Monday, April 20, 2020

Self-isolation Day 34.

Trump: “Some governors have gone too far. Some of the things that happened are maybe not so appropriate.  And I think in the end it's not going to matter because we're starting to open up our states, and I think they're going to open up very well."

Residents of Georgia will be allowed on Friday to return to the gym and get haircuts, pedicures, massages and tattoos. Next Monday, they can dine again in restaurants and go to the movies.  Tennessee and South Carolina will be easing their lockdowns also.

Every state seems to be on their own (little federal guidance) and some are making different choices as to quarantining or opening so it will be interesting, to say the least, to compare results.

Trump has sought to pin the blame for his administration’s disastrous response for the novel coronavirus on the World Health Organization but the Trump administration and Senate Republicans never bothered to confirm a permanent representative for the United States’ seat on the WHO’s executive board.

The New England Journal of Medicine reported the results of a screening conducted on 215 women admitted to New York City hospitals for delivery where about 15 percent tested positive for the coronavirus.


JBS SA, the world’s top meat company, will shutter its pork processing facility in Minnesota following a coronavirus outbreak.


One of my old gringo friends reposted a Facebook post from congressman Dan Crenshaw in support of Trump.  He conveniently starts his timeline on January 15^th when the first US case was found in America but there were other indications of a novel coronavirus before that:

January 6^th the Trump campaign admits the federal government disease control experts became aware of the virus.

January 9^th the CDC issued an official health advisory about COVID-19. 

January 10^th former Trump Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert warns that we shouldn’t “jerk around with ego politics” because “we face a global health threat…Coordinate!”

January 12^th the WHO issued a news release about an outbreak in a seafood market in Wuhan.

China shares the genetic sequence of the coronavirus.

January 13^th Thailand announces it has the first imported case of the coronavirus.

January 14^th WHO news release: “Based on the available information there is no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission. No additional cases have been detected since 3 January 2020 in China.”

WHO tweet: “Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China.”


Some will spout the Chinese cover up but since when do we trust the Chinese?  It certainly might have helped had not Dr. Linda Quick, American field epidemiologist embedded in China’s “CDC”, been relieved of her duties last July.



I get my Facebook posts on my cellphone but it is too cumbersome for typing.  For the first time I logged into my Facebook account from my laptop.  I couldn’t find Dan Crenshaw’s post and when I went back to my cellphone I couldn’t find it there either.  It wasn’t much later when I found the Washington Post had already corrected/debunked most of his post.



I had an old (2 years?) Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookie mix that we finally made.  We almost burned the first batch but Teresa still liked them but I think the Betty Crocker recipe would be better than a mix.


Per the evening news the number of coronavirus cases has increased thusly.

Colombia: 1,184 to 1,406 to 1,485 to 1,579 to 1,780 to 2,054 to 2,223 to 2,473 to 2,852 to 2,979 to 3,105 to 3,995.

Antioquia: 146 to 150 to 172 to 183 to 209 to 234 to 239 to 246 to 272 to 289 to 30x to 363.

Bogota (with the most cases): 587 to 695 to 725 to 779 to 861 to 992 to 1,029 to 1,121 to 1,205 to 1,242 to 1,291 to 1,682.

Deaths: A total of 46 to 50 to 55 to 69 to 80 to 112 to 127 to 131 to 189. 


La Guajira, a pretty remote area, had their first case today.


Here is the breakdown by age.

Minors under 20: 45 to 57 to 69 to 75 to 77 to 85 to 97 to 115 to 128 to 153 to 178 to 190 to 202 to 314.

20-40 years of age: 399 to 477 to 550 to 610 to 643 to 673 to 750 to 854 to 905 to 1,009 to 1,146 to 1,187 to 1,240 to 1,620.

40-60 years of age: 304 to 355 to 428 to 473 to 507 to 541 to 617 to 709 to 766 to 836 to 968 to 1,013 to 1,046 to 1,296.

Older than 60: 158 to 176 to 220 to 248 to 258 to 280 to 316 to 376 to 424 to 475 to 560 to 589 to 617 to 747.


Today President Duque announced that Colombia’s quarantine will be extended until May 11^th.


Per the Johns Hopkins website, 2,473,000+ cases worldwide with 784,000+ in the US.


Eighty-six candidate vaccines are being developed around the world.  But which one will work?


For some “history” on pandemics I recommend John M. Barry’s The Great Influenza.  I read it some years ago but I plan on reading it again soon.


I finished reading John Grisham’s The Reckoning.


Joke of the day

Before you marry someone you should first make them use a computer with slow internet to see who they really are.