On Wednesday alone, 45,557 people in the United States tested positively for the coronavirus. That is the all-time record...so far. There are 26 states reporting rising numbers of cases. We now have 2,422,310 confirmed cases of the virus here in the US with 124,416 deaths, with an adjusted new model showing 180,000 deaths by October.
While the rest of the developed Western world seems to be beating the virus, this graph shows how we are getting clobbered by it.
For the first time in nearly two months, the White House will hold a Coronavirus Task Force meeting headed by Mike Pence later this morning. (I wonder if the president will bother to show up?)
A new report suggests that the coronavirus has proven to be 49 times more deadly than the flu.
VIRUS NEWS:
At his rally in Oklahoma last Saturday, the president said he wanted to slow the testing down. A government official said he was joking, despite the fact 122,000 are dead. Is joking appropriate? The president later confirmed that he was not joking about wanting to slow down testing. In fact, the Trump Administration is cutting federal funding for COVID 19 testing. (Perhaps he can start by cutting the precautionary testing that is done for anyone who comes near him?)
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (Why isn't he running for president?) is critical of Trump's handling of the virus, stating that "denial is not a life strategy."
Two more staffers at Trump's rally in Oklahoma last weekend tested positive for the virus. That's a total of 8--so far--who have the virus. In addition, "dozens" of secret service personnel were told to self-quarantine as a precautionary measure following the Tulsa rally as well.
Democrats have modified their convention in regards to the virus outbreak. The plan now calls for it to be mostly a virtual event.
A Government Accountability Office has found widespread delays in the government's response to the coronavirus.
Pelosi and McConnell have selected someone to run the Coronavirus Oversight Commission. The post sat unfilled for three months.
The Dow plummeted 700 points recently due to the increased viral outbreaks across the country.
Trump is allegedly voicing support for a second stimulus check (so he can slap his name all over it again and make it look like it is from him personally?)
The Pentagon has shelled out $71 million for a device to inject a vaccine into the skin...even though the vaccine is still in experimental stages.
Dr. Anthony Fauci is cautiously optimistic that a vaccine may be ready by the end of 2020. However, in the mean time, he is warning that more and more young people are having complications.
Will a vaccine be ready before the 2020 November election? It's possible, according to this article.
A Chinese firm has been given the okay to start trials on a vaccine they are developing.
The National Institute of Health is claiming co-ownership to the vaccine that Moderna is working on.
When a vaccine is finally available, who will get it first?
Dexamethasone, the steroid that has proven effective at fighting COVID 19, is in short supply and is in danger of running out.
Metformin, the diabetes drug, could be effective in reducing coronavirus deaths in women, a new report says.
Gilead has started human trials on an inhaled form of Remdesivir, the drug that helps patients suffering from COVID 19.
A study done in Wuhan, China says that there may be no immunity to the coronavirus.
With the pandemic occurring, many states are considering voting by mail. The president and his administration keep blasting this plan, claiming it will cause voter fraud. Is the president secretly looking for an excuse to blame losing in November (should he lose)?
Eighteen states are now requiring residents to wear face masks in public.
In Palm Beach County in Florida, at a hearing to make face masks mandatory, several vocal residents who were not happy with the ordinance, expressed their concerns verbally. Many seemed unhinged, deranged, and seemed to be totally regurgitating misinformation spread by conservative news outlets.
New research shows how conservative media misinformation may have intensified the severity of the pandemic here. One report's headline reads: "Exposure to Sean Hannity may be lethal, studies on COVID 19 suggest." That may account for the results of a new poll that shows 61% of republicans think the worst of the virus is behind us while 76% of democrats feel the worst is yet to come.
Republican senators are alarmed by the increase in the virus here in the US and have started pushing the president to step up his response and to start wearing a mask.
Larry Kudlow says that a second wave of the virus is not coming. Kudlow is the White House economic adviser--NOT a doctor or a scientist, so that tells you something right there.
The CDC has broadened its guidelines for COVID 19 for those who are at risk. The CDC now thinks an estimated 20 million US citizens, about 6% of the population, has been infected--many just not diagnosed. It has also added three more symptoms to the list that COVID 19 sufferers may experience.
For every report that says the virus is weakening, I find other reports that dispute that or say it is getting strong. Weaker or stronger, other reports say that because it mutates, it has become far more infectious.
Trump promised to shield COVID patients from high hospital bills. That is not happening.
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are imposing 14-day quarantines on visitors from within the US who are traveling from states with high virus outbreak numbers.
