Not my Corona
by Jim Jackson
I decided to keep a daily log that details what I am going through during this Covid-19 Coronavirus problem.
Week one:
It started out like any other week, at least any other week when you are a retired senior. Boy, that still sounds strange to me! The retired senior part. How I got here that fast is amazing to me. Anyway, the week was normal even though we had heard about the Covid-19 Coronavirus and the problem in China and on cruise ships. But what the hell, this is America and we have the best of everything, and besides, we all think that we are invincible. It can’t happen to me; I can’t catch the damn virus so let those poor people off the boats and welcome them here. The president says that once the warm weather starts the virus will disappear.
We have only had one or two cases here in California and with our healthy lifestyle, we should be immune to most health issues, even if we are retired seniors. Business as usual, except many sporting events were being canceled, and Disneyland was closing. Italy got a major hit of Covid-19 but we are unfazed.
Our sister-in-law recently got a job in the San Francisco Bay Area and commutes back and forth from Carmichael twice a week. It’s Saturday and she invited us to have lunch for our anniversary that’s coming up later this month. We accept and go to a wonderful Ramon restaurant in downtown Sacramento. Afterward, we treat her to ice cream at Leatherbees. Nida got two helpings because they messed up her original order.
That week we went to a concert at the Harris Center in Folsom. We got to see Kofi Baker, the son of famed Cream drummer Ginger Baker, perform a bunch of Cream and Clapton songs as a tribute to his dad who recently departed.
During the week we also went out to a few wildlife refuges and took a ton of photos and had a nice picnic while we watched birds.
Week 2:
We have heard that some people were causing quite the stir at Costco and Walmart trying to hoard, of all things, toilet paper. Police had to be called.
I went out and got a haircut and even splurged and had my beard trimmed.
A neighbor tells me that he went to our local Raley’s store and the parking lot was packed. Shelves were empty and he couldn’t understand how people could behave this way, it’s as if they thought it was the apocalypse. He’s a retired doctor and seen it all and he thinks the yearly flu kills more people. And of course, at least so far, heart disease and cancer kill more people every year and we seem hardly fazed by those stats (650k and 600k respectively).
Our sister-in-law says that she also went shopping and the shelves were bare as people were panic buying. Not a roll of toilet paper to be found she says.
I haven’t been keeping tabs on our supply of toilet paper so in a panic, I do a walk-thru and find we have about a month's supply. But I am a bit worried if people are hoarding toilet paper that you can buy any day in massive bulk quantities, what else are they thinking about hoarding?
Well, I find out that they are hoarding all sorts of things including milk, baby formula, Lysol, hand sanitizer and even bread!
March 17, 2020:
Most schools have closed indefinitely, all major sporting events have been either postponed or canceled altogether. Funny how little you hear any more about the death of Kobe Bryant. Sports and rich athletes just don’t seem all that important in times when getting a roll of toilet paper seems impossible to obtain.
The other day Trump announced that he was putting his vice-president, Mike Pence in charge of the Covid-19 problem, including the dissemination of information related to the virus. His first act in this role was to tell the news media that he didn’t want any information getting out unless he approved of it. Most people just shook their heads at the sheer stupidity of this administration. Then Trump went out and babbled a bunch of unintelligible garbage at a news conference!
Not feeling like I want to face large crowds of panic-buying people, we decide to go on-line and order a few things to get us by until this whole mess blows over. We ordered some staple items like milk, bread, laundry soap and of course since it was St. Patrick’s Day this week—some corned beef and cabbage. They gave us a window for the next day to simply drive up, get our groceries and avoid going inside where who knows who might be lurking about with that bad old Coronavirus just eager to jump on us.
March 18, 2020:
Our window to pick-up our grocery order at Raley’s was from 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm. We arrived and let them know that we were in the designated parking spot. The nice lady came out with just a very small amount of our order. She apologized and told us that we should have come early in the morning as most of the stuff is gone by now. I said, but we ordered it last night and you took our order. She said she was sorry again just as one of her fellow Raley’s employee was walking out to her car with a package of toilet paper. She acted like she had just gotten the trophy for winning the Miss Universe contest. We wound up going inside where all the nasty bugs are floating around and found similar stuff that we had ordered but were told they were out. So much for online shopping.
