Yikes! And more Yikes! That header is scary as I look dressed for the grocery store.
Good morning, questionable.
I just saw Georgia’s numbers, almost 35,000 cases and almost 1,500 deaths. Keeping up with LA county since we are Hollywood, Jr.
At 6:50 Art woke me and said the cable/ trench diggers are working here already. What an absolute rude awakening. I told him that they haven’t yet marked for utilities. He went out and came back in and said, ” I have a problem. He can’t understand me, and I can’t understand him. He speaks Spanish.” I said, “Go tell him STOP. I’m sure he knows that word.” After telling the man that, which he did understand, in a few minutes Art thought they were still working so he went back out. They were reconnecting the cable. A little later I spoke to the main guy and he did not have a communication problem with me.
Now I have to get ready for my Bible study lesson.
My memory verse is 2Corinthians 4:8-9
“We are hard pressed on every side but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed.” God knew I’d need to remember that on days like today.
I just got home from Publix where all the paper supplies were not to be found.!
I know this is trivial, but R&R isn’t for three days and I will have forgotten.
Have you noticed that nobody says “yes” on TV anymore?
The word is “absolutely”. There is a difference, but I don’t know what it means.
Yes is a short word, not easily heard and hard to make sound emphatic without hissing on the last consanant. Absolutely is a four syllable word that sounds emphatic to begin with.
Roscuro, thank you for your answer to yesterday’s question. I did notice they didn’t seem to deal with known cases such as nursing homes where healthy staff is also getting affected, or the choir where most people got it and two died. The thing for me is that I too have been noticing there doesn’t seem to be anywhere close to the numbers that were predicted, and yet talk of reopening the country is met with resistance–and it does seem that at some point (I’m no expert and can’t say “when,” but my hunch is sometime quite soon), the cure is worth than the risk if the closure continues.
Update on my cousin. He went to get tested yesterday to see if he was cleared of the virus, leaving his oxygen at home. The doctor took his oxygen levels and said they were still too low for him to be able to resume work, even if he is cleared of the virus.
Cheryl, if I recall correctly the numbers predicted were about 100,000 dead if the country shut down. There are over 82,000 deaths already in the US and case numbers continue to rise, meaning that there will be more deaths, and that is with all the social distancing measures. Furthermore, I would estimate that the nubers of worldwide cases reported reflects at best, only 50 percent of cases, and probably even less than that, as outside the West and some East Asian countries, few countries are capable of mass testing, and as I said, while the respiratory illness aspect is being taken into account, the cardiovascular aspect is much harder to detect.
I agree things cannot stay shut down for ever, and I think, with enough effort, things can open up a little further, provided proper precautions are taken. But, I also think reopening is a term that fails to take into account the fact that this disease has revealed appalling conditions in several different sections, conditions that must be changed in justice to the humans in them. Take the meat packing and other food processing plants where the virus has ripped through. Second in-law has worked in those places, and his description of the working conditions explains the reason that so many people have become sick there. The fact that they are primarily migrant workers (as Mexican Mennonites, Second in-law’s parents were also migrant workers) further displays how the cheap food the wealthy West enjoys in abundance is provided for under subpar working conditions by people with far less than we have. Second in law and his siblings were frequently fired for either refusing unsafe conditions or for telling the migrants their labour rights. The fact that our food supply is now threatened because those conditions allow for the rapid spread of disease is now being made clear to those who have never set foot in a good processing plant because now their food supply is threatened.
Then there are the nursing homes. The decimation of this virus has revealed what people like me knew before this, that the conditions of far too many nursing homes are inhumane. Group homes, where the disabled live are also experiencing the same decimation, with World reporting that the group homes disabled are experiencing the same fatality rate as nursing homes. The fact that the elderly and disabled, who have been hidden away from society in these institutions only to die now, while the public whines about being confined to their own homes and denied their rights, really points out how self absorbed the West is. This is happening in a social climate where abortion for disability and euthanasia for disability is increasingly accepted, and the dismissive comments that began with this and are continuing through this pandic, that only those with pre-existing health conditions are vulnerable and the rest of us should be free to do what we want, really displays the existensial hedonism that underpins the modern Western world. The irony is, though, that may deem medicine has helped more people than ever with pre-existing health conditions live relatively normal lives, so many more of this Western population are threatened than people realize. I am, as was noted last week at the Zoom meeting, quite healthy looking, and none of the patients I encounter realize their nurse knows what it is like to be short of breath, because I am young. I am not the only healthy looking young person who is only being kept alive by modern medicine, not by a long shot.
Today’s “action” photo: This is my neighbors’ backyard koi pond at feeding time. They all charge the side when I appear, their mouths frantically opening and closing as they anticipate the daily meal. It gets pretty wild down there in that pond.
I need to get to the post office this morning to drop off a couple bills before the morning staff call if possible. I’m hoping to join the zoom later, but it will depend on work.
“Re-opening” will be a very relative experience. Nothing goes back to the way it was and the economy likely won’t just rebound.
Speaking just of the U.S., all of this, coupled with the contentious cultural and political times we already have found ourselves trying to navigate (and not at all successfully), the next few years could be quite a ride.
It’s not at all helped by the fact that we’re at each others’ throats continually. Everything disintegrates into a free-for-all political fight, them against us. And it’s only getting worse now.
“Then there are the nursing homes. The decimation of this virus has revealed what people like me knew before this, that the conditions of far too many nursing homes are inhumane. ”
So you’re giving the politicians and medical authorities whose policies send infected people back to these places to infect even more people a pass?
They are responsible for these particular, as you call them “inhumane” conditions. There is no shortage of beds in most hospitals, so no reason to send them back where they make it worse. It’s reprehensible.
Currently, in Connecticut, which has a population of about 3 1/2 million, we have almost 34,000 cases, and a little over 3000 deaths.
And speaking of what is happening in nursing homes. . .I think I have said that in Nightingale’s nursing home over half the patients have become sick with the virus, with many deaths (I forget the number, but it’s a very high percentage). It has been decided to move the patients around, with one wing being for those who have tested negative.
Included in those moved to the “negative” wing, are at least a couple folks who show symptoms, but have refused to be tested. Since they have not been tested, they are being considered negative, even though they have the symptoms!
To be clear, these decisions are not made by any of the medical personnel at the nursing home, but by administrators who work for the company which owns the nursing home. The medical personnel think this is ridiculous.
Nightingale and I were talking about the situation last night. Because of her job, working so closely with the those who are sick with this nasty virus, we agreed that it is wise for me not go back to church (when it opens up) for a while, and that we should not have Chickadee over for a while, either, while we wait for this to calm down much more.
It sunk in that it may be another couple months before I can see my beloved younger daughter, and that was quite discouraging, to say the very least. (It made me cry later as I thought about it.)
What are your thoughts on receiving something like this? To be clear, I would be posting it on Social Media.
🚨WARNING🚨
Coronavirus scams are on the rise. Keep yourself safe and informed with these four tips from the FTC.
1. Consult licensed medical professionals for all of your testing and treatment needs, and ignore offers for vaccines, cures, and at-home test kits that aren’t FDA cleared or approved.
2. Screen your calls, emails, and texts. Avoid corresponding with sources you don’t know or trust, and never provide sensitive information like Social Security or account numbers via phone or email.
3. Double-check charities before making a donation. Search their websites for credentials and only submit gifts through secure payment portals using a credit or debit card with fraud protection.