Trump is heading to New Jersey this weekend to visit his golf course. The New Jersey governor has mandated a quarantine for visitors from virus-heavy areas. The White House has stated that Trump is not a regular citizen and does not have to obey the rule.
The European Union is considering barring US travelers because of our poor virus response and infection rate.
United Airlines has shared their safety features for flying in the age of the pandemic.
On Tuesday, LAX began trying out passenger temperature screenings for all passengers before flights.
In Chicago, mobile COVID-19 testing sites have helped test more citizens.
The pandemic created a desperate drive for people to get hand sanitizer. The FDA has a warning out about 9 brands of sanitizer that are toxic.
Pausing cancer treatments during the pandemic could lead to another public health crisis.
The pandemic could lead to 500,000 fewer US births.
Pregnant women with COVID 19 are five times more likely to be hospitalized.
Is it safe to send kids back to daycare yet? here is what one article says.
A new study suggests that the virus may trigger diabetes in some people.
Tesla gave workers an option of staying home in order not to risk COVID 19 infection...then sent out termination notices.
Seniors in affordable housing are more vulnerable to the virus, a new study reports.
A man who lives in Washington DC ran 218 miles over 7 days to Pennsylvania so he could see his "nana" after she was stricken with COVID 19.
A teenager in Florida died of COVID 19 two days after her 17th birthday.
The world's fastest computer is researching the spread of the virus.
Before his Teens for Trump speaking engagement in Arizona, the president visited the construction site of his border wall as a distraction from the pandemic, claiming that the wall is holding back the virus. Idiot.
STATES:
More and more, states are seeing an increase (NOT a decrease as the president would have you believe) in COVID 19 numbers, with the three most populated states seeing record numbers. More and more, states are slowing their reopenings.
Maine had 52 new cases yesterday, the highest number for the state in two weeks.
New Jersey is seeing virus case loads rising in 16 counties.
The Lt. governor of North Carolina is planning on suing the governor over shutdown orders.
The mayor of Statesboro, Georgia announced a more than 100% increase in case numbers in less than a 2 week period.
Florida is getting hit hard with more than 5,000 new cases reported yesterday. Many republican leaders there are doing a 180 and urging caution. The numbers of young people getting it in the state are skyrocketing. Restaurants in the state have been closing up again because regular customers or employees have been testing positive. The mayor of Miami says his city is not going to phase 3 because the numbers of infections there have increased greatly. A former state data collection official says that the state is manipulating the numbers to look better than the grim picture there actually is.
At least 51 people caught the coronavirus at a bar in Michigan. Statewide, Michigan reported 353 new cases just yesterday, for a state total of 62,306. Deespite the rising numbers, a big floating event, the Jobbie Nooner, is still going on as planned---but police will not be monitoring social distancing.
Minnesota added 365 cases yesterday, for a total of 34,123 in the state. 187 of those new cases were from an Amazon fulfillment center.
Louisiana saw more than 1,000 new cases added in on Tuesday.
South Dakota is starting to see ever more increases in COVID 19 numbers with the addition of 60 cases yesterday, for a grand total of 6.479 and 87 deaths.
Kansas City, Missouri is considering making face masks mandatory.
In Oklahoma, the cases of virus exceeded 11,000 on Tuesday.
The governor of Texas warned that tougher action will be needed if the number of infections and number of hospitalizations in the state keep rising. A surprise birthday party in the state left 18 members of one family, including two seniors and a woman fighting breast cancer, positive for the virus. A spring break trip to Mexico led to 64 coronavirus cases in Texas. And 300 teenagers may have been exposed at an event called Pongfest. The state has since put a pause on further reopenings.
Colorado is expecting to add 500,000 people to its Medicaid system due to the virus.
Protesters in Utah marched against further restrictions as masks are now required in Salt Lake City. The states virus case load increased by 590 yesterday.
Trump visited Arizona on Tuesday night and spoke to a crowd of 3,000 youthful Trump supporters (not social distancing and not wearing masks)... the same day he was there, the state saw a record number of new cases. Some restaurants in the Phoenix have closed due to COVID 19 outbreaks among employees or customers. Yesterday, the state had 3,056 cases...for a grand total of 43,443 total.
Washington state is now requiring people to wear masks in public.
A seafood processing plant in Alaska was the scene of an outbreak that infected at least 12 workers.
Hawaii plans to reopen for tourism to visitors who test negative in August.
