The Bright(er) Side of Being Housebound During COVID 19

Carptrash wrote: "Since I last posted - and the brighter side is that they seem to be getting younger. Maybe we old-timers are safe now?"

Don't think us oldies are out of the woods yet. The Trump Virus has now knocked off over 4300 seniors over 65 just in Arizona. This past 24 hours have added years to many of us. Hope many of those deceased seniors were able to vote before taking their final breaths. They should be counted if only because they had reason to hope for a change.

The almost bright side of COVID for me is that my family lives far beyond this area and travel isn't a possibility. Several family members in the midwest have tested positive and fortunately more have had tests returned negative. It puts such stress on those that have to work during this pandemic. We all text, email & FaceTime frequently so no one feels alone.

Note: had to add "just in Arizona"

 

CT, this has nothing to do, per se, with this topic but I was reading the latest issue of the Independent on the homeless “problem.” I have no solution but some local officials seem a bit clueless as to the law. Now I admit I was a bit surprised that some homeowners actually own part of the river beds. I understand frontage but actual ownership of a portion of river. Well this is AZ and nothing really surprises that much.

Anyway, camping on county medians. Since I have a lot of time on my hands I remember hearing about a Supreme Court decision in 2019 that involved homeless camping in the City of Boise, Idaho. Sure enough the case is Martin v. The City of Boise where an ordinance from the 1920’s was struck down over the issuing of criminal complaints for camping on public property when there was nowhere else to go or the refusal of assistance. Consequently, those individuals camping on medians or more accurately, living in their vehicles have the right to do so. Check out the decision and we can discuss or anyone else who reads here.

The next point are panhandlers on medians. Somehow SCHOA and some residents sensibilities are offended by the presence of these people. While various courts have ruled that this is covered by the First Amendment, there seems to be a push to curtail this right. Evidently Greg Eisert and SCHOA had Ptomaine Food Truck Kevin Payne introduce a bill essentially banishing them from median under some cockamamie theory of you could stay on a median for a prescribed amount of time unless you were a first responder or some sort of emergency situation. Allegedly this had been reviewed by attorneys before being introduced. I hate to be the fly in the punch bowl but it reeks of what is called prior restraint. Simply put you have the right to be there as long as it is a short period of time and you don’t do anything except walk. Thankfully this bill died a natural death.

That’s it for today. Tonight is schmooze with the candidates at Sundial from 6-8. I will be there complete with embarrassing questions and pithy comments.

 

All of this is right on (as we used to say) topic, doing this stuff is the brighter side, or part of it. In my opinion (not yet checked by my attorney, who is busy doing election lawsuits) part of what has gone wrong with our country is that folks seem to want to spend an inordinate amount of time and energy dealing with people who are lower than them on the socio-economic scale and not enough on those on top. If you, GdV, are a daily of the Independent you might have spotted me in the "Opinions'" section now and again. Perhaps you too?

 

Hopefully a very bright(er) side of COVID will be the fact that more state and local jurisdictions will start to take steps to stop the spread of the virus. Our Governor and Lesko can now crawl out from under Trump and start to show concern for the Arizona residents. So happy they no longer have to abide by what Trump decides is best for himself and they can show some compassion for all those suffering here in Arizona. We are facing so much illness and death and they are oblivious to the fact that it can be lessened by taking a few precautions. Flu season is gearing up, winter visitors are starting to return which will amp up the need for more medical facilities and we are not prepared. Come on! The Trump Virus needs to be addressed now, not in 3 months!

Phew....no more coffee and a bit more restful sleep needed.

 

We will see about that. What happens to puppets when the puppet master abandons them? And now it is tea for me.

 

Usually they are "bought" by a new puppet master, eh? That will certainly be the consequence for Lesko who, IMO, has never been anything more than a coattail rider.

 

Which sort of leads to the next question, "What does a puppet master do without puppets?

 

Each morning I catch up on newspapers online from MN/WI since we have many family members struggling through COVID isolation. Many of the younger ones still have jobs which is both a blessing and a curse. We encourage them to be safe while having to carry out their duties.

So, one newspaper carried their own "Brighter side of COVID" and this one caught my attention. It had to do with the fact that when you're masked you can pretend you don't recognize certain people and can avoid socializing. Have I done it....yes. Yesterday we had to make a necessary trip to the store and lo & behold there was a person in the store UNMASKED(because he is a #1 __________ and you can fill in the blank.) So the news article went on to explain that while wearing a mask you can silently mouth any sort of berating comments without the subject any the wiser. I did just that and it did make my day a bit brighter!

