You've got to admit...Super Tuesday was a shock!
With Biden and Sanders taking it all.
Lost my candidate of choice (Pete Buttigieg) the day before...and Amy...then Steyer and Bloomberg.
Pete, Amy and Mike immediately threw their lot in with Biden.
Sadly, Warren did not do well...not even winning her home state.
Today she also suspended her run for President.
And Gabbard (...bless her heart...) is still in the race...holding out for Guam, maybe?
So...it looks a lot like either Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders for the nomination in July.
No matter who gets it...they have my vote in November.
#BlueNoMatterWho2020 (and beyond).
Because....seriously....we have got to RESET our Government.
(..have you tried unplugging it...and then plugging it back in???)
If you don't see why...well, you haven't been paying attention.
And then there is THIS.
Which Germany has finally called a Pandemic...even though the US and CDC is STILL downplaying it...and Trump has a hunch that the health experts are wrong about the transmission levels...and percentages...and went on the air and suggested that mildly sick people should still show up to work.
SERIOUSLY
I can't see how that could possibly go wrong, can you?
This- from a guy that did not grasp how vaccines worked and asked the CDC
"But if you take a really solid flu shot...won't that protect you from COVID-19?"
No.
"Can't we get a vaccine for this in the next month or so?"
No...maybe in a year to a year and a half.
Then when the process is explained to him for the ninth time...he still responds
"I want it much quicker..maybe in the next couple of months."
(eyeroll...yes...and people in hell want icewater...)
And the self-hug defensive posture during most of the meeting with the experts because they just weren't agreeing with him, or saying what he wanted to hear.
A gesture most of us discard in childhood.
This is serious, folks.
I was never a "Bird Flu...Bird Flu...Bird Flu" , crazy...okay?
Although I admit to a certain level of panic when the Liberian Ebola Outbreak came (and especially when it reached our shores).
But this...this bug is completely different.
This is the next Pandemic.
Whether we want to believe it or not.
Whether we are ready for it, or not.
WHO projects between 60% and 70% of the world population will end up with this virus.
Of those people between 2% and 3% will die.
That will be millions of people.
To date 3 thousand (plus) have died.
From February 2, 2020
To last night (March 4, 2020)
Iran who started with less than 8 and within one month has grown to nearly 3,000 cases.
Italy who has less than 5 to begin with and now has 3,089
South Korea who also had less than 20 cases in February and now has 5,700+
The US..who has grown from 8 cases to 157 and 11 deaths in less than a month.
Despite what the cinema shows in Contagion...Outbreak or Pandemic..things don't get really bad overnight...outbreaks and clusters take time to form. Then they explode.
This morning NYC had five more confirmed...who had been in contact from an already confirmed patient.
Lateral spread.
As of noon today we now have 163 cases over 16 states.
And avoid crowds.
And hand bac eveything.
And STOP touching your face.
And DO NOT go to work or the gym or out SICK,
...no matter what shit-for-brains says...
And stay away from SICK people
For most of us it never hits home until we, or someone we love, ends up sick or dead.
I got a sneak preview of the heart-stopping moment on Monday when the news announced the first 2 Florida cases in Sarasota/Bradenton. One of them specifically in Manatee County where our middle son lives.
Yeah...then it hits close to home.
"It is okay, Mom...I am going to be so careful...and shop at night...and I work at night...you know me...I'm not around a lot of people anyway....not a crowd person..."
And by the end of our phone call I think I was breathing a little easier.
Maybe.
When you have children..and grands...and a large circle of family and friends...and a lover...it is like your heart is outside of you...always...and forever.
Because you know you can keep yourself relatively safe.
(...are any of us ever really safe???)
but you know, inside, you cannot possibly keep any of them safe.
And then stories emerge, like these...
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/medical-screener-lax-airport-tests-positive-coronavirus-n1149986
and this Physical Therapist's account:
I live in Seattle, I have all symptoms of COVID-19 and have a history of chronic bronchitis. Since I work in a physical therapy clinic with many 65+ patients and those with chronic illnesses, I decided to be responsible and go to get tested. This is how that went.
I called the Corona hotline, was on hold for 40 minutes and gave up. So I looked at the CDC and Washington public health websites. They told me to see a primary care doctor, but there's no information about testing.
I called 2 primary care doctors. One told me they don't know where to get testing, and that I should not to seek out testing. The other one told me to go to an urgent care or ER. I called the Urgent Care, they also had no idea where tests are, but told me to call the hospital.
I called the hospital. They do not have tests, but transferred me to the COVID-19 hotline to "answer my questions". Since I was transferred on a medical provider line, I actually got through. Progress!
The lady with the hotline was very kind and professional and understood my concern about my own health and those at my clinic. (Which is currently being sanitized). However, I was told I do not qualify for testing. And I was not given a timeline or info on current resources.
So. Who does qualify? Those who have been out of the country in the last 14 days, and those who have had contact with one of the few people who have been tested and come up positive. That's it.
The only way I can get treated is if my symptoms get so bad I develop pneumonia or bronchitis, which is very likely in my case. Then I'll be in the ER and quarantined for several days while waiting for a test and for the results to come back.
This is all incredibly frustrating because I am trying to do everything right in a system that punishes moments of "weakness" like taking days off.
It's also scary to know that I won't be able to get help until I need life support.
So yeah...I think it is safe to say
"We're all gonna effing die!!!"
(...well 2-3 percent of us, anyway...)
In the meanwhile
WASH YOUR DAMNED HANDS!!!
(...and stop touching your face...)
"Just kill me now..."
Update:
This Morning's Numbers
and less than 24 hours later...