People are now telling other people on the internet how they should wash their hands. Geez, my mom drilled that into me seven decades ago to the point that I thought I was a germophobic. I guess she was right about something else!
March 19, 2020:
The garbage people picked up our bulk waste this morning which was a huge pile of tree branch trimmings. And honestly, I was debating to keep it as I might need it in case our wonderful government decides they don’t have gas and electricity or the people to get it to us. Perhaps I could use them for kindling wood for a campfire? Oh well, they took it before I drove myself crazy worrying about it.
I begin to wonder since we hear nothing from the Trump and Pence masterminds about where our country stands in the fight against the virus. The amount of people with the virus in China seems to be going down a bit. But having dealt with China, I don’t believe all that they say. China and Russia are notorious about distributing information, especially if it makes them look stupid, which it usually does.
My friend Dan Hiller was recently in the Philippines with his wife and son visiting her family. He had to come home for work, and she stayed there. Now all domestic flights in the Philippines are canceled, and she cannot get to Manila for a flight back home to the USA. I am ever so thankful that all of this bullshit didn’t happen while we were in the Philippines earlier this year. Not sure how I would survive in a foreign country under these circumstances.
We went to Walmart later tonight and bought whatever we could, mostly stuff that a long shelf life like soup and canned items. I bought a small container of whipping cream. We left most of the nonperishables either in our car in the garage or on the kitchen floor just in case those nasty bugs had found their way into our groceries. We will give them a 24-hour isolation period just in case.
I washed my hands about a thousand times today.
March 20, 2020:
It occurs to me that my understanding of two items is woefully lacking. One, I have no idea why we buy so much crap from Costco in large bulk, and yet they run out of toilet paper. I mean I guess that I have gotten used to going there and buying so much of one item that I am sick of that item in no time and waste huge amounts of it just to get rid of it.
The second item that I have little understanding is the whole concept of germs, viruses, and bacteria. I worked for a time at a company that made blood scanners and my department was not only responsible for making them but repairing them when they failed, which a lot did before I went to work there. As a well-trained germophobic I was always afraid of nasty little bugs that I couldn’t see that may have attached themselves all over the defective blood scanners. These machines went largely to the vet market and some wound up in zoos and even to gorilla, orangutan and other primate refuge centers in Asia and Africa. I had heard that some even went to Aids research centers around the world including Africa.
When I first arrived at this company, my repair people were blowing off the machines with high-pressure air guns! I was alarmed and immediately outlawed this practice and had a central vacuum system installed. Anyway, the chief technology officer of the company, who I presumed had a doctorate in molecular biology, poo-pooed my concerns and gave me some shit about germs, viruses, bacteria and other invisible nasty bugs dying within a few hours, if not minutes, after finding their way to an “inert” object like our portable blood scanners. I called bullshit and never touched a used piece of equipment again and avoided the repairs department as often as I could.
These days we are told to stay indoors unless of an absolute emergency and to wash our hands a lot. It seems that of late I wash my hands a lot and I am starting to feel that my previous efforts as a self-proclaimed professional germophobic may not have been good enough and would probably never be good enough in the future after this virus goes away.
Talked to my mom, my kids, grandkids, brother, and sister, and the hard part about all of this is that we may not see each other in quite some time. Everyone is essentially sheltering in place.
I wonder if my shoes are picking up the virus when we go out for a walk around the block or if the mailman brought the virus to our front porch when he delivered the mail. Is it airborne? Can dogs track it or for that matter carry it? Can birds? Squirrels? Cats? This can drive a sane man cuckoo!
I made creme brulee today and in consideration of the potentially calamitous situation that we humans face, it almost felt like Marie Antoinette when she said, “let them eat cake!”