4. Stay informed. Follow the FTC and the CDC for updates on scam risks, prevention guidelines, and drug developments. And, as always, I’m only a phone call away if you have any other questions.
Idaho: nearing two million people/ 2,260 known cases/ 70 deaths.
Conspiracy theorists: abounding
Deniers: multitudes
Twenty two year old daughter, who works in the med field in the Navy and hangs out with RN daughter, has told twenty three that she has had to block a number of friends from the Kamiah area as they are so sure this is all a hoax to take over the country. There have always been those in the homeschool community who have chosen to live in that area because of the like mindedness. I suspect now, because nobody knows anybody who has suffered any of the symptoms of the virus, it is easy to say it is a hoax. Our numbers would indicate that chances are most communities do not have any cases. I suspect our numbers will change in the coming months, especially as a lot of those deniers are also antivax.
So what is the answer to protecting the elderly in nursing homes? How did those residents who have been isolated inside a facility become infected? It has to be the medical personnel and or cleaning staff right? No family, no visitors allowed. My neighbor/walking friend’s Dad passed away last week in assisted living. He had dementia and landed in the hospital for some reason. They tested him for the virus but results are not back yet. Now she is concerned about her Mom yet she has not been allowed to visit them since the beginning of the shutdown. Thankfully she was allowed in the hospital to be with her Dad as he passed away which is not always the case these days.
The Real, nursing homes are mostly run by private businesses. One of the worst cases in Quebec was a residence that charged between 3000 to 10000 monthly rent to residents, and when healthcare professionals outside the facility alerted public health to the situation, public health found only two orderlies taking care of over a hundred residents. It turned out the owner of this supposedly high end residence had an extensive petty criminal background, involving shady dealings, including drug dealing. The residence was simply another way of making money by dishonest means. Nursing homes are, unlike hospitals, not wholly healthcare institutions. They are also housing units, and unscrupulous landlords abound. The nurses and care workers in the facility do their best, but they cannot change conditions like ward rooms, common dining areas, and limited protective equipment which allow for the spread of infection. That is the responsibility of the landlords.
As for giving them a pass, I was just indicating that the entire nursing home system needs to be reworked. If I thought it was feasible, I would campaign for its entire abolishment, and substitute it with community care supports, but I recognize there are instances when the elderly and disabled cannot be cared for at home. I have been angered by reports of people being placed in homes that have outbreaks, but yet again, hospital healthcare professionals themselves do not have full control over that. The hospitals are run by bureaucrats as corporations. In my last placement in a hospital before graduation, the hospital had just acquired a new CEO. The nursing station was given the business bio of the CEO, whom, they drily observed, was another business person with no healthcare training. Some hospital CEOs make more than our elected officials. The socialist leaning New Democrats have made a fuss about that for years, but the Liberals and Conservatives have been content with the status quo. In fact, before all this, the incumbent Conservative Premier (provinces are independent in how they administer healthcare) appeared to be making a concerted effort to more privatization of healthcare. I work for a private non-profit healthcare agency, and indeed all community care is in the private sector, but it was being overseen by a public agency, which the province was intending to dissolve. That was not necessarily a bad idea, as the public agency had its problems, but it was not at all clear what the replacement would look like.
Hey Michelle, I just spent an hour watching Colin Buchanan live on facebook. He is an Australian singer/songwriter. Your adorables would love watching. I watched one the other night, but today’s had a lot of kid stuff. Such fun. Even tiny would like this one.
NB: Hospitals are not fully funded through the government. All the provincial governments do is pay, through their public health insurance, for specific services deemed medically necessary that are performed by the hospitals. Donors contribute large amounts of funding to hospitals. There is a large hospital in the city where I studied that changes its name according to the last biggest donor; while whole wings and units of the other hospitals are also named after donors. The donor funding pays for research, equipment, and all the other things outside essential services that hospitals do.
It is a family/co. that owns Carol’s facility, they have a couple of them; they were the ones who also owned the Hollywood branch and moved everyone (with no heads-up at all, just got them all on buses one Sunday morning after breakfast) to their newer Glendale facility about 15 minutes away. The Hollywood property has apparently been sold.
But they’d told the residents initially that they were only being moved out so an elevator could be fixed and that everyone had the option to stay in Glendale or go back to Hollywood, all their choice. Everyone just sort of settled in and, eventually, after several months, it became a moot point. It was obvious by then that an elevator wasn’t the problem, and I think one of the families of a resident may have submitted a complaint as Carol said they were getting calls from some agency asking residents about how all of it unfolded. I don’t think families were even given notice that everyone was being suddenly moved and the residents certainly weren’t told.
I am in touch with the owner and try to stay on good and positive terms, she’s been pretty accessible and seems to be good to Carol. If I send an email they usually don’t call back but Carol soon tells me that whatever the issue was had been addressed.
Her place is for very low-income people, those on government assistance (Carol is one of the fortunate ones and gets two small pensions each month from past jobs). But it’s important for owners also to keep residents as that bolsters their financial bottom line as well.
I’ve visited Carol regularly, of course (until recently) and the place is OK, but is in need of upgrades. The elevator is ridiculously small, it can fit only about 3 people with walkers/wheelchairs at a time (and I believe there are about 200 people living there, 100 rooms but everyone’s doubled up with a roommate). It needs a coat of interior paint. And the access is not good for those like Carol who has serious mobility issues. She has to scale ramps up and down (which she’s really no longer able to do and she’s still waiting for a wheelchair) to get outside to their patio area in back (there’s also a ramp in front, but this place is not like the much smaller, homier Hollywood facility where residents came and went pretty freely and there was a bus stop right out in front; they also were close to everything for shopping needs; now they’re in an area populated mostly by other long-term care facilities and car dealerships).
A physician visits regularly for those who need attention and there’s an onsite, full-time nurse in an office for everything else.
Mumsee, that is true, but nurses that are abusive and are reported face investigation by the College if Nurses and are stripped of their license if found to be culpable. Every profession has its bad apples, but that was not what caused the living conditions like ward rooms, that allowed infection to spread unchecked. Furthermore, the private business model’s tendency to want to look after the bottom line first has often led those nursing homes to cover up abuses. All too often an abusive worker is simply let go, to avoid calling in investigators and having to go through disciplinary procedures, allowing the person to be rehired somewhere else.
A lot of good teachers. A lot of not so.
A lot of good home schoolers. A lot of not so.
Going out on a limb here:
A lot of good politicians. A lot of not so.
Or is it? “Speak up, judge righteously, defend the cause of the poor and the needy.” Proverbs 31:9
The righteous indignation Christ showed over money changers and swindlers being allowed to operate in the Temple complex would not be amiss now and again. Humans are after all made in the image of God, and those who are believers are temples of the Holy Spirit, so a bit of indignant defense of their bodily welfare against modern day swindlers seems a Christian sort of attitude to take.
And we, as believers, ought to be diligent at teaching the Truth through word and action. But to expect perfection from imperfect creatures is going to end in frustration. Our hope is in Christ. Not in us fixing things.