GLOBAL:
There are 9,609,844 cases of the virus around the world. Despite the pandemic across the globe, the world is reopening anyway. However, the United States' reputation has diminished greatly due to our lack of response to the virus. Europe is starting to see new cases as well...which has the World Health Organization concerned.
Germany is seeing a new outbreak. One German state is back on lockdown after an outbreak at a meat processing plant.
In the UK, like at the White House, the daily virus briefings from 10 Downing Street have been canceled. Fox News showed thousands of people visiting England's beaches recently, defying the country's social distancing rules.
India has seen record numbers of new confirmed cases nearly every day.
In Central Peru, two nurses alone are caring for hundreds of indigenous coronavirus patients.
Despite South America being overwhelmed with the virus, Uruguay and Paraguay seem to have kept the virus at bay---for now.
CALIFORNIA:
California broke a record with 7,000 new cases reported on Tuesday. The governor says that a staggering 25% of the states total number of infections happened in the last two weeks.
The 15 counties where the virus is getting worse? A recent article was posted. Fresno County was among those on the list.
Despite the huge spike in the state, San Francisco's virus numbers are staying steady.
One news agency listed 5 bad signs that the state is heading in the wrong direction.
Masks are now mandatory (although they are not being enforced here...Jeepers!). Here are the current and former governors of California (including Arnold Schwarzenegger--who I had forgotten had once been governor!) doing a public service announcement about wearing masks:
Hospitalizations in the state have reached a new high.
Four Southern California counties (Ventura, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino) that allowed restaurants to open early are seeing huge upticks in cases.
Disneyland has postponed its reopening. July was going to be the new start date, but the park has paused that plan for now.
Yosemite has closed its campgrounds again after a spike in cases in California.
A man in Shasta County infected a lot of people at a large family gathering.
San Diego County is looking into a possible outbreak of the virus centered around a casino there.
San Quentin prison is a hot spot for the virus outbreak.
The California Ag industry may be facing an $8 billion loss this year.
LOCAL:
There are 10,904 cases of the virus here in Central California. My county (Fresno) has 3,892.
108 inmates in the Fresno County Jail have tested positive for the virus.
The Central California Blood Bank is looking for virus survivors to donate plasma.
There is a new, free COVID 19 testing center in West Fresno.
A Fresno State research team is looking into how viruses spread on buses.
Edwards Cinemas in Riverpark is scheduled to reopen July 10. We will see if it happens...
CREATIVITY:
This is delightful...a take-off on Madonna's MATERIAL GIRL:
Aladdin and Jasmine break up:
Jane Wiedlin of The GoGos, has a parody of sorts, of the classic song FEVER:
Just in time for lockdown, it's the new Quarantine Barbie Dream House:
The Quarantine Kitchen guy is back with Cow vs Deer:
MAIL:
My dear friend Christa sent a note on Monday afternoon.
"After three months, my friend (LuAnn) and I tried an early dinner at El Cholo," she said. "It was wonderful. Servers wore masks, tables were set six feet apart and the food was delicious. We both had a cheese enchilada and a chile relleno. LuAnn had a regular margarita and I had a margarita straight up.
"We sat on the patio, which was more pleasant and probably safer. The inside was available too and the tables were spaced out properly. The food was very good and the service excellent.
"It's not something I plan to do frequently but it was fun to be together with friends once again. Now back to enjoying my balcony at home.
"There are some good things that come out of a pandemic. People are more appreciative again, of each other and of what they have, more polite."
I had a quick note from my friend Rosa in London.
"I have been trying to cope with our British lockdown," she said. "Nothing is happening over here, so Boris intends to reopen shops and the economy next week. I lost track of what to do or what they say. I don't think people are paying attention to what he says."
I had an email from my friend David in Australia:
"I realized I haven't messaged to update about the fantastically bad run of health Pablo and I had," he said. "Two weeks ago, while bending to pick up the lid from the trash can, I ruptured a disc in my back. I already had a bulging disc which gave me trouble from time to time.I am 6 foot tall and am already missing one lower lumber vertebrae (born without it)... But lordy, I have never experienced such pain.
"I could not even move an inch to the side in bed without excruciating pain. Doctor game me endone. And it made me so sick (I took a total of two). So I just had to force myself to try and walk And now, two weeks on I am nearly back to normal; still being careful when I sit or stand or roll over.
