COVID-19: Part 16

April 4, 2020 3:33 pm
  • Quarantine Day 19
  • Alabama and Missouri finally issue shelter-at-home orders.
  • CDC recommends wearing any kind of cloth face covering in public, but please leave actual medical equipment for professionals.
  • Trump clarifies that he will not be following that guidance. A true leader.
  • Livermore schools will not return to campus this academic year.
  • Trump issued a DPA order to prioritize U.S. orders for N95 masks from 3M.
  • There are many reports that the U.S. is hijacking PPE orders destined for other countries (I have yet to find a reputable source on these reports).
  • There are people in the U.K. burning cellphone towers because they think 5G signals are spreading SARS-CoV-2 (or some equally stupid idea). They've also attacked maintenance personnel.
  • Trump continues to purge anyone in the government who isn't loyal to him personally; most recently the Inspector General for the Intelligence Community (who approved the whistleblower report on Trump's illegal dealings with Ukraine for which he was impeached).
  • Alameda County cases: 510; deaths: 12
  • U.S. cases: 277,000+; deaths: 6,500+

Because apparently competence is seen as a weakness, Trump has apparently now put his completely unqualified son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in charge of the White House's official response team. In his first press conference he had this to say: "The notion of the federal stockpile was it's supposed to be our stockpile, it's not supposed to be states' stockpiles that they then use." Directly contradicting its officially stated purpose.

So, the new response is apparently to just gaslight the population. After he made that tone-deaf statement, they updated the government websites to use his language instead of what it previously said--that the stockpile was there for states to supplement their own resources.

I went to the grocery store last night to buy milk, butter, yogurt, etc. It wasn't as apocalyptic as it was two weeks ago, but there were still shortages and some products still not available. Eggs are now limit 1 per customer, but they're in stock. Plenty of bread and milk (still limit 2). Lots of yogurt and cheese. Limited cleaning products. A single bag of sugar hiding in the back of the bottom shelf. Even some pasta and rice. No toilet paper.

New signage for the mandatory social-distancing protocol:

They also had a audio message as part of their music loop to the effect of "Attention Safeway shoppers, we remind you that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend maintaining approximately 6-ft social distancing whenever possible…"

Busier than the last time I was there, but not crowded. Many people wearing gloves and/or masks. I wore nitrile gloves again, but we haven't fashioned up any masks yet to meet the new CDC guidelines.

On my walk yesterday I went up to the highway overpass, I-580 through Livermore, looking east. On a typical Friday late afternoon this would be bumper-to-bumper from about 3:30 until 7:30. Here's what it looked like at about 4:30pm:

Not completely empty, but pretty bare.

I was going to spend some time this weekend making face masks per the CDC guidelines, but Mom says she'll send some of the ones she's been making. Those will be better having been made by someone with actual sewing experience and an actual sewing machine.

It's raining today and I didn't get a flower picture on my walk yesterday, so no calming picture today I guess.

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