None of those who wrote the Bible were flawless either. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel were all sinners, and yet they had plenty to say about the sins and injustices that were being committed by their nation. They did not change the outcome. John the Baptist was a sinner and yet he had the gall to call the Pharisees a brood of vipers for their injustice. He apparently changed nothing by calling them what they were, as they remained unmoved and continued so when Jesus later called them whitewashed sepulchres. Jesus, who was the only sinless one in the Bible, did not seem to fix anything with his driving the swindlers out if the Temple. In fact, if you read the Gospels carefully, you realize he did it twice, once at the beginning, and once at the end of his ministry, and his indignation was equally strong on both occasions. But that is not the point, is it? Just because we are unlikely to change anything doesn’t mean we should not speak the truth about it.
The things you learn that you didn’t know before. Some time back I downloaded a puzzle app on my phone. When I have a few minutes are want to relax I move puzzle pieces around. Last night I was doing this and Mr. P wanted to know what I was doing. I showed him where I had just finished the puzzle. He said we should do puzzles together. Now one is ordered from Amazon and should be here sometime around the 5th of Never or sooner depending…
The fix is in. Eternal life bought by the Blood of Christ.
However, we do still live in a fallen world and we still need to do what we can, speaking the Truth in love. But not be surprised when the white washed tombs stay filled.
Yes, Roscuro, we should be doing what God has given us to do. By doing so, we are loving our neighbor. You will continue to call out the West and the desk workers. I will continue to call out in the areas I am called to call: abortion, treatment of children, education, environment, etc. But I won’t be surprised if children continue to be killed with a knife or with “kindness”. I realize that Who I stand with is hated for being. Nothing I can do about that except follow His instruction: to love Him and love my neighbor.
Waiting for that interview with the councilman which has been “promised” today after it didn’t happen yesterday. We will see … as soon as council adjourns, around 1 (maybe), they tell me.
Koi fish neighbor called to check in this morning, they’re enjoying their time away in the desert. They’re hanging out with neighbors who are having a bunch of work done on their house, panning for gold and just taking it easy with the dogs.
So glad they were able to get away for a needed change of scenery. She’s 73, he’s 75, both very self-sufficient — but their children are becoming overbearing in insisting she not go anywhere and just stay inside (her husband still works full-time). She said she was on the verge of a depression staying shut in that much. I’ve observed that in a couple families during this crisis, children really becoming over-protective of their parents (who really aren’t that old).
I always respected my mom (in her 60s) as an adult who could make her own decisions. Granted, things do change and children sometimes do need to become more protective, but just because people are older doesn’t mean they’ve lost their ability to think and act reasonably, making their own decisions.
Anyway, interesting talk with that neighbor in the desert who tells me she now believes this is all a conspiracy leading to a planned government takeover, possibly in partnership with China. It’s a test run, she’s convinced.
Another former journalist friend (and Christian) likewise insists the coronavirus is “nothing,” it’s being way overblown and the lockdown will destroy the economy and more. A friend from church believes the same.
As I said, I know people all across the spectrum of opinion on this, and opinions now are so strong. As much as possible I listen primarily to the medical field (not the politicians or news commentators), though some critics insist there is no agreement in the medial community either. Is that the case, roscuro?
While I don’t buy into the conspiracy theories, there are valid issues being raised about government reach vs. over-reach. When does it reach that point? The government does have a primary role in protecting its citizens and I believe the actions we’ve seen are in line with that (though with the advantage of hindsight we might want to review and rethink some of what was done, whether all of the economic shutdowns were necessary; we’re beginning to see that consequences may be more dire than we initially believed — but it seems to have been done with the goal of keeping the citizenry as safe as possible with what was an unpredictable and real public health threat).
But we need to always be watchful, lest those actions become a little too comfortable or convenient or “useful” for those in positions of power.
A couple articles I read debunking the “Plandemic” fake documentary each made a point I have often thought of – how likely is it that multiple governments and all the pharmaceutical companies have colluded together in a conspiracy, and all those involved are keeping quiet? Answer: Not likely at all.
That is not the case. There are a few outliers, whose videos or post go viral via those delighted to find a medical professional agreeing with them, but as I have mentioned before, in the multitude of counsellors there is safety and healthcare guidelines are built on general consensus, drawn from those with the most experience. The whole social distancing idea was not based on guesswork. We already knew how respiratory transmission takes place between people, hence the early warning to wash hands, avoid touching your face, cough and sneeze in your elbow. The six foot guideline had long been established for droplet precautions. They were just giving the public guidelines that hospitals already used to contain cases of infectious respiratory illness. A shutting down public places if gathering had been done before with Spanish influenza, and statistical studies, completed long before this outbreak, had determined that it had worked. The general consensus is that this a new communicable disease with a much higher rate of mortality than most of those communicable diseases circulating in the general population. Obviously, there are sections of the popu with worse communicable diseases, such as Ebola in the Congo, but generally speaking, COVID-19 is the worst human to human transmitted disease circulating worldwide at this point. Malaria and dengue are zoonotic transmission, while cholera is transmitted via fecal continamination of water, and thus control of mosquito populations and clean water will reduce infections from those, but for an illness transmitted from human to human with contact, contact precautions, as we call them in healthcare, are needed. The challenge is recreating precaution instituted in hospitals in the rest of the community.
I am now reading ‘The Long Winter’ to Tiny. I was reminded of the long weeks and months (7) they stayed, even when in town, indoors, because blizzard after blizzard rendered it completely unsafe to venture out. The people nearly starved, but they survived and went on to rebuild a happy life. It got me thinking how at one point on the more northern portion of this continent, winter made shut-ins of most people, because it was too dangerous to venture outside. Modern inventions have rendered winter much less dangerous, but at one point it was a serious threat. It made me think of why the West is so restless under all this. We are used to bending nature to our own ends and not having to take consideration. Even tornados and hurricane have become merely annoying blips, affecting pockets, but not changing life for the rest. But then nature formed a disease, and made us all subject to her whims (the Bible personifies earth as a woman) the way our ancestors were and we think the world is coming to an end.
Roscuro – Your last comment reminded me of something I have often thought about some American (and maybe Canadian, too) Christians. When something “big” or strange (such as this pandemic) happens to Americans, some Christians start talking about how it must point to us being in the “last days” and the imminent return of Christ (or the Rapture). Meanwhile, people in other countries, especially third world or war-torn countries, have been dealing with worse for decades or centuries.
I will miss being on Zoom with you all this evening. I think the stress of dealing with all this Xfinity scenario/neighbor situation on top of everything else has me feeling down. This upcoming weekend is when we were suppose to br in Texas for Wesley’s graduation ceremony.
In the afternoon I noticed a truck near the telephone pole with the cable. It turned out to be a utility worker who put up little yellow flags where the gas line ran in the neighbor’s yard. He told me the cable had already been buried underground across the front yard part. Art told me the knock at our door was around 6:30 a.m. so maybe they were at work while we were asleep. I still need to be back in touch with the neighbor which I rather dread. I need to keep repeating, “This too shall pass.” I have asked Art to come home before dark to look about the layout where they placed the cable because part of it was left undone since we sent them away. Art will be home around when you all will be on the Zoom call. I also feel down because he is literally so lame that I need to be with him as he looks at the situation. When the utility guy pointed out where the line had been put in the ground, my eyes could not see well enough to tell it was there.
In better news, Wesley is going to have an article published in Christianity and Literature based on one of the subjects covered in his dissertation, Lucy Hutchinson. Also, I asked him if I might be able to buy the published book of his dissertation. He said, “Just watch your mailbox.” He had already ordered one as a surprise for us.
My understanding is that there are more deaths from the flu than from COVID-19. Is that correct, Roscuro?
