Coronavirus Journal – January 2021

Tags

Coronavirus

Situation summary: The nation ended the year on a low note – the US recorded about 6.3 million new COVID-19 cases (about 205,000 a day) in December. There were 74,864 coronavirus- related deaths recorded in December. There were nearly 340,000 known COVID-19 deaths for all of 2020.

January 1 – The US went above 20 million Covid-19 cases today. It took 292 days to reach 10 million and just 54 days for that number to double.

The federal government had a plan to vaccinate 20 million people by Dec. 31 but only managed to have 3 million inoculated when the clock struck 12 that night.

For our New Year’s Day meal, I pan fried pork chops and served them with leftover mashed potato pancakes (recipe here ) and turnip greens and black eyed peas. I ate exactly 12 peas – I can’t handle any more luck.

January 2 – US reported cases of Covid-19 reaches 20,396,243 with 349,933 deaths.

At least 2,373 new coronavirus deaths and 291,384 new cases were reported in the United States on January 2nd. Over the past week, there has been an average of 205,840 cases per day, a decrease of 5 percent from the average two weeks earlier. As of Sunday evening, more than 20,661,700 people in the United States have been infected with the coronavirus according to a New York Times database.

Went for a walk on the beach as we’ve had a high surf advisory for the past few days. Got some shells and some cool pictures of birds. The fisher folk call the Great Blue Herons that stalk them as they fish and steal bait and even fresh caught fish Fred.

January 3 – Louisiana records 321,058 cases. Since March 2020, the death toll has reached 7,537. Alabama reports 374,095 with 4,878 deaths.

We enjoyed charbroiled shrimp on the grill. Recipe here. I also grilled a box of hamburger patties so we will have those for upcoming meals.

Watched the Saints beat the Carolina Panthers to become the first team in the history of the NFC South to sweep their regular season divisional games. Who dat!

1 in 16 Americans has tested positive for Covid-19. The US has 4% of the global population and 31% of the coronavirus cases. The US has more cases than any other country in the world and it is the only country for which COVID-19 is the leading cause of death.

January 4 – Today, the Louisiana Department of Health reported the highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations since April 16.

I got up at 5am to start the charcoal for cooking a beef brisket that I bought at Winn-Dixie on Saturday. After 7 hours it reached 205 degrees so I brought it inside, wrapped it in aluminum foil and a towel let it rest for 3 hours. Turned out juicy and flavorful. This is the method I used – https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2020/05/02/frontyardcookout-beef-brisket/

January 6 – The United States reported at least 3,805 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, the highest number of new deaths in a single day since the pandemic began.

New Orleans Mayor announced that the City will return to Phase 1

Later in the day, chaos erupted at the Capital after Trump incited a riot against Congress. A white mob of MAGA and Trump supporters broke through the barricades and forced the Legislators working to certify the presidential election to flee for safety. It took to 8pm for enough order to be restored to return to counting the electors ballots.

Despite everything – the lies, the president caught on tape pressuring the GA secretary of state to commit electoral fraud, there were still 6 senators and 121 representatives who voted against certifying Arizona’s election. Later, there were 7 senators and 138 representatives who voted against certifying Pennsylvania’s results. Both measures failed but that there were so many willing to vote against our democracy is disgusting.

January 7 – Louisiana reports 338,054 total COVID19 cases with 7,728 deaths. Alabama reports 389,230 cases with 5080 deaths.

Around 4 am, Congress affirmed President elect Joe Biden’s electoral college victory over Trump. Instead of conceding, Trump spread more lies in his statement:

“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!” https://twitter.com/DanScavino/status/1347103015493361664

January 8 – The first week of the New Year brought new records for the pandemic in the U.S. On January 7, the country for the first time surpassed more than 4,000 deaths in a single day. And this week alone, nearly 1.6 million people across the nation tested positive for the virus, higher than any other week yet recorded. Hospitalizations rose to a record-setting 132,370 cases, continuing to strain already fatigued health-care workers. Concerns about hospital capacity remain at crisis levels, as ICU beds run short in many states, particularly Alabama, Georgia, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and California.

My sister and her husband brought fried chicken over for dinner. They spent the night so we could go look for shells on the seashore.

January 9

My sister, brother-in-law and I walked on the beach this morning. Just a few birds, mainly two Great Blue Herons who posed for pictures.

Tried to make pancake sticks stuffed with sausage but it wouldn’t release from the pan so we ate pancake coated sausages.

I did two loads of clothes, cleaned out the fireplace and packed as I will be heading to Michelle’s house tomorrow morning.

January 10

Drove to Michelle’s house and took her grocery shopping. Once home we reorganized her outside chest freezer and I gave her some space by sorting through some machine picked blueberries that her aunt had given her. I also made sourdough rolls (recipe here ) for us to have with leftover, reheated crab imperial.

January 11 – Louisiana now has 7,918 dead from Covid-19 and 348,234 cases. Alabama now has 5,347 deaths with 404,000 cases.

Took Michelle to drop off her property taxes and to another grocery store. They were getting rid of an entire case of bananas which were getting brown and spotted. As she has a Nutra-bullet, she is making lots of smoothies so she took the case home and placed it in the freezer. Now, she will have bananas for a lot of smoothies.

I drove the rest of the way to New Orleans and was in time for my 1pm zoom with the Vera Institute about criminal justice issues on which IWO can partner with them.

Lawmakers were likely exposed to the coronavirus as they sought safety together in a room when a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, the attending physician to Congress said. Video showed several Republicans refusing masks offered by a colleague in the hideout room Wednesday. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), a 75-year-old cancer survivor, has tested positive after sheltering in the room.

January 12

Ran a number of errands today including getting money to the rental place handyman, getting the tenants new a/c filters, going by the post office and checking on friends that I hadn’t heard from in a while.

January 13 – there has been a 12% rise in new Covid-19 cases in the US over the past week. The US also recorded 4200 deaths on Tuesday – a new record bringing the total dead to 383,000 with 23,023,000 cases reported.

My handyman came out with two guys to continue the work on my house. They were able to finish insulating the water pipes under the house (my house is on three foot risers meaning there is lots of cold air under the house and, with me back and forth to my folks, my house is going through the winter without the usual amount of heat coming from inside) and fixing the rails on my front porch. They still need to fix the back porch and stairs but have promised to finish by Friday.

January 14 – In the first 13 days of 2021, the US has seen more than 3 million new infections.

Around 5pm yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the number of votes necessary to impeach Trump. In the end, 232 Representatives—222 Democrats and 10 Republicans—agreed that the president had incited an insurrection and must be removed from office. 197 Republicans disagreed and voted against Trumps second impeachment.

New Orleans Director of Health Dr. Jennifer Avegno said, “There is light at the end of the tunnel with vaccines underway in Louisiana, but vaccines only work for those who are alive to receive them.”

January 15 – over 2 million dead now dead from the virus worldwide

I worked in the yard – sweeping, raking, trimming, mowing until I filled my compost area and a trash can with yard waste.

January 17 – Louisiana reports 368,980 cases with the death toll rising to 8,203.

I got up early to go look at the sunrise above New Orleans. It started out as a great day, with the Superdome in the center of the picture.

Unfortunately, the Saints were unable to keep up their winning streak against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and have been eliminated from contention for the SuperBowl. It also looks like that might have been Drew Brees last game.

January 18

I spent a lot of time today going onto politicians’ Twitter feeds and responding to their MLK day posts with plenty of snark for those who have worked against all he stood for.

January 19 – Today, on the last day of Trump’s administration, the number of Americans lost to Covid-19 has topped 400,000. That’s about the same number of people we lost in World War Two.

I got up before sunrise to go down to Lafayette Square to take pictures of the 700 white flags planted there to commemorate the lives of New Orleanians lost to COVID-19.

While there with Charlotte and Thomas, I was interviewed on Fox8 for the morning broadcast – see it here.

January 20 – Alabama reports 429,655 cases of COVID-19 with 6,282 deaths. Louisiana reports 374,582 with 8,383 deaths.

Inauguration day! I drank vodka, champagne and orange juice called an absolute screw you as Trump left the White House. I switched to just champagne and OJ while Biden was sworn in and during his speech.

Had a zoom with Forum for Equality and new elected New Orleans Distract attorney Jason Williams

January 21 – The United States had 4,135 Covid-19 deaths today.

Drove over to Gulf Shores. The uptick in traffic shows that more people are on the move, despite Alabama’s Governor’s Safer at Home order, that she just extended to March 5th.

January 22 – Louisiana’s death count is 8,483.

I went to my parent’s old house to give the refinishers dad’s desk that belonged to his grandfather and the round flour drawers of an old pie safe that belonged to mom’s grandmother. The rest of the pie safe just needed cleaning but the water rotted through the thin, bent wood of the drawers.

January 23 –

My parent’s signed the paperwork for their new house in northwest Foley yesterday. This morning, we went to measure walls and things of my parent’s new house

January 25 – US has had 25,231,000 cases and 419,000 have died of COVID-19. More than 2,138,000 have died worldwide. 99.6 million cases have been reported worldwide.

I went for a walk on the Ft Morgan public beach.

January 27 – US has 428,654 dead with 25,580,995 confirmed cases of COVID-19

Started to set up the kitchen in their new house. Figure it will take me a week to get to all the boxes and arrange things. Began with pulling five boxes of their household goods out of one of the storage units.

January 28 – Alabama has reported 455,582 cases with 7,566 deaths. Louisiana has reported 394,909 cases with 8743 deaths.

Went to one of the storage units and filled my car with boxes so I could have something to unpack today and tomorrow when there are workers and deliveries scheduled.

January 29 – Today, there were 3,600 Covid-19 deaths in the United States. Louisiana had 58 of them and is averaging 143 new cases a day.

Was at the new house while the plumber replaced the toilets and then for my parent’s new mattress to be delivered. Was able to run 4 dishwasher loads and empty six boxes.

January 30 – 1 year ago today, the WHO Director-General declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), WHO’s highest level of alarm. We have now reached 2,217,579 global deaths (of which 439,347 are US deaths).

It is only fitting I post this picture and poem

Grass

BY CARL SANDBURG

Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Shovel them under and let me work—
I am the grass; I cover all.

And pile them high at Gettysburg
And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.
Shovel them under and let me work.
Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?
Where are we now?

I am the grass.
Let me work.

My sister, her husband and I went to my parent’s house to do some work. Unfortunately, the drill wasn’t charged so we couldn’t put the brackets for the new bed onto their old headboard but we got the bathroom door off and more of the kitchen organized. The door handle they bought needed to be returned and the rekeying didn’t happen so we will try again.

January 31 -There have been 102,871,614 COVID-19 cases globally, with 26,178,803 of them being in the United States and, of those 400,626 were in Louisiana and 26,458 were in New Orleans. There have been 2,226,935 global deaths with 441,200 of them in the United States and, of those, 8,859 were in Louisiana and 722 were in New Orleans. Alabama reports 459,639 total cases with 7,688 deaths. Baldwin County (where my parents live) has had 18,126 total cases with 224 deaths.

Mom has been out and about more these past two weeks than in the entirety of last year with finalizing the mortgage paperwork, signing for the title and shopping for beds and appliances. She has come down with a bad case of congestion and has a hacking cough. Fingers crossed that it is nothing more than a cold. In other news, my niece was exposed to COVID-19 by her housemates child, who has now been hospitalized. She took the rapid test and is negative but will retest again to be sure.

Coronavirus Journal for December 2020

Tags

Coronavirus

Situation summary:

A year ago, the first cases of a mystery virus that would come to be known as Covid-19 were reported in Wuhan, China. Since then, 1.8 million people across the world have lost their lives in the ensuing pandemic. December 2020 has been the nation’s deadliest month since the Covid-19 pandemic’s start — with more than 63,000 Americans lost to the virus in the past 26 days. The US set a Covid-19 daily death record on December 30th, and by some estimates, another 80,000 people could die in the next three weeks as the consequences of holiday travel and gathering for the holidays set in.

December 1 – The Louisiana Department of Health reports 5,326 new COVID19 cases with the total number of cases reported to the state is 237,740. 97% of the cases reported to the state today were community spread. There have been 35 deaths reported to the state since yesterday bringing the current total death count to 6455. The Alabama Public Health Department reports 252,900 total cases with 3638 deaths.

Drove myself the rest of the way home and had a long, hot bath in my tub after my zoom IWO board meeting.

December 2

I was supposed to get my new title from the Office of Motor Vehicles today but I got a message that the office was closed for 14 days. I guess someone was positive for COVID. I tried to go to another office but they said the paperwork from the car dealership was at the office I originally had the appointment at and they couldn’t do anything for me. I made another appointment for the week after next.

December 4

Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (@JHSPH_CHS) tweeted at 1:46 PM on Fri, Dec 04, 2020:
US #COVID19 cases:

1st case to 1M – 96 days
1 to 2M- 44 days
2 to 3M- 27 days
3 to 4M – 15 days
4 to 5M – 17 days
5 to 6M – 22 days
6 to 7M – 25 days
7 to 8M – 21 days
8 to 9M – 14 days
9 to 10M- 10 days
10 to 11M- 7 days
11 to 12M- 5 days
12 to 13M- 7 days
13 to 14M – 5 days
(https://twitter.com/JHSPH_CHS/status/1334947286762270720?s=03)

December 5 

Run off election day in Louisiana. I voted against the anti-library ballot measure and for judges and the district attorney. A local educator who is LGBTQ and Latinx won against a homophobe for school board so we were celebrating that love wins!

December 6

Drove to St. Louis, MO as my friend Jennie’s husband had heart bypass surgery on Wednesday and wasn’t recovering as fast as expected. She had just had hernia surgery so needed bit of help.

The drive is a straight shot of 669 miles up I-55, going through Jackson, Mississippi and Memphis, Tennessee on the way to St. Louis. It being Sunday in the time of COVID19, very few restaurants were open so I just picked up drive thru and got gas at the pumps and kept going and arrived before dark.

December 7 – Alabama Public Health reports 272,229 cases with 3892 deaths. Louisiana Public Health reports 252,136 cases with 6607 deaths.

Brian’s numbers weren’t good enough for him to be released so Jennie and I went and got them a Christmas tree. A local church buys a bunch of them after Thanksgiving and they were almost out by the time we arrived. We left it outside with some water to come back to life.

December 8

Pulled all their holiday decorations out of storage and I carried them upstairs. We also did grocery shopping for meals for the rest of the week. The grocery store here was super safe with a long line of plexi between cashier and everyone, one way in and one way out and everyone being masked and distant.

We also picked up our Penzey’s spice order – I can’t believe they have two in the St. Louis, MO area and none in the Greater New Orleans area. They packed the order and placed it outside at the time we specified. Safe and it meant I can make a huge batch of salt free Creole Seasoning to leave with them when I go home. My recipe for it is here.

December 9

Brian was released today, so we got the house ready for him and his walker by picking up rugs and things like that. I made him lamb kebabs for dinner using Newman’s Own light dressing as the marinade and cutting up bell pepper, onion and skewering the meat, veg and mushrooms to cook outside on the grill.

Texas attorney general Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court demanding that all the votes of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — 10.4 million votes in total — be thrown out completely. It was signed by the Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry (who didn’t notice Louisiana was spelled wrong) and, then, by 106 Republican members of Congress (including all but one member of the Louisiana GOP delegation who is quarantined with COVID19). It is breathtaking how against Democracy these folks are – with no proof of fraud but with an election that went against them, they want to silence the voice of the voters. And, that’s all voters – Democrat, Republican, Independent, etc.

December 10 – More Americans have died of covid-19 in a single day than were killed in the 9/11 attacks. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Robert Redfield has now acknowledged that he expects to see tolls that large regularly for the next two or three months. The nation’s total of deaths climbed past 291,800 on Thursday — for the first time surpassing the number of U.S. service members who died fighting World War II.

I finished the puzzle they had been struggling with for a month, except for 5 pieces I left for Brian to finish when he feels up to it.

I grilled a chicken for dinner (recipe here – https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2016/11/21/lemon-herbes-de-provence-roast-chicken/) and roasted some potatoes.

December 11 – US cases 15,747,923 cases with 293,864 deaths.

CDC published a Winter Holidays guide for staying safe – https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/holidays/winter.html

Went to the grocery store for tonight’s dinner of salmon and to make sure that Jennie and Brian are well set for supplies for when I head out on Sunday. Again, I’m impressed with how well they’re handling the Covid-19 situation up here with signs about not putting stuff on the conveyor until the previous customer is done and other measures to keep everyone socially distant and safe.

December 12 –via the CDC COVID Data Tracker – Missouri total cases 334,704 with 4,450 deaths. Alabama total cases 284,922 with 4034 deaths. Louisiana total cases is 261,329 with 6,724 deaths

Had to make another grocery store run as they were out of sandwich meat and running low on toilet paper. I also picked up some snacks for the drive back.

Did a shrimp ettouffee for dinner. Recipe here.

December 13 – As of today, the United States has more than 16 million confirmed coronavirus infections, with more than 200,000 new cases being diagnosed every day, and with almost 300,000 deaths from Covid-19.

Drove back to New Orleans. It was 37 degrees when I left St. Louis and 73 when I reached the New Orleans area.

December 15

Got my new (old) tag for my new (old) car! Great customer service at the OMV today – the dealer had sent over all the paperwork, so they just needed a few things from me and, as I brought the license plate from my previous car, after a phone call to Baton Rouge, I was able to use it.

Got some groceries so I’ll be able to make panettone beginning tomorrow (it is a 3 day process). I used some of my sourdough starter discard to make a caraway loaf. Here is the recipe.

December 16 – Alabama Public Health reports 305,640 total cases with 4,198 deaths. Louisiana has 275,545 cases with 6933 deaths

Did the dough for the panettone using my sourdough starter and then had an 8 hour rise before I added in the golden raisins and chopped bittersweet chocolate. I left it to rise again overnight.

December 17 – US has 17,068,357 cases with 308,908 deaths

The dough hadn’t risen as much as I expected but divided it into the buttered pans and left it to rise for 8-12 hours. I will try baking it this evening.

Ron and his guys came over to work on the issues of the house including my fence (part of which blew down in all the hurricanes this year), fixing the stairs and porch and insulating the water pipes under the house. He took a check for $2000 and will come back on Saturday to finish the front porch.

No joy on the panettone. I’m going to try letting it rise again overnight.

December 18 – Today saw more than 250,000 new infections in a single day. More than 315,000 have died, including 3,611 on Wednesday. More than 128,000 Americans have received the vaccine.

I went ahead to try baking the panettone but it just slumped and became a gluey mess in the pans. I will try again next year.

December 19

I grilled ribs and Charlotte and Thomas came over for dinner. We were much more diligant about our masks and wore them except when eating.

December 20

I drove to my parents where I will stay until the New Year. Dish and CBS are fighting so I hooked Dad’s laptop up to the TV with a HDMI cable so we could stream the Saints game. Dem boys didn’t look good in the loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

December 21 – As of tonight, more than 18 million Americans have been infected with the coronavirus, and at least 319,000 have died.

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis (https://coronavirus.house.gov) that is investigating the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic released documents showing that Trump appointees in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tried to “alter or block” at least 13 of the reports written by CDC scientists. Appointees messed around with the CDC’s traditional “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports” and edited reports on the use of masks, the dangers of Covid-19 in children, and the spread of the disease. They also tried to delete emails revealing political interference in scientific assessments. Some of the emails from science adviser Paul Alexander calling for the administration to speed the spread of coronavirus in order to achieve herd immunity have sparked outrage.

