Tuesday, July 7th, 2020
Last nights’ rain brought a cool night and morning, just for the day to become humid again.
As the tooth repair continues with yet another dentist appointment - three of four - today, I have taken a half day off to deal with it. This has not prevented me from my daily swim. So happy that I manage to book a lane on most days! So far only weekends have been tough, but on one of those there is always the option to drive to Lake Arrowhead. The two-hour drive is well worth it as the lake is beautiful for swimming. There are other as yet unexplored waterholes, which I am reluctant to venture to just in case they disappoint.
In addition to my swim I had been looking forward to a Jo class with Takeguchi Sensei in a park. Sadly a major thunderstorm started at around 18:45, which hit Rockville and Silver Spring, no rain in Bethesda though, which is just ~10km away. The only people to show up at the park were Sensei and I. Everyone else seemed to have either gotten the memo or lived close enough to be caught in the rain, and not even make an attempt to venture to the park. I briefly greeted Sensei before we both left again.
The Floh got its share of swimming as we crossed numerous flooded intersections on the way back, but it braved all of them and did not get stuck once. Crossing the district line around 16th Street the sun was shining it was so bizzar.
Otherwise it was a sad day as I have decided to let J. go. She has been working for us for almost ten years, but recent increases in minimum wage and the fact that with no travel I do not need a fulltime minder to take care of EM when I am gone, has led me to that decision. Her last day of work with us will be September 1st, 2020. I am hoping find another family for her as this is the worst time to be without work, here, but even more so in the Philippines. If it is a family that does not or cannot have her live with them, she is welcome to stay with us, in which case it would not mean goodbye only a temporary farewell while she renews her visa for the USA.
Neither the extension of her visa sponsored by me nor the transfer to another family can be done here. For an extension she could go to a nearby country, like Iceland, for a transfer she needs to go back to Manila. With Corona this is a challenge as the State Department is not processing any new visas and the US Embassy in the Philippines does not issue visas until at least through the end of July. I am hoping that the situation will change in the coming weeks and that I manage to find a nice family for her. If the latter happens, we will I hope, figure some way out of the visa mess. As also, due to the current travel ban, even if she managed to get a visa in Manila she could not travel back to the USA. So this whole virus business and how it is handled is upsetting many lives. The fact that State does not issue new visas and that visa changes or extensions cannot be done in DC, is the height on inflexibility at a time when many people are desperate for childcare with two parents working from home.
Even if day cares and so on reopen, many may not be comfortable sending their kids or might not even get a space. So restricting nanny access seems stupid on every level and not likely to support school reopening either, which is what the bully in Chief is trying to force despite record bad news on the Virus front.
A quarter million new cases have been reported in the USA in the past five days alone, that is the sad record, paired with an administration in denial as evidence by federal workers having to return to offices and Florida (and the clown in the White House) ordering schools to reopen in the fall.
Today there are 11.66 million infections reported worldwide, of which 3.03 million (almost one third!) are in the US. The magic mark of 130k dead has also been broken. The death toll in the USA is likely to reach 135k by the end of the week. These terrible numbers have not stopped the administration from ordering federal workers to return to their offices, which poses a threat to us as most of them live in the DMV, where we are. One sick person in one of the typical US offices (no windows, packed to capacity) is infected there is a reasonable chance of hundreds of coworkers catching the virus and spreading it to others in their respective community.
This is frustrating for all of us who have really made an effort to stop the spread and are cautiously reopening our lives, trying to take calculated risk. And thousands of Federal employees are beyond calculable, at least for my little mind. The only protection we have is staying away from people as far as possible. What this means for schools I do not even want to think about as the kids are anxious to return and for EM in her final year grades are needed, so what we had for the last quarter, with no letter grades, is not an option.
MoCo is working on various reopening plans. These include partial return to school, alternate presence schedules complemented with remote learning as well as improved ventilation, disinfection and UV lights.
With the current administration in total denial there is little hope for America to combat the virus I fear. In addition, people in this country seem to be too undisciplined or too stupid or both to the concept of social distancing, mask wearing and avoiding the spread. Instead they go out and party in lakes, on beaches, at bars and restaurants. Seriously? I get vengefully angry when I see pictures like this. May all of the participants get infected and be sick for months!
And as infections are on the rise there is déjà vu on testing. Even though capacities are three times what they were in April people in States with spiking infection rates are waiting for hours to get a test, testing sites are running out of supplies and hospitals are reaching capacity. Are people in this country seriously willing to accept ever increasing numbers of dead for the sake of the economy? The Orange Cheeto certainly is after all it is mainly black people dying and the native Americans, whom the immigrants to this country have destroyed over centuries.
It comes as no surprise that Native Americans, or indigenous people as they are now called, like people of color, are far harder hit by the Virus. Adding to the death toll are now wildfires.
The only chance of survival for this nation seems to be a viable vaccine and the US government has just bet on another one, obviously realizing its inability to do what the rest of the world does: wear a mask, keep your distance. Thoughts and prayers!
At this rate leaving becomes rather an attractive thought. Live in a place where a normal life is possible. I would hate to leave my house and the Aikidoka, but how much can a human take? Almost any place in the world seems better than this place.
I did find a useful overview of drugs and vaccines currently being tested, which gives rise to some hope at least. While my suspicion about the reliability of antibody tests is confirmed. Maybe I should take a couple more.