"Then, last week, Pablo was running a high temp of 38... I cooked him with a wet cloth and then within an hour his temp dropped to just below 34 (borderline hypothermic). So I tried warming pads... and then his temp spiked to over 40. We went to the ER and spent the day in hospital. We were ushered to the COVID wing, because he had sore throat as one of his complaints.Well, they pumped him full of penicillin and steroids and it turned out to be a very bad case of tonsilitis and now he is on the mend.
"Pablo's birthday was Friday and we finally went out to dinner (first time since lockdown) to Pastuso, a Peruvian restaurant. It was great. Remember we had booked a trip to Chile and Peru for October, which is almost 100% unlikely to go through now.
"Victoria had five days of new cases, over 20 per day. So they are now reinstating some of our restrictions and some suburbs here with the cases may be shut down even further. I'm not in one of the affected suburbs, thankfully.
"And ... Just like that, the panic buying has started again here in Victoria. I was just getting used to seeing toilet paper again."
My friend Eric lives down in Costa Mesa. Eric's thing is selling vintage clothing on eBay. He sent me a quick note:
"Here are things from my viewpoint," he said. "Most of the thrift stores have reopened, but I have heard employees telling people four times that they are not accepting donations at this time. People have been saving this stuff up for a long time. They'll probably throw it all out. Since they aren't accepting/processing donations, guess what. There is no new inventory ( just what was left from before April). They have the same inventory every week, so there's not much point in going. You have to have fresh inventory to keep us in the hunt. It's so bad, I had to go a long ways away on Tuesday to replenish. (I'm having best months ever for sales.) Only the few independent thrifts are putting new stuff out. Goodwill ( the big Kahuna) is not.
"Yesterday, I read that Apple is closing it's Dallas stores for 2 weeks-- so who's next? Souplantation is gone forever. They are auctioning all equipment from all the chains right now.
"It sounds like the virus is NOT going away. No need to call for 2nd waves--we'll never get over the 1st ( until the vaccine!)."
I had the quickest note from Mauro in Italy. He also included some pictures of he and his wife, Natalia.
"I'm in holiday in the South Italy," he said.
How nice that it is safe enough to go on holiday now in Italy. He didn't say where they went, but how fun for them.
SHIRLEY:
I don't know what is up with Shirley. On Monday, she didn't leave her house all day again. On Tuesday, she did go out finally, but she walked very, very slowly (even for a tortoise). She came back in around 5 that day and went to her box. I let her be, and went to go work on something else. I could hear her rustling around in her box. Finally, I went to check on her and saw that she had pushed her box all of the way out of her corner. Silly girl.
Shirley was so stir crazy on Wednesday. She walked to the sliding door, but didn't want out. She went back to her corner to sleep. I left her alone, but later heard something glass falling. I went and looked. Shirley was on the other side of the refrigerator. She had knocked a bottle I had sitting on the floor over onto herself. She was clearly startled and scared. I removed the bottle and all of the other bottles in that corner. But she was clearly freaked out. She went back to her regular corner but continued to be very restless.
I fed her. To my surprise, she ate...extremely well. In fact, she made a big piggy mess of her food. It almost looks like she ate part of the paper plate it was sitting on (but she didn't).
Soon after leaving a big mess for me to clean up, she was on the move again. She didn't want outside. (It was 104 degrees out there. Who could blame her?) Instead she went back to the far corner by the refrigerator and went to sleep.
She stayed there all night. On Thursday, I put her outside before I went to an appointment in the morning. It was 86 degrees then. I came home two hours later (when it was already in the low 90s). I found her and put her by the sliding glass door. Did she want to stay out or come back in--the choice was hers. She opted to come in and she went right back to that same corner by the refrigerator. I fed her, but she didn't eat a thing. She's slept mostly--and pooped once. When she has been awake, she's tried to dig through the tile base boards around the perimeter. Naughty girl.
I know she is a wild creature and should be outside. But it is hot. Even though she is a desert tortoise, they burrow underground to have cool lairs to go into when it is hot. The ground at my house is too hard for her to dig into...so a corner of my kitchen (or a cardboard box) is the closest things she'll have to an underground lair.
ME:
I had a lot of medical appointments this week. They turned out to be a waste of time...
On Monday, I had an appointment with my cardiologist. When I got there, I was again surprised at how empty the usually packed waiting room was.
In California, masks are mandatory. But everywhere I go, people try and pull a fast one. Like taking them off as soon as they enter the store, or pulling them down below their noses or chins, or, like this guy, only leave it dangling from one ear. Grrr.
The doctor told me that there was still blood flow to the vein halfway down my calf. My left leg looked okay, he said.
