"This is going to be the hardest and saddest week of most Americans lives." Those were the words yesterday by the Surgeon General, Jerome Adams. During the next two weeks, the hope is that the virus outbreak will reach its peak and begin to flatten. There is "light at the end of the tunnel if everyone does their part for the next 30 days."
Another month of this... at the very least. (However, researchers at Stanford are suggesting at least another 5 months!) I'm just thankful that no one I know has gotten it.
Here, in California, although most models show a late April depression of the curve, Governor Newsom's says his researchers predict that we will see the first drops in case numbers in early to mid-May.
We are in for an ugly, brutal month or more. Hardest hit New York City has more than 65,000 confirmed cases and has had more than 2,400 deaths. New York state has 123,160 cases altogether and has had 4,159 deaths.
And yet, some people still are not getting social distancing or sheltering in place, such as this crowded funeral that police had to break up in Brooklyn. And the deceased died of COVID 19 complications. I understand grieving and funerary traditions, but have some common sense.
And also yesterday, it was revealed that a Tiger contracted COVID 19 from a keeper who was infected and didn't know it. As if things were not bad enough, now we have to worry about possibly spreading it to our furry four-legged friends as well? (I wonder if tortoises can get it? EEK!)
Closer to home, Island County in Washington, where my family lives, now has 141 cases and has had 5 deaths. Locally, we have 288 cases in the Central Valley and have had 9 deaths.
It is creeping closer and closer. These next few weeks will be a real test. Although most people seem to be taking this somewhat seriously here in the Fresno / Clovis area, there are still way too many people out and about.
I spoke with my friend Nedra in Los Angeles yesterday. L.A. County has nearly 6,000 cases of the virus and has had 132 deaths. Nedra has a friend who has the virus and is struggling to stay alive. Her friend was on a respirator for several days and was due to be moved off of it yesterday. The victim is a woman in her early 40s. She does have underlying health issues though, such as rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes. She is also overweight. Nedra said she has heard that it looks like she will pull through. However, she will apparently need to be on dialysis as whatever treatment she received seems to have damaged her kidneys.
It was good hearing Nedra's voice and finding out what she has been doing while in quarantine. She has been keeping herself busy. She made herself a mask. She has been working on several projects (everything from writing to exercising). She was even trying to make a sourdough starter...but was failing miserably at it.
Nedra shared that she had also had a date the night before. What? How is that safe? How is that social distancing? She said her date was dreamy and she couldn't help herself. Then she sent me photos of her beau. Ha!
She says she may be seeing him again tonight... Oh my!
I heard from several other friends yesterday, and that is always reassuring in times like this. Some were newsy, some were worried, some were just... themselves. It was also interesting reading what is going on during this crisis where they are.
"So far, so good here," said my friend Mikey in Iowa. "It's prescription refill time again. Walmart is limiting the number of people that can go into the store at a time. The tire and lube department is closed and those employees are being utilized elsewhere in the store. The pharmacy is allowing 'curbside pickup' of prescriptions or, if you can wait, a mail-in option is available. We are thinking about going the mail-in route.
"Monday is the day we will need to go in and get groceries. I'm a bit nervous about going to the grocery store, but what can we do? I tried the online shop-at-home thing, but Walmart doesn't allow that at our local store. Not only that, we wonder how the shelves will look when we get there. Will a second trip be necessary? On the local news, it showed lines of people waiting to get in at Walmart. They were not practicing social distancing very well.
"There has been one person that tested positive in our county, so far. The surrounding counties are getting more and more. It's starting to feel like the world is closing in on us.
"My sister and her husband in Illinois are both using masks when they go out to the grocery store. The masks they have are ones that were left over from when he was a mechanic. I'm surprised that my parents are doing as well as they are so far No complications or anything going on with them. Their area is starting to get more and more cases."
I also heard from Kim, my CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) friend in Wisconsin.
"I trained in the ER on Friday and I learned so much," she said. "It was an uneventful day. Thank God. The ER is going to run into COVID before I ever would have working on Med Surg. So, I was worried.
"We have a girl who called in today, and I am pretty sure she is just afraid. I think the anxiety is getting to her. We also have a nurse who was going to retire in a year and now gave a 2 weeks notice. She doesn't want to risk it.
"We now have 2,112 cases in the state and 56 deaths. It seems like it will never end.
"At the hospital, I have been fitted for the N95 mask. We now have to wear a mask throughout our whole shift. I am happy about those changes."
Aside from the hospital, Kim also works in a nursing home there.
"The nursing home is well," she said, "except those poor residents are so missing seeing there families. It is heartbreaking. My dad is upset that he cannot see grandma. He understood for the first couple of weeks. I told him (the home) will help set up a visit online. They have done that for some of the residents. I think that is an awesome idea.
"My aunt lives in Milwaukee, where most of the cases are. She had a worker at one of her banks get it. She had to close the bank down and have it cleaned. Her son is getting married August 1st and she is starting to wonder if that is going to have to be changed.
"Otherwise, things are good. I am still in my pajamas and am watching that TIGER KING show that everyone is talking about. It is addicting."
My friend Linda in Castro Valley, CA sent me a quick, chatty email.
"I’m sure glad that Gavin Newsom has at least made an attempt at containment," she said about California's seemingly lower virus curve. "The south is being unbelievably stupid about this.
"But there's nothing much to report here in Castro Valley. My husband has bad asthma, so he never leaves the house.
