The death toll in the United States has exceeded 82,000 and still states continue to open up. A model that the White House uses to predict the number of deaths this country will see now says that there will be 147,000 deaths by early August.
Yesterday, Dr. Anthony Fauci was interviewed by the Senate about the outbreak and where he sees it heading. The doctor warned about little spikes becoming outbreaks. He also cautioned that children have shown more susceptibility to the virus than previously thought.
Before and during Dr. Fauci's testimony, President Trump was trying to divert attention away from what the doctor had to say (and from the Supreme Court's hearing on his taxes) by going into a full-blown tweet storm on Twitter.
Following the discovery of many infected staff members, the White House now requires staff to wear masks (except for the President, of course).
New York City's death toll is worse than has officially been recorded, says one study.
There is a report that says the strain of the virus circulating in the Houston, Texas area is the more contagious version.
The numbers of infection are growing rapidly across the heartland, says an unreleased coronavirus task force document, despite the president's assurances that the numbers are coming down.
Michigan, where the protesters have been plaguing the governor (she also recently received more death threats) continues to see its cases and death toll numbers climb.
Similar to the Trump Administration, the governor of Illinois had members of his staff test positive for the virus. The governor says that the state has not seen its peak virus numbers yet and is delaying re-opening until mid-June.
Pennsylvania's governor pushed back at Trump after the president accused him of re-opening too slowly.
Colorado suspended the license of a restaurant there that defied a public health order.
Island County in Washington state (where my mom, brother and nephew live) have had their shelter-in-place orders continued through May 31.
When people die of the virus, what happens to their beloved pets? Animal rescue groups have been taking in these "orphans," hoping to find them new homes.
At Monday's press conference, reporter's took the president to task for his testing claims...prompting the president to just shut the conference down. Many republicans are concerned that the president's handling of the crisis is causing the party to lose ground with voters.
Twitter is now going to label coronavirus tweets that misinform as "misleading". I wonder how much that will enrage the president? An internet archive is also labeling debunked conspiracy theories and misinformation.
A video from Japan gives a great example of just how quickly the virus can spread.
House democrats have unveiled another $3 trillion relief bill proposal that would help businesses that were not assisted with previous bills. It would also include another stimulus check for individuals.
Want to be a contract tracer? John Hopkins is offering a 5-hour online class. A choir practice in early March in Washington state led one sick individual to infect 52 others (two of which died), tracers have determined.
Beware the new COVID 19-related hoax that is currently circulating, which promises dire consequences if not heeded.
A ticket worker in London's Victoria Station died from the virus, 13 days after being spat on by a man who claimed to be infected. An employee at a Los Angeles Target had his arm broken by two men who refused to wear masks inside of the store. What is wrong with people?
Russia has now jumped to the No. 2 spot for infections ahead of Spain. The country has 232,500 cases. (We have 1,368,000.)
A teacher in London walks miles a day to deliver lunches to students at his school. Amazing!
A couple from South Africa went on a honeymoon to the Maldives...and got stranded there during the worldwide lockdown. Eventually they got home.
Here in California, Elon Musk defied health officials and the governor's order and re-opened the Tesla plant. The governor was unaware of this matter on Monday, but is looking into it.
The mayor of Los Angeles detailed a slow opening of the city over the course of the summer.
The California State University system is keeping classes online for the fall and keeping campuses closed.
Inmates at a California jail tried to infect themselves with the virus, mistakenly believing they would be set free if they got sick.
Elective surgeries and dental work has started in the state again.
Locally, there have been 32 new nursing home-related deaths in the South Valley.
Fresno Unified students will be graduating virtually.
Hundreds of businesses in Fresno re-opened recently. All Fresno County parks and campgrounds have re-opened as well. However, a group of protesters marched in front of (and tried to enter) the home of a Fresno City councilman, wanting the stay-at-home orders lifted completely.
I found a few more fun parody video. This first one spoofs Bonnie Tyler's HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO.
There have been several BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY parodies. This guy's voice isn't that great, but the lyrics are clever and I literally laughed out loud once.
Seth McFarlane hosts THE AT-HOME VARIETY SHOW, a new series of daily shorts. The first episode (below) features Tony Shalhoub reprising his MONK TV show character (along with others reprising their roles from the series). I never saw the show, but this bit is clever.
The artist SHAG has unleashed his 9th quarantine coloring page:
My friend Eric down in Costa Mesa, CA sent me a quick note yesterday.
"I went to take flowers to my late Grandma's tomb," he said. "The mausoleum was supposed to be closed (it had signs all over), but they opened it for Mother's Day. Hundreds of people were on the grounds.
