Coronavirus Diary Day 13: March 25, 2020

The News is Exhausting

Have I really been writing about Coronavirus for 13 days? I’m afraid I have. Ryan has been home from school for 13 days. The Hubs has been working at home for 13 days. And the dog has been absolutely up my ass for 13 days.

It’s raining today, which makes things even more complicated, because the dog is 11 months old and full of energy. I’ve taken him for a few walks around the neighborhood, and I’ve kicked a ball to him in the backyard. Both activities end with me cleaning mud from his paws, from the kitchen floor, from the couch my crotch. Today, it’s more frustrating than usual.

The news is exhausting. I’ve been trying to avoid it for the last few days. Even The Hubs has tried to avoid it, and he’s a news junkie. But you can’t ignore it all together. Like, we need to know certain things.

Truthfully, this is the first day since all of this began that I’ve been feeling a bit… discontented, agitated, embittered? I’m not sure exactly how to describe it. My chest occasionally feels tight, and I have a headache and runny nose. I find myself wondering if this is the start of Coronavirus. Of course it isn’t. It’s clearly paranoia. After all, my social distancing skills have been stellar. But I’ve hit the grocery store a few times in the past 13 days, so yanno.

I mean, I’ve had some delightful moments in my day, too. I’ve exercised. I’ve texted with friends. I’ve talked with my parents, who are feeling a little better, so they claim. At this moment, I’m writing in the kitchen, looking into Ryan’s new makeshift workshop, which is a portion of our living room that has been cordoned off with various pieces of furniture to keep the dog out. In this workshop, Ryan is building Adirondack chairs. The chairs will eventually go into our new sunroom. Construction stopped on the sunroom this week, because it’s a non-essential job. Who knows when it will resume, but someday, it will contain Ryan’s Adirondack chairs, built during the lock-down. We’ll look at each other and say, “Remember that time?” All of these things make me happy.

Now for the shit part (sorry). It’s time for numbers. Feel free to leave here. This part is meant to be used retrospectively, as in… at a later date when humanity is feeling better, out of quarantine, and back to work. It’s important to know that testing for COVID-19 is very limited. It’s also very different in various parts of the world, and even parts of the USA. So these numbers only reflect confirmed cases, meaning people who have actually been tested. People have been tested because they had known exposure, or they were very sick with symptoms, or they were in high risk groups, or they were health care workers, or they were professional sports players. Anyway, a lot of sick people just quarantine themselves – without a test – until they recover. Other folks are asymptomatic carriers. So the actual number of humans walking around with Coronavirus is definitely much, much higher than these numbers reflect. Therefore, it’s an inaccurate measurement. And honestly? It’s all bullshit, but here you have it.

Worldwide COVID-19 Confirmed Cases:

461,688 (That’s 292,132 more than 10 days ago)

Deaths:

20,850 (That’s 14,334 more than 10 days ago)

Active:

327,039

Recovered:

113,799

In the USA, there are currently over 64,107 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Ten days ago, there were 3,000 cases. Also in the USA, there are 893 dead. Ten days ago, there were 61 dead.

In Pennsylvania, there are 1,127 confirmed cases, of which 342 are in Philadelphia.

New York has been the hardest hit, which shouldn’t surprise anyone. As of this morning, there were 30,811 confirmed cases in New York State, of which 17,856 are in NYC. At least 285 people have died in the state.

The Hubs and I have property in Upstate New York. We go there for summer vacations, the winter holidays, and various other long weekends throughout the year. We’ve always joked that – in an emergency such as this one – we would retreat to our house in Upstate New York. We could be secluded from the world and create our own little ecosystem.

But Essex County is sending a clear message to people like us: Don’t come here. They simply don’t have the resources to handle an outbreak. We’ll put ourselves and others at risk. Which is fine with me, by the way. I’ll wait it out right here, in my own little Philadelphian Coronavirus Petri Dish, thankyouverymuch.

Italy and Spain are experiencing dire, dire circumstances. To physically type the numbers onto my keyboard makes me feel slightly nauseous, so I won’t.

And then there’s the United Kingdom, which finally jumped on board yesterday with formal social distancing regulations. Ironically, Prince Charles announced today that he has Coronavirus.

Soooooo anyway, today is Wednesday, which is Hump Day, which means? Tomorrow is Thursday. That’s what we need to hold onto, people. Tomorrow is coming. Whether we like it or not.