Saturday, July 18, 2020

Self-isolation Day 123.

Last night I went to bed at 10:30, fell asleep quickly, got up twice during the night, finally waking/getting up at 7:20.

Last night I played 6 games on Chess.com, winning 2, losing 3 and drawing 1. In the first game I lost my finger slipped and I gave up a bishop. I fought on but he soon checkmated me.

Teresa returned at 9am.

The renters of the finca dropped off 2,000,000 pesos to cover several months of past rent.

I beat Teresa in parcheesi today 8 games to 3 to take the overall lead for the first time 123 games to 120.

Every time I go out on the balcony I see Rappi drivers waiting outside Exito. I guess they are considered essential workers.

Teresa told me her mother isn’t feeling well, something like dizzyness.

I finally figured out where the bracelet came from that I received in the mail. My daughter sent it to me as a surprise.

I usually play some chess from 8:30 to 9:30 but I was deep in an episode of Manhunt: Unabomber on Netflix. Just before 9pm I lost internet. Not only could I not watch Netflix but I also couldn’t play chess on Chess.com. I switched to Direct TV but couldn’t find anything interesting. By then internet was back so I played 3 games on Chess.com, winning all 3.

 

Former Trump administration economist Todas Philipson said on Friday that his team alerted the White House about the dangers of a looming pandemic outbreak about three months before Covid-19 is believed to have made its way into the United States.

Philipson served three years as acting chairman of the administration's Council of Economic Advisers before stepping down in June to resume his teaching role at the University of Chicago. Philipson acknowledged testing positive for Covid-19 less than a month before his White House departure, according to The Wall Street Journal.

On Friday, he told CNN's Poppy Harlow that he co-authored and published a CEA report titled "Mitigating the Impact of Pandemic Influenza through Vaccine Innovation" that warned a pandemic disease could kill as many as half a million Americans and cause up to $3.79 trillion in damage to the US economy.

Previously, President Trump has insisted that no one could have foreseen or prevented the coronavirus outbreak, but Harlow pointed out on Friday that Philipson's 41-page report was presented to senior White House officials in September of last year.

 

For months now, American workers, families and small businesses have been saying they can't keep up their socially distanced lives for much longer. We've now arrived at "much longer" — and the pandemic isn't going away anytime soon.

The relief policies and stopgap measures that we cobbled together to get us through the toughest weeks worked for a while, but they're starting to crumble just as cases are spiking in the majority of states.

Next week, the extra $600 per week in expanded unemployment benefits will expire. And there's no indication that Congress has reached a consensus on extending this assistance or providing anything in its place.

Expect more furloughs and layoffs as more small businesses are pushed off the pandemic cliff.

And there is still the question of whether schools will reopen.

 

Eighty-five infants under age 1 have tested positive for coronavirus in Nueces county, Texas. And local officials are imploring residents to help stop its spread as the state becomes one of the newest hotspots.

 

According to ClickOrlando, the Sheriff Russ Gibson of Osceola County, Florida is warning that multiple gated communities are facing a threat from large “COVID-19 parties” being organized by out-of-towners renting vacation homes — and the residents are “living a life of terror right now.”

“They’re … actually getting together and they’re trying to mingle to potentially spread the virus amongst each other if they’re asymptomatic or whatever the case might be,” said Gibson. The gatherings are reportedly large enough to block traffic and cause noise complaints, and police have been forced to disperse the crowds on multiple occasions.

 

The Food and Drug Administration has granted the first emergency use authorization for pooled coronavirus testing for Covid-19.

The approach involves combining samples from multiple people, which are only tested individually if the batch comes back positive.

The FDA said that Quest Diagnostics will now be able to group up to four samples together. This is aimed at easing the current testing crunch driven by the spike in new infections.

 

The Intercept had a very interesting article Political Correctness is Destroying America! (Just Not How You Think.) that you might be able to find if you google it.

 

The US has 3,572,085 ð 3,649,718  ð 3,716,404 coronavirus cases with 138,087 ð 138,994 ð 139,800+ deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of this afternoon Colombia has a total of 173,206 ð 182,140 ð 190,700 cases with 6,516 deaths.  Medellin has 6,067  ð 7,124 ð 8,005 cases, an increase of 879 from July 17^th to July 18^th.  Envigado has a total of 386 cases, an increase of 52 from July 17^th to July 18^th.

 

Joke of the day

A Moscow-based businessman pacing through Washington D.C. was desperate to take a leak. 

After searching up and down, he could not find any public bathrooms in which he could relieve himself. 

So, while no one was looking, he sought a side street where he could privately take care of his impending emergency.

But just as he was unzipping, a Washington cop turned up.

“Look here, sir. What do you think you’re doing?” asked the officer.

“I do apologize, sir,” answered the wealthy Muscovite. “But I can’t hold it in any longer.”

“No. You can NOT do that here,” said the officer. “Come with me, sir.”

The Police officer led the gentleman into a beautiful garden of bright green freshly mowed lawn, pretty flowers, and manicured hedges.

“Here,” said the officer. “Whiz away!”

The Russian businessman shrugged his shoulders, turned around, unzipped, and began urinating on the flowers.

“Ahhh!” he cried with relief.

Then, turning back to the cop, he said:

“That was very nice of you, sir. Is this the famous American courtesy I’ve heard so much about?”

“Hahaha! No…” replied the police officer. “…This is the Russian Embassy.”