"Afterwards, I took my parents to Jollibee Take Out ( 'Have a Jolly day at Jollibee!'). The place next door had gone under, and they were removing all the signage. It had been a pricey shabu-shabu and bar. The new owner bought it only a few months back. I think it was the virus that ruined his nice place (and maybe he had borrowed from the bank as well). Rents are usually 10k a month! On the way home, I saw that another business (a short term loan/check cashing place) had gone out after at least 5 years in business. Oh no. Maybe the spam is really going to hit the fan (economy). We shall see..."
My friend Mikey in Iowa also dropped me a note yesterday.
"Things here are okay, so far," he said. "The COVID count is still at 10. There seems to be more and more people 'out and about' like there was no pandemic. Nobody is wearing their masks, only the employees at Walmart. Even the post office guy doesn't wear a mask. The delivery people, UPS, USPS, and Fedex, all are without masks, but they just drop off any packages they have for us and go. There's no contact at all. They even stopped knocking on the door. We keep an eye out for them so the packages don't sit out too long. Sometimes the mail person will put any packages that don't fit in the mailbox in our car. That's great. It keeps it from prying eyes."
Speaking of Mikey, just the day before he sent the note, I received three big boxes from him. What the heck? At first I thought they were plants or seeds from he and his friend Ray's home grown seed business. But when I looked inside--ZOWIE! It was an amazing explosion of tiki!
There were assorted effluvia from several tiki bars, like a napkin, coaster and swizzle sticks.
In addition to that, there were four (!?!?!) tiki mugs.
One mug looked like a large, oval shell with an octopus hugging it from Munktiki (out of Astoria, Oregon).
Another was shaped like an evil mermaid.
There was an older skull-shaped mug (complete with a handle in the back).
And a newer Trader Vic's pineapple mug with a straw hole.
Zowie! I don't know where Mikey found all of that. It was beyond super swell of him to send it my way. THANK YOU, Mikey! Golly--what an amazing surpriuse. It was like getting a tiki fix without having to travel to a tiki bar to do so. Whoo hoo! I loved it (despite the mess-Ha!)
Later that day, my friend Shookie called and wanted to know if I had gotten the present she had sent. Huh? After the mail lady delivered the presents from Mikey, I didn't even think about going out to look in the mailbox, too. So, I put my pants on and went out to look.
Oh my stars! How tiki-licious! The tiki gods really did smile on me Monday. In addition to the mugs and bar goodies from Mikey, Shook sent me a little tiki ornament from Disneyworld...with light up torches! How groovy! THANK YOU, Shookie! You're a doll.
I haven't been buying movie posters, but I have been "playing" with them. I framed my military re-issue poster for THE WOLF MAN as well as for an obscure zombie movie poster, CORPSE EATERS.
These I hung up in my bedroom right outside of my bathroom.
On Monday, the tree man came to give me an estimate for removing the tree that split apart. I tried to take a sneaky picture of him through the blinds to show that he was not wearing a mask (!!!), but I accidentally cut off his head. Oops.
I wore the new mask that my friend Scott Nicholson had sent me. His wife made it.
The tree will be removed later this morning---and it's only costing $275, which I thought was a great deal. I just have to make sure Shirley is out of the way when they come...
Yesterday was my appointment at my cardiologist's office. I was having an ultrasound done of my legs, to see why my right foot is so swollen.
I was the first patient of the day, arriving at 7:30 for my 8 a.m. appointment. But, even as I sat there (for more than an hour) and other patients came and went, it still never got very crowded inside (and it is usually packed in there).
Inside of the exam room, I was told to remove my shoes, socks and pants. I was given a nifty (NOT) pair of paper shorts to put on in their place.
As I lay on the exam bed, I noticed this note tacked to the ceiling. Ha!
She examined both legs, but I won't get the results until June 15th.
Afterwards, I had some errands to run.
I tried to go to the bank in Old Town Clovis, but it was closed (not opening until 10 due to special hours for the outbreak). I drove through Old Town a bit before heading home. I was shocked to see people clustered together without masks on. One woman walked up to another woman in front of a coffee shop and hugged her. Yikes!
I decided to go to another bank branch closer to my home as 10 a.m. drew nearer. People were wearing masks (they are required to in the bank anyway).
We were lined up every six feet to get in the bank. My goodness. This was the first time I had to wait to get in since this whole mess started.
But I stood on my "x" (look how fat my right foot is...almost couldn't get it in the shoe!) and waited my turn... and got my banking done.
After the bank, I got a call from my new doctor, the one who will be doing my muscle biopsy. Apparently, Fresno's COVID 19 case numbers are still on the rise. The surgery center where the muscle biopsy will be performed, deemed my procedure non urgent...and postponed it. UGH! I was so close to getting it...now my hopes are dashed once more. This is sooooo UNFAIR!!!! I'm so bummed.
Later today, the tree man will be coming to remove the tree. I'm going to have to keep a certain tortoise occupied or corralled up while that happens.
Stay SAFE! Stay SHELTERED! Stay ALIVE!
CHEERS!
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