My parent’s old next door neighbor let me pick all the remaining satsumas from his tree as well as all the Meyer lemons. I juiced the satsumas and drank down at least a quart before putting the rest in the fridge.

December 22 – Alabama reports 329,811 cases of Covid-19 with 4452 deaths. Louisiana reports 290,960 cases with 7158 deaths.

I zested and juiced the Meyer lemons and set up a pint jar of preserved lemons and a put a sizable quantity of the zest in a quart jar (with a bottle of Everclear) to make Limoncello. I then will save the rest of the juice to make a lemon pie for the neighbor (recipe here) and pound cakes for us.

December 23

From the New Orleans Mayor’s office – Average new cases of COVID-19 are hovering around 130 per day, which is significantly higher than the stable trends seen over multiple months this fall when daily cases were under 50. Deaths are also on the rise both locally and around the state. On Monday, the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) reported 65 COVID-19 deaths statewide, which is the highest number of deaths reported in a single day since July 29.

The CDC announced today that more than a million Americans have received a first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, a significant milestone but far below the 20 million goal the administration had aimed for. Currently, the nation is averaging more than 200,000 new cases a day.

I made Lemon Creole Cream Cheese Poundcake. So good. Recipe here.

December 24

Finished the round eagle puzzle. This one was a challenge.

December 25

Merry Christmas

December 26

My sister, her husband and her two daughters came by for a visit after Christmas. Wayne showed off his new gun and Kate worked on a puzzle with Dad and I while Kathy, Kim and Mom smoked on the porch.

December 27

Made lemon meltaway cookies using the NY Times recipe (here).

December 28 – As of today, 7,336 Louisianians have been lost to COVID-19. That is greater than the populations of 391 of the state’s 473 cities, towns and villages.

Mom and I drove to the credit union, grocery store and post office. She stayed in the car while I ran the errands.

December 29 – as of today 675 New Orleanians have died from COVID-19

Dad helped me finish a puzzle of Central Park that I got from Jennie and Brian.

December 30  – Louisiana reported 6,754 new COVID-19 cases today, the highest single day case increase since the increase since the pandemic began with 51 new deaths. The total number of cases in Louisiana is 311,229 with 7448 total deaths. Alabama has 356,820 reported cases with 4,774 deaths.

Went to my folks house to give a barrister’s glass fronted bookcase to the refinisher to work on. He agreed to do my Dad’s desk (which belonged to his grandfather). The cleaners ripped one of the drawers off trying to get it opened and the sides and back are in bad shape. He will get to it once he finishes with the bookcase.

Came home by way of Walmart to pick up beer and supplies to get us through the rest of the week.

December 31 – Globally 82,891,737 reported cases with 1,808,450 deaths. The US has 19,763,768 cases with 342,634 deaths

Made crab imperial for the last day of the year. Recipe here. I think one of the biggest things I’ll miss about my folks old house will be having crab traps off the dock all summer. I haven’t had to buy lump crab meat in more than a decade!

At 11:59pm I opened the back door to let the old year out. At the first stroke of midnight I opened the front door to welcome the new year in.

Coronavirus Journal for November 2020

Tags

Coronavirus

Situation summary: The United States reported more than 4 million coronavirus cases in November, which is higher than the total number of cases seen all year by most other countries (exceptions being Brazil and India).

November 1 – 9,198,700 cases in the US with 230,994 deaths

Saints won in a nailbitter against the Bears but it was otherwise a calm and easy day.

November 2

Worked on the upstairs office/apartment. Tossed three contractor bags of trash and found lots of cool things – my paternal grandmother’s last will and testament, an award to my maternal grandmother for her work NOAA, lots of pictures including me modeling this spiffy yellow and black tracksuit in front of Ferris Barracks when we were stationed in Erlangen Germany in 1973.

November 3 – The Louisiana Department of Health reports 1,150 new #COVID cases reported to the state. The vast majority (95%) of these new cases are tied to community spread, rather than congregate settings. The majority of these new cases are among 18-29yo (21%); 17% are among 30-39yo; 16% are among 40-49yo; 13% are among 50-59yo; 12% are among 60-69yo; and 11% are among 70+yo. Today’s reported cases come from all regions of the state, with the most coming from Acadiana (23%), Greater Baton Rouge (19%) and Bossier/Shreveport (19%) areas. They report 17 additional #COVID deaths today, bringing Louisiana’s death toll to 5,737. The Alabama Public Health Department reports 194,892 cases with 2973 deaths.

I drove to Michelle’s so I could take her to go vote. Her mom had already yelled at her for her support of the medical marijuana amendment so I took her to the Seminary Community Center on Highway 49. The line wrapped around the parking lot, which was full so I parked on the highway and was buffeted by cars roaring by while I waited for her to do her civic duty. Afterwards, we ran some errands and had lunch and I went the rest of the way to New Orleans.

November 4 – US cases 9,465,646 with 233,535 deaths

Surging caseloads in nearly every state pushed the United States to a record 104,004 new infections today

I worked in the yard – sweeping up leaves and other debris and picking up all the fallen branches. I filled the trash can and two contractor bags before my allergies got too bad to continue working. I still need to rake and fix the parts of the fence that blew down but I’m not seeing any other damage from the Theta, thank goodness.

November 6 Today America had more than 122,000 new infections, and more than 1100 people died.

November 7 – 9,831,030 cases in US with 236,989 deaths

An analysis by the Associated Press shows that 93% of the 376 counties with the highest numbers of coronavirus cases per capita voted for Trump.

https://apnews.com/article/counties-worst-virus-surges-voted-trump-d671a483534024b5486715da6edb6ebf

November 10 – Alabama Public Health reports 206,567 total cases with 3120 deaths. Louisiana Public Health reports 189,682 total cases with 5829 deaths.

IWO’s board meeting was this evening. We spent some time talking about the election and what the results mean before getting down to business.

We also gave a certificate of appreciate to Senator Karen Carter Peterson for her work as Chair of the Louisiana Democratic Party for the past 8 years. She came onto the zoom call so we could give her the certificate as personally as possible (we had already delivered the framed copy to her office).

Nov 11

Today states reported 144,000 new cases and 1,562 Americans died, the highest number of deaths since May 14.

It is Veterans Day. I thanked Dad for his service.

Nov 12

Today more than 153,000 new cases were reported, with 66,000 people hospitalized. More than 10.4 million Americans have been infected with the coronavirus, and more than 242,000 have died.

Nov 13 – US cases 10,715,764 cases with 244,217 deaths

I went to Fort Morgan Public Beach and took a brief walk. Lots of shells.

In case anyone needs reminding, here is the updated list of Trump’s atrocities – https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the-complete-listing-so-far-atrocities-1-978?s=03

Nov 14

Americans killed in World War I: Over 116,000

Americans killed in Vietnam War: Over 58,000

Americans killed in Korean War: Over 36,000

Americans killed by the coronavirus: Over 242,000

Nov 16

The number of coronavirus cases in the United States passed 11 million on Sunday. It took 100 days for the nation to log its first 1 million cases; it took just six days to get from 10 million to 11 million.

Nov 19

IWO hosted a Zoom in support of Stacey Abrams and Fair Fight. She did a marvelous job of mobilizing voters and Louisiana needs to do the same. We were able to have Councilmember Helena Moreno and US Congressman Cedric Richmond join us for the virtual event. The organization gave $1000 and we tried to raise that again from the members to support the election of 2 Democratic Senators from Georgia.

Nov 22

Today the G20, which consists of leaders of developed or developing countries from around the world, met virtually. When members of the G20 began to talk about responses to the global pandemic, Trump left the meeting and went golfing. This was his 298th golf trip during his presidency. Today America surpassed 12 million coronavirus infections.

The Saints pummeled the Falcons to win 24-9.

Nov 23

Took my Dad’s truck to Michelle’s house as, in the clear out, there were several metal shelving units that needed a new home and she was in big need of outside storage. We rearranged her porch to accommodate them, filled them and tossed a bunch of stuff in the dumpster that had been trashed from the last couple of storms

Nov 24 – The Louisiana Department of Health reports 3,266 new #COVID19 cases reported to the state since November 23, 2020. The total number of cases reported to the state is 224,403. Individuals between 18-29 represent 20% of these cases. There have been 39 deaths reported to the state since yesterday. The current total death count is 6,323.

We drove to Gulf Shores for the holiday, stopping to drive-by Shopkick all along the way, not going into any stores but seeing what registered for points from the safety of the car.

The Louisiana Governor, John Bel Edwards, announced that the state had to reimpose tighter restrictions and return to Phase 2 because of the rising COVID19 cases and increased hospitalizations across the state.

Nov 25 – The Alabama Public Health Department reports 239,318 coronavirus cases with 3,532 deaths.

Made pecan pie brownies as an alternative to the overly sweet but hugely traditional pecan pie. They came out pretty good and the recipe here

Nov 26

Happy Thanksgiving. I grilled the bone-in turkey breast and we also had green bean casserole, dressing and mashed potatoes. We sat with at least 6 feet between the guests and moved the post meal conversation to outside.

Nov 27 – Coronavirus cases in the U.S. topped 13 million today, even as many Americans ignored Thanksgiving travel warnings.

Mom and I received a chest of drawers from the refinisher – it looks amazing. He was able to bring out the wood grain of the walnut and get all the drawers open. He had a well wrapped box of things he pulled out of the drawer (he trashed all the clothes).

Nov 28

We had my sister and her husband over. She cut everyone’s hair and I made hot turkey sandwiches as a riff off Kentucky Hot Browns. Recipe here

Nov 29

I drove Michelle back to her home and took her grocery and sundry shopping along the way to get her well stocked up.

November 30 – The Louisiana Department of Health reports 171 #COVID19 cases reported to the state since November 29, 2020. The total number of cases reported to the state is 232,414. Of these cases, 110 are confirmed cases and 61 are probable cases. 1,166 new tests have been reported to the state, bringing the total number of tests to 3,495,253. There have been 13 deaths reported to the state since yesterday. The current total death count is 6,420.

Coronavirus Journal for October 2020

Tags

Coronavirus

I totally thought I had published this one back in November. Oops!

October 1 – Alabama Covid-19 cases are 155,744 with 2,548 deaths. Louisiana had 166,584 cases with 5,329 deaths.

October 2 – 46,459 other Americans were also diagnosed with Coronavirus today and 906 Americans died on Friday from Covid-19.

Donald Trump is positive for Covid-19. After months of bungling the US response and refusing to follow basic healthcare mandates, he is wife and several other prominent Republicans looked to have infected at the superspreader event that was the Amy Barret announcement.

I spent my morning rescuing mom’s Tupperware from the freezer. We will be getting it hauled to the street and she didn’t want to lose them so I braved the stench and alien growths to get them out. I only puked once!

The adjuster for the insurance company came out today to look at the wind damage. There are three places in the house and one in the garage where water leaked. As the tree which fell into the house has already been removed, I had to send him my pictures of the tree in place.

Went to Publix on my way home for groceries. Everyone in the store had on a mask.

Oct 3 –

My sister and her husband and both her kids came to the house to work. I had the worst job – I was working in the guest bedroom and trashing the flood water swollen and mold covered books.

Oct 5 – 1,429 Americans died from COVID-19 while Donald Trump was in the hospital.

Dad’s birthday was today but he had scheduled his truck diagnostic so I drove behind him to Daphne and the Toyota dealership. They said they’d be done in two hours, so he opted to stay and I went back home by way of cheap gas.

Oct 6 –

Test drove a 2020 CRV with mom today. That’s the car she wants.

Oct 7 – In the past week, there were over 300,000 new COVID-19 cases reported with 7 states reporting more than 10,000 new cases each.

Packed up the cars and got mom settled at my sisters in advance of Hurricane Delta. It is going to hit Louisiana but there is a non-resident evacuation of Gulf Shores and neither she nor I are willing to be that close to the Gulf of Mexico with at least tropical storm force winds and rains possible. Dad, of course, refuses to leave as the evacuation order is just for tourists.

I went by the house and made up a 10% bleach solution which I used to begin cleaning the wood furniture. I then did what I could to secure the house ahead of storm and pack the car of the stuff I plan to take to Michelle.

Oct 8 – Louisiana cases 170,621 cases with 5,416 deaths

Went to Office Depot to buy flash drives for the pictures of the house for both my parents to have for them to do the inventory of contents. I then went down to Gulf Shores to give dad a tutorial on his new laptop computer. Got him on Gmail and into his investment accounts and insurance. Made two copies of the pictures and uploaded them onto his computer.

Left by way of the bank and McDonalds where I picked up lunch for Mom and I.

October 9 – 36.5 million cases of coronavirus have been reported worldwide with 1,061,000 deaths

Drove to Michelle’s to beat Hurricane Delta to Mississippi. We went and paid her water bill, visited the bank and went shopping at the Friday sales at three grocery stores.

October 10 –

I did some organizing of Michelle’s house and cut her hair before heading to New Orleans. As I left the Hattiesburg area, the sky turned a brilliant blue and stayed gorgeous all the way home. I chatted with my next door neighbor for a bit before unpacking the car and organizing my stuff.

October 11 – Louisiana cases are 172,059 with 5462 deaths.

Today is National Coming Out day so I wore my Legalize Gay shirt as I ran errands. My friend, Ayame, made me a mask in honor of RBG. I think it is pretty styling.

October 12 – At least 215,000 people in the United States have died of covid-19

Got to the Civil District Court at 7:30 but they didn’t let us in until 8am. They took our temperature before letting us through security and directed us to the jury lounge for check in. We were given a 2 page coronavirus questionnaire and directed to sit in the lounge in chairs spaced well apart or in three opened courtrooms on the first floor.

After an hour, a group of 20 of us were taken upstairs to a courtroom on the 3^rd floor. We sat well spaced out there, too. Then they called my name and I was taken into another jury lounge. It was bitterly cold in there. The bathrooms were just for jurors and cleaned regularly and the coffee and water dispenser could only be used with gloves on.

We were released for lunch and then back to the 3^rd floor courtroom for another couple of hours. We were released for the day and were given parking vouchers.

I received a call at 5:30 asking me to come back at 9:30 tomorrow.

Seventeen U.S. states hit new highs in their seven-day averages of coronavirus cases on Monday,

October 13 –

Went back to Civil District Court for voir dire. It is a mesothelioma cases of a longshoreman exposed to asbestos. He had two law firms (national plus local counsel) and there were three companies, each with their own team of lawyers. The questioning went from 10:00 to 1pm with a ten minute break. The 14 of us were spread out around the room – 1 in the witness stand, two of us in the jury box and everyone else spread out among the other seats. The judge said the trial itself would have us in the jury lounge watching on zoom so the exposure was less.

I have to say I was pretty impressed with the safety measures – lucite between workers and people, social distance, cleaning, masks – all made me feel safer.

October 14  – US cases 7,864,872 with 215,871 deaths

Found out I didn’t get picked for the jury.

October 15 –

Bought more boxes (these for pictures and mirrors)

U.S. coronavirus cases surpass 8 million – we hit this milestone just three weeks after recording its 7th million case. The US accounts for more than 20 percent of all infections and deaths globally, with Covid-19 claiming over 217,000 lives in the United States. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/16/us-8-million-coronavirus-cases-429802

October 16 – Latest Louisiana COVID-19 numbers 174,638 cases 5,527 deaths

The United States has now seen its highest number of new COVID-19 cases since July, with more than 69,000 new cases reported nationwide today.

I early voted at the Smoothie King Center with my friend, Julie. We were in and out in 30 minutes.

October 17 – 218000 people have died in the US from COVID19 with 8,049,000 cases reported

I went and got a flu and tetanus (tdap) shot today. Ron came by but with the wrong sized boards and so left. He promises to come back tomorrow to finish the stairs and do the porch.

Smoked ribs and made focaccia.

October 18 –

Drove to Gulf Shores after having Ron and one of his guys work for a few hours. Had a zoom call in the evening to talk about opposing amendment 1.

October 19 –

Met one woman at the house and she cleaned several rooms of debris while I packed up all the pictures off the walls. Seems like every time I turned a corner there was another picture.

October 20 – 8,124,211 cases in the US with 220,940 deaths

Had three gals helping at the house, they cleaned out the office and master bedroom and my parent’s walk in closet.

October 21 – 8,293,000 cases with 221,000 deaths in the US

We packed up the kitchen today. It was quite the task as some of the stuff needed to go into boxes for them to access as soon as they move into their next house and the other stuff that could wait plus some stuff I didn’t even know they had. Lots of weird gadgets and single use items.

Oct 22 –

I’m weary of the president’s endless mendacity. Tonight, I wanted to hear how our next leader will, immediately, combat a pandemic and try to right our sinking economy, while starting a process to unite our divided country. As this “debate” ended, the New York Times tallied more than 74,000 new coronavirus cases in the United States today. That’s the second highest daily total of the entire pandemic. We can’t let this continue.

October 23 – The US sets another new record of 83,000 Covid-19 cases in a single day. This after yesterday’s 77,000 cases set the record of a highest ever single day.

Oct 24 –

My sister and her family came by the house to get their stuff out – furniture that my folks won’t need in a smaller house, hobby items like the scuba gear, kayak, peg boards, hunting decoys, the ATV, etc.

Oct 25 –  8,602,872 cases with 225,061 deaths in the United States

October 26 – 8695375 cases in US with 225,634 deaths

At least five people on the staff of Vice President Mike Pence have tested positive for the coronavirus, including Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short. The vice president is not going to quarantine – instead, he is continuing to campaign.

October 28 –

Hurricane Zeta made landfall this evening and the eye went right over New Orleans. I was over in Foley (as mom and I had followed the Gulf Shores recommendation for evacuation for those in low lying, flood prone areas like Fort Morgan and Little Lagoon) at my sister’s house for the storm. There was lots of wind and rain but other than the blue tarp that was covering the missing shingles from Hurricane Sally, no additional damage.

October 29 –

I filled up 8 large boxes plus lots of 5 gallon buckets of fertilizer, phosphorus and other chemicals, boat batteries, and rusty gallon cans of household paint and other hazardous materials. I loaded it into Dad’s truck – it filled up the back of the Tundra and had him take it to the landfill in Magnolia Springs. It cost him $42 as they charged per gallon for paint.

October 30 –

Today the U.S. had more than 100,000 new infections. A scathing new report from a congressional panel chaired by Jim Clyburn (D-SC) calls the administration’s response to the pandemic “among the worst failures of leadership in American history.”

I got some good pictures of the sunset

and the full moon

October 31, 2020 – 9,114,418 cases in the United States with 230,336 deaths

Kathy, Wayne, Kim and Kat came over to get more stuff from Mom and Dad’s house. We also had the fun task of moving the Shopsmith (a heavy lathe, saw machine) overland to his neighbor’s workshop. We used the Egyptian way of making pyramids to create a bridge of planks for it to roll on and brute strength to move it over obstacles. He has agreed that, if I find a place for it, I will get it back but he will be able to use it until then.

It was a cloudy night so the moon was well up in the sky before it was clear enough to photograph.