What I’m wondering is, if it’s true that the flu is highly contagious — and deadly, in many cases — should we be doing widespread shut-downs of businesses, churches, and other entities every year for the flu’s 6-month (or however long) season?
Are we not loving our neighbors if we try to keep things going in the midst of viruses circulating?
I tend to believe we can fall into a reactionary mode if we decide everyone on the planet should stay home due to a virus. There are common sense approaches to illnesses. If one does not feel well for goodness sake stay home! I had my hair cut, went shopping at Marshall’s and stopped in at my friend’s antique shoppe. I wore a mask, washed my hands and used hand sanitizer. We had an in person small group meeting last night and at the home of our sweet 90 year couple. No one hugged and we tried to “social distance” while in their home. No one felt fill or if they did they would not have come. We had 11 at our meeting and had a delight time of chatting and praying.
Regarding my 6:54, Roscuro — I asked you a question, but my comment was a general musing to anyone reading. Just clarifying, if it sounded pointed and like I was challenging you or something. I didn’t intend to have it sound that way. 🙂
I do ponder what future implications there might be with widespread closures now. Will governments want, or feel they need, to shut down society on a massive scale with the advent of, for example, flu season each year?
Does that need to be the response to flu season as well as the response to COVID-19?
I have deep concern for the people I know and love who are suffering depression due to the closures of their businesses and other radical changes that have occurred.
Death by suicide is a very real threat. Is anyone tallying those deaths in the COVID-19 age?
6, see my replies yesterday to Cheryl regarding influenza deaths. I will simply say here that even the estimated deaths from influenza do not reach 80,000 in one season.
6 Arrows – My understanding is that the coronavirus is deadlier than the flu. Some states may (I don’t know if they do or not) currently have a higher flu death rate, but that is over a period of several months. The COVID-19 death rate is in a more concentrated period of time.
There have been questions as to how much the number of COVID-19 deaths has been inflated, but worldwide, include in the U.S., death rates in general have gone up a whole lot, which indicates that something bad is going on. (How’s that for statistical analysis – “a whole lot”? 😀 ) Although there is talk of some non-COVID deaths being counted as COVID, there is also talk of many deaths that were probably due to the virus, but went undiagnosed.
Regarding our Zoom meeting tonight – Please forgive me if I move too much. I will be standing at my standing laptop desk, and I need to move to keep my feet from hurting from standing in one spot continually. Usually, I “dance” and sway to music, but I will try to tone down the movement for our meeting.
I would prefer to sit on the couch, like I did last week, but I have discovered that sitting greatly aggravates that pain in my upper leg. And now my feet hurt from being on them too much today. I think I will go to bed early after our meeting, just so I don’t have to sit nor stand. 😦
Please say a prayer that this will ease soon. I have had similar things in the past, but I was at least able to sit, even if I couldn’t walk too well.
While the majority in our area are private, some of the worst hit are the county run homes. The govt run non-profits.
Our freak show of a state health secretary is another politician, like our Gov., whose policies say ship the infected back to the nursing homes. But he yanked his Mom out and put her up in a hotel first.
And yes, that’s a man pretending he’s a woman.
WATCH: PA Secretary of Heath admits own mother left senior facility while coronavirus swept nursing homes. Gov Wolf nowhere to be found pic.twitter.com/4LomqtQznA
Sorry I “left” the Zoom meeting so abruptly. Our internet went out, and that was that. I stuck around my laptop, waiting until a little past 8:00 to see if it would come back, hoping I could rejoin you before the projected ending time, but, alas, it wasn’t until sometime later that we got our service back.
So if you’re wondering if it was something someone said… nope, lol. 😉
The Real, we have one municipal nursing home in this region. There are no cases there, and the entire staff and residents have been tested. The worst hit nursing home in this region, with nearly half the residents dying, was privately owned. Province wide, there are initial reports that death rates have been higher in private for-profit run homes than non-profit and municipal owned homes.
I attended a Zoom business meeting this morning, and my internet wasn’t working the greatest then, either. It’s been unusually windy today, and sort of weird-looking skies, which maybe was a factor in getting a good connection.
Our local music teacher’s association president is stepping down, so several of us met by Zoom to discuss future leadership. All of us present had no interest in “running” for president. We’ll have to see if anyone steps up. The VP used to be president at one time, but isn’t interested in resuming the presidency.
sorry for the no show, work got in the way (and I’m not officially ‘off the clock’ until 6 p.m.); turned in one story but had to get started on the next one. We’re also trying to find out when the Mercy Navy ship is leaving port, we’ve heard in a couple days (at midnight) but spent about an hour working w/OC Register military beat reporter, who has all the Navy contacts — I have the port contacts — trying to nail that down, not sure we ever did.
After work I went over to feed the fish but the younger son (longshore) was there with his daughter so we chatted for a while.
Well, this whole thing (the pandemic and its ripple effects) is a mess; I agree with roscuro, this is harder for those of use used to a pretty ‘easy’ life to wrap our minds and wills around with full acceptance.
Locally, there’s talk of holding the fireworks show over the water but trying to find a way so people can park on the waterfront (rather than gather on the beach) to watch. And there’s discussion about erecting a “drive-in” theater in the big parking lot next to the Iowa so people could just drive up and watch a movie this summer. A film studio is in discussions with the Iowa and city to see if it might work.
The idea is to try to give people enough “safe” and alternative summer things to do (many of the usual events are being canceled) so they won’t completely lose their sanity.
Wandering Views 
What is it?
Looks like a goldfish pond.
Good morning everyone.
Forty eight degrees is cold for the middle of May.
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Run, Linda! Flee this place!
Is that a photo from the zoom? Let’s see: there is the real, keeping everybody in line. And there is….
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Yikes! And more Yikes! That header is scary as I look dressed for the grocery store.
Good morning, questionable.
I just saw Georgia’s numbers, almost 35,000 cases and almost 1,500 deaths. Keeping up with LA county since we are Hollywood, Jr.
At 6:50 Art woke me and said the cable/ trench diggers are working here already. What an absolute rude awakening. I told him that they haven’t yet marked for utilities. He went out and came back in and said, ” I have a problem. He can’t understand me, and I can’t understand him. He speaks Spanish.” I said, “Go tell him STOP. I’m sure he knows that word.” After telling the man that, which he did understand, in a few minutes Art thought they were still working so he went back out. They were reconnecting the cable. A little later I spoke to the main guy and he did not have a communication problem with me.
Now I have to get ready for my Bible study lesson.
My memory verse is 2Corinthians 4:8-9
“We are hard pressed on every side but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed.” God knew I’d need to remember that on days like today.
I just got home from Publix where all the paper supplies were not to be found.!
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“As” scary as I looked dressed for the grocery store this morning.
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That fish with the open mouth seems to be screaming: “Help me, I’m drowning!”
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Peter. it’s just taking a drink of air.
I know this is trivial, but R&R isn’t for three days and I will have forgotten.
Have you noticed that nobody says “yes” on TV anymore?
The word is “absolutely”. There is a difference, but I don’t know what it means.
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Chas, doesn’t the Bible have something to say about the word Yes?
In a world where all is relative, people long for absolutes.
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Chas, it is all part of the breaking news syndrome.
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Peter L, it is just being coy.
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Yes is a short word, not easily heard and hard to make sound emphatic without hissing on the last consanant. Absolutely is a four syllable word that sounds emphatic to begin with.
