Thursday, June 18th, 2020
99 is a great number. 3x3=9 and in 1999 I considered 3x3 lucky and the double digits a funky wedding anniversary. It did not last; hopefully the current situation will not last either.
Today was the trip two of three to the dentist. I spend a full two hours there. Seems my jaws are the size of a small child’s making the cleaning up of the tooth (or rather remnant thereof) very challenging, seeing it is the last tooth in the row. They managed though and cast a provisional. It is a little irritating now as I feel as if there is a spike. Considering this is probably the corner of the original tooth I am reluctant to ask for it to be smoothed. I must say I seem to have lucked out with the dentist. Everyone at the practice is super nice. The staff all remembered EM and complimented me on what a sweet person she is. I must have done something right. Best of all, the dentist just called me to check on how I am doing offering me to come in anytime today if I the tongue continues to be irritated by the tooth. Now how nice is that? None of my doctors has ever called me to check in on me.
Beyond the excitement of the dentist visit our life continues to revolve around our house and garden interspersed with neighborhood walks. While it was still raining in the morning, the skies cleared up around noon and the sun came out. Again, the weather matched my mood. I am still sorry about my lashing out at someone I care about, like and admire so have given more thought to why we seem to be unable to be close, while at the same time unable to let go completely. I have some ideas, but they are as yet not fully baked and are unlikely to be verifiable, ever. I did try and make some amends by sending a brief text, before deleting the chain as well as the number yet again (something I have continuously been doing every few months when conversations went back to extended silences).
Sadly, the forecast for the weekend is not good. So unclear if we can take out a boat or head to Greenbrier National Park for the hike to the waterhole. On the upside, rainy weather will presumably translate into few people being interested in the pools as they reopen for lap swimmers on Saturday. I am thrilled at the prospect of getting at least one of my go to exercises back. Which reminds me, beyond the walk I skipped my exercise routine courtesy of early morning calls followed by the trip to the dentist. Nevertheless, I think my weight shifts are getting better. I seem to have gotten a better sense of how they should be working. Aya Sensei’s tutorials have certainly been helpful and I am very grateful for his regular posts.
Reported cases stand at 8.4 million worldwide today and global death have exceeded 450k. The US has 2.3 million reported cases and death today exceed 200k, more Americans have died of COVID-19 than in WWI. The administration continues to purport that the is virus dying out. This clearly rubbish and Florida is on track to take the lead from New York as the next US epicenter, adding over 3.500 new cases in a single day. This first wave is far from over, and nothing is under control. It is also becoming increasingly clear that States which have enforced more stringent and longer lockdowns are seeing downward trends, while those reopening early are on an upward trajectory. These increases which are not due to more testing, but attributable to community spread.
As the world learns more about the virus there is more disconcerting news; 10% of those recovered lose the antibodies within weeks. It is unclear what that means for a possible second infection. Would it be asymptomatic or is there a risk of it becoming severe? Alongside this there are discussions about asymptomatic people, with the latest theory voiced being that asymptomatic people are not contagious. This might be good news, though if the antibodies are not sustained and do not prevent repeat infections, it is likely meaningless.
Finally, I am confused to read that over half of the Twitter accounts demanding America reopen are written by bots. It is just unclear who created these bots.