Coronavirus Journal September 1-30, 2020

Tags

Coronavirus

Situation Summary: The UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a speech:

The COVID-19 pandemic, we all know, is a challenge like no other. This is above all a human crisis, touching every area of our lives, destroying livelihoods and weakening the foundations of peaceful societies.
 
The economic fallout of the pandemic weighs heavily on the most fragile states, especially those that are enduring conflict or humanitarian crisis. As the devastation grows and spreads, it threatens to erode trust in public institutions and democratic processes, even in the most developed countries. 
 
COVID-19 is exposing and exploiting risks not only to our health, but to our economies and societies, and to our future.
 
From battle-scarred cities to international institutions, it is undermining efforts towards building a culture of peace at the local, national and global levels.
 
Not since the United Nations was founded have we faced such a complex and multidimensional threat to global peace and security.

Where I get my data:
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center COVID-19 Map
Washington Post’s Mapping the Worldwide Spread of the Coronavirus
For state/local information:
Louisiana Department of Health Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information
New Orleans information from Ready.NOLA.gov.
Alabama Department of Public Health COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard

September 1 – Today there were 1074 deaths in America from COVID-19

The United Nations released a new report by UN Women, From Insights to Action: Gender Equality in the wake of COVID-19, stating that the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences will likely force an additional 47 million more women into poverty, reversing decades of progress to eliminate extreme poverty.

I had the IWO board meeting and a Forum PAC Executive meeting today. Who knew the revolution required so many meetings and details?

I was able to get funds to the yard guy so the grass is mowed at the rental place.

September 2 – US cases have reached 6,078,576 with 182,347 deaths.

I was at the rental place this morning with the contractors. We get reinspected tomorrow but they’re not done replacing the sofit and facia boards, the trim or painting yet.

Heather Cox Richardson wrote:

The president went to Kenosha, Wisconsin, today, against the wishes of both the governor and the Kenosha mayor, ostensibly to express sympathy, but really to try to change the narrative from the almost 185,000 Americans dead from the coronavirus and more than 6 million infected.

I want to pause here for a second. I try to write these Letters as if they are sort of a flowing report on the news. But I just can’t flow over this number once again. We have lost almost 185,000 people to Covid-19. That number is a 9-11 attack every day for two months. It is flying a full 737 airplane into a mountain every single day for more than two years. I cannot fathom why combatting this disease is not an all-hands-on-deck national emergency.

September 3 – The Louisiana Department of Health reports the total number of COVID-19 cases reported to the state is 150,651. The current total death count is 4,858. 

Got over to the rental place about 7:45 and Ron’s guys were still putting up the trim and painting. I asked about Ron and learned he had to go to the hardware store for screws and caulk. They were still at work when the inspector arrived but he passed us anyway.

On the way home, I took a cool pic of a mural of Dr. John at Dryades and Toledano.

Sept 4 – Louisiana has 151,473 cases with 4872 deaths

Did some cleanup of the kitchen in hopes that now that Ron is done with the rental place he can come replace my disposal and do some work outside.

I then spent several hours dealing with issues ahead of the IWO candidate forums and endorsement meeting. I then turned on Amazon Prime Video and binge watched old episodes of the Carol Burnett show.

Sept 5 – Worldwide cases: 26,739,782 Worldwide deaths: 876,938

Went to Target early so I could be there when they opened to pick up my new vacuum. I also bought two pints of cream so I could make ice cream later. There were lots of stores nearby with walk-in Shopkick points and after I got those, I saw they had the iTunes gift cards on sale. I went to Walmart and did the health and beauty sections to get me over the top so I could get one of those g/c’s.

Made the ice cream base when I got home with 3 of the cups of cream plus a cup of milk I had in the fridge. Now to figure out to do with the last cup of cream.

Before bed, I churned the ice cream and set up a sourdough sponge so I can make pancakes tomorrow. Recipe for ice cream here 

Sept 6 –  US has 6,224,723 cases with 185,474 deaths

Got up early to collect all the downed branches and sticks and trim the fallen ginger and elephant ears. Then, after 8am, I fired up the weed eater (actually I untangled the cord and plugged it in). I ended up over filling the trash can but the backyard can be navigated without fear of getting lost in the weeds.

I then made sourdough pancakes (recipe here)

Sept 7 – US cases 6,249,103 with 185,831 deaths

My next door neighbor was trimming his palm tree and noticed my gutter was filled with the seed pods. He cleaned it out for me so I made them a blueberry pound cake in thanks. Recipe here

My friends Charlotte and Thomas came over with all the fixings, including meat, for a Labor Day burger cookout. I got to grill and eat – perfect for me! They even brought a key lime pie for dessert

Sept 8 – The Louisiana Department of Health reports 250 new #COVID19 cases reported to the state since September 7, 2020. The total number of cases reported to the state is 153,433. The current total death count is 4,955. 

Day one of the IWO candidate forum and other than a snafu with the streaming to Facebook Live, it went pretty smoothly.

Sept 9 – Alabama Public Health reports 122,580 confirmed cases with 2,161 deaths.

News broke from Bob Woodward’s book that included 18 interviews over 9 hours with President Trump were he spoke about how he knew on February 7^th, just how deadly COVID-19 was. He knew it was transmitted by air and was 5 times more dangerous than the flu.

You know what we were doing around that time in February? Mardi Gras. From Krewe de Vieux on February 8 to Rex on February 25^th, thousands of us paraded, caroused and socialized while he said nothing and then lied about not knowing. People died – we are over 180,000 dead in the US alone. I cannot express the depth of my anger.

I went to get my eyes checked at LensCrafters – things have been getting blurry after all day on the computer and my far vision isn’t in focus (I’m nearsighted). Everyone at the Lakeside Mall was masked up so that was good. My prescription has changed quite a bit, so I will be getting new glasses and that meant shopping for frames.

Had the second IWO candidate forum and the Forum for Equality PAC endorsement meeting zooms. I started with IWO and then stayed with FFE until almost 11am. We did end up deferring the Baton Rouge races until Tuesday but I think we covered 88 candidates!

Sept 10 – Worldwide 27,882,000 cases with 901,000 deaths. US 6,336,112 cases with 187,821 deaths.

Ron and his guys came to fix my back stairs which had pretty much rotted away (and they found some rot in the wood connecting the porch to the house). I’m going to need to put up some gutters there to redirect the water. They also did some work on the front porch but the rest of that may have to wait to Saturday.

Day 3 of the IWO candidate forums tonight.

Sept 11 

Hard to believe that 19 years ago was a terrorist attack that killed almost 3000. Yet, we approach 200,000 dead from a mismanaged pandemic and those deaths are just brushed aside.

As Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) tweeted at 9:03 AM on Fri, Sep 11, 2020:
“How can a nation be so good at caring about 3,000 lives that ended 19 years ago and so bad at caring about 200,000 lives that ended this year? One was caused by the attack of an enemy who swore he’d kill us; the other was caused by the lie of a leader who swore he’d protect us.”

Sept 12 – US 6,453,178 cases with 190,472 deaths

IWO endorsement meeting ran from 3pm to 9:40. What a slog! We got it done, though – all the Orleans Parish races.

Sept 13 – US 6,483,473 cases with 190,792 deaths

Drove over to my parent’s ahead of Hurricane Sally making landfall. This is a slow moving storm that will drop a lot of rain and I worry about the pumps. Sewerage and Water posted on Twitter that all 99 pumps are ready but still I worry.

Paid $1.75 for gas in Slidell and $1.95 in Foley but my tank is full and I’m ready to deal with the wind and rains.

I posted the IWO endorsements on the webpage only to get a call from one of the candidates that we misspelled his name. Oops! I corrected it, made sure that everyone I had sent it to corrected theirs and then took a nap.

Sept 14 – US 6,521,940 cases with 191,256 deaths.

Hurricane Sally continues to move slowly toward us with the center of the storm no longer forecast for New Orleans but nearer to the Mississippi / Alabama line. 

I grilled a rack of St. Louis style pork ribs for lunch.

We loaded water bottles in the freezer with ice cubes, filled water bottles for flushing toilets and were as ready inside as we could be.

As of the 7pm update, the area near my parents was under the threat of a 4-7 feet storm surge. Their house sits at 7 foot, so we sandbagged the back porch before sitting out in the darkness, listening to the wind whistle through the trees.

Sept 15 – Worldwide 926,000 people have died from coronavirus with 29.2 million cases reported.

13 hours later and water is well over the bulkhead and creeping up the lawn.

Tacos for lunch. We washed clothes and took showers as the storm is expected to hit tonight.

More than 5 inches of rain before the power went out at 8pm.

Sept 16 

Needless to say, the sound of pounding surf in the house is not as soothing as the manufacturers of white noise machines would have you believe.

My parent’s home took a direct hit from Hurricane Sally and the water began crashing against the house at 4 am. We huddled in the dining room as the storm surge came up above the level of the windows. We could hear things hitting the water side storm shutters and one finally gave way at 4:30 so we listened to the waves crash in and the water rose to 2 feet in the house before it stopped rising and then slowly, so very slowly began to recede. When the sun was up, it was ankle deep still but then we could open the door to see the damage.

The back porch is gone, the metal doors to the garage were busted in, and there was so much debris around. There is still water lapping very close to the back of the house.

My car had two inches of water in it but no water in the oil. I bailed it out and called in a claim.

Finally left after we determined my car was driveable and went to my sister’s house. They have no power and water but were clean and dry. My brother-in-law fired up his propane griddle and we had a warm meal.

Sept 17 – 194000 people in the US have died with 6,634,000 cases.

Slept like a log on my sister’s extra bed. 

Checked in on two neighbors before getting back to my parent’s house and getting to work videoing and taking pictures for insurance. We then dug out mom’s car from all the debris and pushed it out of the garage.. There was water in it but none in the oil so we will drive it for now.

Got to my sisters and they have water so I had a beautifully cold shower. It was a bit warm in the house so sleeping was fitful but it still was very relaxing after the day we had.

Sept 18 – 197,000 dead in US with 6,674,000 cases.

Did some more work at my parents house.

Teague Brothers came out and dragged out all the oriental carpets in the house to take them for cleaning and storing until my parents get situated. They were a stinking, soaking mess and covered in debris so the excavation was quite a chore but they did it pretty quick.

Was woken up by my sister’s dogs barking their fool heads off at about 2 am. There was a skunk in the yard but they stayed out of the spray just made a lot of noise. 

Sept 19 – 6,712,000 cases in the US with 198,000 dead.

During March 1–September 19, 2020, a total of 277,285 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in school-aged children were reported in the United States, including 101,503 in children aged 5–11 years and 175,782 in adolescents aged 12–17 years (Table).

Loaded up three coolers of stuff from Dad’s freezer as my niece has power back and an empty chest freezer (she consolidated freezers once they lost power because the generator could only run one major appliance at a time). I then babysat her three kids while my sister did errands in trade for using her washing machine to clean my clothes. I’m not sure I needed clean clothes this bad!

Sept 20 – 6,769,000 cases in US with 199,000 dead

Went over to the house and grabbed mustards for us to have with smoked brats and German sausage at Kathy’s house for dinner. I also needed to grab some heavier clothes as it was 64 degrees F when we woke up. I don’t have anything from t-shirts and shorts so I’m in borrowed sweats and a flannel shirt from Dad – and he ain’t never getting the flannel back!

Sept 21 – COVID-19 is now 4th largest mass casualty event in US history. Topped only by the Civil War, WWII, 1918 flu pandemic.

We couldn’t find boxes locally and I needed to get my car title so the insurance company would release the money, so I drove over to New Orleans in the morning. There was a horrible wreck at Spanish Fort (before the Mobile causeway) so that delayed me by about an hour. Add to that the constant rain from the outer bands of Tropical Storm Beta and it was nearly noon when I made it to Lakeside Mall to pick up my glasses. After those were fitted, I went to the NOLA Box Company and picked up close to 200 boxes or enough to fill my mom ‘s car.

I took a bath and found all the stuff I needed to bring back – warm clothes were a priority.

Later, I had a FFE PAC Board zoom on the East Baton Rouge Races and I did the minutes and put it on the blog. I watched the Saints lose to Oakland and had another lovely bath.

Sept 22 – The Louisiana Department of Health reports the total number of cases reported to the state is 162,214. The current Louisiana total death count is 5,218. Alabama Public Health reports 131,988 confirmed cases with 2,304 deaths.

Drove back to Foley after going to FedEx Kinkos to print permission from my Uncle for my Dad to access his house.

Had to go to my nieces as she has power and wifi to run a zoom meeting for IWO on police reform.

Sept 23 – The total number of Louisiana cases is 162,645. The current total death count is 5,225. 

Got my nieces to help me get suitcases out of the attic for my parent’s clothes and the comfortors and blankets which got soaked into contractor bags. I will take them to the laundrymat tomorrow.

Sept 24 – Alabama Public Health reports 133,433 confirmed cases with 2,349 deaths.

Started to move my folks from my sister’s and Gillian’s to my uncle’s house on Ft Morgan Road. The hurricane knocked out power and destroyed the dock but the house was fine. Power is back on, so they’re going to go down there to live while figuring out what to do.

It involved filling up two cars (one of my nieces, Kat, is down and helping everyone including her husband Jacob’s family who got badly hit in Orange Beach) for the trip to Gulf Shores then back to their ruined house for another load, then going to the laundry mat, dropping off the clean/dry stuff at the house for packing material and then heading back to Kathy’s for the night. 

We will be taking mom’s car in to get diagnosed and serviced and it is easier leaving from north Foley than west Gulf Shores.

Sept 25 – Alabama total cases is 150,658 with 2491 deaths.

Was finally able to publish my experience of Riding Out Sally on this blog. It was hard to write and is harrowing to read.

Sept 26 – The US surpassed 7 million coronavirus cases and could see a surge of COVID-19 cases as fall and winter set in.

My friend, Ayame, came over from New Orleans to help with the clean up today. We also had my sister and her family there plus the yard guys removing more trees. We took a break around midday and sat on what was left of the waterside porch and an eagle came to visit.

After we had exhausted the cleanup we could do (and exhausted ourselves), I took her to Wolf Bay Lodge for some local shrimp. After a good meal, she headed back to NOLA and I headed to Gulf Shores.

Sept 27 – The total number of cases reported the Louisiana Department of Health is 164,851. The virus has claimed the lives of 5,283 Louisianans.

Helped my uncle around his place (more like I carried smaller branches as he cut up the fallen limbs and trees and watched him do the heavy lifting). He paddled out with his dog to view the damage to his dock and found several of the chaise lounge chairs in about 6 feet of water (which he then rescued and used the power washer to clean).

September 28 – Coronavirus deaths pass one million worldwide

They’ve totaled mom’s car. Once they pulled out the seats and carpet, they found that the electrical system was compromised by the floodwaters.

Sept 29 – The total number of cases reported to the state of Louisiana is 165,624.The current total death count is 5,308. Alabama reports 153,554 total cases with 2517 deaths.

Spent the first part of the day at the laundromat washing more blankets, towels and other wet, stinking things. The change machine wasn’t working so I took $20 of the proprietors money and $50 of my own to several banks for quarters. PNC would only give me $20 and BBT wouldn’t give me any as I wasn’t a customer. Regions gave me $60 without blinking an eye.

I went back and used over $50 as I had to wash some things twice as they were still stinky plus drying. I finally got out of there after almost 6 hours.

Sept 30 -The United States recorded 42,185 new coronavirus infections and 914 virus-related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The nationwide totals now stand at 7,190,230 cases, including 205,986 fatalities.

Went to the Honda dealer to get mom’s personal possessions from the car only to find they’ve already released it to the tow truck company. They make several calls on our behalf and then we drive another 40 miles to Theodore/Dawes and the catastrophe lot of Copart. We finally get the car located and it is brought to us by forklift. They just threw all the parts back inside before transport so it was quite the adventure to find the glove box, center console and anything else not in a door pocket. Needless to say, we didn’t go shopping for a new car for mom as both of us were exhausted from the drive and treasure hunt.

I was able to take this picture of a Great Blue Heron in the tall grasses at the water’s edge. As Mehmet Murat ildan wrote: “Wherever there are birds, there is hope.”

Coronavirus Journal August 1-31, 2020

Tags

Coronavirus

I started writing this journal because the history of the coronavirus response is already being written by politicians, journalists and scholars but far too many of the personal stories are not. Here in this blog is my small effort to speak of my experience of how the pandemic is changing my world. I started it in February, 2020 and plan to continue monthly as things develop. I will publish the previous months journal during the following month.

Situation Summary: Since December 31, 2019 and as of August 30, 2020, 25,029,408 cases of COVID-19 have been reported worldwide, including 843,158 deaths. A CDC forecast projects more than 200,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by mid-September, as the country approaches 6 million confirmed Covid-19 cases.

August 1, 2020 – 4,591,867 cases in the United States with 151,384 deaths.

Went to the grocery store and farmers market before returning to dig up opportunistic oak trees from in and around Dad’s fig tree. These were mainly from nuts squirrels buried and forgot but also from fallen nuts from the large oak trees nearby. There were two that were taller than me and few other big ones but I also dug up more than twenty a foot high or smaller. Sheesh, that was hard work. It had me cursing the poor memory of squirrels.

Made Cheetos chicken breasts. Remarkably good and a great use of Cheetos, the cheese that goes crunch. Recipe HERE.

August 2 – US cases have reached 4,591,868 with 151,384 deaths

Washed the car and grilled 3 boxes of burgers – Bubba original, Bubba jalapeno and Publix original. The Publix were ¼ lb burgers and the Bubba were 1/3 lb. We actually enjoyed the smaller one. Plenty of beefy flavor.

Made chocolate pistachio slice and bake cookies. Very good and was able to freeze a portion to make the rest at a later date (when the chocolate urge is strong). Recipe HERE.

August 3 – Louisiana has 120,846 cases with 3910 deaths. Alabama has 89,927 cases with 1580 deaths.

Took dad to PT and then finished packing the car and drove to New Orleans.

My next door neighbor is having work done on his siding and the worker was parked across my drive. We chatted a bit after he moved his truck about life, the universe and everything. I’d step back every time he moved closer as he wasn’t wearing a mask until I finally had to ask him to stay about 6 feet away. He rolled his eyes but agreed.

August 4 – 90890 cases in Alabama with 1611 deaths. In Louisiana there were 124,461 with 3937 deaths.

Took a walk in the morning to revisit the neighborhood. Found a cat sitting behind the iron bars of a gate. Thought of the Richard Lovelace line – “Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage”

Had an IWO board meeting in the evening and we met via zoom. Stayed within the time, so that was good.

August 5 –1,401 people died of COVID-19 in the United States today.

I don’t have any words.

August 6 – US cases 4,848,741 with 156,228 deaths

Went to Baton Rouge to do the inventory for Barbara’s Books at the Macy’s Mall of Louisiana. Spent a bit of time getting the book displays looking good before I did a hand count inventory on an excel file.

Got a call from the rental place inspector that there are two issues that must be fixed within 24 hours plus several others that must be fixed by 9/3

August 7 – Cases in Louisiana are 128,746 with 4089 deaths. 94,827 cases in Alabama with 1674 deaths.

Worked with Ron at the rental place. We were able to get the emergency items done and he knows what needs doing in the outside and inside. I had a talk with the tenant about letting me know when things go wrong – the leak in the kitchen could have been fixed before all the damage to the cabinetry under the sink.

