Life in the Age of Corona

A Daily Diary

Sunday, December 6th,2020

Shit Storm

I woke up at 5:00 terrified that we now have the virus in our house. I am probably overthinking last nights’ events. In hindsight I am mad at EM for putting all of us at risk by hanging with her friends inside and unmasked.

We went through it a million times. The need to stay safe as we prepare to travel. The whole planning of an outside party. She knew that being inside was not safe. She knows that not wearing a mask puts everyone at risk. None of this stopped her from entertaining her friends in our basement for four hours, unmasked. Abtou the worst thing on can do. Five people, five different households, inside, no masks. A guarantee for spreading COVID-19. I am mad, disappointed, sad, Sad because we may not be able to go home after this. Sad at the disrespect.

This morning I send her a short video about mask wearing and let her know I was furious. Of course, I should have broken up the party when I first found them inside. Somehow, I did not, and I am furious with myself at that lapse. God, I do want the teens to have a life, have fun, but really a week before we travel? After all that meticulous planning?

She now has to wear a mask in the house and keep a two meter distance from me and when she is close, I mask up too. It is just hideous and so unnecessary. I have notified all involved parents and suggested they have their kids tested in three to five days. Except for D I think all of them will, but then I did not suggest it to her. I just vented with her.

EM has been very contrite, but it is too little too late; the damage may well have been done with the virus joining the party. We did make up though. All we have left now is to pray that neither of the two teens outside of the bubble are infected. I did tell mum about it. She has taken it well, staying on the positive side of things, while I am mentally preparing for a Christmas in DC.

Courtesy of my friend D I at least have a duck in the freezer, so if worst comes to worst EM and I have Christmas dinner. What a sad affair it would be though without family and friend; just the two of us in isolation camp.

It would be such a bummer after all I went through to get internet, a quarantine house and so onif we ended up staying here. At least, and that is if we can go, there seems to be a resolution on the cat front.

One of the girls who was here las night would be willing to look after Max. Her, in combination with the triplets may be a great solution. She would spend mornings at the house and the boys would do the evening shift. I very much hope that this plot will work out.

Tonight, was the third anniversary of the Luminara. Over two hundred houses in the Hood decorated sidewalks with paper bags and candles. We did a tour around the Hood and it was beautiful. So many people put in an effort to illuminate the world. It was such an enchanting sight. With the pandemic I feel the neighbors are all stepping up to give all of us a break. We enjoyed a stroll and took in the lights. Many people were out walking, many with a drink and it was a festive, companionable atmosphere. I am very grateful for this.

With the virus rampant in the US I may or may not be overreacting. Today another 204k new infections were reported, bringing the total to 15.1 million cases out of 66.7 million globally.

Bloomberg has created a resilience score of how countries performed in handling Corona virus. Germany still manages 14th place, so not too bad of a place to be.  What comes as a major surprise is that the USA is on 18th place. No one in this country is handling anything frankly. Every day new infections are in the 200k range creeping up to 300k. Deaths are going up every single day with the new daily record just shy of 3k in a single day and an American passing every 30 seconds! And the US added 1 million new cases in just 5 days! In comparison the first 1 million were reached only 100 days after the first officially reported case.  The reasonably high score is explained by the USA’s singular focus on vaccine development. The swelling case load and rising deaths mean it would be 11 rungs lower otherwise. The extraordinary efficacy of the experimental mRNA vaccines, which could be authorized for emergency use in the U.S. as early as mid December, may mark a turning point there. Or so one hopes. The reality of course is very different and with all we have observed of the current administration hardly comes as a surprise. While the he Biden transition team does not have access to the Pentagon and DoD, it is able to work with the department of health, the CDC and the FDA and finds there are no federal plans for procuring and distributing the vaccine. Instead of 100 or 200 million doses barely 40 million are on order and even for those it is unclear how they will get into the country and made available across the country.

It seems no conspiracy theory is beyond being repeated. Here is one of the best though: the pandemic and the vaccines developed are a ploy by Russia and China to spread communism.

Just asking, if I get the shot will I automatically become a communist? Oh and what is Bill Gates’ role in this?

Many case,s especially in the earlier spread, are related to work environments and the absence of proper workers protection. Of course the administration has provided no guidance and yet again it is up to the individual states to provide guidance. 14 states have issued rules now on how workers should be protected. At the same time the GOP senate majority wants to tie any federal financial aid, extension of unemployment benefits etc. to a law that prevents workers from sueing their employers in the event of them contracting COVID. If it has not been sufficiently clear, it cannot get clearer, the Republicans do not give a flying hoot for any employees. They care only for the business owners.