However, I had to tell him I'd had my leg biopsy on my left leg. My right foot was now swollen bigger than my left foot ever got.
So...he said to come back in two months when the swelling should go down and we'd talk about options for my swollen feet then. Strike 1.
I then went to the hospital where I work to get some labs drawn for the immunologist/rheumatologist. The place was packed. I was dreading waiting as I did not have an appointment. However, when I finally went to check in, it was discovered that the lab orders were not signed by the doctor...and I couldn't get the labs drawn until they were signed. I'd have to get that taken care of and then come back. Strike 2!
Later that day, I had to get 500 mls of blood sucked out of me at my hematologist's office. Joy...
Everyone was masked and screened before entering. I had my pre-labs drawn (they check various levels of things, such as my hemoglobin and iron) and was sent upstairs for the big phlebotomy.
The phlebotomy involves a very long and thick needle. Getting poked with it is not fun. The nurse who was sticking me got it on the first try, but she had to wiggle it around a bit before she hit a gusher vein. The vein she found was very close to the surface, she she had to hold it (instead of taping it down to my arm). We got about half of what we needed, when the needle popped out. I felt something warm running down my arm. Yep, blood was getting all over everything. Ugh! We got it stopped and cleaned up...and then I had to get poked again to get the other 250 mls. The whole ordeal left a nasty bruise on my arm (that looks way worse than it does below). Foul!
On Tuesday morning, I had a telehealth appointment with Dr. Maser, the endocrinologist surgeon who had done the muscle and nerve biopsies on me. Early that morning, I had a call from the doctor's assistant. It seems that my samples were sent to UCLA after the procedure two weeks earlier--and the results had not come back yet. Did I want to go ahead with the appointment? Because my foot was so swollen and my leg had that huge numb patch, I thought it would be wise to speak with the doctor.
We had our scheduled Zoom appointment. I showed her my incision and told her about the numbness. She said that was sometimes expected and hopefully most of it would come back. As for my foot swelling, she thought that was normal as well. She didn't think she'd damaged any veins that would disrupt blood return.
As for the biopsy findings, she said that since they were not back yet, Dr. Kazaryan (the immunologist/rheumatologist) would go over them with me. Dr Maser, who is an endocrinologist/surgeon, said she could read the results to me, but would have no idea what to do with them--as that was Dr. Kazaryan's thing. She asked if I had an appointment scheduled with her already. I told her I did on July 13. She looked at her charting and said she didn't think that was right. She saw a conflict of some sort. She told me to contact Dr. Kazaryan's office to confirm.
I called Dr. Kazaryan's office and found out that my July 13th appointment was indeed canceled. It had be rescheduled...for August 3rd. UGH! I was at least able to get them to fix my unsigned lab orders. My only hope is that when I visit my primary physician on July 23, that he has access to my results and can tell me the findings (if any). But--argh!!!! How frustrating. Strike 3!
Tuesday night I treated myself to an excursion to the drive in movies in Madera again.
This time, before the movies they played vintage snack bar ads. That was kind of fun.
Also this time, instead of popcorn or a corn dog, I tried the pizza--made fresh on the spot. I got to pick my own toppings. It only took about 15 minutes and was not bad at all.
The double feature was AMERICAN GRAFFITI and JAWS. I had not seen AMERICAN GRAFFITI since I was a kid. JAWS I had seen several times, of course...but it is always a treat to see it on the big screen. It was hot, but it cooled down as the night wore on and there was a nice breeze. It was a delightful evening altogether.
I was surprised to see Magen...and her pregnant belly. She was excited to see me--and wanted to give me a hug. I did it without thinking...and then was a bit mortified by what I had done...especially after she told me that, because of her pregnancy, her doctor didn't want her in the ED...so she was pre-screening surgery patients for the coronavirus. Argh!!! But hey, it happened. We'll be okay...I think/hope. It was super good to see her. Her baby, a girl, is due October 27th. Maybe they'll name her COVID?
That's kind of it for me. I do need a haircut in the worst way, though. I have some haircut clippers somewhere...but can't find them. So, I ordered a cheap-o copy from eBay. It's tiny. The box is smaller than my hand.
I plan to attempt my do-it-yourself haircut later today. Yes, I'll take pictures/video. O' the horror. This is soooooo NOT going to go well. Ha!
Stay SAFE. Stay SHELTERED. Stay ALIVE.
CHEERS!
Continue to the next part HERE.
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