"I’ve been the food conduit to my husband and myself, mostly at the outdoor farmers market and through some takeout. I made one very quick trip to a regular grocery store, wearing a weird 'nuisance only'-grade mask that has always been in my car emergency kit. Also, I wear touchscreen gloves, which I wash when I get home.
"My goal is to only go for walks (no stores of any type) for the next two weeks. I’m getting quite fat. My husband and I are like two planets orbiting the kitchen."
Eric, my friend in Costa Mesa, CA also dropped me a quick note.
"We went to the grocery store today, but hopefully that was it for a while," he says. "Friday, I took the parents to a small stream in the LA Mountains. There was no one there but us. My parents are not doing too well with this. I'm doing fine, since I am getting caught up with my taxes."
My friend Art in Boston sent a text and shared an experience of his yesterday.
"Since we're not supposed to wear (or try to buy) surgical masks (and I fully understand the importance of the blue/sometime yellow face masks being reserved for medical personnel as PPE), my experience wearing a bandana was a disaster," he said. "I needed a couple of things at the supermarket. I didn't stay long, but the bandana was definitely a detriment to me. It kept sliding off, drooping and causing me to constantly adjust it. I reluctantly had to touch the bandana and ultimately my face way too many times while in the supermarket. And the number of morons who can't seem to grasps what 6 feet of social distancing means annoyed me beyond belief. I pray I didn't catch the virus from wearing that damn bandana. So, yeah, crappy day. Now I'll watch some cable news and get further freaked out and depressed watching the numbers go up."
My friend Kevin, in Massachusetts, had some concerns he wanted to voice.
"Apparently domestic abuse is on the rise because of 'cabin fever,' " he says. "I know of a Chinese doctor at my gym who mistreats his wife big time when they come together to the gym. Now that the gym has been closed, I wonder if he is using his wife as a punching bag at home as his workout. He won't kill her, because he needs her to clean the house and do the cooking. But I bet you she is just barely alive enough to do her chores and wifely duties.
"My neighbor, who is a firefighter, had a barbecue in his garden yesterday and invited about four people over. Is that alright? Definitely not. And it's cold outside, but they want to have a party? Sick!"
I heard from both friends in Italy yesterday. Andrey, who lives near Venice, wrote quickly that he was okay, that he had food, and that his family (in Romania, where he is originally from) was also all okay.
Mauro, who lives near Parma with his family, apparently is heading back to work.
"Thursday, I'll come back to work," he said. "Because food factories need spare parts to produce pasta, milk, bread, etc. So, I have to start working. I hope my healthy stays good."
My mom had a thought she shared with me yesterday. With so many people dying, she wondered how many of them had prepared a will. Having gone through painful inheritance legal battles, my mother thought I might suggest in these diaries that people may want to consider writing a holographic will. A holographic what? It's not what it sounds like and it is really quite simple. A holographic will requires three simple components. A) It needs to be hand written. B) It needs to be on completely blank paper (no stationary, no other writing of any kind). C) It needs to be signed (and dating it can't hurt either). These wills are legal in most states. The will still needs to go through probate (as most wills do) and can be contested (as most other wills can be), but it is a legal document of your wishes, should you chose to make one. This site has a lot of great information and it is free. As a "just in case", if you don't already have a will assembled, people might want to consider making one.
My brother sent me a link about making your own face masks. While that was nice of him, I saw this other example that was just folded up material and stretchy bands-- and didn't require sewing.
Although Sunday was rainy, it was nice hearing from so many friends. Their messages were not all gloom and doom and worry about the virus. There were some interesting and happy moments, as well.
Christa, in Santa Monica, sent me a short video of a man impersonating the president, discussing his test for the coronavirus. It was pretty funny.
Someone (Oops...I forget who... Sorry!) sent me this old pulp science fiction novel cover that had been altered, but was kind of fun.
Sue Nan down in Southern California, sent a note. She liked all of the creativity I tried to showcase in my previous post. It reminded her of something...
"Yesterday I was listening to 'The Fork Report,' a weekly food show," she said. "The host, Neil Saavedra, has been doing the show from his home (even before the lockdown), because he had a kidney transplant and needed isolation. Anyway, he said every night at the same time in his neighborhood, everyone stands in their front doorway and cheers for all the brave medical workers, first responders, etc. It’s become a nightly ritual----just their own way of saying 'Thanks'."
My former co-worker, Jenny from the Fresno Bee days, dropped me a quick, happy note.
"My daughter got engaged two weeks ago," she said. "She lives in LA, and she wants to come up and celebrate. We decided she will come whenever this is over. Right now, we're just video chatting and sharing photos."
Shirley the tortoise even had a nice day. Normally she'll go to the sliding door, look out and, if it's raining, turn around and go back to her cardboard condo in the corner of the dining room. She did that initially this morning, but later changed her mind. She wanted out.
I opened the sliding glass door and let her do her slow walk out. She seemed to enjoy the rain. Although she has water to drink on the patio and bottled water in her bowl near her box, she seemed to want to literally drink the rain in.
Like Shirley, enjoy the rain. Enjoy orbiting the refrigerator or dating lamp boyfriends. Enjoy every moment of this time as you don't know what may happen in the weeks or months ahead. Savor it. You are still alive and this is what life is right now. Just sayin'...
Stay SAFE. Stay SHELTERED. Stay ALIVE.
CHEERS!
For the next part, click HERE.
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CHEERS!