August 8 

On May 21^st the global number of Coronavirus cases reached 5 million. Today, the US alone had 5 million cases. Oh, and New Zealand has now gone 100 days without a Covid-19 case (https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12354489).

I made a vanilla pound cake as I’ve been craving vanilla. Recipe HERE. It went with the beef brisket I smoked on the grill. My friends, Charlotte and Thomas, came for dinner and brought a Swedish dessert bun so we had that instead of pound cake.

August 9 – 128,746 cases with 4089 deaths in Louisiana. 97,735 cases with 1707 deaths in Alabama.

My a/c isn’t working properly. It is running all the time but the temperature won’t drop below 86 degrees.

I ordered some onion rings from a place nearby but they had been put in a styrofoam container and were all soggy when I got them home. I miss going to restaurants.

August 10 – Louisiana has 131,961 total cases with 4,169 deaths. Alabama had 99,390 cases with 1733 deaths.

Spent the morning at the rental place getting the plumbing fixed as well as the holes in the wall. We scheduled my maintenance guy, Ron, to come back on Wednesday to begin the outside work and finish the stuff inside, too.

Spent the rest of the day sweltering in my house with no a/c

August 11 – Louisiana has 133,125 cases with 4195 deaths.

My a/c guy was able to come by today. Added 4lbs of Freon as it was low but he couldn’t find a leak. He also installed the smart thermostat I got for free from Entergy. It had problems connecting so I’m using it in dumb mode for now.

I also watched Old Guard (Michelle signed up for a 30 day trial of Netflix). OMG! It was amazeballs! Charliez Theron killed people with a labyrs. Good story, good characterizations. I did wonder why they didn’t wear body armor – the flashbacks showed them in military uniforms through the ages, so I know they knew about them. They might not die without them but it could save some wear and tear. In any event, now to buy the graphic novel.

Charlotte is doing work on the garden area of her condo and came over to borrow my shovel and other tools.

August 12 – 5,115,000 cases in United states with 161,000 deaths

August 14 – Louisiana has 136,737 cases with 4,307 deaths

So I watched Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat with Samin Nosrat on Netflix and was entranced by the focaccia she did (https://www.saltfatacidheat.com/fat/ligurian-focaccia).

It being an eat-your-feelings kind of a day, I made it (I added rosemary because of course I did) and am really enjoying it. It looks really pretty, too.

August 15 – Louisiana had 137,918 cases with 4,384 deaths.

New Orleans had a runoff election today. I slept in a bit and got to the polling place at 8, an hour after voting began and I was the second person in my precinct to vote. I checked the Secretary of State’s website after the election was called and saw that only 44 people in my precinct voted, that’s a turnout of only 9%!

August 16 – Louisiana had 138,485 cases with 4403 deaths.

Remember when we had a national day of mourning following the 9/11 attacks? The US in on track to pass 170,000 deaths this week and we’ve not had any nationwide grieving or reckoning about the losses we’ve suffered – neither the loss of life nor the losses to our economy.

I walked around the neighborhood and saw a couple of cats. They got me humming “Just the two of us,” to myself.

August 17 – Alabama has 104,595 cases with 1855 deaths.

Went and got boxes and tape from the NOLA Box Company today.

Did a test run of Saturday’s Census Zoom meeting with two of the presenters.

LA Supreme Court has denied the application for writs! Leslie Ellison challenged JC Romero’s right to stand for election for OPSB D4. For those keeping score, she lost at the trial court, the court of appeals, the LA Supreme Court. Next loss – the ballot box.

August 18 – Louisiana has 139,125 cases with 4431 deaths.

Went to FedEx/Kinkos to print labels and then to Baton Rouge where I boxed up all the books. It took 27 boxes to pull down the inventory and almost 5 hours to get it done.

Today is the 100^th anniversary of a woman’s right to vote and in a major dick move, Trump pardoned Susan B Anthony for voting illegally. Considering how furious she was because someone paid her fine (as she wanted to take the case to the Supreme Court), I can just imagine how pissed off she would be.

Joe Biden was officially nominated for President at the Democratic national convention.

August 19 – Louisiana has the highest number of cases (139,903) and the fifth highest number of deaths per 100000 residents (total deaths 4591)

A bit sore today. Plus lots of bruises from shifting boxes and not a few paper cuts.

My friend, Charlotte, came over and we talked current NOW politics and how women are sometimes our own worst enemies. We pick and criticize and fight with our friends and allies more than we defend each other from the other side. Yes, there must be critical thinking and people need to be held to account but we are running the risk of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I made sourdough olive breadsticks to enjoy while watching day 3 of the Democratic National Convention. Recipe HERE.

August 20 – US cases 5,541,341 with 170,837 deaths.

Two people died in Bengazi and the Republicans held hearings and made much ado about it to show the failure of leadership of the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton. 170,000 people die and the craven cowards of the new GOP are praising Trump’s leadership.

I went and did the pulldown of the Barbara’s Books at Lakeside. It was a little harder as the books were on two floors there but 30 boxes of books were collected and labeled and I’m now out of work.

I got a chip in my windshield on the drive to Baton Rouge on Tuesday and so I’ve made an appointment for 8:30 tomorrow to get it fixed. What was I thinking?

August 21 – Alabama has 107,483 cases with 1905 deaths. Louisiana has 141,720 cases with 4,546 deaths.

Was at Safellite to get the windshield repaired very early. Their wifi was out so it wasn’t as productive time as I had hoped but it took only an hour, so it wasn’t too bad.

August 22 – Louisiana has 142,943 confirmed cases with 4605 deaths.

I made Greek power bars – a mix of toasted sesame seeds and honey. Pasteli are delicious and addictive. Recipe HERE.

August 23 – 173,474 deaths in the United States with 5,670,891 cases.

Ahead of landfall of Tropical Storm Laura and Hurricane Marco, I loaded up my car and headed over to Foley. Before I left, I told my neighbors they could park in my driveway if the waters rise. I mainly left because two storms so close together will overstrain New Orleans infrastructure. I think my house will come out fine but I worry about floodwaters.

I drove to Michelle’s house first to drop off a box and a cooler of goodies – part of a smoked brisket, frozen fruit, soup and more green tea. I also brought her two 20 lb bags of ice for her outside freezer, in case she loses power. We hugged twice and I got a case of tomato sauce and some butter before I got back on the road.

My parents had already had an inch of rain when I arrived, with another half inch falling by nightfall. Right at dusk, a small doe wandered through their backyard. I was only able to take a picture through the screen.

August 24 – 5,707,629 confirmed cases with 173,914 deaths

Went to fill up my parent’s car with gas and make a grocery run before the storm hit. It was only sprinkling and there weren’t that many people in the grocery store but everyone was wearing a mask.

I dealt with a few issues for the IWO and FFE PAC endorsement meetings over the course of the day, so I missed getting a nap.

Marco was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm and barely skipped over the Louisiana coast. Not much rain here or in New Orleans, although Laura looks to be more dangerous. The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore is in New Orleans and that is reason enough to find myself somewhere else. (see the commercial here – https://youtu.be/48r4IQTB3NE )

August 25 –Louisiana has 144,116 cases with 4,656 deaths.

On Monday, August 24th the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) changed technical language on its website on who should get a COVID-19 test. Previous recommendations called for testing all close case contacts. The decision to change the wording was made not by the CDC, but by top government officials from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

August 26 – Louisiana has 144,960 cases with 4,688 deaths. Alabama has 112,126 with 1965 deaths.

Had a call with the Forum Executive team about the school board race. There is a notorious homophobe in District 4 of the OPSB (she is opposed to having schools have non-discrimination statements that include sexual orientation and gender identity for religious reasons. She is also opposed to age appropriate sex education in schools). There is also an LGBTQ candidate in the race.

Did leftover chicken for lunch with a lovely lemon sauce I created. Recipe HERE.

Headed to bed with Hurricane Laura expected to make landfall around midnight near Lake Charles, Louisiana. I’m keeping all those in the storm’s path in my thoughts.

August 27 – Alabama has 112,794 cases with 1990 deaths. Louisiana has 145,637 cases with 4711 deaths.

Woke up to the info that Hurricane Laura was still a hurricane after being ashore for more than six hours. It was around Ft. Polk, Louisiana and was still a major storm. Most storms drop quickly from hurricane status once they are on land, to be 200 miles from landfall shows just how big it is.

Went to the grocery stores to get supplies laid in for my folks ahead of me heading back to New Orleans on Monday.

Saw a couple of deer wandering through the backyard. They were as interested in me as I was of them.

August 28 – Louisiana has 146,243 cases with 4741 deaths.

Made a pizza crust today with my sourdough starter. Recipe HERE.

My sister and her husband came over for happy hour. I was able to get Kathy to cut my hair.

August 29 – Louisiana is at 146,867 cases with 4931 deaths. Alabama has 82,676 cases with 2441 deaths.

Went to the Coastal Alabama Farmers Market this morning and had quite the haul of muscadines, scuppernongs and green peanuts which I boiled up. Boiled peanut recipe HERE. My parents prefer theirs spicy, so I added an extra ½ cup of powdered crab boil to the pot.

Grilled chicken for lunch using a garlic buttermilk soak. Recipe HERE.

Mom and I (with Dad laying in the final piece) finished the bacon puzzle.

August 30 – US confirmed cases 5,962,328 with 179,000 deaths

I had bought a 5 lb bag of russet potatoes, so I made them all into twice baked potatoes that I was able to freeze to take a portion home and leave a portion with my Mom and Dad for later meals. For lunch, I took some of the twice baked potatoes and added a spinach salad before grilling a couple of ribeye steaks. The recipe for the Wilted Spinach Salad is HERE.

There is a extremist criticism of the CDC stating that only around 96,000 of the deaths from coronavirus were solely caused by it. The rest of the 175,000 happened in people with co-morbidities who had 2 or more other illnesses/diseases before succumbing. They are using this to say the virus is a hoax. It is not – all those folks in assisted living, nursing homes, etc would not now be dead except for COVID-19 exasperating their conditions. My friend Robert, who was in the hospital with an infection and was on the road to recovery, would still be alive had he not gotten the coronavirus. The truth is that it is rarely a single cause of death (even for the flu) and this virus should not be dismissed.

August 31 -US has 5,999,125 cases with 180,317 deaths.

Headed back to New Orleans in the morning. The contractors are going to start working on the rental place tomorrow and I need to get prepared and get money for the yard guy, too.

Lots of rain in bands on the drive across Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana with far too few people turning their lights on when running their wipers. It makes it difficult to see the back side of the vehicle.

The gas I bought in Slidell at $1.65 had been $1.95 in Foley. When I reached New Orleans, it was $1.77. It is hard to understand the wide variance except as people taking advantage of the storm scares.

July 2020 Coronavirus Journal

Tags

Coronavirus

Situation summary: July deaths in the United States reached 150,000 with more than 1.9 million new cases reported. The month’s infection total reported by states was more than double that of June.

I started keeping this journal in March as a record of how one person was making it through the pandemic. I’ve now lost five friends/acquaintances/coworkers to coronavirus so the impact of these staggering numbers holds great personal significance.

If people won’t make changes to save lives, maybe they will to get back to their lives. So there is this poster, for all who love Mardi Gras:

July 1 – 2,641,121 cases in US with 125,211 deaths. Louisiana 60,178 cases with total deaths now at 3,130

Went to Walgreens to pick up a pain medication prescription for dad. The doctor had specified capsules not tablets and they don’t carry them so the pharmacist sent it back to the doctor for the change. The doctor was in surgery and no-one else could authorize the change. I did all my other grocery runs and then came back to Walgreens still not having it so I came home.

Enjoyed a tomato sandwich for lunch. Went back out to Walgreens and finally got his pain pills.

July 2 – Louisiana had 61,561 cases with 3147 deaths

The news today was the surging cases in Florida – the Florida state Department of Heath reported Florida set another daily record, with 10,109 new cases, surpassing Saturday’s record of 9,585 cases. That brings Florida’s total confirmed coronavirus cases to nearly 170,000 and a death toll of 3,617 (with 67 new deaths reported Thursday).

July 3 – Louisiana has 63,289 cases with 3,170 deaths

Took dad to PT and then ran errands at the farm stand for peaches and corn, then to Family Dollar for Diet Cokes on sale and Publix for croissants.

Finished a puzzle. We bought it because we had a basset hound named Ginger when I was in high school. She never would have sat in one of those chairs, though.

Used some of the peaches I bought to make a cool tequila and peach schnapps cocktail. Recipe here.

Donald Trump gave a speech at Mt. Rushmore, where the faces of American presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln are carved into rocks sacred to the Lakota people. With no recognition of the irony, he said, “Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children,” Trump said. “Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders, deface our most sacred memorials and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities.”

July 4 – no data to report because of the holiday

For Independence Day I’m celebrating AntiFa by grilling German sausage.

July 5 – 2,878,956 US cases with 127,417 deaths

Got up at 4:30am to start the grill for a Boston Butt. My fire was a little hot so it reached 200 degrees F and I pulled it off the grill before 11:00. It was so good.

I used up the butter milk and powdered sugar in making a chocolate sheet cake. Recipe here

July 6 – 44375 cases in Alabama with 984 deaths. In Louisiana 66,327 cases with 3,188 deaths

Driving out of my parent’s neighborhood and Dad waves at a car going by. I asked if he knew who that was (as he doesn’t usually do more than lift a finger off the steering wheel and not even that since he busted his shoulder) and he says “that coast guard captain who married Roddy Dowel’s mother.” Well, of course it was!

Took dad to PT on the north side of town. There was a massive thunder storm on that side of the city. Drove back to barely a sprinkle at their house.

July 7 – US cases 2,977,251 with 128,541 deaths

Went to the grocery store for supplies and to take advantage of the weekly sales.

Had an IWO board meeting in the evening. My first as president of the organization. I think it went pretty well – we only went over time by 7 minutes!

July 8 – Louisiana has 70,151 cases with 3231 deaths.

Drove back to New Orleans. The drive was pretty easy. While there were a lot of cars and 18 wheelers on the road, there were no delays, except when I drove through a rain squall in Mississippi.

Man, the grass in the backyard was over waist high! I know what I’m doing tomorrow.

July 9 – US has 3,075,733 cases with 129,968 dead

Did the grass and cleaned the house. Had to take a long soak as I was sore.

July 10 – 74,636 cases with 3,272 deaths in Louisiana

Tried to mail a care package to Michelle. Seems the USPS won’t let you mail peroxide. Who knew? However, I did take a cool picture of a cat on a porch (#CatsOfNewOrleans) on my walk home from the post office:

Today the U.S. had more than 68,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day, the seventh single-day record in the last 11 days. Yesterday’s number—also a reco rd—was 59,886. Our death toll has topped 136,000, but Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says he hasn’t briefed the president in two months.

July 11 – 3,185,043 cases in the US with 131,412 deaths

Voted this morning. Things were a bit disorganized as the poll workers struggled to get all their protection gear on – gloves, masks, gowns, face shields and put out pens, sanitizer, etc. I was in line at 7am and voted at 7:23 (first person in my precinct). It is going to be a stressful day for them – pretty tightly packed in that lunchroom with at least 6 precincts there.

I did rock my Vote mask, though.

Enjoyed the Golden Crown Literary Society’s virtual Goldie Awards. I posted about the winners here.

Lost power for a few hours, along with 20K other New Orleanians. With the a/c off, it got hot fast in the house.

July 12 – Louisiana 76,803 with 3,295 deaths

Did some more yard work and organized the shed. Super sweaty and tired after trimming, weeding, sweeping, sawing and cleaning. Took a shower and ate soft boiled eggs before crashing for several hours. I’m allergic to something out there so I’m going to wear long sleeve shirts and long pants next time I go to work in the yard.

July 13 – Louisiana has 79,827 cases with 3,315 deaths. Alabama has 54,768 cases with 1,096 deaths.

Governor John Bel Edwards updated the Covid-19 guidelines:

• Masks are required for everyone ages 8 and older.
• All bars are closed to on-premises consumption.
• Indoor social gatherings are now limited to 50 people.

Found out my niece got married last week. I could say something about love in the time of corona but, I haven’t met the guy and don’t know if he’d get the literary reference.

July 15 – Alabama 58,225 cases with 1,183 deaths. Louisiana has 84,131 cases with 3,351 deaths

Coronavirus cases in the U.S. approach 3.5 million and deaths have topped 136,000. Cases of infection are surging across the country. An Axios-Ipsos poll released today revealed that 71% of Americans—including 53% of Republicans—think it is risky to send their children back to school.

Went to the gastroenterologist only to find they no longer take Medicaid insurance. I received a referral to another doctor but I may just head back to Foley and just try a wait and see approach.

I got Popeyes on the way home – must be a big day for it as I had to wait 6 whole minutes (!) for a new batch of spicy to come off the cooker.

July 16 – US 3,547,465 with 135,268 deaths

The United States shattered its daily record for coronavirus infections on Thursday, reporting more than 77,000 new cases as the number of deaths in a 24-hour period rose by nearly 1,000, according to a Reuters tally.

The loss of 969 lives was the biggest increase since June 10, with Florida, South Carolina and Texas all reporting their biggest one-day spikes on Thursday.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-records-idUSKCN24I014

Tipitinas, an Uptown music venue, has a very timely message in their window. I saw it as I was driving home and had to stop and get a picture. “If you want live music to come back wear a mask please”

Made sausage corn muffins and they are a meal in themselves. Recipe here.

July 17 – There are 88,590 confirmed cases and 3,399 deaths in Louisiana. In Alabama there were 62,111 confirmed cases with 1,232 deaths.

I went to the Lakeside store for the first time since mid-March. The book displays were in bad shape and the inventory surprisingly low. It looks like I may be returning to work regularly in August.

I made a sourdough pizza crust and had my friends Charlotte and Thomas over for a socially distant dinner. I put an extra leaf in the table and had them sit at one end with me at the other. Thomas made Mai Tais that were very, very good.

Today, more than 70,000 new infections were reported in the U.S., and 18 states have had more than 100 cases per 100,000 people. More than 10,100 new cases were reported in California; more than 11,400 in Florida. We are nearly at 140,000 deaths.

July 18 –  US 3,638,596 with 136,367 deaths

I learned the news that Representative John Lewis died of cancer last night. He was a giant of the Civil Rights era. I reposted his tweet from 2018 – https://twitter.com/repjohnlewis/status/1011991303599607808

Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble. #goodtrouble

I cleaned up the house in preparation of going back to Foley for two weeks.

While in the bath, I read a tweet from the Sewerage and Water Board that a loss of pressure has them calling for a boil water advisory. As it usually isn’t wise to soak in e.coli contaminated water, I got out only to find that the neighborhood affected was the Bywater.

July 19 – 3,722,737 cases in US with 137,353 deaths

Left in the morning for Foley. I’m taking Dad to the physical therapist on Monday, so I needed to get there so I could get a good night’s sleep.

Checking my feed and I saw an open letter to President Trump from 150 public health officials. It voices support for Dr. Anthony Fauci and calls for science-based policies and the involvement of government scientists as the nation develops its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In italics they wrote: Now is not the time to turn our backs on science.

