Saturday, April 18, 2020

Self-isolation Day 32.

Last night I went to bed at 10:45, fell asleep quickly, got up once during the night, again at 6am and catnapped from then to when I woke/got up just before 9am.

I left the apt just after 10:30 and walked to the mall.  Traffic was lighter than we used to have on Sundays.

At the mall, outside Exito, I first went to Baloto but their machine was being repaired.  The girl pointed me to the other Exito entrance for another Baloto.  As I passed Exito’s southern entrance I ran into a security guard and he showed me where Baloto was.  I gave the cashier my post-it-note with Teresa’s name and account number.  It was attached to last month’s receipt and she referenced some information on it for me to pay her bill.  She did the same with mine.

I got in line outside Exito and after a 10-15 minute wait the guard sprayed my hands with antiseptic spray and I was allowed inside.  
One of the first things I saw was a display selling surgery type facemasks.  I bought one (2,800 COP) for Teresa because I know she hates her tight N95 mask.

After a trip to the ATM I picked up a number of food items we need.  (Whatever I miss Teresa will probably pickup later in the day.)

I took a taxi back to the apt where the doorman sprayed each of my packages and my hands with some type of antiseptic spray before letting me in.

In recent weeks the US embassy in Bogota has been notifying Americans of humanitarian flights back to the US.  The next one goes to Fort Lauderdale.

About 1pm some guy came down the street selling obleas but I swear I heard him yelling ‘beer here’.

On February 26, 2020, Trump said: “This is like a flu.  This is like a flu.  It’s a little like the regular flu that we have flu shots for.  And we’ll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner…Fifteen, within a couple of days, is going to be down to zero.”

Exactly one month later the US death toll reached 1,000.  Trump now claims he was ‘cheerleading’. The US doesn’t need a cheerleader for president as much as we need one who tells the truth.

The afternoon news reported an increase in coronaviurus cases in Minorista, Medellin’s downtown wholesale market.

At 2pm the temp had dropped to 70 degrees and I can hear thunder.

The rapid coronavirus test that Trump touted at the White House and has been pushing for weeks has been producing false negatives.

Dr. Jon Santiago, an emergency room doctor in Boston, Massachusetts has reported an alarming trend amid a surge in coronavirus cases: patients diagnosed with COVID-19 are coming back for repeat hospitalizations.

Contamination in manufacturing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention test for the coronavirus caused weeks of delays that slowed the US response to the pandemic, multiple health officials have told CNN.

"The pandemic is only just getting started," warns William Hanage, a professor of epidemiology and infectious diseases at Harvard.

Trump bragged today that America has “produced better health outcomes than any other country”.  Since the US leads all other countries in coronavirus infections and fatalities, if this is success, I would hate to see what failure looks like.

Presidential historian Jon Meacham said “I cannot think of a president off the top of my head who has so self-evidently failed to learn on the job.  The president continues to simply coddle his base at a dangerous level and almost willfully doesn’t want to learn on the job.”

The White House issued a sharp rebuke today to Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, who reportedly spent over $1.7 million on flights bringing medical supplies from China in secret—out of fear the Trump administration would seize the cargo for the federal stockpile.

Joke of the day

The medics rushed Mr. Steinberg to the hospital in the middle of the night, apparently due to a massive heart attack.

The doctors work on him all night and morning and finally discharge him to the Intensive Care Unit, where therapy continues.

After a couple of days, Mr. Steinberg's physician comes into his room and says, "Sol, I'm happy to tell you that you are completely well. You have the heart function that you did when you were a fifteen-year-old lad. We're going to send you home tomorrow. You don't have to worry about your heart; do any physical exercise that you like."

Mr. Steinberg goes home and that evening is talking with his wife.

"Doris, you'll never believe it! I'm completely well. I have no worries with my heart. Tonight, Darling, you and I are going to make love like you've never had before - wild, passionate sex! You'll love it!"

Doris thinks for a minute and says, "I don't know, Sol. I've heard about active sex and heart conditions. I don't want it to be on my conscience if you die while we are making love. Maybe, just maybe, if your doctor wrote a note to me saying that everything was okay, maybe I would have such sex with you."

Mr. Steinberg was dejected, but the next day he was in his doctor's office.

His doctor tells him, "Sure, sure, Sol, no problem, I'll write the note. Let's see, here's my prescription pad: 'Mr. Sol Steinberg, a patient of mine, has the heart function of a fifteen-year-old lad, and can have mad, passionate, adventurous sex any time that he so desires, signed, Dr. Aaron Katz.' Now, I'll just address this. By the way, Sol, what's your wife's first name?"

"Uh, Doctor, could you just make that, 'To Whom It May Concern'?"