COVID-19: Part 18

April 7, 2020 7:58 pm
  • Quarantine Day 22
  • Wisconsin continued with a Primary election today after the State's Supreme Court blocked the governor's attempt to postpone (after repeatedly trying to get the legislature to either postpone or move to mail-in ballots).
  • Without explanation, Trump used a bureaucratic move to block the appointment of the legally-selected head of oversight for the relief/stimulus disbursement program.
  • California has prepared/is preparing 4,613 temporary medical facilities throughout the state.
  • Seeing the curve flatten quite dramatically within the state, California is supplying medical equipment to help other states.
  • Alameda County cases: 602; deaths: 15
  • U.S. cases: 374,000+; deaths: 12,000+

I tried making tortillas last night. It was....moderately successful. I had trouble rolling them out thin enough while still being able to handle them. Also, shaping had some struggles. So they're very "handmade" looking. We'll use them for tacos tonight. I realized this morning I should have been rolling them out on my silicone mats, less likely to stick and even if they did I could have just flipped the whole thing over onto the griddle. Next time I guess.

Heather had a pretty solid meltdown this morning. Ostensibly it was because "Corinne was dancing, but I was dancing and I need to dance alone!" She was spiraling, so I carried her back to my bedroom and set her on the bed. She thrashed and cried for a bit and then broke down about not wanting to be stuck at home anymore, wanting to go back to school and see her friends and teachers, wanting to go to the park.

So we had a long talk about why we are staying at home. How it was helping keep people safe. How hospitals in many places don't have enough doctors or supplies to take care of everyone that's sick. So we're staying home so that more people don't get sick. So that the people that are sick can be taken care of until they're healthy again without more people showing up sick and needing help.

We talked about how there are lots of doctors and scientists all around the world right now working in their labs to understand the virus better so we can learn how to safely start leaving the house again without too many people getting sick at the same time. Working to develop treatments and vaccines so that people can stay safe and healthy. But until they figure those things out we need stay home.

We talked about how it sucks. It's not fun. It's inconvenient. It's boring. But we do it because it's important. And keeping people safe and healthy is more important than us being bored for a couple months.

We talked about how I expect that in May we'll start figuring out ways for people to be out of their houses safely because we'll have been able to treat all the people that are sick right now. But it will be slow because if we just all go out and start doing all the normal things then too many people might get sick at the same time again and we'll have to stay home again.

So maybe we'll be able to go to the park, but not the zoo. Or maybe we'll be able to visit the playground if we wear masks. I told her about going to the grocery store and needing to make sure to stay 6 feet away from other people. Those are the things all the doctors and scientists are trying to figure out so we can not be cooped up at home any more, but still stay safe.

It was actually (and somewhat surprisingly) a really productive conversation. And it was a conversation. She was asking questions and clarifying points, offering additional examples, suggesting what she thought the protective measures could be. It seemed to be really helpful for her to get that off her chest and process her feelings.

By the end she had calmed down and was feeling better and we started talking about what to have for lunch. Then she went to the game cabinet and got out "Pandemic" and asked if we could play that today. So she seems to be ready to jump right into helping people and finding cures. She's awesome.

After dinner Heather and I did play "Pandemic". We won! Though I modified it for an easier difficulty and even then we only barely won.

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