There are 2,709,483 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the world. 869,172 of those cases are here. There have been 190,872 deaths and 49,963 of those deaths have been here.
A report indicates that the coronavirus has been here since as early as January, but went undetected until the outbreak in the Seattle nursing home. The coronavirus infection rate is still growing in many states. NPR reported that 1/5 of New York City residents have been infected with the Coronavirus. A 4-month-old baby in the city died from the virus. In Los Angeles County, 17,500 people tested positive. North Carolina had another jump in cases. Michigan, a state which recently had demonstrations against the stay-at-home order, has had more than 35,000 cases and has had nearly 3,000 deaths.
During the Spanish Flu, Denver re-opened early like many states are planning on doing now---and had disastrous results. One Colorado town didn't re-open and only had two fatalities during the entire outbreak.
Remdesivir, the new drug that initially seemed to work well in helping victims of the virus, apparently crashed and burned in its clinical trials. Gilead, the company that makes it, says the clinicals were inconclusive. However, falling stock prices instead of actual data may be the reason Gilead is saying this.
A Chinese company says it has developed a vaccine which has prevented the spread of the virus in monkeys. But President Trump, for some reason, believes that we will soon be able to inject disinfectant into the body, to kill the virus. (!?!) This is incredibly stupid and so wrong. But, in the era of Trump, just listen to this FDA commissioner doctor on the coronavirus task force talk around the subject on CNN instead of answering directly. GEEZ! Here are two doctors who are totally discounting the craziness of what the president said. It is INSANE that the president would even suggest this! Wow!
Washington state is building a virus contact tracing team. At the same time, many stores across the country are having a hard time getting shoppers to simply wear masks.
Elizabeth Warren, who lost her brother to COVID 19, is demanding an investigation into Trump's botched and seemingly politically biased handling of the coronavirus outbreak. And the deaths of the elderly in President Trump's base may be enough to spell his ouster in November, one article suggests.
An article I ran across online yesterday gave information on how to get your stimulus check if you haven't got one yet. Governor Gavin Newsom of California has suspended all student loan payments for 90 days. And (Hmm...) a data collection firm that is working for the president's re-election campaign, got millions of dollars in the small business stimulus package.
In Island County, where my mom lives, there are now 168 cases and there have been 9 deaths. Statewide, Washington has seen 12,494 cases and had 692 deaths. But Island County is small, just made up of Whidbey and Camano Island. 168 cases is huge to them.
Most of the cases are in Coupeville, where my mother (and brother and nephew) live. It has more than twice as many as Oak Harbor, the largest town on the island and home to an air naval base.
Locally, there are 964 cases in the Central Valley. We've had 38 deaths.
The numbers keep going up...
I heard from my friend Art in Boston yesterday. He sent just a quick update.
"Things are bad in Massachusetts," he said. "The governor speaks each day. The number of cases and deaths jumped up as of yesterday from the prior two days."
Rosa in London checked in briefly, also.
"I'm fine, very tired," Rosa said. "Is this virus supposed to make you sleepy? I'm also fed up. I just want this to end.
"On a more positive note, I have been taking up the 30-day Earring Challenge...one pair at a time." she said.
She explained that the Earring Challenge was something her co-workers started doing.
"Find an old pair of earrings which you never wore and wear them at home during lockdown," she said. "Yes, I know... But we all have to keep ourselves busy..."
Andrey in Italy also checked in, He said it is getting better in Italy, but things are still so-so in Romania, where his family is and where he is from.
"They are okay," he says of his family.
I talked to my friend Nedra late last night. Her mom is having chills and respiratory problems. Instead of moving her to a hospital, Nedra looked at her will and saw that her mom wants no heroic measures taken, so she made her mom a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate). Nedra can't go in the room with her mother, but she can see her "through the glass" (I don't know if it is a window into the building or directly into the room). She is going over at 7 am this morning to be there, but doesn't think her mother will ever know she is there. She also said she doesn't know that her mother knows how important she has been to her. Oh god... this is just so horrible.
When I asked Nedra how she was doing, she just said she was sad. She said nothing about her own health. Hopefully, she is at least physically okay. She has not gotten her test results back yet.
Yesterday was...a day. I've been...bored isn't the right word... Maybe anxious? Restless? Feeling trapped? Since facing my own health woes and hearing about friend Nedra's mom and Nedra's own virus testing, I've just wanted to get out of here. Somehow. Somewhere. Just drive away and go--somewhere. Anywhere. But of course, I can't go anywhere. I'm powerless to do anything except sit in my house and exist. Over the last several days, I've watched several movies and TV series. I've also spent a lot of time on my coronavirus diary. (This is Day 42 of the diary and I am getting a bit
burned out...) But, I'm trapped in this nightmare just as much as everyone else is.
Shirley is even getting a bit stir crazy. Yesterday afternoon I discovered her trying to escape out of the back fence. Yikes!
My friends want to have another virtual cocktail party on Zoom later today. I am so looking forward to it. I need some good laughs, to see the faces of people I love, and to have a few stiff drinks.
Don't we all.
Stay SAFE. Stay SHELTERED. Stay ALIVE.
CHEERS!
Continue to the next part HERE.
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