March 21, 2020:
Yesterday I spoke with my daughter Melanie. She is working from home as is her husband, a schoolteacher in Tracy. She mentioned that my granddaughter is pretty upset about this being her last year of high school and it ended so strangely and so quickly. When they called off the school year, she hadn’t been able to say goodbye to kids that she had gone through many years of school with and most were going off to college next semester. No graduation ceremonies are being planned and she is in limbo, not even sure when and where college starts. My granddaughter says that this chapter in human history will go down in the annals of human history that scholars will study and comment on for many decades. If we survive that long!
I also called my mom, who will be 94-years-old this October. She is in good spirits and is pissed because they keep cutting into her favorite daytime television programs to make announcements about the Coronavirus. She’s a fighter and warrior. Nothing of earth-shattering proportions will even phase her the slightest. She spent her teenage years in the heart of Germany during the bombing and fighting of the second world war. She may get pissed about a neighbor’s dog shitting on her lawn, but a toilet paper shortage? Forget about it!
My mom and I talked about how tough the times were for her parents, my grandparents, who went through not just one world war, but two! And they were in the center of the conflict in Germany and they had ten kids to keep safe, healthy and fed! No, we have no idea what it was like to do without food and water for days on end. And we have the audacity to hoard toilet paper!
The house that we own and currently live in was owned by a family who were Mormons. I have been told by a neighbor that our basement used to be full of food and other items in case of a doomsday. He said it jokingly and at the time I also thought it was rather foolish and even silly. Now I think that they may have been the wise ones. Hell, for many years the government agencies have told us to stock up with at least several weeks of food, safety items, water, etc., in case of a major catastrophe like an earthquake. Few people listened and now they are scrambling to find something to wipe their nether regions!
I read a report the other day that some Chinese imbecile is spreading rumors that the Americans are the ones who spread this virus. Of course, this is the same country where the outbreak started and the same where MERS and SARS unleashed themselves on the world. In fact, the same meat market in Wuhan where SARS started and believed to have originated from some exotic wild animal. Apparently, this time it came from a pangolin body that was for sale in that same meat market. Makes you want to cry out, “You get what you deserve!”
Today they reported that more than 284,000 people have come down with the Covid-19 virus worldwide. It makes me wonder when things will get back to normal. Or will it ever? Or will we go back to treating the earth and our fellow inhabitants the same as before?
Not much has come from Trump and Pence, who both could do much to ease the fears of this country and let’s face it, the entire world if they had any leadership skills, which they don’t. Pence is very quiet, and Trump yesterday shouted at a reporter who asked if he thought he should say something to the American people to ease their fears. Obviously, he had no logical answer, so he shouted at the reporter and told him it was a stupid question. Terrible leadership!
Today I wanted to just have a normal life, to do some normal things. I got up just after 8:00 am, made coffee and Nida made a delicious breakfast of fried rice and fried eggs. Then I went outside and did a little weed-whacking in the back yard. It was odd when I heard my name being called over the loud din of the electric week whacker. I turned around and my neighbor was standing in my yard and asking if I needed anything. We chatted for a little while but stayed the government-mandated “social distance” from each other. He and his family are great neighbors and friends, and we love their little boy. This keeping of social distances is near insanity to people whose DNA dictates social interaction.
After working in the yard until about lunchtime, I started thinking about what items were really important to me and things that I take for granted. Now that we are essentially in a 14-day lockdown, I think that perhaps I used way too much toilet paper in the past. Of course, I never counted the actual number of sheets per wipe that I used, but clearly way too many. And all of those other things that I wasted, even though I try to be a conservative, like hotel soaps and shampoos. And let me not forget about how much water I let run down the drain while I wait for the water to get hot. I finally put back an empty five-gallon bucket in my shower last week.
March 22, 2020:
Yesterday Donald Trump said an antimalarial drug called hydroxychloroquine that is also used to fight arthritis would be made available almost immediately to treat coronavirus.
“It’s been around for a long time, so we know if things don’t go as planned, it’s not going to kill anybody,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
The president said other drugs would be soon available, too. But Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said it would take some time to run the clinical trial on these drugs.