July 20 – 3,809,858 cases in US with 138,016 deaths

Took dad to PT, took a puzzle to mail off to Brandon and ran to the bank for mom. This was one of the almost impossible puzzles that I had bought for my mom and she actually gave up trying to finish it. She wanted the darn thing out of her house and I hope Brandon doesn’t hate me before he finishes it!

Went to Old Time Pottery for plastic/silk flowers for the antler wreath I’m doing for dad. It took me a while to figure out if less was more, but here is the end result:

Had a Forum PAC board meeting where we discussed endorsements for the upcoming runoff election.

July 21 – Louisiana had 96,583 cases with 3,498 deaths – this is the largest single day death rate increase since May 22. Alabama has 6,9075 cases with 1,268 deaths.

The unemployment rate in cities is close to 20% as the coronavirus has shut down restaurants, theaters, gyms, and so on. At the same time, almost 4 million Americans have been infected with coronavirus, and more than 140,000 have died of it.

It is Tuesday, so it is taco night. I brought back some La Tiara thin, crispy corn taco shells from New Orleans so we all pigged out. My taco seasoning recipe is here.

July 22 – Louisiana has 99,354 cases with 3,558 deaths.

Took dad to get his hair cut – his barber wasn’t wearing a mask, so he took his off as soon as I drove away. I went to Walmart and was pleased to see the number of folks wearing masks.

July 23– US cases 3,943,915 with 140,204 deaths

Went to grocery stores. Woke up from a nap to see 5 deer in the yard. It isn’t the clearest picture as I took it with my phone but wow!

July 24 – Louisiana has 103,734 cases with 3,604 deaths. Alabama has 74,365 cases with 1,395 deaths.

Kathy and Wayne came over for pizza and beer.

July 25 – 4,158,052 US cases with 143,431 death

Went to walk on Romar Beach at sunrise with my sister, her husband and my eldest niece, Kim. Pretty red sky for sailors to take warning.

But also a rainbow, to give us all hope!
Went back to their house for breakfast and got my sister to cut my hair. Not a bad job at all!

On my way home, I stopped by the farmers market for cherry tomatoes. Made tomato tarts. Super tasty and pretty easy, too. Recipe here.

July 26 – Louisiana reports 107,574 cases and 3,651 deaths.

Did rotisserie chickens on the grill with sweet potatoes. So very good!

Watched the Houston Dash win the NWSL champions cup. Because the NWSL maintained the bubble throughout the tournament, they ended with no new positives (they did have a bit of a rocky start). The women proved can be done – sports can come back if the leagues, management and players stay in isolation during the season. Unfortunately, the other leagues (MLB and NFL) and college sports don’t seem to be paying attention.

July 27 – Alabama had 79,129 cases with 1,446 deaths. Louisiana had 109,917 cases with 3,674 deaths.

Took dad for a follow up appointment with his surgeon. He is healing well and can now work on strength training to get that arm and shoulder back into shape. He hasn’t been cleared yet to drive, so I’m here for another week.

Made chicken salad with some of the grilled chicken from yesterday. Super good.

July 28 – US has 4,331,089 cases and 146,185 deaths.

Mom and I finished a really beautiful puzzle. Robert Burns’ Diana and her Nymphs.

Made a meatloaf and mashed potatoes for lunch. And a Meyer lemon pie in the evening. Recipe here for the pie.

July 29 – Louisiana had 112,773 cases with 3,769 deaths.

Had a morning Zoom call with a cyber security expert. Fascinating stuff and I hope to have him give a presentation to the IWO board about protecting ourselves and our data.

July 30 – Alabama had 83,494 cases with 1,516 deaths. Louisiana had 114,481 cases and 3,811 deaths.

Herman Cain, a prominent Trump supporter and former candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, has died of Covid-19. Cain was co-chair of “Black Voices for Trump,” the Trump campaign’s outreach to Black voters, and attended Trump’s June 20 indoor rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma without a mask. The 74-year-old was hospitalized with Covid-19 in early July.

Did a grocery run in the morning – Walmart, Rouses, Publix. The mandate from the Alabama governor seems to be working as almost everyone had on a mask. It felt much safer to shop.

Made a frittata for lunch using some of the leftover smokey potatoes from the rotisserie chicken, some sautéed mushrooms and onions. Very tasty.

Had a virtual cocktail hour with IWO members and several elected officials. We also had a number of candidates on the call who introduced their campaigns.

July 31 – Alabama had 85,278 cases with 1,531 deaths. Louisiana had 116,280 cases and 3,835 deaths.

Took dad to PT in the morning and ran by the farm stand. Got some sweet corn that we’ll eat boiled on Sunday with hamburgers.

Made a pepperoni and mushroom pizza for lunch. Kathy and Wayne did not come over as Kathy has a coworker who is positive for COVID-19 and she has been exposed. She will not come by my parents for the next 14 days.

My niece, Kate, came over for cocktails and to visit with Mom and Dad. Made 2 sets of pina coladas – one with spiced rum and the other with light rum. Both pretty tasty. Recipe here.

COVID-19 Quicklinks:
Washington Post Coronavirus World Map: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/mapping-spread-new-coronavirus/
John Hopkins COVID-19 Global Map: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
CDC Coronavirus Cases in US: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html
Louisiana Department of Health Website: http://ldh.la.gov/coronavirus/
NOLA Ready: https://ready.nola.gov/incident/coronavirus/ 
Alabama Public Health Website: https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/covid19/
Alabama Table: https://dph1.adph.state.al.us/covid-19/

June 2020 Coronavirus Journal

Tags

Coronavirus

Situation summary: June saw more than 800,000 new cases, bringing the total number of cases in the United States to more than 2.6 million.

June 1 – Louisiana is reporting 40,341 positive cases of COVID-19 today. Alabama reports 18,020 cases.

I went out to watch the sunrise from the end of the dock. Not many birds and, those that were flying, were too far away to capture with my camera. On the walk back, I took a picture of the day lilies mom planted 21 years ago and have reappeared every year since.

The Louisiana governor announced that Phase 2 will begin on June 5th. I’m not sure we can all Open Safely but the alternative is more and more know-nothings flaunting their non-compliance and we’ll all be in worse shape.

The New Orleans mayor announced that NOLA would not be moving into Phase 2.

June 3, 2020 – 1,842,080 cases in US with 105,852 deaths

My uncle and aunt stopped by with some shrimp they had picked up from a shrimper buddy of theirs. Made shrimp toulouse for lunch recipe here

Finished another puzzle. This one was part of a trade and was mailed from my friend in California. Maria has been doing some difficult puzzles but this one was not only a pretty picture but just the right level of challenge.

One of the organizations on whose board I serve (Independent Women’s Organization) put out a message in support of Black Lives Matter.

June 4 – Louisiana has 41,562 positive cases of Covid-19. Alabama has 18,766 positive cases.

Today was Michelle’s birthday. I mailed a card on Monday and she didn’t mention it so I think it hasn’t arrived. I’ve also been teasing her with the birthday gift I’ve ordered for her.

I imagine this pelican is singing the happy birthday song, very loudly and most definitely off key.

I decided I needed more sweet in my life, so I made these pecan joys with chocolate morsels, sweetened condensed milk, pecans and coconut. Yum. Recipe here.

June 5 – Cases in US are now at 1872,097 with 107,110 deaths. Louisiana is 41,989 cases with 2,801 deaths.

Louisiana begins Phase 2 reopening but New Orleans is staying at Phase 1.

They announced a Tropical Storm Watch for all of Southern Louisiana ahead of Cristobal making its way across the Gulf. The storm will cover all of the Gulf of Mexico by Sunday, so who knows how much wind/rains we’ll be getting.

June 6 – Louisiana has 42,486 cases with 2,814 deaths. Alabama has 19,709 with 685 deaths

I got up at 4:30 am and drove to New Orleans to storm proof my house. I took down the hanging plants, pulled in the glass tops to the tables and shelves, secured the porch plants and other outside items, grabbed my mail and got back on the road. I was back in Foley by noon, being chased by rain the entire way back.

I storm proofed Dad’s dock (securing the boat and all the loose items like crab traps, ladders, coolers, chairs, etc) and around the house. I think we’re ready for the tropical storm.

June 7 – today the Louisiana Department of Health reported 42,816 positive cases

Tropical storm Christobel had a surge, wind and rain bands (we got a total of 3 inches) but other than a very wet lawn, no damage. Here is a short video:

Christobel

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QQaYytVAc1X3GxDk9

June 8 – Alabama reported 20,590 cases with 714 deaths. Louisiana is reporting 43,050 cases

I drove dad to the Pensacola Naval Air Station Hospital for xrays and for him to get more pain pills. While sitting in the parking lot, I watched a lady with snow-white, short cut hair go in with the rolling gait of a hip replacement. She comes out later with a nurse pushing another older woman (short, snow-white hair) in a wheelchair.

They get into a minivan and I can’t help thinking they are long-term lesbian lovers, survivors of the post war purges and DADT. They were WAVES or WACS, perhaps. A patriotic love story just begging to be written.

I had a Forum board meeting in the evening. We discussed the national LGBTQ statement on Black Lives Matter and have decided to craft one for us.

June 9 – 1,952,442 cases in US with 109,507 dead

Neighbor came by to help with a leak in the roof after the storm. Found out the squirrels had been chewing up the lead protectors of the vent pipes and had given themselves access. He put on sleeves and I helped use flex tape to protect the places where they had dug into the roof. Hopefully that will fix things.

My Dad and I got into a conversation after he made a statement about All Lives Mattering and I asked him how he would have felt if the radiologist in the emergency room started x-raying his legs or ribs or even the other arm. All bones matter but we must focus where the pain is. Right now, with all the black victims of extrajudicial execution by police officers, is when Black Lives Matter.

June 10 – Louisiana had 44,030 cases with 2,855 deaths.

Neighbor came by with a repellent to heat up the squirrels feet. He started up the ladder, after waving me off, and then came tumbling down as he hadn’t locked it. He was a little bloody and scrapped up but nothing broken and still insisted on finishing the job on the roof. Such a good neighbor.

Ran to the credit union, cigarette store, bank and H&R Block. Deposited my stimulus check and dropped off my taxes to be done.

Had a FFE PAC board meeting

Placed amazon order for laser thermometer and extra long reach toilet paper wand for Dad.

June 11 – 2,012,500 cases in US with 112,200 dead

Took dad to the orthopedist. He has shattered his shoulder, not fractured his humurus The X-ray shows the multiple pieces of his shoulder:

They immediately scheduled surgery for Monday at 9am for a reverse total replacement. We then went to the preadmit clinic for him to have a COVID test, EKG, chest xray, blood and urine analysis.

Walgreens didn’t have his pain medications ready so I ran by Krystals and then took him home to eat, take a pill and nap.

Made puddin pops after dinner with homemade chocolate pudding and cool whip. Recipe here.

June 12 – 44,472 cases in Louisiana with 2,874 deaths. Alabama 22,474 cases with 750 dead

Made pizza for lunch, pretzels for happy hour. We are doing a socially distant happy hour now that my niece has made it down from DC with her sister, my sister and her husband with Mom, Dad and I staying at least 10 feet away.

Made sangria with the fruit I had in the house plus the remainder of a bottle of Lambrusco we had left over from dinner the other night. Recipe here.

Another organization on whose board I serve (Forum for Equality) has put out a statement supporting Black Live Matter.

June 13 – US cases are at 2,062,890 with 113,595 deaths

Went to fix a flat tire then to Kurpensky farm for sweet corn, Home Depot for charcoal and a farmers market for honey and tomatoes

Made a tomato pie with the heirloom tomatoes. Recipe here

Picked up meat that my brother-in-law smoked today – boston butt stuffed with sausage and wrapped in bacon.

June 14

Had a bit of an issue at lunch with my swallowing and hiatal hernia that meant I couldn’t get anything into my stomach. I regurgitated water and spit until my diaphragm finally relaxed around 5am. Not fun at all.

June 15 – Alabama cases 25892 with 769 deaths. Louisiana 47,172 with 2906 deaths

Took Dad to the hospital for shoulder surgery. Because of the Coronavirus, I dropped him at the main entrance with a suitcase – I wasn’t allowed in the building.

I ran several errands on my way home – got groceries, replaced the key fob batteries for my mom’s car at the Honda dealership, stopped by the post office, got gas and lunch at Arby’s, then got more charcoal and picked up my completed taxes.

Dad’s surgery was successful and finished before 3pm. The doctor says he should be released in the morning.

I was so pleased to see the Supreme Court ruling on LGBTQ employment. The decision on Title VII was a critical win for equal rights and its a big fucking deal for people like me who like in Southern states and who have been fighting for employment non-discrimination laws for years (I’ve been fighting since 2009 in Louisiana with Forum for Equality).

June 16 – US cases 2,103,240 with 114,389 deaths

Picked up Dad a little after 3pm. He was groggy and compliant, so it made an easy trip home.

June 17 – Louisiana cases 48634 with 2950 deaths. Alabama 26914 cases with 784 deaths

Ran errands in the morning and then took Dad to physical therapy in the afternoon.

Cut dad’s toenails – he hasn’t been able to cut his own since his hip replacement.

June 18 – US has 1,177,951 cases with 116,587 deaths (more than WWI)

Started the day with my nieces doing a walk in the Weeks Bay Pitcher Plant Bog. There is nothing like walking among carnivorous plants to put things back into perspective.

Got ahold of my doctor and was able to get an urgent referral for a gastroenterologist to rescope my esophagus. I was able to get them to make an appointment for July 15th

The United States has been stuck at more than 20,000 new cases a day for nearly three months.

June 19 – US 2,209,604 cases with 117,275 deaths

Repotted plants, dad to pt, ran a bunch of errands

June 20 – US 2,242,081 with 117,819 deaths

Swept the screened in porch, farmers market, virtual IWO annual meeting. I was elected president of the organization.

US has 4% of global population. 27% (and rising) of global #COVID19 cases.

June 21 – Louisiana 49,778 with 2993 deaths. Alabama 29598 with 829 deaths

Grilled steak for Dad and then grilled pears for dessert. Grilled and Filled Pear recipe here.

Mom and I finished another puzzle. This one was super hard as the lavender was just a blur of purple.

June 22 – Worldwide 8,986,000 cases with 467,000 deaths. US 2,282,399 cases with 118,182 deaths

Home health nurse came to asses Dad. Took him to PT in the afternoon and I traded another puzzle and filled the car with gas.

June 23 – Louisiana 51,595 with 3021 deaths. Alabama 30,670 with 854 deaths

Fajitas for lunch. Started a new puzzle

The President of the United States has threatened anyone who destroys a statue with 10 years of prison time. My response – Statues are not history. Statues are mythology. Statues are hagiography. History is a discipline. It is a way of analyzing the past and using a critical examination of source material to present an explanation for causes and events. Tear them all down!

June 24 – Alabama has 31,624 cases while Louisiana has 52,447 cases.

Took dad to physical therapy, bought corn and peaches at the farm stand. Terrible rainstorm as I drove back to pick him up.

Today marks the 47th anniversary of the Up Stairs Lounge arson. The fire remains the deadliest in New Orleans history (32 victims) and, until the Pulse massacre in Orlando in 2016, was the deadliest crime against #LGBTQ folks in U.S. history.

June 25 – Louisiana has 53,415 cases with 3051 deaths. Alabama has 32,753 cases with 880 deaths

June 27 – 125,000 dead Americans and President Trump goes and plays golf today

Went to the farmers market for tomatoes

June 28 –  56,236 cases in Louisiana with 3086 deaths. More than 500000 people worldwide have died from the coronavirus.

Grilled chicken and sweet potatoes. Did the beer can up the butt method and managed to drop the chicken after I took it off the grill. Hot beer and a few grassy notes to the chicken but it still was darn tasty and super moist. Recipe here for Rosemary, Garlic, Sage Rubbed Grilled Chicken.

June 29 – 2,575,029 cases in US 124,289 deaths

Took dad to PT. I stayed outside as I just read that half of the new COVID-19 cases detected in recent weeks have been in adults under 35 and I didn’t want to be around anyone!

June 30 – The country is now seeing more than 40,000 new infections a day while the European Union, which has more people, is seeing fewer than 6,000. About half the new cases are coming from California, Texas, Florida, and Arizona. Florida’s cases increased by 277 percent in the past two weeks; Texas’s by 184 percent, and Arizona’s by 145 percent. The national confirmed deaths are approaching 130,000 people.

Took dad to see the surgeon. He is healing well, incision looks good and his range of motion is coming back. This is what a total reverse shoulder replacement looks like:

We’re 160 days into the US pandemic and are averaging 16,500 cases per day and have lost the lives of more than 126,000 Americans. I have to wonder what the next month will bring in terms of loss and the national response.

May 1-31 Coronavirus Journal

Tags

Coronavirus, Mary Griggs

Situation summary: April truly was the cruelest month. During April, the United States lost 50,000 souls, and 20 million jobs. In May, unemployment dropped to 13.3% as many places of business reopened. However, some researches estimate that 42% of all job losses will be permanent. Of course, if more people don’t take basic precautions of wearing face coverings and maintaining distance, it will be more then the losses of jobs that will be permanent.

I’ve been finding it harder to keep up with the journal – watching the number of cases is becoming overwhelming and I spend hours online just going through my Facebook and Twitter timeline.

May 1 –  28711 cases in Louisiana with 1927 deaths.

Did a grocery store run and to the bank. Fewer people seem to be wearing masks. Kathy and Wayne over for pizza.

May 2 – Louisiana 29,140 with 1950 deaths

Woke at 4am to grill a brisket. Not only is this National BBQ Month but it there is also a call to grill in your front yard to safely be a part of your community. Here is my recipe:  https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2020/05/02/frontyardcookout-beef-brisket/

May 3 – US cases 1,144,944 with 66,844 deaths

I stayed with the grilling theme and grilled salmon with lemon juice and butter and served it with asparagus and cornbread

May 4 – Louisiana has 29673 with New Orleans having 6538 of those cases

Got up early and ran to the grocery store to buy more brisket for Dad, Wayne and their next door neighbor. The smallest was 11 lbs so it will be good times for everyone.

Made salmon cucumber spread with the leftovers from yesterday’s grilled salmon. Recipe here: https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2020/03/01/cucumber-and-salmon-sandwiches/

Got to watch a replay of the US Women vs China 1999 Women’s World Cup Final. Such a great game – Michelle Akers playing her heart out, Kristin Lily heading the ball away from the goal, Brandy Chastain taking off her shirt and the US winning it all.

May 5 –  1,189,581 cases in US with 69,876 deaths. 29,996 cases in Louisiana

Made tacos for lunch and then seven layer dip with the leftovers for dinner.

May 6 – US 1,218,576 cases with 72,464 dead. Louisiana had 30,399 cases.

May 7 – 1,235,993 cases in US with 74,569 deaths Louisiana had 30,652 cases with 2135 deaths

Grocery run. Most everyone in Publix was wearing a mask. Only one other person at either Dollar General was wearing one (the cashier).

May 8 – Louisiana 30,855 with 2154 deaths. Alabama 9221 cases with 375 deaths

Made a coffee cake like the one before but this time I put in apple instead of blueberries. I grated the apple and think that next time I will use more and mix it in with the batter.

Dropped tax stuff off for mom and dad and then mailed a couple of puzzles we’ve completed to a friend in GA. The US post office was the first place I’ve gone with 100% mask wearing.

