tales from a COVID-19 self-quarantine, part 3

Another (long) weekly report.

Monday...

All those nurses, doctors, and hospitals begging for protective gear and ventilators? Apparently they're stealing supplies and selling them on the black market! So surmised Trump Sunday night after a day of tweeting about how popular he is and how high his ratings are but not one word about all the people who have died through his inaction. Meanwhile Fauci predicts 100,000 to 200,000 deaths before this is over. Trump grudgingly extends the restrictions to the end of April, seems to think 200,000 dead Americans is acceptable.

Rocky came by to work on the sink again. He tells me Gunnar was tested and came up negative.

No remote yoga as Abby had something she had to do.

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Tuesday...

Sink drain is still seeping. WTF!

Because not a day can go by without Trump doing something that makes us go What The Actual Fuck, at last night's rally disguised as a virus briefing, he had the My Pillow guy address the nation. Seriously, the My Pillow guy.

Then there was this tweet this morning.

While some businesses are suffering, especially small businesses, craft supplies and comfy clothes sales are booming. Jigsaw puzzle sales are up 370%.

I did an errand run today to the feed store for dirt because what they mistakenly sold me last week wasn't dirt but soil conditioner for hard unimproved soil (no biggie, I'll use it), the vet, and the grocery store. There is now a plexiglas shield between the customer and the sacker instead of just the cashier and if you bring your own bags they won't touch them, you have to bag your groceries yourself. The manager type was almost rude when she informed me of this and did I still want to use them? Yes, I said, that's fine. The cashier was very apologetic, not a problem I told him.

And then our friend Gene came out to start retrieving all his stuff so I've had more human contact today than the last two weeks combined.

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Wednesday...

We now have more deaths from COVID-19 than died on 9/11.

Friend Gene returned today for another load. We're letting him borrow the trailer as he's afraid that Texas is going to go into lock down and then he wouldn't be able to get his stuff.

Wharton County now has 7 confirmed cases, one in Wharton itself.

Checked the sink drain pipe under the sink this morning and it was dry so maybe the sealant Rocky used just hadn't cured all the way yet.

I mentioned Trump trashing GM after ordering it to start producing ventilators. As usual, as always Trump is a vindictive little bastard. Here are the facts about what GM and Ventec have done/are doing. 

No remote yoga last night either as Abby couldn't get it to work. Good thing I do my routine every morning.

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Thursday...

My county now has 8 confirmed cases, 5 tests pending. Perhaps we'll start taking more precautions and wiping down more stuff brought into the house even though I still think it is highly unlikely that the virus would be transmitted that way. Would hate for the joke to be on me.

Instead of mentioning the many WTF things that became known yesterday that show how unqualified and over their heads everyone in Trump's administration and Trump himself is, I'm just going to post a link to Heather Richardson's Letter for yesterday. If you don't already subscribe to her Letters From An American , you should. Suffice to say that the incompetence and greed exposed yesterday reveals just how fucked up things are in this country and not just because of the virus. The virus is just putting a magnifying glass on it.

Finally started on clearing the fence in front of the shop which is overgrown with poison ivy, cowpea, virginia creeper and ironweed.

And because we can all use a laugh (from a satire site)...who knew our 'lady chemicals' were so potent.

Yay! Remote yoga!

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Friday...

Nine positive cases in my county, 84 tested, 71 negative, 4 pending. Governor Abbott has extended the stay at home and only essential businesses should remain open order til the end of April.

Trump is back to blaming Obama for the shortage of national emergency medical supplies (a lie and even if true he's been in office for three years and did nothing to replenish them), still whining about governors and hospitals begging for help, now calling them complainers who are never satisfied and is blaming the hospitals and states for their own predicament saying they should have stocked up on needed supplies long ago. Apparently our federal stockpile isn't for the use of the states even though that's what it said on the strategic national stockpile website which was changed afterwards to reflect the administration's new agenda of hoarding. Trump continues to be an incompetent moron and a nasty piece of work at that purposely pitting states against each other, refusing to provide any kind of national leadership and response and now Jared is in command of the coronavirus task force. 

May the gods help us all.

Heather Richardson's Letter today. 

Spent another two hours working on the fence.

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Saturday...

More of the same, more people infected, more people dying, over 1200 people died yesterday and when pressed on who the 'our' is if not the states, Trump replied that it was them, the federal government. In other words, he's keeping the federal stockpile for himself and his ass kissers cause, you know, the 2% might need the stuff more than those who are dying. Plus he once again accused the questioner of being 'nasty'. And then he fired Intelligence Community Inspector General Atkinson for forwarding on the whistleblower complaint that led to his impeachment for lack of loyalty. To him. Instead of the the country. And this isn't the only thing he is doing under the radar and while Congress and the Supreme Court is recessed because of the virus.

Now the states, forced to compete with each other to buy necessary PPE and ventilators by Trump, have to compete with the federal government as well. Colorado had an order for ventilators being finalized at a fair price when FEMA swooped in and bought them and Colorado has no idea now how many or if any ventilators they will get from FEMA.

I made one more trip to the feed store today to get some periwinkles and didn't wear a mask. Marc just left for the grocery store with a dust mask. We found a small package of them in the garage left over from Harvey. I've seen a few people wearing masks at the grocery store and one of the outside guys at the feed store had a bandana across his face. Next time I go out, that's what I'm going to do, I am a Texan after all, but I can't think of any reason I will be leaving the house from now on except for grocery store  runs.

Rained off and on all day and turned cold so no working on the fence. I started a new drawing instead.

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Sunday...

Trump, who is not a doctor, is once again telling people to try the malaria drug, cause, who knows, it might work, he might even take it even though there is NO proof or evidence that it is helpful in treating covid-19.

Trump and Republicans are also against a national vote by mail for November preferring a low turnout of voters because they know, have admitted publicly this past week, that they are a minority party and only stay in power via voter suppression and gerrymandering.

After insisting the states get their own supplies instead of expecting the federal government to supply them, the federal government confiscated the 35K masks ordered by a New Jersey county on the day they were due to be delivered (also happened in Kentucky, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan). It has also been reported that Trump diverted a shipment of masks to Germany back to the US, basically an act of piracy. Now, a new company has been formed in Delaware by Republican fund raiser Mike Gula that sells hard to get test kits, medical equipment, and safety gear. When asked where he's getting the stuff when hospitals are suffering shortages he replied, “I have relationships with a lot of people”. People like Trump and Kushner whose plea to the only bank that will loan them money to let them delay loan payments was denied? So now we know where all the PPEs and ventilators they are confiscating are going, not to the hospitals that need them but being sold to Blue Flame Medical who in turn will sell them to the hospitals and don't think any of that money is going into the national treasury.

Current US statistics as of today 4/5/20, 14:54 GMT (last two week's totals in parenthesis): cases – 312,223 (123,958; 38,757); deaths – 8,483 (2,231; 400); recoveries – 14,828 (3,238, 178).