So far Nida and I are doing ok and have had no symptom of the Coronavirus. Thankfully we are in relatively good health and taking enough precautions to avoid this dreaded virus! I am spending my time cleaning up my computer files of family history and photographs. Way overdue!
As of this morning (worldwide):
Coronavirus Cases: 340,408
Deaths: 14,573
Recovered: 97,571
Here is what they say to do if you get the virus:
People who’ve tested positive for the coronavirus, or think they may have COVID-19, can only try to treat the symptoms – which include fever, sore throat, dry cough and shortness of breath. Some COVID-19 patients also experience diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting, sometimes before respiratory symptoms begin.
There are different opinions on the best way to do make a COVID- 19 patient more comfortable while the disease runs its course, which, depending on the severity of the contagion, could take weeks. But there’s consensus that people who have tested positive for COVID-19 or think they may have the disease, should isolate themselves at home –as far as possible from other family members – and contact a doctor by phone instead of visiting the physician’s office.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says to get medical attention immediately if you have difficulty breathing, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, confusion or the inability to arouse from sleep, a temperature that’s over 104 degrees Fahrenheit or bluish lips or face.
People who think they have COVID-19 are treating it like a cold or flu.
Over-the-counter medications, like cough suppressants, can help minimize coughing episodes, and expectorants can help people bring up mucus. A humidifier can also help. Pain relievers and fever reducers can help treat aches and reduce fevers. And doctors say COVID-19 patients should remain hydrated, drinking plenty of fluids.
There’s a debate, however, over which pain and fever reducing medicine should be used.
The World Health Organization this week warned against the use of ibuprofen, aspirin and other anti-inflammatory drugs to fight the fever and aches of COVID-19 after a leading French health official warned against it.
France’s health minister, Olivier Véran, said aspirin and ibuprofen worsened the symptoms of the disease. Véran said certain drugs, including ibuprofen, increase the number of so-called ACE2 receptors on the surfaces of cells. The coronavirus uses these receptors to infect cells, so, in theory at least, taking these drugs might make one more vulnerable to the virus.
The WHO recommends taking acetaminophen (Tylenol) instead.
However, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said there is no proof that ibuprofen should be avoided.
“I think it was a conflating of some medical issues … may be true, may not, but there’s no good scientific evidence that says ibuprofen can make coronavirus worse,” Fauci said.
There are also differing opinions about how to deal with a fever.
Some doctors say there may not be a good reason to lower a temperature, unless it’s very high, because dozens of medical studies show fever helps fight infection.
Others warn that even a slight fever increases the metabolic rate, burning up calories. Coupled with a decrease in food intake, an increase in the metabolic rate can weaken a patient. It is estimated that for every degree Fahrenheit of rise in body temperature, the metabolic rate increases by 7 percent.
The CDC also has these recommendations for those who are sick:
• As much as possible stay in a specific room in your house and, if possible, use a separate bathroom.
• Do not handle pets or other animals because it’s not fully known how coronavirus affects them.
• Wear a face mask around other people.
• Cover nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze and throw the used ones in a lined trash can. Immediately wash hands for 20 seconds or use a sanitizer.
• Avoid sharing household items or bedding with other people or pets
• Wash hands often or use sanitizer.
• Clean all ‘high-touch’ surfaces often, as well as dishes, glasses and other eating utensils that are used.
The CDC also says the decision to end home isolation should be made on a case- by- case basis by a physician.
The New York Times today reported:
“The number of undetected cases is 11 times more than has been officially reported, researchers at Columbia University estimate. Their analysis offers a stark warning: Even if the country cut its rate of transmission in half — a tall order — some 650,000 people may still become infected in the next two months.”
My concern for the day: What if the animals that we eat for food contract this virus? What if this virus is in the air and in our drinking water? Nobody has a definitive answer.
My nephew Evan will have his 13th birthday and since we could not get together, our family used Zoom to have a family video conference. It was nice but just not the same as being face-to-face but at least we got a chance to say hello to each other.