Made a pizza when I came home. After a nap, I made pretzels with the rest of the dough.

May 9– World 4,017296 cases with 278,936 deaths

We called in an order of 5lbs of royal red shrimp and 2 lbs crawfish from Undertow, a dive bar in Orange Beach for a pre-Mother’s day celebration. Wayne and Kathy picked them up and then came by for us to eat outside on the porch. Mom loves shrimp and this was a perfect way to enjoy them – boiled to perfection with lots of butter.

May 12 – World 4,249,764 with 290,714 deaths. US 1362953 with 81,607 deaths

Bad cramps so I slept most of the day away. Grilled cheese for lunch and baked sweet potato for dinner.

I’m concerned about all the places opening up with people venturing out without wearing face masks or maintaining six feet distance. Of course, they won’t go out without their guns, like that will help against a microbe.

May 13 – 1,383,789 with 83290 dead in US

May 14 – Louisiana 33,489 ⬆️ 827 Total Deaths: 2,351  ⬆️ 36

My niece is going to drive down from DC as she’s been furloughed to Sept/October from her event management job at a DC hotel/convention center.

May 15 – US 1433,423  with 86,466 dead

My sister and her husband came over for dinner. Gosh, I love pizza!

May 16 – Louisiana 33,837 2382 deaths. US 1461048 with 87,646 deaths

Went on a walk on the beach in Gulf Shores. We had to go a different route as the powers that be are doing construction of the Gulf State Park Pier (in background of picture) so it is closed.

Lots of people walking at sunrise (we were closer to the hotels) and no-one but us even had masks – we had them around our necks in case we stopped to talk to anyone.

After the walk, I went to Walmart where I wore my mask and got looks from all the other folks who didn’t bother to wear one.

May 17 – Worldwide 4704847 with 313,947 dead. US 1480609 with 88454

Today the number of Americans dead from COVID-19 now equals the combined total of Americans killed in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

They had bone-in turkey breasts on sale at Winn-Dixie so I bought two the other day. I grilled one of them today. I used a brine that works on chicken, too that includes Herbes de Provence. Recipe here – https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2020/05/18/herbes-de-provence-turkey-brine/

Mom and I finished a really tough puzzle of the Victory of Alexander the Great at the Battle of Issus

Later that day, I fried mozzarella cheese sticks. Recipe here – https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2020/05/27/fried-mozzarella-sticks/

May 19 – 1521,903 us cases with 90679

Grilled some Boston Butt country style ribs and served them sweet potato rounds. So good and good for you!

Recipe here: https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2020/05/21/grilled-sweet-potatoes/

May 20 – 1544519 cases with 92152 deaths

The Forum for Equality is taking advantage of this period to do some serious thinking. Day 1 of the FFE Strategic planning session was held today and we focused on our values.

May 21 – US has 1570154 cases and 93436 deaths. Louisiana has 35,315 cases 2485 deaths. Alabama has 13058 cases with 528 deaths

Went to farm stand for sweet corn and picked up a couple green tomatoes as well. Went to the post office to drop off a puzzle and, in sharp contrast to last visit, I was the only one in a mask – not even the guy running the register was wearing a face covering.

IWO candidate forum via zoom was held last night and I was able to watch the recording today.

I also did more Zoom FFE strategic planning – Day 1 where we discussed threats and opportunities facing the organization.

Made pretzel dough for an over night rest for beer pretzels for Wayne.

May 22 –

Dad went to get his haircut. Learned the barber hadn’t ever closed, even during the lockdown. He’d just tell people who called to park around back and come in that door. On his way home, Dad stopped at Whataburger for lunch. They made people paying with credit card come in and cash customers use the drive through – no seating indoor, just take food to go.

Made pretzels from yesterdays dough – recipe here:https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2020/05/23/beer-pretzels/

The cool thing about this recipe is you can freeze them before the boil stage to eat later.

Kathy and Wayne came over. She cut Mom’s hair and I made pizza.

May 23 – US at 1609041 with 95753 deaths

IWO held a virtual endorsement for the First City Court Judge race to be held on July 11. We had two rounds of voting using Election Runner application and then needed to do a dual endorsement as neither of the top two candidate got 60% (as that is the threshold for an endorsement).

May 25 – US cases 1,654,943 with 98,218 deaths. Deaths in NOLA continued to trend downward with 502 total deaths and 70005 cases

On this Memorial Day we have now had more COVID19 deaths than several of our nation’s wars. It is a chilling reminder of what we could lose if people don’t take precautions.

We grilled ribeye steak for lunch. Mom and I finished a puzzle with butterflies. It had lots of odd shaped pieced so it was a challenge.

May 26 – US 1,680,301 with 98,875 deaths. Louisiana has 38,054 cases with 2596 deaths. Alabama 15,650 with 580 deaths

I had a bit of a conflict today. It was day 3 of the Forum for Equality strategic planning session but also an IWO board meeting. As we were voting on the Board slate for the next two years, I couldn’t miss that. I went to the FFE one for 30 minutes and then jumped over to the IWO one.

The board approved the slate (with me as president) and we will be posting it to the membership for their voting in the next couple of weeks.

May 27 – 1691431 with 99,238 deaths

Went grocery shopping. About half the people in Rouses had on masks, maybe 10 to 25% of those in Wal Mart wore masks but almost everyone in Publix had a mask on.

May 28 – 1713750 with 100446 deaths

My boss with Barbara’s books let me know that my job hasn’t returned. Although the Macy’s stores in Louisiana reopened on May 18, we’ve had no book sales so they don’t want me returning to work yet.

May 29

Kathy and Wayne brought fried chicken for dinner. Kathy cut my hair.

Mom and I finished another puzzle. It is called the Bizarre Bookshop and it had lots of great titles on the books: ‘Lady Chatterley’s Pullover’ ‘The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Bean’ ‘The Spy Who Came Down With a Cold’ ‘20,000 Leeks Under the Sea’ ‘The Gulls of Navarone.’

May 30 – Alabama has 17,359 cases with 618 deaths. Louisiana has 39,577 cases with 2680 deaths.

There were lots of squirrels and a cotton tailed rabbit in the yard today:

Made pizza and a small batch of banana pudding. Recipe here: https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2020/05/31/small-batch-banana-pudding/

May 31 – Worldwide 6,118,000 cases with 369,000 death. In the US 1,778,901 cases with 103,015 deaths

Wearing a mask

Tags

Coronavirus, Mary Griggs

I’m not particularly religious but I have enough Methodist left in me to have taken John Wesley‘s most famous aphorisms to heart:

“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”

And that leads me to wearing a mask in public. While I walked on the beach at Gulf Shores at sunrise on Saturday without one, I put one on before I entered the grocery store and kept it on until I finished my errands and headed home.

I’m not a brainwashed fool. And the people I’m listening to aren’t fools either.

The World Health Organization cautiously recommends using a mask in conjunction with other preventative actions while staying aware of the risks of cross contamination, etc:

Wearing a medical mask can limit the spread of certain respiratory viral diseases, including COVID-19. However, the use of a mask alone is not sufficient to provide an adequate level of protection. Other measures such as physical distancing and hand hygiene should be adopted.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends face coverings:

Cover your mouth and nose with a cloth face cover when around others

• You could spread COVID-19 to others even if you do not feel sick.
• Everyone should wear a cloth face cover when they have to go out in public, for example to the grocery store or to pick up other necessities.
  • Cloth face coverings should not be placed on young children under age 2, anyone who has trouble breathing, or is unconscious, incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance.
• The cloth face cover is meant to protect other people in case you are infected.
• Do NOT use a facemask meant for a healthcare worker.
• Continue to keep about 6 feet between yourself and others. The cloth face cover is not a substitute for social distancing.

Louisiana Public Health recommends masking up:

Heck, even the White House requires all staffers entering the West Wing to wear a facial covering and, in the Guidelines for Opening Up America Again, states:

• Strongly consider using face coverings while in public, and particularly when using mass transit.

Wearing a face covering does not require a surrender of your civil liberties. It isn’t a yellow star or a pink triangle and a grocery store refusing to serve someone because they won’t wear a mask isn’t discrimination. All this fighting about a “right to not wear a mask” just results in the further spread of a deadly virus across our country and around the world.

We know coronavirus spreads through the air by droplets from someone who is coughing, sneezing or even talking within a few feet away. Anecdotal reports hint that it could be transmissible through particles suspended in the air. A choir practice in Washington State in early March had dozens of people diagnosed with or developed symptoms of COVID-19 even though they had not shaken hands or stood close to one another and at least two of them died. After dining at an air-conditioned restaurant in China in late January, three families at neighboring tables became sickened with the virus—possibly through droplets blown through the air.

Wearing a mask in most non medical situations isn’t to protect healthy wearers from COVID19 – it’s to keep people with the virus from spreading it to others. A significant number of infected individuals remain asymptomatic – from 25%, 44% or 50% depending on the study. With all those potential carriers walking around with no idea that they are transmitting the virus, erring on the side of caution and wearing a mask seems like just common sense.

A new poll from the Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project finds 71% of those surveyed said they are worried that the social distancing restrictions are being lifted too quickly. Speaking as someone with vulnerable people in my life, I’m less inclined to go out and spend the money we need to restart our economy without some assurances that I won’t be bringing the virus back home to my parents. Requiring people to wear a mask seems like a simple step so we can reopen America.

For my Second Amendment friends: If you support open carry so that you are ready to stop a bad guy with a gun but you won’t wear a mask to stop a pandemic from spreading, it shows me you aren’t really concerned about protecting the people around you. Let us unite against a common enemy that is killing us – as of May 19, there have been 317,910 worldwide deaths of which 89,248 are Americans.

You want the economy and society to open back up?
Wear a mask.

You don’t want to live with permanent stay home orders?
Wear a mask.

You don’t want everything to close back up again in 2-4 weeks when new cases go through the roof and the death rate rises catastrophically?
Wear a mask.

Please wear a mask. It is quite simply the least you can do to help keep other people safe and healthy.

I pledge to wear my face covering to protect you and I beg you to wears yours to protect me.

Please. Wear a mask.

April 16-30 Coronavirus Journal

Tags

Coronavirus, Mary Griggs

Situation Summary: A new study out of New York tested more than 200 pregnant women admitted for delivery in two hospitals for coronavirus, whether they showed symptoms or not. Thirty-three women tested positive, but 29 of them showed no symptoms. Over the last week of April, the US only averaged 220,000 tests a day, according to the Covid Tracking Project, which gathers state data. While that is an improvement from the earlier weeks in the month, when the US averaged around 150,000 tests a day, it still far short of what experts say is needed.

April 16 – US 667,801 with 32,917 deaths. Louisiana has 22,532 confirmed cases with New Orleans at 5847 cases. Alabama has 4,345.

Went grocery shopping. I just went to Publix today and there were very few people wearing masks in the store.

Made red velvet cupcakes, as tomorrow is my birthday and I didn’t want to cook then. Recipe here.

The IWO board met via conference call.

April 17 – World cases reached 2,224,426 with 153,177 deaths. US confirmed cases reached 692169. Louisiana has 23118 cases with 5906 in New Orleans.

I helped Dad get his boat back in the water. He always takes it in for a spring checkup and no virus was going to stop him.

Sister and her husband came over with fried chicken for dinner. They immediately took a shower before even greeting anyone.

April 18 –

I enjoyed driveway cocktails with some of the neighbors. We petted dogs and bemoaned the lack of presidential leadership.

April 19 – 6000 confirmed cases in New Orleans, 23928 in Louisiana.

For breakfast, I made sausage gravy and biscuits. Recipe here.

I used my day’s sourdough starter discard to begin a new batch for a family friend. I sterilized all my equipment – bowls, measuring cups, containers and then fed theirs and mine. I drove it to their house and hope they’ll enjoy using it to bake lots of delicious bread.

April 20 – US confirmed cases are now at 766212 with 40995 deaths, Louisiana cases are at 24,523 with New Orleans at 6148. Alabama’s confirmed cases are 5055

April 21 – US has 804,194 confirmed cases with 43,006 dead. 6169 cases in New Orleans. Louisiana has 24,854 confirmed cases.

I got up early so I could make a run to the Foley Wal-mart. There were only about 100 people in the store with me with 4 register lanes open (plus the self checkout). I was able to get supplies for my family and one of their neighbors and get out about an hour. Some of that was searching for unfamiliar brands. I’d say about three quarters of the folks in their had masks. Most were being respectful of the 6 foot social distancing.

It was still stressful and I took a nap after I returned home and took a shower.

April 22 – US has 823,367 confirmed cases with 45,548 dead. 25258 cases in Louisiana with 6209 cases in New Orleans. 5495 cases in Alabama.

We held the IWO board meeting via zoom.

April 23 – Worldwide there were 2,659,557 confirmed cases with 185,494 deaths. US cases are at 843,981 with 46,859 deaths. Louisiana has 25739 confirmed cases with 6263 in New Orleans. 5703 cases in Alabama.

Made a seven layer dip for dinner. Recipe here.

April 24 – There have now been 50,312 US deaths with 875,566 confirmed cases. 26140 confirmed cases in Louisiana.

As my sister wasn’t feeling well, they stayed home tonight. Instead, I used some of my sourdough starter to make pizza for lunch. As the dough makes two pizzas, I divided it and then made pretzels with the second half of the dough. Very yummy.

I saw a smaller heron at the bulkhead and when I walked toward it with the camera, it jumped onto a stump and posed for a picture.

April 25 – 2,887,194 worldwide confirmed cases with 202,168 deaths. The US has now had 933,836 cases with 53289 deaths

For breakfast, I made a blueberry sourdough coffee cake. Recipe here.

For lunch, I made cast iron skillet, oven fried chicken. Recipe here.

Mom and I finished another puzzle. Very red!

April 27 – There have now been 3,033,626 confirmed cases worldwide. 983,892 cases in US with 55,592 dead

April 28 – US has reached the horrible milestone of 1,008,471 confirmed cases with 57,979 deaths

I worked with the accountant for the rental property to get the Schedule K completed. Luckily, she was able to figure out what I had forgotten to include and, with a little back and forth, everything was reconciled and the taxes were completed.

I also made an almost no knead sourdough bread. It wasn’t good enough to blog about, so I will try again in a couple weeks.

April 30 – the US death toll has now reached 62,545

Took my dad to the dermatologist to get cancerous legions removed from his back. While he was in the doctor’s office, I went to Publix and bought groceries and then sat in the parking lot and read on my kindle. More people with masks and much better at social distancing.

They believe they cut out all the cancer but we will go back on May 12 to have a further check.

April 1-15 Coronavirus Journal

Tags

Coronavirus, Mary Griggs

I started writing a journal about what I’m seeing in the news, how local, state and world leaders are responding, how my family, friends and I are dealing with this global crisis. The history of the public health emergency is out there but we need to make sure our individual stories are told as well.

CDC’s COVID-19 webpage
WHO Coronavirus webpage

***

Situation Summary: In December 2019, Chinese health authorities identified an outbreak of pneumonia associated with a novel, or new, coronavirus which has resulted in thousands of confirmed cases in China. The first US death was at the end of February, 2020. On April 1st, the US recorded 4476 deaths.

April 1 – 203,608 cases in the US. Of that, 6424 cases were in Louisiana and 2270 of those cases were in New Orleans. 1060 cases in Alabama with 20 cases in Baldwin County.

Made meatloaf with ground venison as Dad was out of ground beef. As venison is quite a bit leaner than beef, I made a panade to keep it moist. Recipe here.

April 2 – Louisiana cleared a backlog and jumped to 9150 cases with 310 deaths. Alabama jumped to 1251 cases with 32 deaths. Total US cases are 236, 339. Worldwide, the number of confirmed cases is now 1,002,159 with 51,485 deaths.

Went grocery shopping for the month. I started at Rouses and Wal-Mart in Gulf Shores, went by the credit union, then to Publix and Target. Dad found a sale for diet cokes so I went out to Winn-Dixie and Family Dollar after a shower and a nap. I took another shower when I got home.

I prepped the strawberries I bought for macerating and use in strawberry shortcake this weekend. Recipe here. I also prepped the dough for sandwich sourdough bread for my niece.

April 3 – New Orleans cases 3476 with 148 deaths. Louisiana cases 10,297 with 370 deaths. Baldwin County is 28 cases. Alabama cases 1535 with 38 deaths. US cases 276,995 with 7406 deaths.

Spoke on the phone with the IWO president about how we are going to handle voting for officers at the annual meeting which, according to our bylaws, is held in June. The program chair is looking for a local speaker so we might switch to an electronic or vote by mail. If the nominations committee can get a slate by Mid-May, we can send it to the membership with a request for additional nominations. At the end of 7-10 days, send out ballots to the membership for a vote due by a date in June. That way, our meeting will not have that business and anyone who is unable or unwilling to attend a large gathering still gets their vote recorded.

The plumbers came over to fix a valve that kept sticking and shutting off the hot water. While they were here, I got them to be witnesses on my advance directive for medical care, as I forgot to bring my forms over with me when I came. I confirmed that my parents, sister and girlfriend all either have or will fill out their forms.

I’ve done the dough for the sourdough sandwich bread and it is on its final proof in the loaf pans. Recipe here.

My sister and brother-in-law came for lupper (later than lunch but not quite dinner) around 3pm. Wayne had done a Boston Butt on his smoker and I made seasoned baked French fries.

The Alabama governor finally did a stay-at-home order, effective tomorrow at 5pm.

April 4 – US numbers rose to 301,902. 12496 cases in Louisiana and 3966 cases in New Orleans. In Alabama 1633 cases with 29 of them in Baldwin County.

I went with my sister and brother-in-law to their house for breakfast. Mom was running out of cigarettes so I needed to make a run to the tobacco store for her and the store is near my sister’s house. On the way home, I stopped by a bloodmobile bus in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot and tried to give blood. They took one look at my Louisiana license with its New Orleans address and turned me away. This despite me being away from there for 14 days and having no fever or cough.

Is New Orleans drivers license the new scarlet letter?

I read a Washington Post article – The U.S. was beset by denial and dysfunction as the coronavirus raged

Absolutely devastating how badly things were botched

Some of it:

The CDC learned of a cluster of cases in China on Dec. 31 and began developing reports for HHS on Jan. 1. But the most unambiguous warning that U.S. officials received about the coronavirus came Jan. 3, when Robert Redfield, the CDC director, received a call from a counterpart in China. The official told Redfield that a mysterious respiratory illness was spreading in Wuhan, a congested commercial city of 11 million people in the communist country’s interior.

Redfield quickly relayed the disturbing news to Alex Azar, the secretary of HHS, the agency that oversees the CDC and other public health entities. Azar, in turn, ensured that the White House was notified, instructing his chief of staff to share the Chinese report with the National Security Council.

…Trump was not substantially briefed by health officials about the coronavirus until Jan.18, when, while spending the weekend at Mar-a-Lago, he took a call from Azar.

 

…On Jan. 22, Trump received his first question about the coronavirus in an interview on CNBC while in Davos. Asked whether he was worried about a potential pandemic, Trump said, “No. Not at all. And we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. . . . It’s going to be just fine.”

April 5 – Worldwide cases are at 1,263,976. US cases are at 331,234. 13101

I made sausage biscuits for breakfast. Buttermilk biscuits paired with rounds of bulk sausage and a little grape jelly. I even had one biscuit with sourwood honey Mom brought back from North Carolina.

