And then there were 2 million cases of coronavirus... WOW! (Well, almost...by today there will be) two million cases...and more!) Reports say that it is slowing down in areas, but the numbers just seems to keep growing and growing. Currently there are 1,921,369 cases worldwide (with 119,730 deaths) and 582,594 cases here in the USA with 23,649 deaths.
Locally the virus has been spreading where I live as well.
If the growing numbers were not scary enough, news has broken that scientist have evidence that the virus has been transmitted from a dead body. Yikes! There doesn't seem to be any escaping it.
President Trump had one of his daily coronavirus briefings yesterday. He started off with a short slideshow that was sort of a rah-rah video designed to show all he has done to ward off the virus. Then, when a reporter asked to clarify what he had done in February (the video says he stopped flights from Asia in late January and the next action listed was in early March), the president had a meltdown. He even said that his power as president was absolute. Jinkies.
Another article I found details the bungled internal, behind-the-scenes handling of how the government obtained and distributed PPE.
A doctor in Brooklyn shares what life is like in her hospital over one day in this fascinating and shocking video HERE.
Healthcare, food suppliers, and sanitation are all essential services. Believe it or not, wrestling has been deemed an "essential service" in Florida and there was a WWE Wrestlemania event held last night. (There was no audience, but the wrestlers still did battle--sans face masks and without social distancing. Hmm.)
Even though we are waist deep in this virus mess, states are making regional coalitions and planning just how to re-open things once this first wave of virus recedes with an eye for keeping future virus waves low. California, which shut down early and quickly and probably saved a lot of lives in the process, is teaming up with Oregon and Washington in this venture.
Locally, a pastor in Merced was cited for holding church services on Easter morning. The pastor had his parishioners hide their cars in a nearby parking lot and locked the doors of the church so no one could come in and investigate during the service. There were between 50-60 people at the Easter service. Crazy.
Also, a local drama teacher has been working to keep his students entertained with daily silly videos. He's made them a family affair. Nice job.
My friend Kim, the CNA in Wisconsin, dropped me a line yesterday.
"I worked my 12-hour Saturday and Sunday," she said. "It was the most horrible weekend of my life. We did not get any COVID patients, but it was busy. The patients we have on the floor need a lot of care. Thank God I had a medical assistant from the clinic working with me. She looked at me and asked if it is always so busy. She is used to the clinic; a little slower pace. She did so well though. Without her I would have sunk.
"My grandma is in the hospital and expected to pass away. She is 95 and told me she is ready. She has congestive heart failure and her kidneys are shutting down. She only had 50 ccs (of urine) out my whole shift. She sleeps most of the time and is not eating. They say when it rains it pours. At least I got to see her the whole weekend. I just hope that she doesn't suffer too much longer. She seems to be very comfortable.
"I met a guy; 70 years old with a lot of health issues that did survive COVID. It was nice to hear. He is getting therapy to get back on his feet. He is a little weak but doing very well."
My friends Cathy and Travis from San Francisco sent a note, telling about how they spent their Easter and how they are doing in general.
"We went for a walk when the sun came out," Cathy said of their Easter afternoon. "We practice 10-foot distancing instead of the recommended 6 feet and wear masks. This is so surreal. We're getting caught up on paper work, filing, cleaning, etc. I just did some hand washing in the kitchen sink this morning. It felt very 1920's, as we don't have a washer/dryer here."
The artist SHAG (JoSH AGle) recently released some more coloring pages. I'm adding those (along with the original three) here for your quarantine coloring enjoyment.
If coloring isn't your thang, I have looked online and there are literally hundreds of things to do with your time while stuck at home that could be entertaining, educational and interesting. They are for kids as well as adult. There is one with links to many virtual tourist destinations. Zowie!
I was woken up this morning to the sound of hammers banging and power saws. What the heck? And then I remembered it was Monday, and the neighbors were starting on their new fence. I still hadn't given them permission to do our side (since the fence is on the property line), so I assumed the noise was coming from the south side of their property. But when I turned my phone on, my security camera was going crazy with alerts, and this is what I saw:
The fence was down--well, most of it was. UGH!!! Push-push-push and bully their way through -- that's their way. I don't care about the damned fence. It's the principle behind it all. They never consulted with me (or probably any of their bordering neighbors) about the fence. I was just told it needs to happen soon---and here are the estimates. They already had the plans (for what they wanted) in place. I never agreed to a new fence. In fact, if you re-read my email to them, I asked them to please not tear the existing fence down.
I kept getting security camera alerts all morning, so I saw the progress. Mr. Neighbor had to be right there to watch the whole thing unfold...and to BS with the foreman. Whatever. Here he is inspecting the fence post holes looking like a doofus:
Yep. They're holes, alright...
Shirley wanted out, but I wasn't going to let her with the fence thing going on. But she kept going to the door or walking up to me in the kitchen and looking at me with her sad little tortoise eyes. Okay! Okay! I let her out. But that meant I had to watch her (for hours on end) so she didn't go to the other side of the house. I'm not sure if those neighbors know about Shirley or not. It's just that in the past I had someone tormenting me in the backyard. Shirley was eventually targeted then (maybe?). If it was not the fence neighbors doing it, I did not want them to see Shirley now and give them any ideas. So... I watched her all afternoon, wasting my day.
In the evening, Mrs Neighbor came home. Mr Neighbor showed her the new metal fence posts that were set in concrete and drying.
UGH! I can NOT wait until the fence goes back up and I don't have to see them any more (well, hopefully).
Stay SAFE. Stay SHELTERED. Stay ALIVE.
CHEERS!
Continue to the next part HERE.
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