There are now 5.4 million cases of the coronavirus around the world. 345
,000 have died globally. Here, in the United States, there are 1.6 million cases and we are closing in on 100,000 deaths.
President Trump was critical of President Obama playing golf during the very beginning of the Ebola crisis. When we had our first confirmed case of the coronavirus on January 20th, the president played golf five more times, up into early March, before initiating the nationwide emergency. This past Saturday and Sunday, in the midst of this horrible pandemic in which nearly 100,000 people in the US are dead, our president took time off from his endless tweeting to play golf. Outrageous!
As many Americans flocked to the beach and other areas, several states have seem spikes in the number of virus cases.
The Washington DC area has seen a very high jump in cases.
A hair stylist in Missouri with Coronavirus worked while she was symptomatic and exposed dozens of clients to the virus. A second hairstylist, who was also sick, infected even more clients. There is also another situation that could lead to an eminent outbreak in the state. Video shows a huge crowd at a pool party in Missouri over the weekend, despite the state's social distancing rules.
New York is still having deaths, but the numbers of daily deaths are slowly dropping.
Massachusetts has had more than 1,100 new cases and has had more deaths. Things in the state are still worse in Boston. The mayor said that social distancing will need to continue for another 6-8 months.
A harmless high school swim party in Arkansas became the source of a small outbreak of the virus there.
On Saturday, North Carolina had it's highest one-day spike in cases.
South Carolina's numbers are also on the rise.
In Mississippi, a church that defied coronavirus restrictions was burned to the ground. A spray painted note at the scene read "Bet you stay home now you hypokrits."
Deaths more than doubled in Ohio on Saturday.
Wisconsin has had 500 deaths and counting...
In Washington, an outbreak at a food factory has put the quash on one county's Phase 2 opening.
Idaho just saw its largest spike in cases since early April.
Things are worsening in Alabama while the state reopens.
The Philadelphia Macaroni Company's pasta factory in Spokane, WA had an outbreak of the virus there.
Remdesivir apparently is not enough alone to battle COVID 19. Although it appears to work, other medications are also needed.
Can marijuana prevent infection or help treat the virus? Some researchers seem to think so.
The president has said he has finished his hydroxychloroquine regime to ward off COVID 19. (Hello? It's NOT a vaccine...) Not that the rest of us needed any more reassurance the drug is useless and/or dangerous, a new study on it published its report Friday stating that the use of the drug "decreased in-hospital survival and an increased frequency of ventricular arrhythmias when used for treatment of COVID-19."
More than 100 companies are working on a vaccine.
The first human trials of a vaccine in China show a rapid immune response and few side effects, reportedly.
The Atlantic posted a video detailing COVID 19 survivors ICU delirium while on the ventilators. What they endured is pretty shocking:
As most restaurants remain closed, rats are getting more brazen in their search for food.
A high school in Texas celebrated its graduating seniors in a very unusual and novel way---with a ceremony at the local drive in. Another Texas high school had volunteers step up to be "Fairy GRAD-mothers". Still another Texas high school made special deliveries to their senior students as a special graduation surprises.
Several online posts have gone viral saying hand sanitizer left in a car can explode. While the jury is still out on that, heat can cause the alcohol in the sanitizer to evaporate, rendering it useless.
GLOBAL:
A church service in Germany left more than 100 people infected, despite social distancing being enforced and special cleaning having been done.
There are now more than 100,000 cases across Africa.
A study done in Singapore suggests that people with the virus are no longer infectious after 11 days.
In Haiti, voodoo priests are preparing to fight the coronavirus.
Chile is now starting to be overwhelmed by the virus as the country now has more than 70,000 cases.
The indigenous people of Brazil are dying from the virus at alarming rates. Brazil is now second only to the United States in coronavirus cases.
CALIFORNIA:
Los Angeles has seen a steady decline in infections, hospitalizations, and deaths.
Orange County has had an uptick in cases and deaths, though.
Humboldt County is easing off on reopening plans after seeing a sudden spike in cases.
A Farmer John meat packing plant near Vernon, CA has had a bad outbreak of the virus.
