Friday, March 20th, 2020
You know the situation is dire when the US relaxes restrictions on access to alcohol:
The DC Council passed an emergency relief bill yesterday designed to help those struggling from the coronavirus crisis. One welcome provision for bars and restaurants: they can now sell alcohol for pickup and delivery, from bottles of wine to pre-batched cocktails.
This is fully aligned with discussions on my listserv:
1. How to get alcoholic beverages delivered to your doorstep
2. The use of blowers versus the good old rake
On the former I have no opinion as in my aspiration to boost my immune system I have been cutting back on wine; limit: 1 glass a day. Concurrently also curbing my other vice: max 5 a day. With the inability to enjoy my pool time, the dojo closed and the upcoming scuba vacation cancelled that leaves very little fun in life.
I am however enjoying the closeness to my daughter, this is her last year at home. 16 months from now she is hopefully of to varsity somewhere on the globe, ideally a place with a functioning health system and a functioning government.
Speaking of health and boosting immune systems: I am a firm believer in fresh cooked food. Veggies combined with a protein is a great basis for a healthy life style. For medical reasons carbs in the form of rice or pasta have been largely banished from our menu years ago. That is not to say we will never have them; we have them very occasionally. Cooking nice meals does make for a welcome diversion and I am experimenting with more complicated things like Sauce Hollandaise.
While in normal times I am not a great believer in taking supplements, we have decided to shore up our resistance and are adding oregano oil, zinc-copper and ginger capsules to our daily food intake as well as Vitamine C (thank you friend for the recommendation). I have also switched from my daily pot of fennel tea to a pot of homemade fresh ginger-lemon-honey beverage, which is not only an excellent remedy against cold, but quite delicious. And then of course our daily dose of fresh air and Vitamin D aka a walk or bike ride through the hood to break the day.
On the note of air, my brilliant friend has shared.
Maybe worth a try - now that we all have time. I tried it this morning and clearly am not able to hold my breath for 60 seconds – I gave up after 35. I will try again tomorrow and see if I can up it to say 45.
On the latter discussion I side with those objecting to the use of blowers, more for environmental reasons than anything else (though I do have issues with the noise too). Just imagine you are a little ant or beetle trying to make it out there and then this mega blow dryer comes along and displaces you. Gone is your family and your social environment. The main argument of the pro-blowers is income for workers. In a country where large parts of the population are paid by the hour without paid leave, paid sick days or paid family leave, I have a lot of compassion for those who need to go out to work. Maybe the compromise is: use rakes instead of blowers? It would also give them more paid hours….
Admittedly people in my neck of the woods are very good about staying home. However, I doubt it will have a significant impact. It will take a national effort and I am not sure this nation has as yet realized how serious the situation is. There are still plenty of people out there partying
This administration is not (yet?) willing to lock people down or order “shelter in place” as it is called in California. Now that limited testing is happening we see infection numbers double day by day and I am convinced the real numbers are probably tenfold. The longer it takes to enforce serious measures, the longer this will last. For those of us hunkering down, it will make #stayathome so much more prolonged.
Which has me question: will my daughter and her friends be able to go on their planed university tour in Europe in August? Will I be able to fly home over the summer to see mum?
News of the below research on a potential cure is making me hopeful:
And as a tech geek of sorts, I did like Summit’s work.
Ideally it helps humanity to return to some semblance of “normal” sooner rather than later.
On the point of Normal: The run to the office was eerie. Other than the security guards I encountered two people (surprised). I grabbed my stuff, printed a couple of pages on a very uncooperative printer (it jammed with every single page. Suffice to say I slammed and cursed it into submission). I sterilized my hands about five times, which given no one has been at the office for a week is probably the most superfluous activity ever.
Given I was out and about anyway, I decided to stop by Trader Joes on the odd chance that I could pick up some toilet paper (I could not, even though sales had been limited to a bundle a person, but there were paper towels in the shelf). A new feature at TJ– blue tape on the floor to mark the appropriate distance when waiting in line for a cashier. I am happy to report there was plenty of food (not much in the meat/ fish section) so we will not have to deplete our frozen stash as yet and are long on fresh veggies. People were very good about maintaining a safe distance (mostly). This did not stop me from sanitizing my trolley twice before use and touching it with a tissue soaked in sanitizer only. Once home everything got wiped. I feel like a crazy old lady now.