Once again, feeling OKish, even content, with a bit of uncertainty. Not dread, not panic, just have this horizon I can't quite see over to see what's coming. Feeling there's gotta be some indication of something there. Instead of taking a news diet, I'm hungry for more. Subscribed to the LA Times for the first time in years, or decades. Threw some money at Voice of San Diego.
More data, will it help? No. Enough is known now to know nothing much but there's more fog. You might not feel it, but it might be there. Several days later, maybe you'll feel it, maybe you won't.
Assumptions and faith and hope and hunches are feelings, not action.
Follow the plan. Do what you know to do. Don't invent solutions on your own, don't create problems you don't need.
More news consumption is kinda useless. I can think of quite a few questions, but now those questions are coming up less and less often in my marmot head, it's turned into a "how's the response going" rather than "how are we going to deal with this", so I'm not quite as compulsive. It's more a habit than an obsession.
I've been thinking a lot more about what people who are now out of work. What about rent payments, or mortgage? What about utility bills? What about food? How much can be put on credit cards? What about that cell phone bill, student load payments, car payments? What comes first?
Then I catch myself and realize that it's not about their health--it's about their finances; the only real measurement of someone is monetary. America (and Americans) should take pride in the Dow Jones. A very Republican view, and it bleeds into Trumpian implication that there's no common public good, everyone must compete in some sick reality show--and in this crisis, he can't do anything, so he's leaving the governors to fight it all out. He takes no responsibilities.
Talked with a family member who's part of that generation that enjoys Fox News and its us-vs-them battles. Fox doesn't get it, they don't realize we're all in this together. Anyways, fam member though our governor Newsom was doing a good job (though she disagrees with his politics, whatever that means), and then called the governor of Michigan a complete mess. Guess the propaganda channel is still on in that household with that parrot of Trump, who (yes) called the governor of Michigan a complete mess, no doubt because the governor of Michigan has a vagina. If Trump finds a woman unfuckable, yeah, she's a piece of trash. Reminds me of the time Trump said "My daughter Ivanka could be a supermodel, but her tits are too small."
Some questions and things I'm thinking about now.
Will more testing help? How? If you get that cough and a fever of 104, you'll need to be seen, with or without a test. Assume you're infected already. You just might be.
How long will immunity last? A few months? Years? Want to see if your immunity is still working at, oh, Burning Man in September, or a homecoming football game in October?
What if there's a variation in the little spike of protein that makes the virus suddenly invisible to immune systems, and this variation appears in, oh, Amsterdam or Mexico City or Osaka?
If 50% of the US population gets it, that means 165 million people infected. If the fatality rate of those infected is 1%, then the deaths will be around 1.6 million. 2% is 3.2 million. But if only 10% of the US population gets infected, 1% fatality is 330,000 dead, and 2% is 660,000 dead. Still to early to even give a decent bound on this; just 32 days ago there were no deaths in the US.
How many people, having been laid low, will succumb to pneumonia or legionnaire's or encephalitis? Will people have long term dementia or nerve damage? Co-infection and co-morbidity haven't been discussed much yet, yet it's likely happening now. I don't even think I know the exact definition of those terms, I'm not a doctor but play one on the internet.
Ran in the park again today; I'm sure keeping that up, every other day. Saturday there was a park ranger at the entrance to the tennis courts/swimming pool section of the park, and the driveway was coned off. He said "you can go around the perimeter, just don't go on interior trails." I dutifully ran west to Park Blvd, along the sidewalks to Zoo Drive, down to Florida Canyon, up Pershing Drive. Curiously, there was no lineup at the Naval Hospital at all--it was like it was closed--and the one AA and two SWA planes overhead were all I heard during the whole run.
Today's run was pretty much the same on a sunny mild day. I came back up Florida Street, turned east on University just to see if the supermarket was busy. Not really, but the Psychic Reader business across the street was open, with a sandwich board out on the sidewalk saying come on in.
Finishing out the home improvement project this week--it should all be done by Friday or Monday. It'll be nice to get a driveway to park in, and I can re-landscape with literally the same plants; I gathered cuttings in the fall when this adventure started. Best part of all is the outhouse in front of the house will be gone. Stay classy San Diego, and stay at home.
Talked with Kristin our neighbor, who lured me over with the promise of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. I met her on the back porch, a discreet 6 feet away and chatted. She said this feels like the days when she was growing up and there were often polio quarantines, those tedious days are back. Asked if I had any flour or dark brown sugar. Nope, but maybe Bob's Red mill has some? I'll ping Chris.
Cookies are delicious. Now back to sorting and editing some of the 28,000 pictures from a vacation a long while ago to Australia. That'll keep me busy.