Many flocked to Pismo Beach over the weekend. Most visitors, at least, tried to social distance.
The Republican National Committee is suing the state of California because it plans to use mail-in ballots for the November election.
LOCAL:
In the Central Valley, there are 3,956 cases, of which, 1,437 have recovered. We have also had 108 deaths.
115 more prisoners tested positive in Avenal State Prison.
Fresno City College held a drive-thru ceremony for its graduating nursing students.
Some Fresno restaurants are reopening...with modifications in place for safety.
A nursing home in Atwater had families visit them in a drive by parade.
CREATIVITY:
The lockdown creativity continues! Here are some things I recently stumbled upon...
This was pretty good. I don't think it was a parody, but it was still clever and fun.
This guy made a parody medley of TV theme songs:
Here is a parody of Disney's MOANA:
The kid with his mom is back with a parody from FROZEN:
Here is another FROZEN parody (same song--different theme):
This guy tried to do a Cher parody:
This quarantined family with time on their hands (and an amazing supply of props/costumes) re-made the Time Warp number from THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW:
MAIL:
My friend Eric in Costa Mesa, CA had a stroke a while back. He goes to physical therapy. This is what he told me recently about what it is like there since the CDC said the virus doesn't generally seem to adhere to surfaces like they originally thought:
"The physical therapist I go to every Friday has stopped wiping down everything all day and just does one cleaning in the morning and night," he says. "They were cleaning everything that was touched in any way. If put a weight belt on your ankles, they had to spray down the weight. If you sat on a bench, they'd clean that, too. Both of the physical therapists were telling me how dried out their hands were. I'm sure they're glad that part is done."
Mikey in Iowa sent me an update as well:
"We are keeping busy with the seed store and getting this year's garden started," he says. "The post office guy likes that I've finally learned how to process my own postage and batch them. It saves him a lot of time weighing each one. It also saves me from standing there waiting for him to do that; less contact with people. They are staying really busy. It seems that people are shopping online more and more with this COVID.
"For some reason, there have been more and more wild cats out our way. I'm not sure if someone is dropping them off in the country, or they are reproducing on their own. Probably a little of both. We feed them in the winter, so they won't starve. Hopefully their numbers won't keep rising.
"We will be going to the vet for the dogs' yearly check-up. Hopefully now that businesses here are opening up, there won't be a rise in cases."
My friend Art in Boston dropped a quick text message:
"I was kidding last week about moving out of Massachusetts," he says. "But with this latest story (above in the Massachusetts section), it makes me want to seriously. Although, I fear they're be no escaping it. I can't dig a hole and hide under it!"
My mom lives in Coupeville on Whidbey Island. Her phone is messed up but she can still email from her tablet. She sent a quick note.
I drove through town," she says. "It was packed and open. There was no parking and very few people wearing masks. The Ice cream store line was packed (with no masks) way down the street."
SHIRLEY:
Shirley has her good days and bad days. She is usually up early and wanting out around 8 or so. Despite my continued insomnia, I've getting up early-ish to let her out. On Friday, she slept in until 10...even though I had gotten up at 8 to let her out. Yesterday, I had had a horrible night. I woke up around 7:30 and she was still asleep. I went back to sleep...and didn't wake up until just after 10 myself. She was back in her cardboard condo, pouting I suppose. She had left me a big poop in the middle of the dining room floor to show her annoyance with me. How DARE I sleep in? Geez.
ME:
On Friday and Saturday, although my street was fine, the city resurfaced my my road. It was loud, but I really didn't mind. I had nowhere to go and nothing to do anyway.
On Saturday, I had a Zoom call with Ricki and Erich and Robin and Skye. Robin (foreground, lower right) is Erich's cousin. Skye (behind Robin, of course) is her wife. We had a delightful call and gabbed for about 2 hours. We plan to have a "Survivors" party when this is all over. (Hopefully.)
Other than that, I had a fairly quiet weekend. I hope yours was nice as well.
Stay SAFE. Stay SHELTERED. Stay ALIVE. (It may seem like the start of summer vacation to the rest of the country...but the virus doesn't take vacations.)
CHEERS!
Continue to the next part HERE.
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