Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Self-isolation Day 105.

Last night I went to bed at 10:30, fell asleep quickly, got up once during the night, finally waking at 6:30 and getting up at 6:45.

Last night I played 5 games on Chess.com, with 1 draw and 4 losses dropping my rating to 1293. The last game I was winning when I lost my internet connection.

I left the apt at 9:30 and walked to downtown Envigado. I made a purchase at the health store and purchased my medicine for the month at Todo Drogas. It appeared that all of the stores had reopened although they had some type of entrance restrictions. I did see a few policemen on the streets today. I printed a medical receipt for Teresa at the copy center then walked down to the mall. I recycled a battery and plastic pill bottle. Inside Exito I tried to make a withdrawal from my usual ATM but it was limiting the amount. In the mall I passed by a closed Cine Colombia, which even if it was “open” it would still be closed at 10:30am. I made an ATM withdrawal then waited in line for 25 minutes to enter Bancolombia with another 10-minute wait inside. I paid for the apt and my health insurance without any problem. I noticed that the co-working space had a couple people working on laptops. There is a café selling coffee and snacks without some limited seating nearby. I should have paid more attention to see if they allowed eating in the area.

In exito I picked up a few things and took a taxi back to the apt.

After lunch we left the apt about 1:15 and were at El Tesoro by 1:25. Walking inside someone checked our cedulas, took our temperature and I used my cellphone to take a photo of the QR Code on his cellphone. He said in the future all we have to do is show this when we return to the mall.

We went up to Dr. Rendon’s office and the elevator was marked allowing a maximum of 4 passengers. We had a wait of almost an hour before Teresa went in for her appointment. (She has what looks like a hole in her tooth.) I understand this is just the first step in the process and today was 280mil.

We walked up 4 flights to Dr. Ossa’s office. This was the doctor who performed her mastectomy. (I understand everything appears to be good.) She told me the doctor told her this coronavirus may be our new normal as he believes it isn’t going away any time soon.

We went to Zara where Teresa spent quite a while checking out the sales. (She also had a blouse to exchange.) At one point she shows me what looked to me like a cheap trench coat with the discounted tag. (To me not a good reason to make a purchase.) Then she asks me if it’s a jacket or a dress. Since when am I the fashion king? I don’t know why everything she buys just hangs like a tent dress. She says it’s the fashion. Sigh! She bought a few things after a 10-minute wait in line for a cashier.

We went to Frisby where we ordered Frischuleta for her and Picanugys for me. I handed the cashier a 50mil note and he hands me a little tray. I put the 50 on the tray and he sprayed it – I guess with disinfectant. He puts my change – 10mil and 5mil notes on the tray and Teresa gives the okay and he sprays them. Now I’ve got 2 wet bills.

We took a taxi back to the apt and ate our dinner.

Btw, I hate my new surgery-type facemask. It’s easier to breathe with than my N95 mask but its too tight around my ears pushing them forward – Teresa said I look like a cat. I’m going to look for another that’s a little looser.

 

SACRAMENTO — Only a few weeks ago, thousands of Southern Californians were flocking to beaches, Disneyland was announcing it would soon reopen and Whoopi Goldberg was lauding Gov. Gavin Newsom on “The View” for the state’s progress in combating the coronavirus. The worst, many in California thought, was behind them. 

In fact, an alarming surge in cases up and down the state was only just beginning.

Over the past week California’s case count has exploded, surpassing 200,000 known infections, and forcing Mr. Newsom to roll back the state’s reopening in some counties. On Monday, he said the number of people hospitalized in California had risen 43 percent over the past two weeks. 

 

In a rare column for the Washington Post, editorial page editor Fred Hiatt claimed that Donald Trump has committed at least four more impeachable offenses since the Republican-dominated Senate refused to oust him in January after the House submitted articles of impeachment to them.

 

The coronavirus has mutated since it started spreading late last year, and a variant known as “G” is now dominant across the United States and the world. “The mutation doesn’t appear to make people sicker, but a growing number of scientists worry that it has made the virus more contagious,” our science desk wrote. Read the story to learn what makes coronavirus G different from the original version — and potentially more dangerous.

 

The New York Times found at least 70 people who died in police custody after saying “I can't breathe” in the past decade. More than half were black.