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Absolutely is an emphatic yes that makes you sound in control and decisive, especially while being interviewed.
It also, sometimes, just pops out of your mouth.
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I’ll take “Absolutely” over the hesitation when someone is lying or trying to hide something.
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Yes, that is absolutely true, Michelle.
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Koi! My sister had put a screen over the tanks she wintered her Koi in. They would get so rambunctious they would propel themselves out of the tanks.
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I had one of those once. Then I lost my mind when BG started walking and made the men in my life fill it so she wouldn’t drown.
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For Michelle, because she likes colourized historical photos: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/may/09/colour-allows-us-to-understand-in-a-deeper-sense-hitler-churchill-and-others-in-a-new-light?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1589152670
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Cheryl, see the end of yesterday’s thread.
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Roscuro, thank you for your answer to yesterday’s question. I did notice they didn’t seem to deal with known cases such as nursing homes where healthy staff is also getting affected, or the choir where most people got it and two died. The thing for me is that I too have been noticing there doesn’t seem to be anywhere close to the numbers that were predicted, and yet talk of reopening the country is met with resistance–and it does seem that at some point (I’m no expert and can’t say “when,” but my hunch is sometime quite soon), the cure is worth than the risk if the closure continues.
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Update on my cousin. He went to get tested yesterday to see if he was cleared of the virus, leaving his oxygen at home. The doctor took his oxygen levels and said they were still too low for him to be able to resume work, even if he is cleared of the virus.
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Cheryl, if I recall correctly the numbers predicted were about 100,000 dead if the country shut down. There are over 82,000 deaths already in the US and case numbers continue to rise, meaning that there will be more deaths, and that is with all the social distancing measures. Furthermore, I would estimate that the nubers of worldwide cases reported reflects at best, only 50 percent of cases, and probably even less than that, as outside the West and some East Asian countries, few countries are capable of mass testing, and as I said, while the respiratory illness aspect is being taken into account, the cardiovascular aspect is much harder to detect.
I agree things cannot stay shut down for ever, and I think, with enough effort, things can open up a little further, provided proper precautions are taken. But, I also think reopening is a term that fails to take into account the fact that this disease has revealed appalling conditions in several different sections, conditions that must be changed in justice to the humans in them. Take the meat packing and other food processing plants where the virus has ripped through. Second in-law has worked in those places, and his description of the working conditions explains the reason that so many people have become sick there. The fact that they are primarily migrant workers (as Mexican Mennonites, Second in-law’s parents were also migrant workers) further displays how the cheap food the wealthy West enjoys in abundance is provided for under subpar working conditions by people with far less than we have. Second in law and his siblings were frequently fired for either refusing unsafe conditions or for telling the migrants their labour rights. The fact that our food supply is now threatened because those conditions allow for the rapid spread of disease is now being made clear to those who have never set foot in a good processing plant because now their food supply is threatened.
Then there are the nursing homes. The decimation of this virus has revealed what people like me knew before this, that the conditions of far too many nursing homes are inhumane. Group homes, where the disabled live are also experiencing the same decimation, with World reporting that the group homes disabled are experiencing the same fatality rate as nursing homes. The fact that the elderly and disabled, who have been hidden away from society in these institutions only to die now, while the public whines about being confined to their own homes and denied their rights, really points out how self absorbed the West is. This is happening in a social climate where abortion for disability and euthanasia for disability is increasingly accepted, and the dismissive comments that began with this and are continuing through this pandic, that only those with pre-existing health conditions are vulnerable and the rest of us should be free to do what we want, really displays the existensial hedonism that underpins the modern Western world. The irony is, though, that may deem medicine has helped more people than ever with pre-existing health conditions live relatively normal lives, so many more of this Western population are threatened than people realize. I am, as was noted last week at the Zoom meeting, quite healthy looking, and none of the patients I encounter realize their nurse knows what it is like to be short of breath, because I am young. I am not the only healthy looking young person who is only being kept alive by modern medicine, not by a long shot.
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Morning! That fish is singing “ I’m forever blowing bubbles, Pretty bubbles in the air,…..” 😊
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Sorry to hear that roscuro.
Today’s “action” photo: This is my neighbors’ backyard koi pond at feeding time. They all charge the side when I appear, their mouths frantically opening and closing as they anticipate the daily meal. It gets pretty wild down there in that pond.
I need to get to the post office this morning to drop off a couple bills before the morning staff call if possible. I’m hoping to join the zoom later, but it will depend on work.
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“Re-opening” will be a very relative experience. Nothing goes back to the way it was and the economy likely won’t just rebound.
Speaking just of the U.S., all of this, coupled with the contentious cultural and political times we already have found ourselves trying to navigate (and not at all successfully), the next few years could be quite a ride.
It’s not at all helped by the fact that we’re at each others’ throats continually. Everything disintegrates into a free-for-all political fight, them against us. And it’s only getting worse now.
Kind of like life in that koi pond.
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“Then there are the nursing homes. The decimation of this virus has revealed what people like me knew before this, that the conditions of far too many nursing homes are inhumane. ”
So you’re giving the politicians and medical authorities whose policies send infected people back to these places to infect even more people a pass?
They are responsible for these particular, as you call them “inhumane” conditions. There is no shortage of beds in most hospitals, so no reason to send them back where they make it worse. It’s reprehensible.
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AJ – Where is she giving them a pass? I don’t see that she is.
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Currently, in Connecticut, which has a population of about 3 1/2 million, we have almost 34,000 cases, and a little over 3000 deaths.
And speaking of what is happening in nursing homes. . .I think I have said that in Nightingale’s nursing home over half the patients have become sick with the virus, with many deaths (I forget the number, but it’s a very high percentage). It has been decided to move the patients around, with one wing being for those who have tested negative.
Included in those moved to the “negative” wing, are at least a couple folks who show symptoms, but have refused to be tested. Since they have not been tested, they are being considered negative, even though they have the symptoms!
To be clear, these decisions are not made by any of the medical personnel at the nursing home, but by administrators who work for the company which owns the nursing home. The medical personnel think this is ridiculous.
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Kizzie, did I send you an email this morning?
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Nightingale and I were talking about the situation last night. Because of her job, working so closely with the those who are sick with this nasty virus, we agreed that it is wise for me not go back to church (when it opens up) for a while, and that we should not have Chickadee over for a while, either, while we wait for this to calm down much more.
It sunk in that it may be another couple months before I can see my beloved younger daughter, and that was quite discouraging, to say the very least. (It made me cry later as I thought about it.)
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Mumsee – Yup. I just replied.
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Our long-term care facilities also have taken much of the hit, I believe they account for up to 50% of the deaths in one of our large county cities.
I’m grateful that Carol’s facility still hasn’t turned up on the daily list as having “at least” one confirmed case.
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What are your thoughts on receiving something like this? To be clear, I would be posting it on Social Media.
🚨WARNING🚨
Coronavirus scams are on the rise. Keep yourself safe and informed with these four tips from the FTC.
1. Consult licensed medical professionals for all of your testing and treatment needs, and ignore offers for vaccines, cures, and at-home test kits that aren’t FDA cleared or approved.
2. Screen your calls, emails, and texts. Avoid corresponding with sources you don’t know or trust, and never provide sensitive information like Social Security or account numbers via phone or email.
3. Double-check charities before making a donation. Search their websites for credentials and only submit gifts through secure payment portals using a credit or debit card with fraud protection.
