out moseying around eating a bag of potato chips. Calling his name, I waited for him to return to the car.

As you know, I wasn’t active here yesterday because I was with my friend “Gene” sitting in the Shubert Theatre watching a revisionist version of Some Like It Hot. This is the musical taking Broadway by storm based on the classic 1959 Billy Wilder comedy starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemon, and the incomparable Marilyn Monroe.

I was surprised that I could snag TDF tickets only a day before the performance, but after seeing it with a different cast, I can hazard a guess: it was the Labor Day weekend (and some seats in the mezzanine section where we were sitting were empty) and people were probably away. If I’m not mistaken, the show boasted the first Tony awarded to a non-binary cast member, J. Harrison Ghee, who essayed the role of Jerry/Daphne, but in yesterday’s production, the role was taken over by someone else, DeMarius R. Copes, who I thought was very bit as effective, I would estimate.

For those not familiar with the source material, the production tells the story of two musicians, Joe and Jerry, who witness a gangland slaying in Chicago and then escape the mob disguised as women playing for an all-female traveling band. The changes from 1959 to our modern age embrace a nod to gender fluidity in the character of Jerry/Daphne who embraces her identity in the anthem, “You Coulda Knocked Me Over With a Feather” in the rousing second act. The tuneful score is by Marc Shaiman and lyrics were provided by Scott Wittman and Shaiman.

Other changes in this production from the original film include the race of the manager of the all-female band, Sweet Sue, who is portrayed here by NaTasha Yvette Williams, who is Black, and the Marilyn Monroe role of Sugar Kane is also played by the effervescent Kayla Pecchioni, who is Black. Adrianna Hicks is listed as the original Sugar in the Playbill that I was given by an usher last night.

These updates certainly did not detract from the overall pleasant atmosphere of the proceedings depicted on stage. The setting was changed also: from the viewing of the St. Valentine’s Day garage slayings by the two hapless musicians to a speakeasy in Chicago in which the two characters witness three mob goons killed by the manager of the club, Spats, who looked like the late actor, George C. Scott, in my opinion. In the play, the second setting, Florida, was replaced by San Diego. Here Sugar was not a ukulele player, as Monroe was in the film. Also the character of Joe, here played by K.J. Hippensteel, did not impersonate a millionaire in the guise of Cary Grant, which Tony Curtis ably carried over with his vocal dexterity. This Joe adopted a German accent as a Hollywood screenwriter who falls in love with Sugar.

There was much to enjoy with this modern retelling of Some Like It Hot like great production numbers, wonderful dancing, and loud, soulful numbers. One number is especially poignant, and that is “At the Old Majestic Nickel Matinee,” sung by a wistful Sugar to Joe disguised as the German screenwriter. In the song, Sugar shares what it was like growing up in Georgia and how she loved going to movies, but didn’t see anyone like herself up there on the screen. She joins the band going to California because she wants to go to Hollywood and to succeed in being on the screen so that other girls like her can identify with the woman acting on screen.

So if you like traditional Broadway musicals with a lot of pizzazz and tap dancing, go to the Shubert Theatre and cast your eyes on this entertaining production.

Stay safe and be well.

Here is the playbill from yesterday’s production of a classic comedy.