March 23, 2020:
This morning it was reported that a lost or reduced sense of smell and taste has emerged as a telltale sign of Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. We have been in isolation and only going out in the yard on brief occasions. My sinuses have been stuffed for weeks so I am not sure about my sense of smell. Nida made a wonderful corned beef yesterday and I do know that the house smelled heavenly.
Apparently, China, where all of this mess started, has gotten some control over the spread of the virus. South Korea, who was hard hit by the virus, also seems to have seen some improvements. New York is hard hit and accounts for about five percent of the world’s cases. Germany has prohibited public gatherings of more than two people, except for families, and Chancellor Angela Merkel said that she was going into isolation because her doctor had tested positive for the virus.
The death of a Chinese doctor who tried to warn about the coronavirus outbreak has sparked widespread public anger and grief in China.
Li Wenliang died after contracting the virus while treating patients in Wuhan.
Last December he sent a message to fellow medics warning of a virus he thought looked like Sars - another deadly coronavirus.
But he was told by police to "stop making false comments" and was investigated for "spreading rumors." Dr. Li was accused by the Chinese government of disturbing the social order.
"I don't think he was rumour-mongering. Hasn't this turned into reality now?" his father, Li Shuying, told the BBC. "My son was wonderful."
According to Chinese site Pear Video, Dr. Li's wife is due to give birth in June.
Above, a map showing how fast the virus spread from Wuhan, China
Dr. Anthony Fauci has become a household name during the coronavirus outbreak, frequently appearing on TV as a trusted disease expert. He is often tasked with setting the record straight on facts misconstrued or misrepresented by President Donald Trump, Fauci has been left in awkward positions at the White House briefing podium.
According to a New York Times report, "Mr. Trump has become frustrated with Dr. Fauci 's blunt approach at the briefing lectern, which often contradicts things the president has just said, according to two people familiar with the dynamic."
Trump has on numerous occasions blurted out false statements or simply blundered his way clumsily through a news conference spouting out unintelligible, confusing statements seemingly just for the sake of saying something.
Dr. Fauci also made headlines on Sunday in an interview with Science Magazine, saying, "I can't jump in front of the microphone and push [Trump] down."
Our neighbor sent me a text asking if we wanted him to leave on our porch some smoked tri-tip that he was making but we declined. We want to remain in isolation until this thing blows over.
March 24, 2020:
Garbage day and it seems like any other day. Of course, I have purposely stayed off the television and avoided certain parts of the internet. One can only take so much news that seems these days to be heavily focused on what they know and what they don’t know and what they think is the situation about the Coronavirus. What is fake, speculation or fact is hard to decipher. The stock market is about as far into the toilet as it has ever been, and Herr Trump seems to think that this will all conclude in a few weeks “not months” as everyone predicts. Of course, I don’t trust a man who has the early stages of dementia to be the chosen one who can predict the future. So far, he has not exactly been Nostradamus.
I got up when my alarm went off at the usual 7:15 am, made coffee, had Life cereal for breakfast and went out to mow my front lawn and water our new vegetable garden. Business as usual. Then came inside and took a shower and scrub my hands, which I seem to be doing a lot lately. In fact, the palms of my hands have never looked so shiny, clean and white.
While I was showering, I pondered why all of this might be happening to us humans. Some are speculating that it is the will of some god as punishment for our wicked ways. Some suggest that China unleashed this purposely to get back at the western world for their decadence and extravagance. Others, including the nut case from China who has a large Chinese following on social media, suggests that it was the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency who unleashed it on the world. Seriously? The word intelligence in the same phrase as Central Intelligence Agency should give you a clue that these people are really not all that intelligent. Of course, it would be easy to think that maybe they did release it and are now too stupid to “put the genie back in the bottle” so to speak.
Of course, our friends in China may also be the culprit. They haven’t always been too straightforward about a lot of crap that they pull, including a huge amount of human rights violations. They clearly have not been honest and upfront about the overall root cause of the problem, and since they either don’t know, or won’t tell, it is hard for the rest of the world to figure out not only what to do, but how to prevent this from happening again.
