Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Last night I went to bed at 10:30pm, woke up at 6:30am and got up at 7am.


I watched the Today show.


Its  cool day, at 12:30 its only 76 degrees.


Every day I’m trying to complete a set of 16 chess puzzles.


I spend a lot of time watching Netflix movies if I don’t find anything interesting on Direct TV.  Teresa keeps buy crochying (sp?) flowers on a black dress.  I don’t know what she’s going to do to keep busy when she finishes that.  She wants me to buy a parcheesi game in downtown Envigado but I don’t understand exactly where it is I’m supposed to go.  And of course I won’t be able to leave the apt until April 1^st to pay bills.


Late in the afternoon I finally got Teresa to order 4 bags of milk.  A few minutes later we got a call from the doorman and I had to go down to pick it up.  I put on my N95 mask, uncomfortable to wear, and when I arrived at the guardhouse the porter motioned to a young man on a motorcycle outside.  I gave him 12mil, took the bag and returned to the apt.  Other than the doorman I didn’t run into anyone.


At 8pm the usual applause for the medical workers.


I saw that Italy had over 700 deaths today.  In Colombia, in total cases, the 40-60 age group now slightly surpassed the 20-40 age group.


Per ColombiaReports.com “A team of engineers and scientists in Medellin were able to create a prototype of a low-cost open source ventilator that could save countless lives during the coronavirus pandemic.”


Per the Medellin Herald “the quarantine goes national extends throught the first minutes of April 13^th.  This drastic quarantine started March 20 at 7pm on all residents, vehicles, restaurants, meetings and gatherings.”

“Medellin and Colombia today face the same issues with Coronavirus as the entire planet -- and coping steps being taken here are virtually identical to every other nation and major city.

As of March 16, all foreigners have been banned from travelling to Colombia -- until further notice.

What’s more, starting this weekend (the last minute of March 22, at 11:59 pm), even Colombian nationals and residents currently outside of Colombia also will be prohibited from returning home for the next 30 days, as Colombian President Ivan Duque announced in a March 19 press conference.

While many Colombian citizens and residents have already returned to Colombia since the health crisis emerged in recent weeks, too many have failed to comply with quarantine and isolation requirements -- presenting great risk to all other Colombians, Duque added.  Hence the relatively drastic measure to ban even returnees for the next 30 days, he explained.

As of March 19, the Ministry of Health reported 128 confirmed cases of Coronavirus nationally, with Bogota accounting for most (53 cases), while metro Medellin including Antioquia department had just 11 cases.

According to the Ministry of Transport, nine foreign nationals so far have been deported shortly after arrival here for failure to comply with quarantine requirements.

New control measures include “random visiting brigades to verify that [mandatory quarantine] isolation is being met,” according to the Ministry.

“In addition, hotels throughout the country where foreigners are confined in preventive isolation have been reporting to Migración Colombia if [foreign visitors] have complied with the recommendation and if not, they will be deported.”

International arriving passengers “must make a declaration in writing of the places visited during the last 14 days and facilitate the taking of [body] temperature,” the Ministry added.”

Colombia has 378 cases.


Per the NY Times map, worldwide, the coronavirus pandemic has sickened 425,600 and at least 19,301 have died in 168 countries.

Per the John Hopkins website, 435,006 cases worldwide with 19,625 dead while 111,822 have recovered.  Cook County, IL has 1,194 confirmed cases with 9 deaths and 1,185 currently active.


Note: The above news and statistics were collected 3/25/20 at 7:30am.


Joke of the day

Ron, an elderly man in Australia, had owned a large farm for several years.

He had a large pond at the back.

It was properly shaped for swimming, so he fixed it up nice with picnic tables, horseshoe courts, and some orange and lime trees.

One evening the old farmer decided to go down to the pond, as he hadn't been there for a while, and look it over.

He grabbed a five-gallon bucket to bring back some fruit. As he neared the pond, he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee.

As he came closer, he saw it was a bunch of young women skinny-dipping in his pond.

He made the women aware of his presence, and they all went to the deep end.

One of the women shouted to him, "We're not coming out until you leave!"

Ron frowned, "I didn't come down here to watch you ladies swim naked or make you get out of the pond naked."

Holding the bucket up, he said: "I'm here to feed the alligator."