Played with some sand dollars I had left here. Cleaning them up and then thinking about how best to use them. I talked to Mom and she pulled out a number of bags of macramé supplies she has. I’m thinking of doing a wall hanging. Dad pulled out a broken windchime and I think I’ll use some of the cool wooden beads from Mom’s macramé stuff to make a replacement.

The sand dollars needed cleaning, so I put things on hold while they dry from their bath.

We had leftover shish kabob meat, so we made fajitas for dinner. The margarita I had with them made them taste extra good.

April 6 – US cases are at 362,759 with 10,689. Louisiana 14,867 with New Orleans cases reaching 4565, Alabama 1999.

I started the day playing with the sand dollars and some macramé from Mom. Dad pulled out several large driftwood pieces that he said I could use. I laid everything out and think it is going to look pretty cool.

The more I looked at it though, the more I realized I need more sand dollars to attach the sets of four to each other. Good thing I have a large jar filled with sand dollars at home. I took it apart and set it up to take it back with me to New Orleans.

I started to work on the windchime when I got a phone call.

The regularly scheduled pest spraying happened at the rental property. The tech saw a squirrel scamper down the power line and into the attic. On an inspection, he found 7  holes. My renters have never mentioned hearing animals or scurrying in the attic but I believed him and authorized him to put up barriers and traps. That cost $350.

I began paying my bills online. I tried to go online for the Sewerage and Water bill but needed my account number and meter number to use the online system. I called customer service but because I didn’t know the PIN number, she wouldn’t give out the info. I then called again and got into the automatic system. Seems that accounts are tied to my cell phone number. I was able to pay both bills, although the payment plan we were on for the rental property was not recognized so I had to pay almost $2000 on that bill. While I know that the Mayor has said that no power or water will be shut off during the crisis, but I can’t take the risk that my renters would be without water during this crucial time.

That meant I had to have Dad transfer money into the account and I then had to drive to the Regions branch and deposit a check to cover the expenses we hadn’t budgeted for. On the way home, I saw that Wal-Mart was selling gas at $1.62, so I filled up Mom’s car.

April 7 – US cases 398,809 with 11,830 deaths. Louisiana has 16284 cases with 583 deaths. 4942 cases are in New Orleans. Alabama is 2197.

My niece came over to print out patterns for facemasks and to borrow mom’s sewing machine.

I tried to take pictures of the supermoon but it was too cloudy.

April 8 – 404352 cases in the US. 17030 Louisiana cases, of which 5070 were in New Orleans

Forum board meeting via zoom. My parents DSL went out so I could only join by phone. We discussed some of the nuts and bolts of the organization but mainly checked in with everyone to make they were well and taking care.

April 9 –  452,582 cases in US. Louisiana 18283 with 5242 of those in New Orleans, Alabama cases2769

April 10 – 475,749 cases in US. Louisiana has 19252, Alabama 2999

April 11 –526,396 cases in US. 20041 in Louisiana and 5535 in New Orleans

April 12 – US cases hit 530,200 with 20,614 deaths

2017-2018 season, saw 61,000 deaths were linked to the influenza virus. The 2018-2019 season’s seen 34,200 flu-related deaths. Those are deaths over the course of the year. COVID19 deaths in the US are just from the first case in March.

April 13 – 5600 cases in New Orleans, 21016 in Louisiana

April 14 – 5718 cases in New Orleans with 276 deaths. Louisiana 21518 with 1013 deaths. Alabama 3953 with 114 deaths. US 594,207 cases with 25,402 dead.

The WHO posted a strategic preparedness and response plan that outlines the public health measures and takes what we have learned so far about the virus and translates that knowledge into strategic action that can guide the efforts of all national and international partners when developing context-specific national and regional operational plans.

April 15 – US cases now at 614,482 with 27,085 dead. Louisiana cases are 21,951 and Alabama cases are 4149.

I made pork schnitzel and scalloped potatoes.

New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell has extended the stay-at-home order to May 16. Here is the proclamation.

 

March 16-31, 2020 Coronavirus Journal

Tags

Alabama, Coronavirus, Louisiana, Mary Griggs

Situation Summary: On March 16, 2020 the White House issued a Coronavirus Guidelines for America. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for the stock market as the Dow recorded its worst one-day point drop in history. The human toll of the virus continues to grow – more than 4,500 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the United States and 88 have died. Globally, the death toll is just over 7,100.

March 16, 2020 – 136 cases in Louisiana, 94 in Orleans Parish (with 3 deaths) and 16 in Jefferson Parish

I started the day by contacting the store managers of the Macy’s stores in Baton Rouge and Metairie to see if the hours had changed or if there were other things I needed to know before going to them this week. They said they were going on a conference call today to hash out details of their response. We’ll see if I’m driving to Baton Rouge tomorrow.

It was then time to gather up my financial documents for the rental place and scan them all in so I could send them to the accountant to the do the taxes. As I need a Schedule K to do my taxes, I always try and make an appointment to do TGG Enterprises tax prep in the middle of March. Debbie is working from home, so getting everything to her electronically actually helps.

I reached out to the tenants and spoke to both of them about their situations and decided to forgo any rent for April. We will revisit in May but I will talk to my dad about waiving May rent, too, should the stay-at-home order continue.

I made chicken salad for lunch and pulled aside some sourdough starter for more bread baking.

The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans (which has failed us badly in the past with water pressure and breakage issues) released a statement that the water was safe. EPA has confirmed that the sanitizing done by the City is sufficient to protect it from viral contamination.

My Barbara’s Bookstore boss let me know that the Philadelphia Macy’s store was to be closed until the end of March and that they wanted me to not go to Baton Rouge for the next couple of weeks. Then, there was a press conference by Mayor Cantrell where she spoke about more aggressive measures to stop the spread, including closing movie theaters, malls, gyms, bars, casinos, etc.

The IWO board agreed to cancel the March 21^st Candidate Forum and Endorsement meeting and move it to May. We held the meeting by conference call as we didn’t want to disobey the social distancing directives.

March 17, 2020 – 171 cases in Louisiana, 136 in Orleans Parish, 4 deaths. 5894 cases nationwide

For St. Patrick’s Day I drove over to my parents in Alabama. We had corned beef sandwiches and I went through their pantry to go on a food and staples run for them. Alabama has only had 39 cases, most in the county in and around Birmingham. My parents live in Baldwin county and it only has one case so far. My plan is to hit the grocery stores and bank for them tomorrow so they can go thirty days without leaving home. They are both in their mid-70’s and mom is a lifetime smoker who is very susceptible to bronchial issues in a good year.

I heard from my publisher, Bella Books, that they are significantly reducing staff in the warehouse (down to one person every day). Those who can are now working from home. They are going to have a St Paddy’s day sale today to help people stuck at home with nothing to read a boost but they were informed by Amazon that they are pausing any ordering or fulfilling for products that are not household staples, medical supplies, or other high demand products. On a positive note, Ingram says that they are well positioned to fulfill any Amazon orders direct to consumers once Amazon starts to order again.

All of the Macy’s stores are closing at the end of business today, so I that means no work at all for me until the end of the month, as most of my nonprofit clients are under shelter in place orders (California) or facing the same strictures I am here.

I also learned that our tax preparer’s husband, Billy, is in the East Jefferson hospital with pneumonia. Keeping a good thought for Debbie and her family.

I may stay for longer than planned at my parents, as it isn’t like I need to be in New Orleans now that my work is closed through March and, likely, most of April, too.

March 18, 2020 –7323 cases in US. 46 cases in Alabama, only 1 in Baldwin County, 280 in Louisiana with 196 in New Orleans with 7 dead

I went shopping today to Publix, Wal-Mart, CVS, Winn Dixie and Piggly Wiggly. Some places were out of flour, low on meat and out of bread, toilet paper and cleaning supplies. I got everything on my parent’s list but rubbing alcohol and sanitizer and am glad I remembered to bring my toilet paper from home when I came. I also ran by the credit union to deposit money from Mom to my niece who has been laid off.

I was amazed at how courteous folks were being – lots of excuse me, please and thank you. This is definitely time to give the hardworking folks at grocery and convenience stores who are dealing with same stresses but are still having to work full shifts in front of the public.

All the stores had wipes available at the entrance, so I was able to wipe off the cart handle to begin and clean my hands as I left.

I was reminded by a friend (and fellow introvert) to check on our extroverted friends during this time of crisis. All the social isolation and event cancellation must be hitting them hard. I won’t go crazy and call but I can text and check in online.

Speaking of online, I’m seeing a whole of people posting about Facebook sending notices about posts being removed for not meeting community standards. One of mine, about Octavia Butler books being published by the Library of America, was reported as well. I appealed and the post is back.

Who has the time for that nonsense?

I came home and brought stuff to the door before I removed my shoes to come in and washed my hands. After helping mom put everything away, I showered and changed clothes. Not sure if I’m keeping them from getting exposed but I’m doing my best.

My uncle and his wife came over that evening for drinks and appetizer. They are from the northern part of the state (with the most cases) and with heart and health problems, coming to their beach house was a pretty good plan.

March 19, 2020 – 249 cases in New Orleans. 392 in Louisiana with 10 dead and 78 cases in Alabama.

First day of spring and the earliest spring in 124 years. I saw a cottontail rabbit in the front lawn and took a picture.

Dad went out fishing with his brother and a couple of his friends that came down from the north of the state. Most of the fish they caught were too small and under the limit, so he left the ones they could keep with his brother for them to have for dinner.

We’ll have some fish from last year’s fishing trip for a meal once the fillets thaw.

Learned that one of the first people I met when I moved to New Orleans Corinne Barnwell’s husband has been admitted to the ICU for pneumonia. The Rev William Barnwell is an amazing activist for racial justice and I’m keeping him in my thoughts.

March 20, 2020 – 326 cases in New Orleans with 10 dead. 537 in Louisiana with 106 cases in Alabama.

Gulf Shores is closing their beaches today. The state of Alabama still hasn’t but, then again, neither has Florida. This means parking lots controlled by the city and their public beaches will be closed.

I had a conference call last night that started about the Louisiana legislative session which has been temporary adjourned until March 31^st. As more people talked about their organization’s (and personal) difficulties the call became more supportive than advocacy. There still is plenty to do to protect our democracy and ensure that free and fair elections still go on as well as to protect women who may be in isolation with their abusers and to address the digital divide that keeps some children from being able to keep up with online schooling.

My sister and her husband came by with a couple of pizzas they picked up from Pizza Hut. We ate and then sat around chatting on the back porch as the sun went down.

March 21, 2020 –22043 in US with 763 cases in Louisiana with 20 deaths, 131 in Alabama. 418 cases in New Orleans

Made blueberry sourdough pancakes (recipe here- https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2020/02/23/blueberry-sourdough-pancakes/)

Did some more bird watching and took this picture of a red bellied woodpecker.

March 22, 2020 – 30,788 in US, 837 cases in Louisiana with 20 deaths. 451 cases in New Orleans, 15 have resulted in death. Alabama has 138 cases

Dad and I enjoyed oven baked fish with cornbread. The mackerel was basted in lemon butter sauce. He also made coleslaw and had some peas but I didn’t have any of those although I did have 3 pieces of cornbread. Recipe for the cornbread here – https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/one-fish-two-fish-fresh-fish-good/

March 23, 2020 – 1172 cases in Louisiana, 567 cases in New Orleans, 196 in Alabama, 33404 cases in US

I pan fried pork chops and made gravy and biscuits to go with them. Excellent comfort food.

One of the ospreys that is nesting nearby used one of the pine trees in the yard as their base for hunting.

I think it was a young bird as it took a while before they caught a fish. I was lucky to catch it flying off with dinner with my camera.

March 24, 2020 – 675 in New Orleans with 26 dead, 1388 in Louisiana, 242 cases in Alabama, 52145 US cases with 544 dead

My dad went to a doctor’s appointment over in Florida. It was the final one after his back surgery last year. He did get a final set of physical therapy appointments from it, so that was good but I’m not sure when the physical therapists will be able to see him.

I was able to convince him not to go grocery shopping although he did hit the Class VI store at the Pensacola Naval Air Station to pick up 4 cases of beer. He has his priorities, after all.

March 25, 2020 – 62,873 confirmed cases in US with 894 dead, 1795 in Louisiana with 827 cases in New Orleans, 386 cases in Alabama

I woke up and started venison tenderloin, mushrooms, bell pepper and onion in a marinade for us to have shish kabobs for lunch today. I then headed down to the boat launch on the far side of the neighborhood and birdwatched for a while. I saw white egrets, a great blue heron, a couple of pelicans, a million seagulls and a porpoise.

Dad went out for a physical therapy assessment that took a little over two hours and left him wrung out. Upon his return, I made him immediately take a shower. I then wrapped his clothes in the bathmat and washed a load. I’m not taking any chances, even though there are only 4 cases in Baldwin county.

In the evening I had a conference call with the Executive Committee of the Forum for Equality and we decided to make sure thank yous went out to all the donors and attendees of the recent legislative event and to do a check in with all members of the Equality Club. Instead of the usual board meeting next week, we will do a check in with the board by video conference to keep everyone up to date and engaged.

Our best case scenario is that the two really horrible bills already filed (and the other two being threatened) are not bought up in the shortened session that could be reconvened before the end of April (although we think it may be put off to May). After hurricane Katrina, the session focused on recovery and budgeting issues and we’re hoping that the members have the same mind set post-COVID19. However, with the last of the term limited legislators out of office, we’ve seen more and more ideologues who may not care for focusing on recovery and instead try to push their partisan agenda. We have to have our eyes on the session and be ready to act immediately to stop those bad bills.

March 26, 2020 – 80,021 confirmed cases in US with 1,136 deaths. 466 in Alabama, 2305 in Louisiana, 997 in New Orleans

I got up early again to head to a location across Wolf Bay where I was hoping to catch some pelicans. Unfortunately, it had a big gate so I couldn’t go exploring. I went instead to a boat launch in Miflin but the fog made it hard to see any birds. I could hear them, though. I did take one picture.

There had been a bit of an odor outside bedroom window where I’m staying and I showed my Dad how the area near the septic tank was flooded and the standing water was bubbling. He was able to get a guy to come out and look at the pump. He will return tomorrow with his guys to replace it.

March 27, 2020 – Alabama cases rose to 639 with 3 deaths, 1170 cases in New Orleans and 2746 in Louisiana with 119 deaths. Cases in the United States rose to 101,657 with 1581 deaths. 579 cases in Mississippi

Started the day waiting for the septic tank pump replacement. It was quite the incredible smell, as Han Solo would say once the workers opened the tank for emptying. The weight difference from a pump installed in 1993 and fixed about 10 years ago and the replacement was astonishing – the guy in charge says it will lift as much liquid as before, maybe even more.

The Facebook and Twitter timeline was full of the ‘gotcha’ type interview Wolf Blizter did with Mayor Latoya Cantrell, trying to blame New Orleans for being an epicenter on Mardi Gras. What the news seems to forget is that the President of the United States was still downplaying Covid-19 at that time. The first Louisiana case wasn’t identified until 9 days after Fat Tuesday (Feb 25).

Considering how quick the Mayor was to cancel St. Patrick’s Day celebrations (and how quick people were to pooh-pooh her actions at the time), it is infuriating that she was supposed to know more than the Federal Government and anticipate how bad things were going to get. Trump’s tweet from the day before Mardi Gras Day was: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA.”

You don’t hear anyone going after CPAC event which ran from February 26-29 or the Florida governor who didn’t shut state beaches until March 19 (after most spring breakers returned home to infect their colleges). Heck, Disney didn’t close their parks until March 13^th!

My sister and her husband came for dinner. I made 2 sourdough crust pizzas (recipe here – https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2020/02/01/cast-iron-skillet-sourdough-pizza/) I made one a mushroom pepperoni and the other a green pepper and onion plus mushrooms and pepperoni. Everyone raved about it and we ate all but 1 slice.

I found out from a friend that William Barnwell has died of Covid-19. My deepest condolences go to Corrine.

March 28, 2020 – Louisiana cases hit 3315 with 137 deaths. 1298 cases in New Orleans with 70 dead. Alabama has 668 cases with 3 deaths. 6 cases in Baldwin County. 663 cases in Mississippi with 13 deaths.

I went out early with my sister and her husband to putter around Wolf Bay in my Dad’s boat. It is charmingly named “At Ease” as he was a career military officer. We saw heron, pelicans, thrush, osprey and seagulls during our morning cruise.

For lunch I made Greek souvlaki with tzatziki. I love firing up the grill and the pork loin cooked pretty quick on indirect. Recipe here – https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2016/01/09/greek-gyro/

I was grilling barefoot and stepped on a coal – ouch! I filled a cooler with ice and water and shoved my foot in it while the meat cooked. At least I had prepped everything else (the pita bread, cherry tomatoes, onions, etc) so it wasn’t much for my folks to do to bring it together.

It is my parents’ 55^th wedding anniversary. They sat on a porch for a while talking about the passage of time and then sat down in front of the TV for an all-day ‘Mythbusters’ marathon.

March 29 – US cases 142,106 with 2479 deaths

The first US death from coronavirus was on February 29^th. The 1000th death was on Thursday, March 26^th. The 2000^thdeath was yesterday, 48 hours later. That is exponential growth.

I started the day by watching the sunrise on Wolf Bay.

Then, I got up and made sourdough pecan waffles for me and my parents. Very yummy. Recipe here: https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2017/03/19/sourdough-chocolate-pecan-waffles/

After breakfast, I recorded a reading from my last novel, Bitter Heart, on Soapbox. Of course, I was forced to shower and put on a nice shirt first! The organizers at Saints and Sinners have requested it. The Literary festival had to be cancelled but they’re now offering readings from the authors who were scheduled to attend (plus links to buy the books from a local bookstore, Tubby and Coos Mid City Book Shop).

March 30 – 159,184 cases in US with 2945 deaths. In Louisiana, we saw a jump to 4025 cases of which 1480 cases are in New Orleans. Alabama has 907 cases of which 17 are in Baldwin County.

Mom and I finished a 1000 piece puzzle of rainforest animals that she started before I arrived so more than 2 weeks to put it all together. What a challenge!

For lunch I made a chicken and mushroom pot pie using some BBQ chicken I found in the freezer and picked off the bone. Recipe here: https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2019/08/18/skillet-chicken-mushroom-pot-pie/

Dad had physical therapy but this time, he didn’t complain when I made him immediately take a shower and gather all his clothes together for washing. I think the increase of Baldwin County cases are making him take notice – or maybe it was the death of Joe Diffie, a country music singer that he has always liked.

Their next door neighbor called that he was watching two eagles fly overhead so I went out. They were too high up to get a good picture but hypnotic to watch. After, I went and took some pictures of some of the azaleas my dad has cultivated. This one is a native honeysuckle azalea, known as Flame.

March 31 – US has 174,467 with 3416 deaths. 1834 cases in New Orleans, 5237 cases in Louisiana, 974 cases in Alabama

I started the day by making cake donuts (recipe here https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2016/06/03/national-donut-day/). I made several with a cocoa cinnamon sugar (3 tablespoons granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons cocoa, 1 teaspoon cinnamon whisked together) and the rest with cinnamon sugar. Dad wants me to make them again with blueberries.