Personally, I think that it could be a lot of things that could have caused this virus to develop and to escape widespread into every country in the world. For one, we seem to have a reckless abandon for our earth. We pollute the shit out of it, destroy precious habitat that sustains equally precious life, and we eat nearly every plant and animal on our planet. Maybe this is nature telling us that she has had enough and that she is tired of us failing to fix the problems. Maybe she can see that we will eventually destroy our precious planet in a universe where we may be the only form of intelligent life. If we can actually claim that title!
March 25, 2020:
We have been isolated in our home since March 20th and just doing a few chores and activities around the house. I mowed the front lawn yesterday and plan to do a few chores around the yard each day. I was somewhat concerned about the lack of toilet paper in seemingly every store. Last night an ad popped up as I opened my Yahoo mail browser for Quilted Northern toilet paper. It looked like it came from the Quilted Northern tissue company, so I ordered a few rolls of toilet paper that included free delivery. I used my Paypal account and completed the purchase for $32.99. When I did, I realized that the “pay to” company had a weird Chinese name (XINCHANG INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CO LTD), so I immediately contacted Paypal. They denied the claim saying that I had made a legitimate purchase.
I have been online with Paypal since 8:10 am this morning waiting for someone to get back to me. Here is what I sent them:
“I disputed a purchase yesterday. The company pretended to be "Quilted Northern" the toilet paper company. I purchased toilet paper then found out it was a fake Chinese company. The real Quilted Northern company has no stock and does not know who that company is.
Dispute Case ID: PP-D-59494527
Transaction Amount: $32.99 USD
Dispute Amount: $32.99 USD
Transaction ID: 18C086415W696172V
Transaction Date: March 25, 2020
Their ad popped up on my Yahoo e-mail starting page and looked very real!”
In a few minutes, I will disconnect as it will be four hours that Paypal customer service has had me on hold!"
Skynews reported this morning that Prince Charles has tested positive for coronavirus. Clarence House confirmed that the 71-year-old heir to the throne was diagnosed with the COVID-19 disease in a statement released this morning.
Above, Pierce Brosnan and Prince Charles greet each other in the current non-touching protocol set forth by Covid-19 requirements.
The Prince displayed "mild symptoms" on Sunday and was then tested on Monday, with the results coming through late on Tuesday night, the statement said.
Charles "otherwise remains in good health" and has been self-isolating in Scotland with the Duchess of Cornwall, who has tested negative for coronavirus.
I try to look at the daily numbers of the Coronavirus health concerns at https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
As of this morning (worldwide):
Coronavirus Cases: 459,793
Deaths: 20,823
Recovered: 113,778
In the USA: In Italy:
Total cases: 62,627 74,386
New cases: 7,771 5,210
Total deaths: 881 7,503
New deaths: 101 683
Total recovered: 387 9,362
Active cases: 61,359 57,521
Serious/critical: 1,382 3,489
Total Coronavirus Cases in the United States
In California:
Total cases: 2,662
New cases: 96
Total deaths: 58
New deaths: 7
Active cases: 2,596
I received this from my cousin Martina Sigl who lives in Germany:
Hi Jim, so glad you are doing well.
Here we also stay at home, at least to or after Easter.
My parents are doing well and Thea too. My Dad goes out for shopping and my Mom stays at home as usual. So for them life is not that much different. As I am in touch with people from work all around the world, the Situation is everywhere pretty much the same except in some countries people over the age of 65 are not allowed to go out of their Homes at all.
Even Putin's restrictions are getting more serious.
Glad to hear that Leni is doing fine.
This whole virus thing is in my opinion man made and does not come from a market. It is really strange that this virus has such a bad impact on old and sick people. To me very strange.
We can only stay at home and wait. At least we are allowed to go out for walks and sports. Only alone or with family, but still this feels good.
We were supposed to travel to Barbados over Easter...will not happen. More important now is to stay healthy.
For me not an easy thing as I love travelling or just going somewhere nice hiking in the mountains.
So no plans anymore .... nothing to look forward...
