There are 5.6 million cases of the virus worldwide. There have been more than 350,000 deaths globally. Here, in the US, we have nearly 1.7 million cases.
As the U.S. death toll closes in on 100,000, the president is tweeting that states should open up again as soon as possible. A report on NPR reminds us that this is still "early" in the outbreak.
New York is one of those states starting to reopen, but Governor Cuomo warns his citizens that it is going to be a hard road to economic recovery. On the bright side, the state has seen their lowest day of deaths in nearly two months, it was reported yesterday.
Schools in New Jersey can hold graduation ceremonies in July...unless things change.
Connecticut is starting to see the number of hospitalization grow again.
Virginia had a record number of new cases yesterday, 1,615.
According to Fox News, an outbreak at a meat processing plant in North Carolina led to farmers euthanizing 1.5 million chickens.
Alabama's COVID 19 numbers are going up, up, up...but that didn't keep people away from the beaches or crowded restaurants (all without masks) in this shocking video report on CNN.
Florida has 52,000 cases of the virus and has a death toll of at least 2,259.
The virus and death count in Pennsylvania continue to rise.
Minnesota's ICUs have hit a new high in COVID 19 cases.
Illinois has more than 113,000 cases and has had more then 4,900 dead. However, the state saw it's first drop in deaths this past week. Workers in several Chicago-area McDonald's are suing the corporate burger giant for proper P.P.E. as the restaurants begin to reopen.
Sioux Falls, South Dakota's city council repealed the COVID 19 rules.
Recent spikes in the number of cases of the virus in central Oregon have been tied to large family and social gatherings.
Sun Valley, Idaho is a coronavirus hotspot.
A nursing home in Salt Lake City, Utah has become a shelter for the state's most vulnerable population. A veteran's center in the city has seen an outbreak among residents and staff.
As 17 states see their virus rates climb (including Georgia, Alabama, and California), people are gathering without masks--acting as if there wasn't a problem. Scary!
A virologist, known as China's "Bat Woman," warns that the coronavirus is "just the tip of the
iceberg" and that many other viruses are out there.
Many experts still say that a vaccine is still months, if not a year or more, away. However there have been some notable strides made towards a vaccine. Noravax is entering stage 1 of its trials. Merck says it has two vaccines it expects to move to human testing later this year. A patient who received Moderna's trial vaccine had an adverse reaction, but recovered.
The New York Stock Exchange reopened yesterday. The Dow has surged 530 points as news of promising vaccine progress fuels investor confidence.
Mask wearing is still an issue to some people. What's the big deal? Some believe that the virus is going away and won't come back. The president tweeted a picture of Joe Biden wearing a mask at a Memorial Day memorial service to belittle him. Biden called him an "absolute fool."
A video posted on Twitter, shows armed protesters in Kentucky, protesting for 2nd Amendment rights and to protest the lockdown, hung an effigy of the governor within sight of the governor's mansion. The governor responded, saying he was not going to be intimidated. He said he would continue to do the right thing for the people of Kentucky.
Joe Biden is pushing for rent forgiveness during the pandemic.
As the pandemic continues, schools are facing a financial nightmare.
The Tequila Fairy has been leaving bottles of tequila for those who lost their jobs due to COVID 19 in Wichita, Kansas.
Pizza Hut is giving graduates of the class of 2020 a free pizza in lieu of their graduations during the pandemic. Act quickly. Grads need to sign up for the coupon by Thursday.
GLOBAL:
South America has quickly become the global hot spot for the virus.
Brazil had 11,687 cases reported in a single day. The death toll is already at 23,400. Projections for the death toll there have risen to 125,000 by August. The country's president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has been dismissing the virus as being akin to the flu, has taken little responsibility for the massive outbreak. He does, however, wear a mask.
Chile has 74,000 cases and its health care system is "very close to the limit."
Peru's lockdown has been extended a 5th time. The country has nearly 120,000 cases and has had nearly 3,500 deaths.
Famed Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli revealed that he had COVID 19 in March, just before doing his Easter concert. He has since donated plasma to help battle the virus.
CALIFORNIA:
As the state reopens (Houses of worship and retail stores have been given the green light), the biggest concerns about the virus comes from "silent spreaders." Those who are asymptomatic can spread the virus without knowing it.
Barbershops and hair salons in the state opened yesterday in 47 counties.
