Plague Diaries, Issue 52: May 4, 2020

Austen is giving side-eye to literally everything. Me too, Austen. Me too.

While I was puttering about at The Prof's today, I paused briefly for a quick chat with her. Ours has always been that kind of dynamic--I've never been her silent lady's maid, gliding between parlour and bedroom, keeping myself to myself. More like, I've been a blowsy, garrulous, rather impertinent wench, with overtones of a fishwife hailing from the East End.  It's been a good almost-four years, working for and with the Prof, and these days especially, I do like to linger for a good chin-wag. It seems to amuse The Prof--she hasn't fired me yet. And right now,  it's the only face-to-face, in-real-life interaction either of us really get these days, and so The Prof, bless her, humors me.

Anyway. In the middle of one of our chats today, The Prof mentioned that, once again, death projections have gone up. And also that by June, up to 3,000 people could die each day. So, I decided to read some articles of my own...and came across this article, on The Hill, to get more of the gist. Here's the TL; DR:

• The projections say the U.S. could see 200,000 new cases daily by June 1, with a daily death toll of 3,000
• The number of daily cases peaked in late April at just over 30,000, with varying daily death  tolls between 1,500 and 2,000.
• My interpretation: if by June 1, we are seeing 200,000 new cases/3,000 deaths per day...wouldn't that mean that the peak in April was not, in fact, the peak? That our peak is now supposed to be in late May/early June?
• The revised numbers are based on the easing of social distancing rules
• Deputy Press Secretary Judd Greere says "The President’s phased guidelines to open up America again are a scientific driven approach that the top health and infectious disease experts in the federal government agreed with [...]The health of the American people remains President Trump’s top priority and that will continue as we monitor the efforts by states to ease restrictions.
• My interpretation: if our administration (and every state governor and civic leader) prioritized the health of the American people above all else, they would take a look at these revised death statistics and walk--no, run--back from every loosened restriction they've agreed to. Instead, they've decided that sacrificing 135,000 people is an acceptable cost to revive our economy. And yet.."the health of the American people remains President Trump's top priority." The press secretary--and thus, by extension, the Trump administration--once again has pissed on our head and told us it was raining. Oh, and also, our government doesn't even have the morals of an alleycat.

We're getting different messages from everyone. Scientists, epidemiologist, smart people who are experts, are telling us about spikes and waves and revised death tolls.

That douche you went to high school with and never left his home town--he knows that this is all a conspiracy, and that it's no worse than the flu.

And then governors and politicians and civic leaders are caving to pressure, rather than holding the line, and re-opening their domains and fiefdoms, and thus giving the impression that hey, so long as we put on our masks and limit the number of people at a gathering and so on, we'll be back on track by summer. No. NO. Back on track implies normal. Normal would be like July 4, 2019, when I went with friends to an Indianapolis Indians game on July 4 and had no than the usual fears (which is to say, it never crossed my mind) of picking up or transmitting a deadly illness. If we were back on track, we could go to another baseball game this July 4 and never wonder or worry, and there would be no COVID-19 threat. And that's just not the case. Coronavirus isn't going to stop just because it's time for you to play with your Ultimate Frisbee league after church, and then go to an evening Sunday dinner with your extended family. But governors trying to re-open their states are going to set the stage for this to happen.

Sorry fuckers, I will not be your juicy sacrificial lamb. To quote the wise Jon Stewart: No. No. I am not going to be your monkey. It's not worth my life. It's not worth The Prof's life, or either of my sisters or their partners' lives; it's not worth the life of the people, old and young, high and low, rich and poor, who could succumb to this because the governor said it was okay to go to a gathering of less than 25 people and so I went to a movie night and then two weeks later, four of us are sick and have passed it on to god only knows how many others. Because that's how this happens. This is how we die during this time. 

Well, at the end of the day, I'm 'Murican, right? I pull myself up by my bootstraps and I'm born free and independent and can look out for myself, and by god, I'm going to paddle my own canoe in this shit creek we're all stranded in.  Luck or privilege or god gave me a brain to use, and a moral compass to guide me, and right now, I'm using them both, and I've made this decision: If it ain't walking for health, working for money, or shopping for food, for the time being, I am staying the fuck at home. 


Daily Indiana COVID-19 Counts:
Total Number of Cases: 20,507 (up from Saturday's 19,295)
1,151 people have died.

Daily Gratitude:  
When Mondays feel good. I did a lot of work today! Almost like old times.

Daily Funnies: