My Coronavirus Diary Part 40

It was just three months ago yesterday that the US had its first confirmed case of the coronavirus. There are now more than 825,000 cases here and more than 2.5 million worldwide. 45,000 people have died in this country so far as a result. More and more, newspapers around the country have been printing extensive obituary sections as the numbers continue to rise.

The CDC is already warning that the second wave of the virus could be deadlier than the first wave has been. Dr. Anthony Fauci also predicts another wave this fall, but he is more optimistic about how it will be handled based on what we've been through already. A report out of Harvard says that the US must do 20 million tests for the virus a day in order to safely open up again. So far, the US has only tested a little over 4 million total.

Kentucky has had a spike in the number of coronavirus cases just days after protesters opposed the states Stay-At_home laws. One victim of the virus in Wisconsin responded to protesters, telling her horrendous experience. And Georgia still plans on re-opening in a few days, despite growing case numbers and deaths. One model suggests that states not re-open unless they only have 1 new case per day per 1 million people. For a state like New York, that would only be 20 new cases daily. Mayors throughout Georgia are perplexed by the governor's move.

New York still has a high number of cases. However, the need for hospitalizations has been dropping as people there continue to shelter in place. As a result of the lowering numbers of hospitalizations, the hospital ship, the USS Comfort, is no longer needed there and is being discharged.

Yet, hospitals in small towns across the country as being forced to layoff staff and shut down due to virus precautions and avoiding elective surgeries at this time.

A study of the drug the president keeps touting for use with COVID 19, hydroxychloroquine, has been linked to higher instances of death in Virginia in patients with the infection who were given the medication. Meanwhile there is a push to allow volunteers to be purposely infected with the virus to test vaccines. And, Remdesivir, the new drug that could be a great tool against the virus, has shown more promising results.

As some scientist explore the reasons why some people get ill from the virus and others don't, other researchers are looking into why so many virus victims develop blood clots.

Yesterday, the senate passed another virus relief bill aimed at helping small businesses, hospitals, and to assist with testing.

NPR posted a multi-faceted timeline of the US's virus response, showing a history of the virus here, the president's actions as well as those of the CDC and other medical experts.

Overseas, the virus has been found in Paris' sewage treatment waste water. Researchers say this could lead to a way to gauge the outbreak and possibly act as a warning system should new outbreaks begin.

Check this out. This look at certain media personalities, their outlets, and the misinformation they are spewing (and then being regurgitated by our president), is humorous and spot on. And scary.

My friend Kevin in Massachusetts sent a note yesterday with some interesting observations.

"I just wanted to mention that the locals here in Stoughton are getting increasingly agitated with their ridiculous cabin fever," he said. "I don't know what it is about people and their insane need not to be at home. People just can't stand being at home - and can't stand being by themselves. Hence the ridiculous need to be out and about, which they have been doing incessantly around here the past few days. There are massive crowds out and about in the woods, parks and fields. And I have driven by many houses along my street where the driveways and roadsides are filled with cars, and you can see massive crowds in the garden at a barbecue party. In fact, my neighbor, who is a local firefighter, had a massive barbecue party with about 20 people at his place just today to celebrate Patriots Day. See how crazy people are?

"And remember, these people (the majority of Massachusetts) are all Democrats. It is nothing to do with their support of Trump. It is not political that they want to be out and in crowds. It is just their human natural instinct; their want and their need to be outside and be in big crowds. It is their natural addiction.

"Meanwhile, about 75% of the people who get sick or die from Corona here are people in old folks homes. It's so sad. This probably will make old folks think twice about going to live in such places. Actually, there's one happy story of one local 95-year-old lady who got the virus, but has come out of it and is perfectly fine now. Good for her!"

My friend Eric in Costa Mesa, CA sent a note last night. He's been noticing people not sheltering as well.

"There are more people going out down here," he said. "There are long line at Costco. I think people are starting to get restless and go out, anyway. There are a lot of speeding cars all over."


I heard from my friend, Mikey, in Iowa.

"Things here are pretty much the same," he said. "We had to shut down the seed website to get caught up on orders. Some of our suppliers for envelopes, tape, etc are out of stock. I'm not sure if most of that stuff comes from China or not. The post office is not sending me the tracking labels that they used to send when I would order them. There has been only a "order shipped" communication email from them,  but the labels never arrive. The local postman here has been giving me labels to use.

"Whenever I go to the grocery store, it's the same. Some wear masks but most don't. 

"My relatives are all doing well.  Their area in Illinois is getting more and more infections. 

"Our farmer neighbor is still working the fields. He's very old and everyone that knows him wonders why he keeps up with all the work tending to the crops. He could rent out the land, or have those giant wind turbines put on the land, but he plods along tending to the fields with the fertilizing, pesticide spraying, planting, and harvesting. Maybe that is what keeps him alive."

Mikey included a photo of a clever mask.

Today has been mostly quiet. There hasn't been much going on. Shirley initially wanted out first thing yesterday morning, saw that it was cold, and retreated to her box. When it warmed up, I took her outside and she wandered around the backyard all day doing tortoise things.

I finally finished up my post for my tiki blog on (most of) the tiki bars of San Diego. The trip was 6 months ago, so a lot of the details are lost from my mind. The final result may not be that interesting, but there are lots of pictures of the uber cool places we visited. I'm just glad to get that project done.

This morning I have another doctor appointment. This time it is with my primary doctor. I'll be seeing him about my arms and legs and if there is anything else that can be done that hasn't been tried yet. My new doctor, the one who will eventually be doing my muscle biopsy, called yesterday and told me that I had officially been referred on to an immunologist / rheumatologist to look into possible auto-immune or genetic disorders as the cause for my muscle weakness. Things just move so glacially slow in the medical world. Will I ever find any answers?

Stay SAFE. Stay SHELTERED. Stay ALIVE.


CHEERS!




Continue to the next part HERE.