A fish packing plant in Morgan Hill has had at least 38 employees test positive for the virus.
Similar to the strike at the Chicago McDonald's mentioned above, there was a strike at a couple of Bay Area McDonald's after employees were told to wear masks made of "dog diapers" (!?!) and after four employees and their families from an Oakland location got sick.
LOCAL:
Fresno's shelter-in-place laws ended on Tuesday.
Fresno Fashion Fair and all other retailers opened on Tuesday---with restrictions and safety measures.
The Tachi Palace Casino in Lemoore will reopen tomorrow. Chukchansi Gold & Casino near Coarsegold will reopen June 1st. Both will have new safety guidelines in place.
CREATIVITY:
The quarantine time creativity continues...
Here is a parody of the Chordettes classic song:
With so many unemployed, this parody is timely...
Two moms re-do Adele's HELLO?
Here is a FROZEN 2 parody:
And, with things reopening (SCARY!), here is a FROZEN parody:
Another virtual movie reunion, REUNITED APART, this time for the 1984 movie SPLASH, reunites Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, director Ron Howard and more...all done for a coronavirus-related charity. (Give if you can).
And SHAG has shared his 11th quarantine coloring page. (Dig the tiki mug!)
MAIL:
My friend Eric in Costa Mesa, CA sent a brief update. He had a stroke a while back and now makes his living selling items on eBay.
"Things have started to open up, but I think the big day will be June 1st ( with the exception, of course, of theme parks and restaurants)," he said.
"EBay is doing great. I may make a record this month, since there is still a week to go. This is the time to sell- people have stimulus checks and soon will have their tax returns, and a lot of people are still home.
"It's scary to go out. I have to to get inventory, etc, but if I didn't have to I'd prefer to stay in a bit longer.
"I mowed the lawn today. That may seem like nothing, but it is a great accomplishment. (My one muscle wanted me to stop so badly, but I wanted to complete it.)"
SHIRLEY:
Shirley has been...Shirley. On Monday, when she had not come back for her late afternoon/early evening bedtime, I went looking for her. She was under her favorite bushes (the ones she frequently climbs) near the fence. Okay, I thought, I'll let her hang out a while longer. An hour or so later, I checked on her again. She was still in the same spot. I let her stay. Just before dark, I went to check on her. She was still in the same spot. I needed to get her in because I didn't want her to get caught in the sprinklers. I pulled back the bushes and saw she was tilted. One leg was on the fence. I believe she got one of her toenails stuck in the fence boards.
I picked her up and put her on the patio. I put her equidistant from her igloo dog house or the sliding door into the house, letting her decide where she wanted to sleep. She chose the house. Fine. In she walked, making a (slow) beeline for her cardboard condo. But she didn't go in it. She went around the side of it and pushed the back end away from the wall, pushing it as far forward as she could before hitting the buffet table, There, in the corner behind the box and the cabinet beside it, she went to sleep.
After another bad night of sleep, I set my alarm to get up at 9. I am not only trying to reteach my body to sleep and get up at a decent hour, but I also knew Shirley gets up around then and would want out. However, that morning she must have woken up early...and we already knew she had woken up on the wrong side of the cardboard box. She had obviously been toodling around the kitchen. I have the board between the tiled kitchen/dining room and the carpeted hallway propped up with bar stools on either side. She had crawled underneath one, gotten stuck, and continues to walk around the room, dragging the stool on her back. Silly girl...
Usually when it gets hot (it was 102 yesterday), she wants to come back into the air conditioned house. I don't blame her. But yesterday she chose to just hang out in the shade. Every time I checked on her, she was under this one particular shrub. I took a picture of her napping there.
ME:
There hasn't been much to tell. Although the fence neighbors had a small gathering on Memorial Day and other neighbors down the street had a party (with very loud, oompah-oompah, tuba-booming mariachi music), my holiday was quiet. My friend Christa in Santa Monica called to check on me. I also talked to my friend Erich in San Leandro, CA. But that was about it.
Yesterday, for the bulk of the day I worked on this diary post.
I do have a doctor's appointment later today with my primary doctor. O' the joy... But I'm not expecting much from that.
I may make a Costco run tomorrow. It's about time for one.
Stay SAFE. Stay SHELTERED. Stay ALIVE.
CHEERS!
Continue to the next part HERE.
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