Take care Jim and give a hug to Nida as well
Martina
March 26, 2020:
It has been eight days since we have been in isolation and not gone out, even for a walk like we normally did every day. We do go out mostly in the backyard but rarely into the front yard. It is a weird feeling to be sequestered in my own home but not altogether a bad thing. I enjoy my home and I have so much to occupy my time that I find it rather enjoyable not to be running all over the place, buying this and that and polluting the air with our gas-guzzling cars. With the world in lock-down mode, maybe we are giving the earth a chance to recover somewhat.
Neither Nida or I are feeling sick, even in the slightest way, except sinus issues which we always get when the plants and trees begin to flower. But as far as symptoms that resemble a cold or viral infection, not at all. I do find it odd that very few squirrels come into our backyard and this is not typical as we usually have brown, grey and even a black squirrel that comes around every day and many times a day.
It is also odd, funny really, that when you avoid the news, you seem to not comprehend how bad it is all around the world. It is easy to put this crisis out of your mind when you keep yourself occupied with hobbies and other interests. I feel sorry for the healthcare workers and those that have to work. The neighborhood professional gardeners still go about their daily business as do the pool cleaning companies and mailmen in our area.
There is talk about extending the lock-down for several additional weeks just to make sure that the Coronavirus goes away. But Trump is saying that he wants America back to business by April 15. He seems not to understand the gravity of the problem and probably fears that his many business interests are suffering more than they were before he became the president.
I heard from Paypal today about my claim for the fake toilet paper company from China. They are investigating it.
Got this from the CDC website:
Some coronaviruses that infect animals have become able to infect humans and then spread between people, but this is rare. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) are examples of diseases caused by coronaviruses that originated in animals and spread to people. This is what is suspected to have happened with the virus that caused the current outbreak of COVID-19. However, we do not know the exact source of this virus. Public health officials and partners are working hard to identify the source of COVID-19. The first infections were linked to a live animal market, but the virus is now spreading from person to person. The coronavirus most similar to the virus causing COVID-19 is the one that causes SARS.
At this time, there is no evidence that companion animals, including pets, can spread COVID-19 or that they might be a source of infection in the United States.
Animals and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Key Points:
* Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses. Some cause illness in people and others cause illness in certain types of animals.
* Coronaviruses that infect animals can become able to infect people, but this is rare.
* We do not know the exact source of the current outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
* We do not have evidence that companion animals, including pets, can spread COVID-19.
* We do not have evidence to suggest that imported animals or animal products imported pose a risk for spreading the 2019 novel coronavirus in the United States.
I am thinking that they could have just said, “We don’t know anything.”
March 27, 2020:
Today is our 27th wedding anniversary and truth be told, I would rather be celebrating it somewhere other than being stuck at home under enforced lock-down. Of course, I get it. The more we go out in public, the greater the risk of catching the damn virus. Especially after seeing this news this morning:
It’s official: America is the new coronavirus epicenter
The U.S. overtook China and Italy in confirmed cases. At least 85,000 people have been infected, including more than 1,200 deaths — and experts predict the peak is still weeks away.
China also announced today that they are worried that international travelers might trigger a second wave of infections, so they announced that it was suspending practically all entry by foreigners. Maybe they ought to get their legions of computer hackers and toilet paper scammers off their asses and have them work on finding a cure for the catastrophe they caused!
Heard from Paypal and they refunded my money for the fake Chinese toilet paper.
March 28, 2020:
This morning from The Atlantic:
“Three months ago, no one knew that SARS-CoV-2 existed. Now the virus has spread to almost every country, infecting at least 446,000 people whom we know about, and many more whom we do not. It has crashed economies and broken health-care systems, filled hospitals and emptied public spaces. It has separated people from their workplaces and their friends. It has disrupted modern society on a scale that most living people have never witnessed. Soon, most everyone in the United States will know someone who has been infected. Like World War II or the 9/11 attacks, this pandemic has already imprinted itself upon the nation’s psyche.
