The Trump Administration has upped the projected number of coronavirus deaths in the US to 134,000. Currently there have been about 69,000 deaths. This new projection takes into account the states that are relaxing social distancing rules. DUH! Hello people!?! This will mean we will have 3,000 deaths per day by June.
Florida is re-opening, despite having nearly 37,000 cases and 1,400 deaths.
Boston was expected to surpass 10,0000 cases in the city alone yesterday. The state has more than 66,000 cases and has had more than 3,800 deaths. However, the state only had 86 die on Sunday---the lowest number since April 13th.
New Hampshire is thinking about re-opening. However, it is concerned with the possible spread of infection from Massachusetts if it does.
Mississippi is preparing for possible bed shortages. It currently has 7,441 cases and is one of the few southern states not re-opening.
Texas has been open for a few days now. The Texas Medical Association president expects the number of COVID 19 cases to increase significantly. The mayor of Austin is still keeping shelter in place orders in place. This tweet by a restaurant worker in Texas being called back to work is brilliant and sums up the madness of reopening now.
There is now a report that says a doctor claims the virus was in Europe as early as December.
Russia is now seeing record numbers of the virus.
India has extended its lockdown until May 17 but has eased some restrictions.
Brazil is starting to feel the effect of the virus and is woefully under-prepared to handle it---with a president who doesn't seem much smarter than our own.
A new antibody has been created that seems to stop COVID 19 from replicating. Although it still has animal and human trials, it could be used as a vaccine or as a treatment down the road.
The president is now saying we will have a vaccine by the end of the year.
The "False Dawn" phenomenon, where patients who previous had the coronavirus and are clear of it--and then get the virus again, is starting to be studied more closely by researchers. The antibody tests are showing more people have had the virus than were known...but the test has flaws and has had many false positives.
Despite the brazen attempt by the White House and the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to divert blame China for creating the virus (which has been proven to be not true by scientists several times), China has been pushing back with anti-US propaganda of their own.
Fresno, CA is now requiring all residents to wear a face mask when entering any business within the city. Costco is requiring shoppers to wear masks in all of its stores. Idiots who don't like these rules (designed for their safety) are boycotting the store.
The artist SHAG has debuted his 8th quarantine-at-home coloring page. Go for it!
Chris Mann is back with a new virus parody song.
This parody of Michael Jackson's BILLIE JEAN is amusing as well:
This is brilliant:
My friend Andrey, in Italy near Venice, sent me a note. He returned to work yesterday for the first time since this mess started.
"I started today," he said. "I worked very hard. I worked like a slave today."
When I asked about his co-workers, he said "Everyone looks okay."
I asked about his mother in Romania. She apparently okay as well.
Art in Boston sent a note yesterday. He had a productive outing.
"I know this is kind of silly, but I feel so much better," he said. "I woke up bright and early and went to my closest BJs Wholsale Center (just like Costco) for Lysol spray. Not a one. Then went to Costco nearby. Again nothing. Then, I took a chance on a farther away BJs. Senior hours were 8 am to 9 am. I got in there at 9:20 and scored one of the last few Lysol 4 packs. It feels like a major victory. But it was tiring. I also went to Walmart reluctantly and scored some Germ-X hand sanitizer (which is supposedly second best to Purell)."
I did not get my labs drawn yesterday. I have had really awful insomnia for a long while. It seemed to be getting better, but on Sunday night I just had such a hard time sleeping. When the alarm went off Monday morning, I had had maybe two hours of sleep. I was a wreck.
I went back to bed and called the lab at 7, when they opened. I told the girl who answered that I had accidentally eaten and I needed to be fasting. I got rescheduled for this morning. Joy...
I did have to go out, though. I had to visit the post office. Oh my stars! The place was packed. There were markers on the floor spaced 6 feet apart to stand in line. Some people wore masks and seemed very aware of and concerned where they were standing, others were maskless and seemed to have a "whatever" attitude. There were sheets of plexiglass in front of the teller spaces, but surprisingly, none of the clerks were wearing masks.
I didn't need to send anything, just pick something up. Fortunately there was no line at that window. The clerk there had a mask, but it was pulled down below his chin. What gives? Whatever. I was in and out of there quickly.
I meant to Purell my hands as soon as I got back in the car. However, springtime is snot time for me. As soon as my mask came off, my hand was wiping my runny nose. ARGH! What had I just done? I quickly Purelled my hands and then slathered up my nostrils (exterior) with the stuff. EEK!
Stay SAFE. Stay SHELTERED. Stay ALIVE.
CHEERS!
Continue to the next part HERE.
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