I have now been in Alabama 14 days. It looks like I’ll be here for another month.

 

 

 

March 1-15, 2020 Coronavirus Journal

Tags

Coronavirus, Louisiana, Mary Griggs

Situation Summary: By March 1, 2020 the outbreak of pneumonia associated with a novel, or new, coronavirus had resulted in thousands of confirmed cases across 60 countries with the global death toll reaching 3,041.

The Center for Disease Control’s COVID-19 webpage only updates their information once per day based on data received by 4pm the previous day, so I’ve been getting daily data from other sources

For the global picture:
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center COVID-19 Map
Washington Post’s Mapping the Worldwide Spread of the Coronavirus
For state/local information:
Louisiana Department of Health Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information
New Orleans information from Ready.NOLA.gov.
Alabama Department of Public Health COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard

March 1-7, 2020 No cases in Louisiana

I started the day having to deal with a plumbing issue at the rental property Dad and I own in Gert Town. I got the repairs guys working on that and replacing the bathroom door that had swollen up from the flooding and replacing all the molding. I’m not sure they entirely fixed the problem that existed from before we bought the property in 2013 but we’ll go in and check it weekly to make sure the repair holds.

I went to the Lakeside mall to fix up the Macy’s store book displays and headed home by way of the gas station as I’ll be heading out of town tomorrow and I wanted a full tank to start the drive.

Forum for Equality held a fundraiser/legislative event that evening with local politicians to talk about the session. It was held in a beautiful mansion on St Charles Avenue.

I helped set up and worked the door, getting people signed in and getting them name tags as well as catching up with everyone I hadn’t seen in a while. There were a couple of mentions of the coronavirus but we were all hugging and kissing our greetings as we talked about the importance of defeating a horrible anti-trans bill and getting our own employment non-discrimination bill passed in this year’s Louisiana legislative session, which begins on March 9th.

The next morning, I headed with Michelle over to my parents’ home in Foley, Alabama.

That evening I watched the US Women’s National Team play England in the She Believes Cup. The US women (and reigning World Cup Champions) won 2-0.

I voted for the Ann Bannon popular choice award and Tee Corinne award for excellence in cover design for the Golden Crown Literary Society’s Goldie Awards held during their annual literary conference. I bought my ticket to the conference last year and made hotel reservations and I’m really hoping that the July 6-12 conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico is able to go on as scheduled.

My sister and her husband came over on Friday, March 6th for Happy Hour bringing with them pizzas from Pizza Hut. We sat on the porch and chatted for a while after dinner.

On Saturday, March 7, Michelle and I went to Waterfront Rescue to see if the thrift store had anything fun. Michelle bought a lamp she can fill with Mardi Gras beads/doubloons plus a video game console. Afterwards, we did some Shopkicking in Walgreens and bought some raisin bran muffins at Public. Then we went to the Foley Railroad Museum and the Model Train exhibit before joining my sister at the Copper Kettle for tea and scones. This is a very intimate little tea shop with lots of knick knacks on the walls and quilts used as tablecloths. My sister and I shared a chrysanthemum blooming tea that was as beautiful as it was delicious.

That evening I grilled steaks and baked potatoes and made a spinach salad for mom, dad, Michelle and myself. I had a bit of trouble choking on the meat so I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to.

March 8, 2020 – US reports 539 cases across 34 states with 22 deaths

On Sunday, Michelle and I were joined by Kathy and Wayne plus Kathy’s daughter, Kim, and her three kids (Dani, Michael and Xavier) for a chilly, sunrise walk on the beach at Gulf Shores State Park by the Pier.

We even saw an eagle flying!

Michelle and I swung by Publix for snacks and shopkicking on our way back to my mom and dad’s house.

I watched the US Women play against Spain in the She Believes Cup and win the game 1-0 because of some simply awesome play by Julie Ertz (she also scored in the 86^th minute). Of course, we find out US Soccer sent a letter the day before the game making an offer for equal pay but only for matches under its control.

It was tacos for dinner!

March 9, 2020 – first case reported in New Orleans, Louisiana

On Monday, Michelle and I left early in the morning and drove on I-10 and I-65 through Mobile to get onto Highway 98. We got gas in Semmes, Alabama before stopping at the Wal-Mart in Petal, Mississippi. We shopped there before going to E&B Discount Grocery Store and then hitting another Wal-Mart in Hattiesburg. For lunch we went to Panera Bread for soup (baked potato) and sandwich (turkey and avocado BLT) for me and sandwich (chipotle chicken) and mac & cheese for her. We stopped at Ollies for some pots for plants and other bargains. After getting some gas at Keith’s we went to her house in Seminary, Mississippi and unloaded the car of her stuff and repacked it with my stuff. That evening, we went to her Aunt Sue’s house for dinner with her mom and dad and older brother, Bo. Smoked chicken and spaghetti.

March 10, 2020 – 2 more cases in New Orleans, six cases total in Louisiana

I drove from Michelle’s house in Seminary, Mississippi to Baton Rouge, Louisiana using the backroads of Highway 84 to Brookhaven before taking I-55 south. I then took I-12 to Airline Highway and got gas at the Wal-Mart and then went to the Mall of Louisiana. I went into Best Buy for Shopkicking and spent about 45 minutes in the store scanning products. There were just five people in the store, including myself, who weren’t employees. The Macy’s store was very quiet as well. I made sure to wash my hands well once I was done with the books before I headed back to New Orleans.

I also posting a blog post I had worked on over the weekend about my opposition to two horrible anti-trans athletes bills. LA SB 172 and LA HB466 are bad for kids, bad for anyone who supports Title IX and horribly intrusive. The link to the blog post is https://marygriggs.wordpress.com/2020/03/10/filling-the-unforgiving-minute/

I get home to news that in a court filing, US Soccer wrote that the men’s team carries more responsibility and that “indisputable science” of biological differences means women should be paid less because the men’s team “requires a higher level of skill.” Such bullshit and it was released the day before the US women face Japan in the final game of the She Believes Cup.

March 11, 2020 – There are now 13 cases in Louisiana of which 10 are in the New Orleans area

WHO Director General declares COVID19 a pandemic with 118,000 cases in 114 countries, and 4,291 people dead.

I went to the Lakeside Mall’s Macy store for work on Wednesday. They had obviously been busy over the weekend as the kids section was a mess. I was able to quickly fix everything then I washed my hands before heading over to Target – all the Purell, Clorox and other cleaning supplies were out. Lots of empty shelves downstairs but the food section on the second floor was full, so I got some snacks and headed home.

I learned on Facebook that a local retirement and assisted living facility, Lambeth House, has a case of coronavirus. Two very good friends, Jody Gates and Marilyn McConnell (and another friend Regina Matthews) all live at Lambeth House. I’m worried about them but Jody says CDC is on site and they are staying in their apartment as much as possible.

Later that evening I was on a conference call with the Legislative Agenda for Women for the Equal Pay Lobby Day. Every year, women’s and progressives set up events on a date specifically chosen to represent the additional 62 days from the end of the previous financial year that women have to work to earn the same as men. This year, that date falls on March 31^st. I made the suggestion we take it virtual and the group agreed to do virtual advocacy (with or without the in-person event) contacting each organization’s own members to ensure they know their legislators, and send emails, faxes, tweets, and make calls to legislators about Equal Pay Day and the bills that are relevant to pay inequity and economic security.

The US Women won against Japan (3-1) but I missed the game as I don’t have cable anymore and I didn’t want to go out to one of the bars I usually go to (Rusty Nail or Bayou Beer Garden) to watch it with the increased number of coronavirus cases in the city. I was gratified to learn that several of the sponsors (Coca-Cola, Deloitte, Visa, Volkswagon, Allstate and Secret) all condemned US Soccer’s legal filing and most said they planned to meet with the Federation to discuss whether or not they’d be continuing.

March 12, 2020 – Two cases of coronavirus in Tennessee and 1 in Arkansas have possible links to Mardi Gras in New Orleans (https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/2-tennessee-1-arkansas-case-of-coronavirus-came-after-visits-to-mardi-gras/289-83032172-03f7-4bad-b214-7ef2b5057fd6)

I spent most of the morning repotting my succulent plants and planting the camellias I got from Dad. I had brought a 5 gallon bucket of compost back from Michelle’s house that I mixed with the dirt I had so I was able to repot a cactus from my sister Kathy into 6 pots, plus divide a huge aloe into 5 pots and a number of others that needed dividing or replanting after our warm winter.

I received an email from the Saints and Sinners LGBTQ Literary Festival that they were going to cancel the event, scheduled for March 27-29. I had signed up to participate on a panel titled Writing In and Across Genres: Pushing Against the Stereotypes. Rick Reed was to moderate Alex Meyers, Elliott Foster, James K Moran and myself. I’m disappointed not to see my all my writerly friends and attend the panels but, better to be safe than sorry.

I read an article about the heartbreaking decisions Italian doctors are being forced to make with more patients than they have ventilators or hospital beds. I wrote on Twitter – Canceling parades and large events, closing schools is all to slow the spread of #COVID19 and to keep it from overwhelming our health care system. Be patient and maintain social distancing. Do it for those more vulnerable than you. Do it so our doctors don’t have to make these decisions.

I was so sore from all the bending and crouching, that I took a long soak in a bubble bath that evening. I used a new one to me – Dr. Teal’s Glow and Radiance with Vitamin C and Citrus Essential Oils foaming bath with Epsom salt. Very orange – it smells like I mugged a Florida fruit stand.

US Soccer canceled all the upcoming men’s and women’s teams matches for March and April. The USWNT was scheduled to play Australia and Brazil in the lead up to the Olympics. There were going to be 6 matches in total but the others hadn’t been announced yet. The USMNT had games scheduled in Wales and Cardiff.

March 13, 2020 – There are now 26 cases in New Orleans, 36 in Louisiana

State of emergency declared in New Orleans and Louisiana. All public schools in the state closed, limits placed on all gatherings of 250 or more.
(https://ready.nola.gov/incident/coronavirus/mayor-cantrell-joins-governor-edwards-to-update-ci/). White House declares national emergency.

I started the day laughing at an ABC News/Ipsos poll that still had 43% of Americans approving of the way President Trump has handled the crisis. I wasn’t aware there were so many door knob lickers out there but things are divided along partisan lines with only 17% of Democrats and 44% of Republicans not concerned about getting the coronavirus. Quite a spread. I wonder if the virus will run rampant in the MAGA crowd, since they don’t seem to be caring about it yet.

Today was a cooking day. I started by pulling out some sourdough starter and feeding the mother. I plan to make a focaccia for dinner tonight and so I left it on the counter for a while to develop a sponge.

I then made a batch of Chocolate Pecan Truffle Cookies – deeply dark with chocolate that is brought out even more with a pinch of flake salt on the top. Recipe here (https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2020/03/15/chocolate-pecan-truffle-cookies/)

As the cookies were baking, I began making chicken stock for soup tonight. Once the stock was fragrant and the chicken cooked, I strained out the solids and let it cool to bring the fat to the top. Later in the day, I made a Lemon, Chicken and Rice soup that was truly awesome (recipe here: https://mouthbrothels.wordpress.com/2020/03/14/lemon-chicken-and-rice-soup/). To go with it, I made a garlic focaccia with the sponge I started earlier.

About midday, I had a long phone call from an organizer friend, Lynda Woolard. During our wide-ranging conversation, I learned the Louisiana Secretary of State was going to delay the April 4^th primary election (and presidential primary preference vote) for at least two months to June 20^th. The runoff would be held on July 25^th. I sent an email with a link to his statement to the IWO board and this set off a firestorm of emails as we had been in the process of cancelling our Candidate Forum and Endorsement meeting scheduled for March 21^st. We finally ended up scheduling a conference call on Monday, 3/16 to discuss it.

I learned at the end of the day that there are now 8 confirmed cases at Lambeth House. I’m worried about my friends but Jody says that they’re taking turns walking up and down the staircases for exercise and the weather has been good, so they’ve spent a lot of time on their balcony.

The US Soccer president, Carlos Cordeiro, resigned effective immediately following the furor over the legal filing. Forum USWNT player Cindy Parlow Cone will take over as president until the next meeting (Feb 2021) when they vote to fill the remainder of his term. She is the first woman to be US Soccer president and the second national team player in that role.

March 14, 2020 – 77 cases in Louisiana, 53 in New Orleans, first fatality in New Orleans.

I went to the Jefferson Highway Wal-Mart at 6:30 am on Saturday. The parking lot was full and the store had only been open for 30 minutes. I filled up on gas (only $1.88/gal) and went in the only door that was open. The grocery side aisles were full of desperate people panic buying everything. Virtually no cleaning products left, especially those with bleach. Very little left on the shelves anywhere. I went into the pharmacy side for alcohol and they only had 2 bottles of hydrogen peroxide left on the bottom two shelves.

I received two deliveries – one from Amazon on a replacement egg/mushroom/strawberry/spam slicer and 9 inch lazy Susan and another from Bass Pro with some pants I ordered back in January. I had the Amazon gal and USPS carrier just leave them on the porch and opened them out there and immediately trashed the packaging.

I used the lazy Susan in my cabinet reorganization with a set of Spicy Shelf Deluxe U shaped shelves I installed a couple of weeks ago. I’ve now got more my spices displayed and it is amazing how much room I have in there and on the counter now. If nothing else, my social isolating is helping me clean up the house!

There was a big St. Patrick’s gathering on Magazine Street at the Tracey’s Irish Bar in defiance of the requests to limit large gatherings. I’d say anyone who gets sick from being that stupid, it is their own damn fault but the issue is not so much them getting sick but transmitting it to others. I’m taking Dr. Graham Medley (Professor of Infectious Disease Modeling) advice: “Most people have a fear of acquiring the virus. I think a good way of doing it is to imagine that you do have the virus, and change your behavior so that you’re not transmitting it.”

I filled out my 2020 Census online. It is really important we all do so Louisiana gets its fair share of federal funds and ensure political representation at all levels of government is fairly allocated.

I read the historian Heather Cox Richardson’s column (subscribe here) regularly but today’s really resonated. From it:

“The fight over whether to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously, as well as the administration’s inept handling of it, is the outcome of forty years of assault on the American government. Since 1980, when Ronald Reagan ran for office on the warning that “government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem,” Republicans have made war on the idea of an expert bureaucracy in charge of our government.

Over the years since, Republican leaders have continued to cut taxes, regulations, social safety nets, and infrastructure, all in the service of shunning socialism and promoting individualism. Whatever needs to be done, businessmen can do it best, they say. Government bureaucrats are inefficient and wasteful.

We have decimated our government bureaucracy and expertise, slashed taxes and the social safety net, and crippled our infrastructure, all in the name of promoting American business and the individualism that, in theory, encourages economic growth. The president, along with his enablers in the Senate, have tried to cement this ideology onto the country through the courts.

And now, the coronavirus pandemic is putting their system to the test. So far, it is failing miserably.”

March 15, 2020 – 2^nd fatality in New Orleans, 75 cases in New Orleans, 103 cases in Louisiana, 2952 cases in US, 57 deaths nationwide.

WHO reports worldwide there are 153,648 cases in 146 countries or territories with 5746 deaths.

I woke up this morning to see that the New Orleans Archbishop sent out word that the obligation to attend Mass has been dispensed for the next 30 days. He ended the letter with “Our Lady of Prompt Succor, hasten to help us!”

During the day I got a visit from my friends Charlotte and Thomas after their Costco run for her to drop off yarn for Michelle and for me to give her an aloe plant I repotted plus some of the cookies I baked.

Shared with me on Facebook was a resource guide for activists, organizers, and others who are looking out for the community through personal preparation, collective care, mutual aid and advocacy. Link to the google document here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dpMzMzsA83jbVEXS8m7QKOtK4nj6gIUk1U1t6P4wShY/edit?usp=sharing

CDC is now saying gatherings of 50 of more should be cancelled for the next 8 weeks. They’re advocating social distancing through early May.

At the Democratic Debate Sunday night, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders went head to head in CNN’s studio instead of in front of a live audience of 5,000 as originally planned. They had an elbow bump instead of a handshake. Biden promised a female running mate

February Coronavirus Journal

Tags

Coronavirus, Louisiana, Mary Griggs

I saw a post on Twitter about starting writing a journal about what we’re seeing in the news, how communities are responding, how you and your friends are dealing with what is becoming a global crisis. The history of the public health emergency will be written but many personal stories will not. It is especially true that women’s letters and journals are sometimes the only way we learn the real information of their lives.

Here is my small effort. I’m starting in February, 2020 and plan to continue monthly as things develop. I will publish the previous months journal during the following month.

***

Situation Summary: In December 2019, Chinese health authorities identified an outbreak of pneumonia associated with a novel, or new, coronavirus which has resulted in thousands of confirmed cases in China. Additional cases have been identified in a growing number of other international locations, including the United States. CDC’s COVID-19 webpage has the most up to date information.

February 5, 2020 – 11 cases in US, none in Louisiana

Daily data is coming from Ready.NOLA.gov.

On Friday, February 14 (also Valentine’s day), I attended the League of Women Voters luncheon event on Gerrymandering over in Metairie. We heard from Senator JP Morrell on the importance of citizen engagement on all aspects of the redistricting process, starting with the Census2020. I attended with several members of IWO and we gathered for a picture as lunch was being served.

IWO members Clay Latimer, Lisa Manning Ambrose, Anita Zervigon, Leslie Bouie, Rosalind Cook, Julie Schwam Harris and I (peeking over the back)

That evening, I went to two parades mainly because my friend, Charlotte, was riding in Cleopatra. I saw Oshun and Cleopatra from the intersection of St Charles Avenue and Marengo Street, meeting up with Thomas after Cleopatra had begun to roll. I’m attaching a pic of her float.

My sister, Kathy, and her husband, Wayne, arrived later that evening to stay through the weekend and go to parades. Wayne made omelets for Saturday’s breakfast and I grilled ribeye steaks for dinner that night. After a very rainy Sunday morning where we all lazed around the house, I took them downtown for the Krewe of Barkus festivities and we had homemade lentil soup (recipe here) for dinner. They left on Monday morning.

On Mardi Gras Day (February 25), I walked out to the Rex parade along Napoleon Avenue but didn’t go to any other parades that day.

That evening I did my annual tweetstorm about the meeting of the Courts of Rex and Comus. It is a hilarious way to end Carnival Season by roasting the ‘royalty’ and the fawning reporting from the local PBS station that shows the event live while we locals take to the hashtag #RexComus and live tweet our snark. Some people make a drinking game out of it but that could lead to alcohol poisoning. Others play BINGO. I made it to the dancing heads around 10pm and called it a night.

February 27, 2020 – 60 cases in US (most from Diamond Princess cruise ship), none in Louisiana

On February 29^th, I attended a legislative event at the Broad Theater with IWO, a Democratic Women’s Organization.

Nakita Shavers, Jacqueline Brubaker and myself

We had over 150 people in attendance, including a busload of young women students from Florida to hear legislators speak about their agenda for the upcoming Louisiana Legislative Session.

Representatives Jason Hughes, Matthew Willard, Mandie Landry, Candace Newell and Senator Joe Bouie

The national numbers of coronavirus cases went from zero to 60 pretty fast and the next month shows no sign of slowing.