4. Stay informed. Follow the FTC and the CDC for updates on scam risks, prevention guidelines, and drug developments. And, as always, I’m only a phone call away if you have any other questions.
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Idaho: nearing two million people/ 2,260 known cases/ 70 deaths.
Conspiracy theorists: abounding
Deniers: multitudes
Twenty two year old daughter, who works in the med field in the Navy and hangs out with RN daughter, has told twenty three that she has had to block a number of friends from the Kamiah area as they are so sure this is all a hoax to take over the country. There have always been those in the homeschool community who have chosen to live in that area because of the like mindedness. I suspect now, because nobody knows anybody who has suffered any of the symptoms of the virus, it is easy to say it is a hoax. Our numbers would indicate that chances are most communities do not have any cases. I suspect our numbers will change in the coming months, especially as a lot of those deniers are also antivax.
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So what is the answer to protecting the elderly in nursing homes? How did those residents who have been isolated inside a facility become infected? It has to be the medical personnel and or cleaning staff right? No family, no visitors allowed. My neighbor/walking friend’s Dad passed away last week in assisted living. He had dementia and landed in the hospital for some reason. They tested him for the virus but results are not back yet. Now she is concerned about her Mom yet she has not been allowed to visit them since the beginning of the shutdown. Thankfully she was allowed in the hospital to be with her Dad as he passed away which is not always the case these days.
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The Real, nursing homes are mostly run by private businesses. One of the worst cases in Quebec was a residence that charged between 3000 to 10000 monthly rent to residents, and when healthcare professionals outside the facility alerted public health to the situation, public health found only two orderlies taking care of over a hundred residents. It turned out the owner of this supposedly high end residence had an extensive petty criminal background, involving shady dealings, including drug dealing. The residence was simply another way of making money by dishonest means. Nursing homes are, unlike hospitals, not wholly healthcare institutions. They are also housing units, and unscrupulous landlords abound. The nurses and care workers in the facility do their best, but they cannot change conditions like ward rooms, common dining areas, and limited protective equipment which allow for the spread of infection. That is the responsibility of the landlords.
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As for giving them a pass, I was just indicating that the entire nursing home system needs to be reworked. If I thought it was feasible, I would campaign for its entire abolishment, and substitute it with community care supports, but I recognize there are instances when the elderly and disabled cannot be cared for at home. I have been angered by reports of people being placed in homes that have outbreaks, but yet again, hospital healthcare professionals themselves do not have full control over that. The hospitals are run by bureaucrats as corporations. In my last placement in a hospital before graduation, the hospital had just acquired a new CEO. The nursing station was given the business bio of the CEO, whom, they drily observed, was another business person with no healthcare training. Some hospital CEOs make more than our elected officials. The socialist leaning New Democrats have made a fuss about that for years, but the Liberals and Conservatives have been content with the status quo. In fact, before all this, the incumbent Conservative Premier (provinces are independent in how they administer healthcare) appeared to be making a concerted effort to more privatization of healthcare. I work for a private non-profit healthcare agency, and indeed all community care is in the private sector, but it was being overseen by a public agency, which the province was intending to dissolve. That was not necessarily a bad idea, as the public agency had its problems, but it was not at all clear what the replacement would look like.
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Hey Michelle, I just spent an hour watching Colin Buchanan live on facebook. He is an Australian singer/songwriter. Your adorables would love watching. I watched one the other night, but today’s had a lot of kid stuff. Such fun. Even tiny would like this one.
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Many nurses and careworkers do their best, not all. Many also fall into mediocrity. Others are outright abusive.
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NB: Hospitals are not fully funded through the government. All the provincial governments do is pay, through their public health insurance, for specific services deemed medically necessary that are performed by the hospitals. Donors contribute large amounts of funding to hospitals. There is a large hospital in the city where I studied that changes its name according to the last biggest donor; while whole wings and units of the other hospitals are also named after donors. The donor funding pays for research, equipment, and all the other things outside essential services that hospitals do.
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It is a family/co. that owns Carol’s facility, they have a couple of them; they were the ones who also owned the Hollywood branch and moved everyone (with no heads-up at all, just got them all on buses one Sunday morning after breakfast) to their newer Glendale facility about 15 minutes away. The Hollywood property has apparently been sold.
But they’d told the residents initially that they were only being moved out so an elevator could be fixed and that everyone had the option to stay in Glendale or go back to Hollywood, all their choice. Everyone just sort of settled in and, eventually, after several months, it became a moot point. It was obvious by then that an elevator wasn’t the problem, and I think one of the families of a resident may have submitted a complaint as Carol said they were getting calls from some agency asking residents about how all of it unfolded. I don’t think families were even given notice that everyone was being suddenly moved and the residents certainly weren’t told.
I am in touch with the owner and try to stay on good and positive terms, she’s been pretty accessible and seems to be good to Carol. If I send an email they usually don’t call back but Carol soon tells me that whatever the issue was had been addressed.
Her place is for very low-income people, those on government assistance (Carol is one of the fortunate ones and gets two small pensions each month from past jobs). But it’s important for owners also to keep residents as that bolsters their financial bottom line as well.
I’ve visited Carol regularly, of course (until recently) and the place is OK, but is in need of upgrades. The elevator is ridiculously small, it can fit only about 3 people with walkers/wheelchairs at a time (and I believe there are about 200 people living there, 100 rooms but everyone’s doubled up with a roommate). It needs a coat of interior paint. And the access is not good for those like Carol who has serious mobility issues. She has to scale ramps up and down (which she’s really no longer able to do and she’s still waiting for a wheelchair) to get outside to their patio area in back (there’s also a ramp in front, but this place is not like the much smaller, homier Hollywood facility where residents came and went pretty freely and there was a bus stop right out in front; they also were close to everything for shopping needs; now they’re in an area populated mostly by other long-term care facilities and car dealerships).
A physician visits regularly for those who need attention and there’s an onsite, full-time nurse in an office for everything else.
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Mumsee, that is true, but nurses that are abusive and are reported face investigation by the College if Nurses and are stripped of their license if found to be culpable. Every profession has its bad apples, but that was not what caused the living conditions like ward rooms, that allowed infection to spread unchecked. Furthermore, the private business model’s tendency to want to look after the bottom line first has often led those nursing homes to cover up abuses. All too often an abusive worker is simply let go, to avoid calling in investigators and having to go through disciplinary procedures, allowing the person to be rehired somewhere else.
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Bunch of people acting like humans.
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A lot of good teachers. A lot of not so.
A lot of good home schoolers. A lot of not so.
Going out on a limb here:
A lot of good politicians. A lot of not so.
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Oh well, that’s OK then?
Or is it? “Speak up, judge righteously, defend the cause of the poor and the needy.” Proverbs 31:9
The righteous indignation Christ showed over money changers and swindlers being allowed to operate in the Temple complex would not be amiss now and again. Humans are after all made in the image of God, and those who are believers are temples of the Holy Spirit, so a bit of indignant defense of their bodily welfare against modern day swindlers seems a Christian sort of attitude to take.
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Absolutely.
I was just pointing out none of us are flawless.
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And we, as believers, ought to be diligent at teaching the Truth through word and action. But to expect perfection from imperfect creatures is going to end in frustration. Our hope is in Christ. Not in us fixing things.
