Written and published on 24 March 2020; updated on 15 June 2020

Dear Ones,

I was out briefly in the San Fernando Valley this morning, and I intuitively picked up on a ‘sign’ or portent: I saw two dogs walking without an owner down the sidewalk, near Topanga Canyon Blvd. As this is a rare sight in Los Angeles, I got to thinking we ought to look out for stray dogs in the cities hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, that would be cities in New York, New Jersey, California, and Washington State …

Link: “Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count,” by Mitch Smith, Karen Yourish, Sarah Almukhtar, Keith Collins, Danielle Ivory, Allison McCann, Jin Wu and Amy Harmon, updated 24 march 2020 1:54 P.M. E.T., in The New York Times … https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html … COMMENT: May require a ‘sign up’ to log onto this article.

I…