So the bigs news since I last left you, was the numbers in Florida yesterday: 15,300. Yes, FIFTEEN THOUSAND. Reported in one day. Like, what is even going on? We're turning into the hottest spot in the world. It's bananas.
Yes, it was the most testing ever. Something like 140,000 tests. Great. But, when your state is seeing more cases than all of Europe combined. Shouldn't that give you pause?
We're breaking records left and right, including New York's record 7 day average. According to the COVID tracking project, "Florida didn't just break the record for reported cases. It also shattered the mark for cases per million population. New York, at peak, hit 595. Today, Florida reported 712 cases per million. Arkansas also entered the 500+ tier, where we've only seen FL, AZ, and LA."
So what exactly are we doing here? Nothing. No roll backs, no shut down, no shelter in place, no stay at home order, no state wide mask mandate. Anytime our governor gives a press conference it's all excuses and explaining away the numbers. At least today he agreed counties may have to look at how to open schools, instead of his blanket "everyone needs to go back to school", but with no guidance and kids going back four weeks from today, I feel like it's a complete shit show. The only one saying anything is Nikki Fried, our Secretary of Agriculture and the only state-wide elected Democrat we have. The health department keeps telling everyone to avoid the "Three C's" Closed Spaces, Crowded Places, and Close Contacts. How is that not schools? And restaurants? And anything indoors?
Today we had 12,000 cases. That would have been the highest ever, if not for yesterday. And then, everyone keeps talking about how weekend numbers tend to be lower, but those are the weekend numbers, and they aren't lower at all.
And then there's the mixed signals. I told Asa Twitter is so weird right now, my feed is a complete contradiction. It's like one of those mental tests where the color blue is spelled out in green letters. It's hard not to feel like maybe you're overreacting. But then you see data, and you're like, wait, no, I shouldn't go to Disney, obviously. But then you see 20 posts about people at Disney and you think "wait, could I go to Disney?" (MK and AK are open by the way, and Epcot and HS started cast member previews today).
But the answer is no, no you should not go to Disney. I used to think Disney wouldn't open if it wasn't safe. But now I think that's a load of shit. Disney will open when the local government will allow them to. Disneyland can't open, because California won't let them (California, by the way walked back a lot of their opening today, putting a stop to a whole lot of indoor activities). Disneyland Paris is opening in a couple of days, and France is way better off than us. And Hong Kong Disney is closing because they have 40 some case. FORTY. So they're going back to lock down mode. But, Florida is happy to have Disney open AND hosting Major League Soccer and the NBA. Like, I just don't get it.
So, I've been pretty depressed about this. The thing is absent of people who were medium going out, becoming more cautious and staying home, how exactly are we going to curb what is going on? I'm hoping for a rollback, a stay at home order- so at least we can get our numbers down that afterwards I would feel safe to do some socially distant outdoor activities. But, I have little hope this will happen. A lot of people are siting how DeSantis kept saying no to stay at home order, and then did it anyway. So, maybe that will happen again.
In other terrifying news, Calib and Peyton were told today the trampoline gym they got hired at back in early March (just before all of this) is finally opening "soon." Masks will be required for employees, but not guests. And I just think that whole thing is a terrible idea. So, stay tuned for that.
Friday the mood here was pretty depressing, and the weather matched.
Asa and I did take a trip to Costco and we decided to go "out" to lunch. By out, I mean we went through the Culver's drive thru and ate in the parking lot. But hey, that's what counts as out these days.
We also kept working on our new Ravenberger Pixar puzzle.
And then we pulled the all nighter we usually do for Peyton's birthday. There was Taco Bell (much earlier than normal, because they apparently close at 11 these days), Rock Band, Puzzling, 3 am Donuts (which we also had to pick up much earlier), and Moving Out (Peyton replaced Hayden to help us beat a level). I only made it till 4 thanks to a scratchy throat and headache, but everyone else made it till sunrise.
Peyton has also been working on his Japanese, and I'm amazed at how much better his handwriting is in Japanese than it is in English.
Saturday we slept till about noon, generally laid around, and finished the puzzle.
Asa and I had lobster ravioli in our room for date night.
And we got our vote by mail ballots, which comes with an "I voted" sticker!
Yesterday we celebrated "Hobbit Day", our version of Father's Day. But, since Father's day usually falls on our anniversary weekend, we don't always celebrate it on time. Then of course, we had the pool, the Waterstraut Olympics, you know, you've got to space out the "fun".
Basically instead of our normal hobbit like eating, I made a Hobbit Open Bar.
Asa's plan was to watch all the Lord of the Ring movies back to back. Hayden and Peyton joined him (Calib came and went).
So they did that, while I served food.
Lots, and lots of food (the food is free if you take a picture).
And they kept on watching the walking... and the walking...
It was something like 25 orders in all (all the drink orders aren't pictured)
But, they also made it all the way through all the movies in one day.
Today, Hayden and I celebrated Calvin Coolidge's birthday a little late (his birthday is the 4th of July). I'm sad I never got my "Keep Cool with Coolidge" shirt. Or the cheese from his father's cheese shop in Plymouth, Vermont. But, at least I have my Republican shirt to wear.
And Hayden did a good job on his drawing.
We used the first of our 16 boxes of elbows (I'm totally adding this to the counter at the bottom), when we had Nancy Reagan Mac & Cheese for dinner.
We're doing ok today. But it's hard not to feel like you're living the same day over and over again. One hundred and twenty-two days in, and we find the Japanese motto for people on rollercoasters is the new motto for 2020: Scream inside your heart.
Most popular "hurricane snacks": If you have a Costco membership, run to get the little mini pots of lemon cheesecake. You'll thank me.
Current binge watching obsession: We started HBO Max's Love Life. It's decent.
Most popular game: We're still plugging along on Moving Out, and Asa has been going Xenoblade Chronicles crazy (trying to finish before Peyton's new Paper Mario game comes.)
Boredness scale 1 to 10: 5. We're numb. And accepting our fate at this point.
Frozen II Watchthroughs: 49. BUT, 50 is coming this week. I promised Hayden.
How many times we've walked the loop: 69, still. Like, I want to go for walks. But it's a fricken swamp out there.
Days Down: 122
Days Remaining: All of them. This is life now.
No comments:
Post a Comment