On the Global Health Security Index, a report card that grades every country on its pandemic preparedness, the United States has a score of 83.5—the world’s highest. Rich, strong, developed, America is supposed to be the readiest of nations. That illusion has been shattered. Despite months of advance warning as the virus spread in other countries, when America was finally tested by COVID-19, it failed.”
This morning from United Airlines:
To: axonjaxon1950@yahoo.com
Sat, Mar 28 at 5:22 AM
An update on our response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Dear Jim,
“I hope this note finds you and your loved ones healthy and well.
It is safe to say these past weeks have been among some of the most tumultuous and emotional that any of us can remember in our lifetimes. The impact of the coronavirus outbreak has been felt by individuals and families, companies and communities, across the United States and around the world.
The response to this crisis has been extraordinary; as much for what it has required from our society as for what it has revealed of us as a people.
Far from causing division and discord, this crisis and the social distancing it has required, has allowed us to witness something profound and moving about ourselves: our fond and deeply felt wish to be connected with one another.”
As of this morning (worldwide):
Coronavirus Cases: 621,592
Deaths: 28,791
Recovered: 137,364
In the USA: In Italy:
Total Cases: 105,161 86,498
New Cases: 1,035 0
Total deaths: 1,722 9,134
New deaths: 26 0
Total recovered: 2,538 10,950
Active cases: 100,901 66,414
Serious/critical: 2,494 3,732
Totals by country (top 20):
World 621,592
USA 105,161
Italy 86,498
China 81,394
Spain 72,248
Germany 53,340
Iran 35,408
France 32,964
UK 17,089
Switzerland 13,377
Netherlands 9,762
S. Korea 9,478
Belgium 9,134
Austria 8,030
Turkey 5,698
Portugal 5,170
Canada 4,757
Norway 3,972
Australia 3,635
Brazil 3,477
Israel 3,460
I read an article today and the reporter was slamming America for our efforts to contain the Coronavirus. He said that countries like Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea have done a great job. What he failed to report, or perhaps even realize, was that these countries are smaller than the size of California. One would hope that they could control the outbreak much easier.
March 29, 2020:
Today starts the 11th day of home lock-in insolation which began for me on March 18. In a way it doesn’t seem so long ago, yet it does seem a great distance in the past. So far, we are doing good, our toilet paper situation is good, but I am pissed that stores like Costco and Walmart, who under normal circumstances, have either everything or way too much of some things, are out of toilet paper and disinfectant spray. They let people panic-buy and now those of us who waited too long and tried to avoid the hoarders, may be stuck without certain sanitary items.
Yesterday I began getting all of our documents together so we can do our income taxes. I had thought that after the 2018 tax season that I would make a conscious effort to keep up a continuous record-keeping process, but I did not. But now I am rethinking the process. We have one file where we throw our receipts and the credit card company provides a detailed list of expenditures that is simple to download and sort out. Either way, I still have to sort, download, weed-out and enter the data, so, business as usual. It’s Sunday today so I plan to finish the tax preparation today. The government announced some sort of “rebate” economic stimulus package where they will spend 2 trillion of our money and give each of us back about $1,500.00. Well, that may put a small dent in our property taxes that is due.
Today is my nephew Sean’s 21st birthday. It seems a real tragedy that one has to celebrate their 21st year on this earth by being in lock-down at your own house. But then again, I think about the millions of refugees all over the world that have no home to go to.
March 30, 2020:
It occurs to me that humans have invincibility complex and that they invulnerable to the things that they seem convinced will never happen to them. I am the same way. It won’t happen to me, so I don’t need to wear a safety belt in the car. Or, I feel good, so I know I won’t catch this Coronavirus. And it doesn’t just start with youth, it grows as we get older and as we gain confidence after being a survivor for so many years.
Recently over spring break, many young kids enjoyed themselves by partying on Florida and Mexico beaches, or by going skiing in the snow-covered Sierras. Or, they went to New Orleans for the mardi gras festival. Well, guess what? A massive outbreak of the Coronavirus is happening right now in Louisiana because of these idiots and the stupid people who organize the mardi gras. We are invincible alright!
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