Monday, May 4, 2020

(No One's) Singin' Along (Hymn for Her)

[thanks to Melanie for this absurdly-on-point graphic!]

Our Governor is ridiculous.  On Friday, he began to re-open the state, despite the fact it is incredibly risky to do so.  The statistics and articles below show that, but DeSantis is a Trump syncophant, and we know it's all about the money and the ratings.  Putting the state's economy over our health.  Covidiots.  


State coronavirus cases pass 36,800, and half of new deaths are in South Florida:  Florida’s Department of Health on Monday morning confirmed 819 additional cases of COVID-19 as restaurants and shops across the state, except in South Florida, opened their doors to customers for the first time in weeks. The state is now closer to hitting the 37,000 mark, with a total of 36,897 confirmed cases.  Monday’s total daily numbers is the highest the state has seen since Friday, when a weeklong trend of daily totals fewer than 1,000 was broken. There were also 20 new deaths announced, bringing the statewide death toll to 1,399.

As Florida starts to reopen, fewer than 2% of residents have been tested for COVID-19:  As major swaths of the state reopen for business Monday, about 1.8% of Florida’s population has been tested for COVID-19, according to a Miami Herald analysis, with percentages much lower in rural areas, including counties where nursing homes and prisons have become hot spots for the virus’ silent spread.

Who wants to eat in an empty restaurant?’ How Miami-Dade plans to reopen in a pandemic:  Miami-Dade residents might soon be able to dine out or visit a hotel when local authorities begin an expected gradual lifting of business lockdown orders. But when they go out, they’ll encounter a drastically altered leisure landscape.

An appointment to shop? How major retailers plan to reopen after coronavirus pandemic:  As the United States surpasses 1 million cases of coronavirus, major retailers are looking ahead to how they might reopen safely after the pandemic.

There’s got to be a better way to handle crowds at Miami-Dade marinas. Here are a few | Editorial:  Boaters started lining up Friday night at Black Point Marina in South Dade to be among the first to hit the water on Saturday. Hundreds of vehicles were backed up at the entrance. Boaters waited for hours long because only 10 vehicles at a time could enter. By 10 a.m., the marina had reached capacity and was shut down.


SONG: (No One's) Singin' Along by Hymn for Her

BOOK:  Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers by Robert Sapolsky

POEM:  
Si Se Puede by Jose A. Alcantara

When I take my morning walk now,
I am Pancho Villa. I am Che Guevara.
I am an outlaw in a mask and dark glasses.
I am starting a revolution.
Power to the peonies!
¡Vivas to the violets!
We would rather die on our knees,
sniffing at a flower,
than live, standing in line,
waiting for toilet paper to arrive.
Quivering, I throw my heart out,
six feet in every direction.
All that creeps, crawls, slithers,
or flies, I love.
I lower my mask.
I fling wide my arms.
I kiss death full on the mouth.

QUOTE:  “Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing.  We think the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved.  They come together and they fall apart.  Then they come together again and fall apart again.  It’s just like that.  The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen:  room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.” ~ Pema Chodron

2 comments:

  1. I agree, it's absolutely ridiculous and incredibly dangerous! For myself and my family, we'll continue to do as we have done for the past omg-I've-lost-count-of-how-many-weeks! We did sneak in a quick visit to see the kids/grandkids last week, and will do the same for Mother's Day, but that to me is a calculated, careful risk and so worth it. At this point. For now. That could change at any moment if the numbers escalate again in our areas. Volusia had only one new case yesterday, so we are hopeful.

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    1. Right?!? I know it's bad everywhere, but the numbers in South Florida are astronomical. To quote today's Herald: "Florida’s Department of Health on Tuesday morning confirmed 542 additional cases of COVID-19, bringing the state total of confirmed cases to 37,439. There were also 72 new deaths announced, bringing the statewide death toll to 1,471. Of the new deaths, 45 were in South Florida, pushing the region’s death count up to 830." Ack!

      Chico and I have been *so* vigilant since Friday, March 13 (crazy that I remember the date), and we will continue to be. Thankfully, our family is within a four-mile radius, so we can have regular meet-ups, while still totally enforcing the 6- to 10-feet social distancing. Also thankfully, Colin is not yet two years old so, while he has no clue about the whole concept, is still easily able to be redirected. Oh, look... here's bubbles/chalk/beachball (insert item of distraction here... :-) It is all I can do not to scoop him up, but that time will come. In the meantime, I am grateful for realtime visits (heart emoji).

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