Coronavirus Diary Day 7: March 19, 2020

The Bright Side of Everything

It’s March 19th and the first day of Spring. It’s the earliest first day of Spring in 124 years. So we’ve got that going for us.

Spring 2020

Today, I harnessed the power of WhatsApp and FaceTime to video chat with 4 good friends in 3 different counties. I also took a live fitness class on YouTube. Ryan started his day completing online coursework and playing interactive video games with his friends. We’re doing other things, of course, like practicing guitar, writing fiction, walking the dog, chugging grain alcohol, and cooking meals. It’s been a good day.

I’m not sure what I’ll do tomorrow, but the house certainly needs to be cleaned. I suppose I could organize my closet, swap out my winter clothes for spring, create a donations bag. I’m not promising anything, though.

Everyone sounds more productive than they really are. If your friends are announcing all the accomplishments they’ve made this week, the goals they’ve crushed, projects they’ve completed… They’re lying. Some of us are sitting around watching Netflix for a portion of our days. No one needs to know that, and no one is judging us. These are stressful times. We’ll never have a chance to relax like this again, so let’s just fucking relax.

Humanity received some medical news today: a dash of hope. There’s a medicine called chloroquine, and it’s gotten a few very smart people a little excited. The FDA is testing that, along with plasma from recovered patients, to develop therapies that might help us in the war against COVID-19. Who knows how long it will take, or if it will work, or what will happen in the meantime, but these days, I’m looking at the bright side of everything.

Yesterday, Philly florists came together to “flower bomb” Rittenhouse Square. Every imaginable event has been cancelled, and now florists have an overabundance of buttercups, peonies, roses, and gardenias. So, our city is looking quite beautiful for the moment. Likewise, out here in Chester County, a local florist sent an email to her customers telling them to stop by for bouquets of daffodils. When customers arrived, she gave them two bouquets – one for the customer and one to give away. I’ll assume everyone practiced good social distancing routines (because why wouldn’t they?), and I’ll also assume these florists brought a lot of joy in the midst of frustration. Thanks for that, florists.

Rittenhouse Square Spring 2020

Feel free to peace out here, as I’m about to drop some numbers (sorry).

There are now (over) 185 confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Pennsylvania, which includes (at least) 52 new confirmed cases in the last 24 hours. Montgomery County remains the hardest hit with 47 cases. Philadelphia reported 33 earlier today, but just updated that number to 44. Tonight, the health commissioner said that with this data, we can assume it’s spreading rapidly in Philadelphia. In his words, “This is about to get real.”

Yesterday, a man in Northampton County was the first person in Pennsylvania to die. His mother and his sister passed away from Coronavirus in New Jersey earlier this week. 4 other members of the same family are currently sick with Coronavirus.

The USA now has 11,274 confirmed cases of COVID-19. That’s 3,505 new cases overnight. We leap-frogged France today, which has 10,886 cases. Italy has 41,035 cases and 3,405 deaths, which is 300 more deaths than China.

According to Johns Hopkins:

Worldwide Confirmed Cases = 240,199 (that’s 17,225 more than yesterday)

Total Deaths = 9,842 (that’s 1,110 more than yesterday)

I would like to clarify that I don’t drop these numbers to scare anyone. I recognize that they are frightening, and I feel a little badly about that. The thing is, part of the reason I’m writing this blog is to keep a “regular citizen record” of what is happening. Unfortunately, numbers are part of that record.

To end on a bright note (we need to end on a bright note), what about this Dr. Anthony Fauci? I mean, how cute is he? I swoon for him. I want to grab his cheeks and kiss him. Except… Well, whatever. Anyway, he is a national treasure.