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None of those who wrote the Bible were flawless either. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel were all sinners, and yet they had plenty to say about the sins and injustices that were being committed by their nation. They did not change the outcome. John the Baptist was a sinner and yet he had the gall to call the Pharisees a brood of vipers for their injustice. He apparently changed nothing by calling them what they were, as they remained unmoved and continued so when Jesus later called them whitewashed sepulchres. Jesus, who was the only sinless one in the Bible, did not seem to fix anything with his driving the swindlers out if the Temple. In fact, if you read the Gospels carefully, you realize he did it twice, once at the beginning, and once at the end of his ministry, and his indignation was equally strong on both occasions. But that is not the point, is it? Just because we are unlikely to change anything doesn’t mean we should not speak the truth about it.
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The things you learn that you didn’t know before. Some time back I downloaded a puzzle app on my phone. When I have a few minutes are want to relax I move puzzle pieces around. Last night I was doing this and Mr. P wanted to know what I was doing. I showed him where I had just finished the puzzle. He said we should do puzzles together. Now one is ordered from Amazon and should be here sometime around the 5th of Never or sooner depending…
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The fix is in. Eternal life bought by the Blood of Christ.
However, we do still live in a fallen world and we still need to do what we can, speaking the Truth in love. But not be surprised when the white washed tombs stay filled.
Yes, Roscuro, we should be doing what God has given us to do. By doing so, we are loving our neighbor. You will continue to call out the West and the desk workers. I will continue to call out in the areas I am called to call: abortion, treatment of children, education, environment, etc. But I won’t be surprised if children continue to be killed with a knife or with “kindness”. I realize that Who I stand with is hated for being. Nothing I can do about that except follow His instruction: to love Him and love my neighbor.
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Waiting for that interview with the councilman which has been “promised” today after it didn’t happen yesterday. We will see … as soon as council adjourns, around 1 (maybe), they tell me.
Koi fish neighbor called to check in this morning, they’re enjoying their time away in the desert. They’re hanging out with neighbors who are having a bunch of work done on their house, panning for gold and just taking it easy with the dogs.
So glad they were able to get away for a needed change of scenery. She’s 73, he’s 75, both very self-sufficient — but their children are becoming overbearing in insisting she not go anywhere and just stay inside (her husband still works full-time). She said she was on the verge of a depression staying shut in that much. I’ve observed that in a couple families during this crisis, children really becoming over-protective of their parents (who really aren’t that old).
I always respected my mom (in her 60s) as an adult who could make her own decisions. Granted, things do change and children sometimes do need to become more protective, but just because people are older doesn’t mean they’ve lost their ability to think and act reasonably, making their own decisions.
Anyway, interesting talk with that neighbor in the desert who tells me she now believes this is all a conspiracy leading to a planned government takeover, possibly in partnership with China. It’s a test run, she’s convinced.
Another former journalist friend (and Christian) likewise insists the coronavirus is “nothing,” it’s being way overblown and the lockdown will destroy the economy and more. A friend from church believes the same.
As I said, I know people all across the spectrum of opinion on this, and opinions now are so strong. As much as possible I listen primarily to the medical field (not the politicians or news commentators), though some critics insist there is no agreement in the medial community either. Is that the case, roscuro?
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While I don’t buy into the conspiracy theories, there are valid issues being raised about government reach vs. over-reach. When does it reach that point? The government does have a primary role in protecting its citizens and I believe the actions we’ve seen are in line with that (though with the advantage of hindsight we might want to review and rethink some of what was done, whether all of the economic shutdowns were necessary; we’re beginning to see that consequences may be more dire than we initially believed — but it seems to have been done with the goal of keeping the citizenry as safe as possible with what was an unpredictable and real public health threat).
But we need to always be watchful, lest those actions become a little too comfortable or convenient or “useful” for those in positions of power.
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A couple articles I read debunking the “Plandemic” fake documentary each made a point I have often thought of – how likely is it that multiple governments and all the pharmaceutical companies have colluded together in a conspiracy, and all those involved are keeping quiet? Answer: Not likely at all.
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If anyone is interested in reading those articles I mentioned, here are the links:
https://vitals.lifehacker.com/if-you-found-that-plandemic-video-convincing-read-th-1843339002?fbclid=IwAR3FUYHOuh7Junc0mX6SvIi9xFuuEoAfIOqTBMP01hQ4daR99k7STBG-kf0
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Wow! How did that happen?! The first link appeared as the whole article!
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That is not the case. There are a few outliers, whose videos or post go viral via those delighted to find a medical professional agreeing with them, but as I have mentioned before, in the multitude of counsellors there is safety and healthcare guidelines are built on general consensus, drawn from those with the most experience. The whole social distancing idea was not based on guesswork. We already knew how respiratory transmission takes place between people, hence the early warning to wash hands, avoid touching your face, cough and sneeze in your elbow. The six foot guideline had long been established for droplet precautions. They were just giving the public guidelines that hospitals already used to contain cases of infectious respiratory illness. A shutting down public places if gathering had been done before with Spanish influenza, and statistical studies, completed long before this outbreak, had determined that it had worked. The general consensus is that this a new communicable disease with a much higher rate of mortality than most of those communicable diseases circulating in the general population. Obviously, there are sections of the popu with worse communicable diseases, such as Ebola in the Congo, but generally speaking, COVID-19 is the worst human to human transmitted disease circulating worldwide at this point. Malaria and dengue are zoonotic transmission, while cholera is transmitted via fecal continamination of water, and thus control of mosquito populations and clean water will reduce infections from those, but for an illness transmitted from human to human with contact, contact precautions, as we call them in healthcare, are needed. The challenge is recreating precaution instituted in hospitals in the rest of the community.
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I am now reading ‘The Long Winter’ to Tiny. I was reminded of the long weeks and months (7) they stayed, even when in town, indoors, because blizzard after blizzard rendered it completely unsafe to venture out. The people nearly starved, but they survived and went on to rebuild a happy life. It got me thinking how at one point on the more northern portion of this continent, winter made shut-ins of most people, because it was too dangerous to venture outside. Modern inventions have rendered winter much less dangerous, but at one point it was a serious threat. It made me think of why the West is so restless under all this. We are used to bending nature to our own ends and not having to take consideration. Even tornados and hurricane have become merely annoying blips, affecting pockets, but not changing life for the rest. But then nature formed a disease, and made us all subject to her whims (the Bible personifies earth as a woman) the way our ancestors were and we think the world is coming to an end.
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Going out on a limb here:
A lot of good politicians. A lot of not so.
Close. A few good politicians, a whole lotta “not so”.
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Oh, look! 57!
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Roscuro – Your last comment reminded me of something I have often thought about some American (and maybe Canadian, too) Christians. When something “big” or strange (such as this pandemic) happens to Americans, some Christians start talking about how it must point to us being in the “last days” and the imminent return of Christ (or the Rapture). Meanwhile, people in other countries, especially third world or war-torn countries, have been dealing with worse for decades or centuries.
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Last call on the Zoom invite. I’m off to cook dinner (so Mr. Everything can turn on the oven). See you at 5.
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Wow. Idaho went from seventy deaths to sixty nine in a matter of moments.
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mumsee, I’d say that’s breaking news
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Hey, 62! 🙂
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I will miss being on Zoom with you all this evening. I think the stress of dealing with all this Xfinity scenario/neighbor situation on top of everything else has me feeling down. This upcoming weekend is when we were suppose to br in Texas for Wesley’s graduation ceremony.
