Sunday, October 18, 2020

Last night I took half a Zopiclona and went to bed at 10:15pm, got up at midnight, again at 2am and took the other half, got up at 6am and drank a little water, finally waking/getting up at 7am.

Last night I played 4 games on Chess.com, winning 2 and losing 2. My rating is now 1513.

I left the apt just after 8am and walked down the hill to Avenida Las Vegas. I only had a 5-minute wait for a Sabaneta bus.

I got off at the Modern Art Museum and walked behind it to Ganso y Castor. Glenn arrived 5-minutes later with Bianca, the dog he adopted. James didn’t join us as he’s still in Jardin. He is thinking of moving there for awhile. I understand there is an inexpensive finca nearby although it doesn’t have wifi. Glenn and I chatted and had a nice breakfast. We left at 11am and he walked Bianca in the park next door.

I hung around for about 30 minutes watching the Indians (they’re from India) play cricket. I crossed Avenida Las Vegas and caught a taxi to Parque Lleras. I got a table in Patrick’s Irish Sports Pub and watched the Bears beat the Carolina Panthers 23-16. The Bears are now 5-1 and their next game is Monday night October 26^th at the 4-2 L.A. Rams.

It was raining lightly as I left Patrick’s. As I was passing a young lady she said something to me like “have a minute”. I stopped and she said something and put out her hand for me to shake. I’m not that stupid, I said “no gracias” and continued on my way without looking back. I quickly caught a taxi at the other end of the park.

He took me to Viva Envigado. I went up to the 2^nd floor to check if my banks are open on Saturday. Av Villas is open from 9:30 to 1pm and Bancolombia from 9am to noon.

I went down to Todo Fresa for a café con leche. I picked up some things in Exito than took a taxi back to the apt.

I turned on NFL Game Pass, and ooh, the Packers are losing to the Buccaneers 31-10. The Packers lost and are 4-1 and the Bears at 5-1 are alone in first place by half a game.

We got a little light rain in the evening.

 

Calling New Zealand’s Prime Minister “crooked and rigged,” Donald J. Trump accused Jacinda Ardern of competently handling the coronavirus pandemic in order to get reelected.

Speaking at a rally in Wisconsin, Trump called Ardern’s use of public-health measures to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus on her nation “a sleazy political move like you wouldn’t believe.”

“This woman wanted to get reelected, so she decided to go after the coronavirus and beat it,” he said. “This woman is a disgrace.”

 

The best gauge of economic health is employment, and, on that front, the news is not good. New unemployment claims continue at well over +1.2 million/week; the pre-virus norm is +200K. When all claims are considered, the total is more than 25 million, a real unemployment rate in excess of 15%. Forbes.

 

Michael Osterholm, a renowned infectious disease expert, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday that “the next six to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic” and expressed concern that the U.S. lacks a leading voice to guide the public.

“Vaccines will not become available in any meaningful way until early to [the] third quarter of next year. And even then, about half of the U.S. population at this point is skeptical of even taking the vaccine,” said Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

Osterholm pointed to the daily tally of 70,000 new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. Friday, the highest level since July. Between now and the holidays, the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. will likely “blow right through that,” he said.

He stressed that one reason for concern is that there are a number of voices guiding the public instead of just one, “which is part of the problem.”

 

The 80th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally will go down in infamy as a “superspreader event” that led to hundreds of thousands COVID-19 cases spanning several states and cost billions of dollars for public health care agencies. It was the nearly two-week event in August that drew half a million attendees, some of whom saw Smash Mouth frontman Steve Harwell tell a packed crowd, "We’re all here together tonight! Fuck that COVID shit."

And while the Sturgis rally is directly linked to 330 cases, experts believe it could be responsible for the Upper Midwest outbreak in the United States, according to a new report from the Washington Post. 

The rally took place in South Dakota where no restrictions on gatherings were being imposed. Even as health officials pleaded with possible attendees to skip this year’s event, many were defiant over the belief that their freedoms were being taken away. Many went anyway, gathering in enclosed indoor spaces, like bars, restaurants, and tattoo parlors, while refusing to wear a mask. 

 

The US has 8,036,176 ð 8,122,865 ð 8,188,764 coronavirus cases with 217,800+ ð 218,900+ ð 219,500+ deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of this afternoon Colombia has a total of 945,354 ð 952,371 ð 959,572 cases with 28,970 deaths. Medellin has 80,967 ð 81,921 ð 83,145 cases, an increase of 957 from October 17^th to 18^th. Envigado has a total of 5,572 cases, an increase of 120 from October 17^th to 18^th. It appears new infections are plateauing again.

 

Joke of the day

Our doctor’s office called to let my husband know that the results from his blood tests came back and he was just fine.

That didn’t suit my husband.

“What’s my cholesterol level?” he asked.

“Mr. Crocker, you are just fine,” insisted the nurse.

“Still, I’d like you to mail me the results.”

A few days later, he received a postcard from the doctor’s office.  It read, “Mr. Crocker, you are just fine!”