 

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage large swaths of the U.S., leading Republicans and even some right-wing television personalities have now come out in favor of wearing masks to prevent the spread of the virus. The move signals what could be a broader shift in what has become a partisan issue, much to the dismay of public health officials.

 

Texas officials announced nearly 7,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, breaking the state's record for the total number of confirmed cases in one day.

 

The 50 metro areas where COVID-19 is growing the fastest are spread out among 16 states, nearly all of which are in the Southern and Western U.S. Texas has by far the most cities on the list with 14, followed by Florida with eight, California with six, and Arizona with five. These are just a handful of states that have confirmed more cases since mid-May than they did during the previous two months of the pandemic.

 

Trump says in Twitter post that he’s ‘more and more angry at China’ over the pandemic. GOP leaders are increasingly embracing the use of masks as coronavirus cases rise sharply across the country, even as President Trump refuses to wear one and attends rallies and events where they are optional. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, opened a hearing on Tuesday by all but pleading for Trump to wear a mask, arguing it would depoliticize the issue.

 

Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease specialist, warned lawmakers that coronavirus infections could rise to 100,000 a day if behaviors don’t change.

 

Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-diseases expert, warned lawmakers Tuesday that there may be as many as 100,000 new cases per day, 2.5 times the present record rate of infections, if the United States continues on its current trajectory. When asked by the Senate's health committee what the overall American death toll might be, Fauci said: “I can't make an accurate prediction, but it is going to be very disturbing.” 

 

CNN's Carl Bernstein came up with quite a stunning piece yesterday, detailing exactly how bad Trump is at his job of communicating with foreign heads of state.

Bernstein said Trump was 'so consistently unprepared for discussion of serious issues, so often outplayed in his conversations with powerful leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Erdogan, and so abusive to leaders of America's principal allies, that the calls helped convince some senior US officials -- including his former secretaries of state and defense, two national security advisers and his longest-serving chief of staff -- that the President himself posed a danger to the national security of the United States."

 

Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, has said the country could see 100,000 new coronavirus cases daily unless action is taken to reverse the epidemic.

Appearing before the Senate health, education, labor and pensions committee on Tuesday, Fauci warned that the US is “going in the wrong direction” over handling the coronavirus, and said the death toll “is going to be very disturbing”.

 

CHICAGO, Ill. — While the Chicago Bears and rest of the NFL are still hopeful to start the 2020 season on time and play through the 16 game schedule, it appears more and more likely they won't be doing that with fans in the stands at all this year. 

After the NFL gave the okay for teams to cover the bottom sections of the stadium with tarps for advertisers, Monday's letter to season ticket holders once again adds more proof that fans will not be in the stands for games.

The franchise sent a letter to season ticket holders Monday morning offering a full refund for their tickets in the 2020 season but will allow them to retain their rights to their seats for the 2021 season. 

 

The minor league baseball season has been cancelled. (Sadly, I have my doubts there will be an NFL season this year.)

 

A Trump replay from April 5^th, Trump: "We have made great progress with the antibody testing, fantastic progress.”

The US has 2,562,925 ð 2,599,047 ð 2,643,449 coronavirus cases with 125,804 ð 126,105 ð 126,701 deaths. (Total cases in the US are still increasing.)

Per Medellin Guru, as of this afternoon Colombia has a total of 91,769 ð 95,043 ð 97,846 cases with 3,334 deaths.  Medellin has 1,756 ð 1,885 ð 1,958 cases, an increase of 73 from June 28^th to June 29^th. Colombia’s rolling 6-day average of new cases has take a slight decrease in new cases, Medellin included. Envigado has a total of 84 cases, an increase of 5 from June 27^th to June 29^th.

 

Joke of the day

A hungry guy really fancies a bowl of hot chili. 

He sees a diner just up the street, so he decides to head there. 

A pretty waitress shows him to his seat, and he promptly places his order. 

The waitress says, "Sorry, but the guy next to you got the last bowl".

He looks over and sees that the guy's finished his meal, but the bowl of chili is still full. He asks, "Are you going to eat that chili?"

The other guy says, "No. Help yourself".

He slides the bowl of chili over and starts to eat.

When he gets about halfway down, his spoon hits something.

He looks down sees a dead mouse and immediately pukes all the chili back into the bowl.

The other guy says, "Yeah, that's about as far as I got, too."