In the afternoon I noticed a truck near the telephone pole with the cable. It turned out to be a utility worker who put up little yellow flags where the gas line ran in the neighbor’s yard. He told me the cable had already been buried underground across the front yard part. Art told me the knock at our door was around 6:30 a.m. so maybe they were at work while we were asleep. I still need to be back in touch with the neighbor which I rather dread. I need to keep repeating, “This too shall pass.” I have asked Art to come home before dark to look about the layout where they placed the cable because part of it was left undone since we sent them away. Art will be home around when you all will be on the Zoom call. I also feel down because he is literally so lame that I need to be with him as he looks at the situation. When the utility guy pointed out where the line had been put in the ground, my eyes could not see well enough to tell it was there.
In better news, Wesley is going to have an article published in Christianity and Literature based on one of the subjects covered in his dissertation, Lucy Hutchinson. Also, I asked him if I might be able to buy the published book of his dissertation. He said, “Just watch your mailbox.” He had already ordered one as a surprise for us.
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My understanding is that there are more deaths from the flu than from COVID-19. Is that correct, Roscuro?
What I’m wondering is, if it’s true that the flu is highly contagious — and deadly, in many cases — should we be doing widespread shut-downs of businesses, churches, and other entities every year for the flu’s 6-month (or however long) season?
Are we not loving our neighbors if we try to keep things going in the midst of viruses circulating?
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We’ll miss you tonight, Janice.
Congratulations to Wesley! 🙂
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Hutchinson
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Thank you, 6 Arrows. I will miss you all, too.
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I tend to believe we can fall into a reactionary mode if we decide everyone on the planet should stay home due to a virus. There are common sense approaches to illnesses. If one does not feel well for goodness sake stay home! I had my hair cut, went shopping at Marshall’s and stopped in at my friend’s antique shoppe. I wore a mask, washed my hands and used hand sanitizer. We had an in person small group meeting last night and at the home of our sweet 90 year couple. No one hugged and we tried to “social distance” while in their home. No one felt fill or if they did they would not have come. We had 11 at our meeting and had a delight time of chatting and praying.
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Well no one felt “ill” not fill and we had a delightful time not a delight time…I need a cup of coffee 😊
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Regarding my 6:54, Roscuro — I asked you a question, but my comment was a general musing to anyone reading. Just clarifying, if it sounded pointed and like I was challenging you or something. I didn’t intend to have it sound that way. 🙂
I do ponder what future implications there might be with widespread closures now. Will governments want, or feel they need, to shut down society on a massive scale with the advent of, for example, flu season each year?
Does that need to be the response to flu season as well as the response to COVID-19?
I have deep concern for the people I know and love who are suffering depression due to the closures of their businesses and other radical changes that have occurred.
Death by suicide is a very real threat. Is anyone tallying those deaths in the COVID-19 age?
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6, see my replies yesterday to Cheryl regarding influenza deaths. I will simply say here that even the estimated deaths from influenza do not reach 80,000 in one season.
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6 Arrows – My understanding is that the coronavirus is deadlier than the flu. Some states may (I don’t know if they do or not) currently have a higher flu death rate, but that is over a period of several months. The COVID-19 death rate is in a more concentrated period of time.
There have been questions as to how much the number of COVID-19 deaths has been inflated, but worldwide, include in the U.S., death rates in general have gone up a whole lot, which indicates that something bad is going on. (How’s that for statistical analysis – “a whole lot”? 😀 ) Although there is talk of some non-COVID deaths being counted as COVID, there is also talk of many deaths that were probably due to the virus, but went undiagnosed.
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That should be estimated yearly influenza deaths in the US.
Death by suicide is still being tallied, as is death by every other cause.
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Oh, Roscuro sneaked in while I was typing. 🙂
Regarding our Zoom meeting tonight – Please forgive me if I move too much. I will be standing at my standing laptop desk, and I need to move to keep my feet from hurting from standing in one spot continually. Usually, I “dance” and sway to music, but I will try to tone down the movement for our meeting.
I would prefer to sit on the couch, like I did last week, but I have discovered that sitting greatly aggravates that pain in my upper leg. And now my feet hurt from being on them too much today. I think I will go to bed early after our meeting, just so I don’t have to sit nor stand. 😦
Please say a prayer that this will ease soon. I have had similar things in the past, but I was at least able to sit, even if I couldn’t walk too well.
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Thanks, Roscuro. I’ll look later. See you in the Zoom meeting shortly. 🙂
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Turned on and waiting.
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Roscuro,
While the majority in our area are private, some of the worst hit are the county run homes. The govt run non-profits.
Our freak show of a state health secretary is another politician, like our Gov., whose policies say ship the infected back to the nursing homes. But he yanked his Mom out and put her up in a hotel first.
And yes, that’s a man pretending he’s a woman.
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I feel like I’ve forgotten something……
Ooops. 🙂
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It’s okay, AJ. I sent you a screenshot.
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AJ, you could have done a mumsee . . . 😉
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Sorry I “left” the Zoom meeting so abruptly. Our internet went out, and that was that. I stuck around my laptop, waiting until a little past 8:00 to see if it would come back, hoping I could rejoin you before the projected ending time, but, alas, it wasn’t until sometime later that we got our service back.
So if you’re wondering if it was something someone said… nope, lol. 😉
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The Real, we have one municipal nursing home in this region. There are no cases there, and the entire staff and residents have been tested. The worst hit nursing home in this region, with nearly half the residents dying, was privately owned. Province wide, there are initial reports that death rates have been higher in private for-profit run homes than non-profit and municipal owned homes.
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Thanks for letting us know you’re okay, 6!
We missed you, AJ.
I took a screen shot too but sent it to Michelle. I doctored it to put our WV names in place of the Zoom captions. It was before RKessler got there.
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I attended a Zoom business meeting this morning, and my internet wasn’t working the greatest then, either. It’s been unusually windy today, and sort of weird-looking skies, which maybe was a factor in getting a good connection.
Our local music teacher’s association president is stepping down, so several of us met by Zoom to discuss future leadership. All of us present had no interest in “running” for president. We’ll have to see if anyone steps up. The VP used to be president at one time, but isn’t interested in resuming the presidency.
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My screenshot is pre-RK also, but she was never at a good angle.
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sorry for the no show, work got in the way (and I’m not officially ‘off the clock’ until 6 p.m.); turned in one story but had to get started on the next one. We’re also trying to find out when the Mercy Navy ship is leaving port, we’ve heard in a couple days (at midnight) but spent about an hour working w/OC Register military beat reporter, who has all the Navy contacts — I have the port contacts — trying to nail that down, not sure we ever did.
After work I went over to feed the fish but the younger son (longshore) was there with his daughter so we chatted for a while.
Well, this whole thing (the pandemic and its ripple effects) is a mess; I agree with roscuro, this is harder for those of use used to a pretty ‘easy’ life to wrap our minds and wills around with full acceptance.
Locally, there’s talk of holding the fireworks show over the water but trying to find a way so people can park on the waterfront (rather than gather on the beach) to watch. And there’s discussion about erecting a “drive-in” theater in the big parking lot next to the Iowa so people could just drive up and watch a movie this summer. A film studio is in discussions with the Iowa and city to see if it might work.
The idea is to try to give people enough “safe” and alternative summer things to do (many of the usual events are being canceled) so they won’t completely lose their sanity.
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And I, also, no-showed. I was exhausted after work today. I will hopefully be there next time.
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