My Coronavirus Diary Part 56

There are now 4.1 million cases of the virus worldwide. There have been 283,000 deaths.

The virus is inching closer and closer to the president. In the last post, I mentioned that one of his valets had tested positive for the virus. Since then, one of Vice President Mike Pence's press secretaries has tested positive. Even the president's daughter, Ivanka, had a personal assistant test positive. Three members of the White House coronavirus task force, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, are self-quarantining after a possible exposure to the virus. Workers in the White House say it is scary to go to work.The White House staff will be tested daily for the virus now. (Isn't that nice that they can get tested while so many others still can't?)


A birthday party in Pasadena, CA over Easter weekend attended by 30-40 people with one coughing guest, has been linked to an outbreak of the virus infecting at least 5 people there.

A Whole Foods in Massachusetts closed after several workers there tested positive for the virus.

Iowa had more deaths and more cases added. North Carolina has seen more deaths and an increase in cases. Nebraska is starting to see an uptick in cases. Minnesota's numbers have risen. Florida has seen more than 2,500 new cases since reopening last Monday. In Detroit, Michigan, a police officer left the hospital after a month-long battle with the virus. A mother in San Jose, CA spent 49 days in the hospital, mostly on a ventilator, went home...and faced some devastating news.

The president is now saying that the virus will "go away without a vaccine." Even the president's mouthpiece, Fox News, says that ain't gonna happen. A new study says the virus may stay for as much as two years and will be around until at least 70%of the population has immunity.

The president is also saying the US death toll (which currently is closing in on 80,000) may reach 100,000. Former President Barack Obama told former staffers that Trump's response to the virus has been a "chaotic disaster."


Coronavirus survivors are being banned from joining the military.


New Jersey is not reopening as the state's governor is waiting for health officials (not politicians) to dictate when and how the state will open. Bravo.

New York reports that the number of hospitalizations has dropped to the levels they were first seeing in March when this mess began. However, New York City has reached the 20,000 deaths mark from this outbreak.


Brazil is rapidly becoming the South American hot spot for the virus.

It looks like the leader of the UK is pulling a Trump, being more concerned with the economy than with people's lives, as he tries to re-open the country. You'd think he'd be more cautious after catching the virus earlier himself.



The president says that bailouts for blue states (democrat) are unfair to republicans. Hello? Again, these are the "United" States.

A treatment in Hong Kong may be effective against the virus, according to one report. The FDA has approved the first antigen test for the virus here in the US. 14,000 volunteers are taking part in a controversial study and being given the virus.



A 747 flight from New York to San Francisco was full of passengers, causing returning traveling healthcare workers to be more afraid of getting on the plane than they were when they were working with COVID 19 patients in New York.


Locally, the small town of Coalinga, CA, in defiance of the governor's order, declared every business in the city as "essential". A few days later, the small town of Parlier followed suite. There are 2,545 cases in the Central Valley. There have been 63 deaths.



I love the creativity that people have during this pandemic and I'm constantly searching for more examples. Here are a few noteworthy videos. This one parodies the classic ABBA song DANCING QUEEN and was done remotely with many people:

This is a medley of various songs parodied:

Here is another SOUND OF MUSIC parody:

Here is another LES MIS parody.

This parody take on the song HONESTY has great harmonies.

A bizarre-O Dr. Fauci does Tom Jones with DIE DIE CORONAVIRUS:

If none of those work for you, how about a return to Quarantine Kitchen for another cocktail? This time, he is serving up Bloody Marys! 

My friend Eric in Costa Mesa, CA sent me a quick note the other day.

"The beef shortage is now here," he said. "Aldi had zero beef, except for those really salty 'seasoned' mixed beef items ( 40% salt per serving on this one called Chimichurri). I'm not buying that. In and Out Burger is rocking, though. They must have their own source, since it's never frozen. Grocery prices are creeping up, too. It may be from having to hire more workers to clean the store all day and shorter hours,etc.

"I'm starting to think that things should be opening a bit more -- at least the dry cleaners and tax services (easy to keep distance, only a few people). I went to HR Block two weeks ago to get taxes for 2019 done. You have to drop it off ( I was charged full price of $430 again -- and all the thousands of receipts, etc already totaled) and he made a bad error (I called and got it corrected). That would not have happened if we could have been in the same room. I agree with you that most things should be closed longer, but those two are exceptions."

On Friday morning, I discovered that an almond tree in the back yard had split right down the trunk. Half of the tree is still standing and the other half is laying across my yard.

 I don't know if it fell during the night or sometime that morning after I put Shirley out. I put the tortoise out first thing in the morning...and I wasn't exactly focusing yet (one eye usually remains closed for a good 30-60 minutes). I noticed it later when I went to check on her.

I didn't hear anything in the morning that sounded like a tree snapping in half and falling, but you never know. 

 When I did see what had happened, my first concern was for Shirley. Was she okay? She could have been killed if it had fallen on her. But no. She was okay. You can see her off to the right in the photo below.

The tree is done, though. The tree man is coming out later this morning to give me an estimate.

This is just what i need the neighbors next door (the fence people) to see. Oh, he can afford a tree man, but not a new fence? Hello? This is more of an emergency than the fence was...

While cleaning out a room, I came across a large bag of Russian candies. Oh my... what are they doing there? Why do I have them? I don't need them at all...but I am eating them. Darn it all. (Yum yum!)

I've been suffering from insomnia lately, so I fixed myself a Bloody Mary the other night to help me sleep. Of course, it had to be served in my ultra classy vintage Casper glass. But then, (Gasp!) the unthinkable happened...

I ran out of vodka. Oh my stars! This required a trip to Costco!

I don't know if it was because it was Saturday or if it was spring fever or if people were taking the state's partial re-opening as a reason to go shopping--but it was busy at Costco. 

They had a girl with a loud speaker reminding shoppers of the rules. Costco was enforcing face masks (thank goodness). They were trying to limit the number of shoppers and keep everyone social distancing. However this was where they failed.

Even though they were counting the people they let in, intending to limit the number, it was kind of crowded inside.

I got myself a Costco-sized bottle of vodka, some strawberries and a few other things. i totally forgot (argh!) to buy myself a chicken and I should have bought some meat...just in case. Oh well. There was no hand sanitizer, of course. There was a guy bringing out a palate of toilet paper, which was attacked by TP hoarders before he could set it on the floor.

Gas was $2.20.

I was out of my Carb Balance tortillas and stopped at Save Mart on the way home. About half of the people there were not wearing masks. The store was crazy crowded, with lines stretching down the aisles.

My dance card is pretty full this week. Today is the tree man. Tomorrow I go to my cardiologist to have an ultrasound of my leg to check out my venous capacity on my right leg (since that great saphenous vein has been permanently occluded and my right foot is now swelling). Thursday is my muscle biopsy. On Friday, I have my first tele-consultation with a psychiatrist about dealing with my muscle weakness, becoming "disabled" and all that might entail... I've never spoken with a mental health therapist before, so this should be interesting.

Stay SAFE. Stay SHELTERED. Stay ALIVE.


CHEERS!



Continue to the next part HERE.