Congratulations. The USA is now #1... Yes, yesterday, we have surpassed, Spain, Italy and China and now have more cases of COVID 19 than anywhere else on the globe. And people are still thinking things will be back to normal by Easter? Ha! (We are so screwed...)
And this is still just beginning. We are no where near the middle of this yet.
Some people are holding out on the hope that the warmer months ahead will help kill off the virus. I don't think that will happen as the virus is on every continent of the world (except Antarctica). When this all started, the southern hemisphere was in late summer/early fall -- and yet they still got it.
My friend Michael in Florida dropped me a note yesterday. Things are finally heating up over the virus down there. He shared his experiences:
"My ex-wife is a nurse," he said. "She and I talked last week and decided it's best that my daughter stays with me during all this craziness. Last Friday, I drove the 12 hours to pick her up. My daughter is autistic, and sees things differently. I get there and the first thing she said, 'Dad, it's the zombie apocalypse!' She was not far off. We are just missing the zombies.
"I have food, ammo, and some toilet paper, so I'm okay. I had to even bring my ex some TP. She hadn't seen any in a week and they were out.
"I am a single dad in the middle of remodeling my bathroom, raising an autistic teenage girl that really needs structure. It's been an adventure. I've had to get heavily involved with her school as it is now online, at least for the next 3 weeks or more. I'm still working as well, essential personal I am told.
"The county I am in is actually doing okay at the moment. As of today, 13 cases. Everything closes by 8:30 at night. Grocery stores have 'seniors first' hours. Restaurants are open for to-go only. Beach parking is closed, but the beaches are not. They are limited to groups of 10 or less. Social distancing is everywhere. I try to take my daughter out almost everyday, just to keep her active.
"I am concerned. My asthma has been a pain lately, but it is that time of year. I'm trying to be careful. I've talked to my doctor and they feel it is asthma, and not this crap. I can still go running as normal, so that is a good sign. We are not on lock down yet, but it will likely happen. I have a 'hall pass' so I will still have to go to work.
"I've spoken with friends of mine in the UK. Yesterday, they started a mandatory three weeks of stay at home for the entire country. In Madrid, Spain, they have already been shut in for three weeks and it is not letting up. Italy is still bad, as well.
"Tonight, parts of Florida go on mandatory stay home."
And it will get worse in Florida and everywhere else.
During a meeting of the Group of 20 nations, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres reminded the leaders of the exponential spread of the virus, saying the first 100,000 cases were confirmed in the first three months of the outbreak. “The next 100,000 happened in just 12 days,” he said. “The third took four days. The fourth, just one-and-a-half.”
AS I write this, there are 549,604 confirmed cases worldwide. The US has 85,996 cases. Our death toll has been fairly low, but our hospitals have not been overrun yet. When push comes to shove and things get ugly, our number of dead will soar. Just look at what is starting to happen in New York City. They've had 365 deaths there, so far. The number of patients there is increasing and the hospitals are at capacity. The worst is still to come.
There are now 64 cases of the virus on Whidbey Island, where my family lives. Locally, our numbers have also increased. In Fresno County, where I live, there are now 27 cases. There are 10 cases in Madera County, the county I work in. Madera County also had its first death (a man in his 60s with health issues), the first in the Valley. Tulare County, south of here, has 20.
A few days ago, my hospital started asking for donations of personal protection equipment (P.P.E.). Since then, the four other hospitals in the area have also asked the public for help. We have few cases, but we know what is coming and it doesn't look good.
Yesterday, my friend Christa sent me a note. She has three N95 masks she recently discovered that she had purchased back when the SARS epidemic was starting. She offered to send them to me. I told them to keep them for herself. It was a sweet gesture, but Christa is of an age where she is high risk, too. She asked again and I accepted one. Thank you, Christa.
My friend Kevin lives in Massachusetts, where there are 2,417 cases of the virus. I knew Kevin is Asian, but didn't know he is Chinese. Apparently those in power who insist on calling COVID 19 the "Chinese virus" are not only feeding racist ideas to the masses but are also doing a lot of psychological harm to those of Chinese decent. I had never discussed the Chinese aspects of this virus with Kevin, but it is clear this has been on his mind a lot. He sent me this email:
"Even as people are saying it's racist to call it the China virus, it really did originate from China, as have many other diseases," he said.
"In Italy, the trouble started in Northern Italy and trickled down the rest of the country. Milan is in Northern Italy and is the fashion capital of the world. They do all their fashion and clothes-making in China, hence the going back and forth. Apparently, Wuhan is where they make their clothes for cheap, and then charge it at 5000 percent profit. And, you know, Italians and Europeans in general love to kiss face and hug and touch their mouth, eyes, etc with their (infected) hands. That's why it spread so fast. And that's why it has spread so fast in the US, too.
"There is WAY to much international travel going on. They prevented the Chinese from coming in into the US, but they forgot that the Chinese go to Europe an awful lot too, and they infected everyone there. And then we blindly let the infected Europeans come into our country. The Asians proliferate over on the West Coast and the Europeans proliferate over in the East Coast. That's why New York is so bad because of the Europeans and all their kissing and touching.
"I know there is a lot of racism towards Chinese right now - and yes, people like me really have nothing to do with it - but as a people, I completely understand why people in general are furious at us. I am EMBARRASSED to be Chinese, and I don't disagree that my people started this."
Kevin had nothing to do with this virus. He is of Chinese ancestry but was born here. No one in China (outside of the government, perhaps, that tried to hush this up early on, but then it get out of control) is to blame for this. I am bothered that it has come to this, that he does feel embarrassed of his heritage out of association with the virus. That is wrong on so many counts, but doesn't stop those in power from being racist when they knowingly call it the "Chinese virus." Ugh.
I have to get in the shower and get myself to the hospital for work.
This link to an article about our president touting what a great job our country has been doing in combating the virus (does he NOT understand that being No. 1 in the world with the most infected is NOT a good thing?) features a video montage of him talking about the virus from the outset when we only had one patient with it. https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/27/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-response/index.html He consistantly downplays how serious the virus is and how bad things are. Amazing. I'm glad we are in such good hands (We are so DOOMED!).
Stay safe. Stay healthy. WASH YOUR HANDS and shelter in place.
CHEERS!
Continue to Part 14 HERE.
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