It keeps on spreading...
As I sit down to write this, it is 9:09 pm on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. There are 422,915 confirmed cases of the virus throughout the world, 55,148 here in this country and there have been 18,901 deaths across the globe and 796 deaths here.
Damn.
Not only does the number of victims continue to grow, the facts about this virus do too. I learned today that active virus was found on the Diamond Princess cruise ship 17 days after the passengers were removed. GEEZ!
Today, the first teenage victim of the virus in the US died. I've also seen several 20-something and 30-somethings who have had the virus, imploring people to take this more seriously. These people were so sick they almost died as well.
On Whidbey Island, where my family lives, there are now 38 cases.
Here, where I live in Fresno County, our cases quietly jumped from 6 cases to 18 overnight (and I can't find any more information about these new ones).
Today started off promisingly enough. The rain had stopped. The sun was shining (briefly). The package from my mother arrived. She said she had sent me a mask. There were protective glasses included as well.
I had to pick up a prescription today. On the way back, I thought I would cruise through the In & Out drive thru for a burger (lettuce wrapped, of course. It may be the end of the world, but I don't need the extra carbs). I know restaurants are hurting and I thought I'd do my part. However, as I approached, I could see many, many (way too many) other civic-minded individuals had the same idea. So I didn't stop. However, I did notice that there was an In & Out employee taking face-to-face orders. I don't know if the person had on a mask or not, but I still found it shocking. That person was risking their life for minimum wage? Geez!
I didn't get a photo because just down the street there was big time police action going on. Five police cruisers were blocking the streets. Four officers and a dog (and some guy apparently supervising) were tackling and cuffing a man for something. I've no idea what. But look at how close the officers were to each other and the suspect? Geez. How long will our police force be that vigilant in the days to come?
Since deciding to avoid the line at In & Out, I thought I'd try my luck at Costco. I was still in search of Tylenol.
The parking lot was not bad at all. The store had lots of customers but it wasn't overwhelming. There were signs asking people to observe the 6 feet social distancing thing. Only a few people were wearing masks. I think I counted four masks on customers. Another couple was wearing gloves.
The store was pretty well stocked up. Most items had signs near them saying "Limit 1." There were cases of individual bottled water (that did not have a limit posted and people were dumping into their carts like crazy). The paper towels and toilet paper were still gone and I didn't see any sanitizing wipes. Or bleach. But everything else seemed to be there.
I found the Tylenol. They had a regular kind and another for arthritis pain. The regular one was 500 mg of acetaminophen and the arthritis kind was 650 mg. I bought both...just in case.
Beyond that, I tried to just enjoy my day as best I could. Instead of checking the news every five minutes, for the last few days, I've been watching movies and TV shows on DVD. My movie choices (from the massive pile by the TV) have just been rather uninteresting, with the latest Amityville flick, AMITYVILLE ISLAND, being absolute garbage and a waste of time. (But, yes, I watched it anyway.)
I've had better luck with my TV show choices. I've just started THE LIBRARIANS and STRANGER THINGS. Both of those look promising. I LOVE LUCY is a classic. AMERICAN HORROR STORY - APOCALYPSE was interesting, combining characters from the earlier seasons. I really enjoyed EMERALD CITY, a one-season wonder that is a modern retelling of THE WIZARD OF OZ but one that has been put in a Cuisinart with GAME OF THRONES. My favorite so far has been the reboot of DYNASTY. It is fast-paced and full of campy oh-no-they-didn't moments. I hope it survives the virus and returns with more episodes. (And I hope I survive so I can see them.)
I heard from my friends in Italy. Andrey, who lives near Venice, says he has been at home, spending his time watching the news and looking through the internet.
Mauro, who lives in a rural area near Parma, wrote:
"Here all normal. All closed.
"I don't work.
"Natalia and Pietro (wife and oldest son) do smart work by computer at home. Ivan (youngest son) follows school lessons from device.
"A lot of people died here. But now the government gives us new rules - more strict. So I hope this damage will slow down a bit.
Mauro, from a sad Italy."
My friend Walter in Colombia let me know that his city (the whole country?) is quarantined for 19 days.
Angel, also in Colombia, let me know that he was finally feeling better. I don't know if he was ever tested for the virus, though. He may have just been ill.
My pile of recyclables is getting out of control in the garage. I meant to take them in a while back, but never got around to it and now they'll have to wait. In my head, I jokingly said to myself Maybe they'll pay for my funeral.
Even though it had just been a joke that hadn't even been verbalized, it sobered me up (and I wasn't even drunk). With this virus thing going on, what happens with funerals? People die all of the time and COVID 19 is going to make things worse. But without being able to meet and have funerals, what will happen? Mass cremations? What an ugly thing to think about, but it is coming.
As my day wore on, I dared look at the news again. I had texted a couple of co-workers to see if they had heard any news about what the hospital had planned for protecting the staff. No one seemed to know anything. This article on a local news app showed that my hospital is actively seeking donations of personal protective equipment for the staff to use. What!?! The second paragraph says the hospital is also looking for donations of homemade face masks. HUH?
In other words, our hospital has been totally caught off guard. We are screwed.
A later article says one person has come forward and is donating a bunch of homemade masks. They are designed to be worn over the N95 masks. The maker says she hopes her homemade masks will help prolong the life of the N95 masks.
According to some professor at UC Merced, these homemade masks are "effective at filtering out about 50 percent of infectious particles."
What about the other 50% that get through? And how long will it be before we are out of the N95s and only have the homemade ones?
I am older. I have underlying health conditions. I am male. (In other words, I am just like 70% of those who have died from this thing so far...) I'm not up to facing this pandemic withOUT the proper P.P.E. I was thinking at first that I might get lucky and avoid it in my department. We are a "clean" unit and more or less keep infectious things out of the department. However, my department is also a teaching department. All of the new trach/ventilator patients come through our unit so we can teach the caregivers how to run them. I'm sure that, once the virus gets out of control and it is all hands on deck, I'll be sent to help.
Meanwhile the virus is spreading, even as I write this.
Washington's governor finally put a shelter in place law into effect. There 2,469 cases there. However, Florida's Republican governor is trying to save the economy of that state instead of lives. There are 1,227 confirmed cases there, but Gov. Ron DeSantis is refusing to lock down the state. Profits over people, I guess...
And the virus just spreads and spreads and spreads...
It is now 10:33 p.m.
During the 90-odd minutes it took to write this, there are now 422,989 cases (up 74) worldwide with 18,916 deaths (up 15). The US now has 55,222 cases.
And it is still spreading...
This is getting so incredibly scary.
Continue to Part 11 HERE.
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