 

This weeks "Famous people who just died of COVID-19" list:
Bambang Dwitoro, Indonesian civil servant,
Đurđa Ivezić, 84, Croatian actress
Kim Ki-duk, 59, South Korean film director
Joseph Nyagah, 72, Kenyan politician,
Lev Shcheglov, 74, Russian sexologist,
Alexandru Surdu, 82, Romanian philosopher and academic
Carol Sutton , 87, American actress
Ubirany [pt], 80, Brazilian musician
Irena Veisaitė, 92, Lithuanian theatre scholar and human rights activist
Maroof Afzal, Pakistani civil servant,
Dudu Duswara, 69, Indonesian jurist, Justice of Supreme Court
Ram Lal Rahi, 86, Indian politician,
Alexandr Rekhviashvili, 82, Georgian film director
Rahnaward Zaryab, 76, Afghan novelist
Manglesh Dabral, 72, Indian poet,
Gordon Forbes, 86, South African tennis player
Dick Hinch, 71, American politician, (since 2020) of the New Hampshire House of Representatives
Vyacheslav Kebich, 84, Belarusian politician,
Alexander Samoilov [ru], 68, Russian actor
Soufis Subri, Indonesian politician
Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf, 80, Bangladeshi politician
Harold Budd, 84, American avant-garde composer and poet
Tony Curcillo, 89, American football player
Aslanbek Fidarov, 47, Ukrainian Olympic wrestler
Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, 78, Russian military officer
Kurt Stettler, 88, Swiss footballer
Sudjati [id], Indonesian politician
Divya Bhatnagar, 34, Indian actress
Eduardo Galvão [pt], 58, Brazilian actor
Walter Hooper, 89, American literary editor
Lidia Menapace, 96, Italian partisan and politician
Janusz Sanocki, 66, Polish politician and journalist
Ildegarda Taffra, 86, Italian Olympic cross-country skier
Tasiman [id], Indonesian politician,

 

Ewww Carptrash. Your death posts aren't exactly shining a brighter light on COVID. I guess the bright(er) side is that my name isn't on the list!

 

Or mine, or anyone else I know. Also America does not need to feel isolated by the virus, it is pretty much everywhere on the planet. I find it fascinating to note how many politicians there are on the list. They really seem to be that slow all over.

 

And I saw in the paper today that C&W singer Charlie Pride died from complication from COVID. No bright side there.

 

I am curious as to who wants to be vaccinated for covid.
I am a bit apprehensive and glad I am not on the "right now" list.
No underlying conditions. I'm just one of those "older" people.

 

Absolutely.

 

I am a needle phobic person. Just the odor of alcohol swabs makes my blood pressure go up and my knees go weak. I have fainted while trying to support my children when they were young during vaccinations. BUT, I do get all my immunizations at the appropriate scheduled times: Annual flu shot(65+ super shot), pneumonia, DPT. I've only missed getting the shingles vaccination at this point. I will get the COVID vaccination when it comes to my turn probably February-March as it looks like now.

It does need to be shouted from the rooftops that this does not make you totally immune and you can continue to infect others if you happen to get a mild case or are a carrier with no symptoms. It won't be until enough people are vaccinated that COVID will become more like flu outbreaks where there are mild, moderate and some severe cases. We really need to get to that point.

Just today Sun City has passed the 1650 case point. Arizona had 108 reported deaths today. There are only 155 ICU beds available statewide! I don't want to be shipped out of state for care if I get infected and need intensive care. This can't continue at this rate if there is something that can be done to control it. There is a bright(er) side but it takes an effort by everyone to get there.

 

I just saw my friend K today who has had a long career in pharma, govt. (EPA), Big Pharma, and universities. He is fairly positive about the shots but is in no rush to get one. Watching what tjey do to folks for 6 months seems like a good idea to him and that is good enough for me.

 

Yup, as soon as i can.

 

COVID is hitting much closer to our circle of contacts. You can't trust anyone that isn't in your household and even then the members of the household can't be exposed to outsiders. Yes, I am getting a bit more paranoid but it is backed up by the figures being posted daily by the AZDHS. They report 269 deaths just since Monday and the positive case counts are off the chart. Quite a line-up of cars at the CVS for testing yesterday when we drove by.

Bright(er) side is that vaccinations are beginning at a site in Sun City West. We can only hope that vaccines given to the right people in sufficient quantity will produce good results in corralling the spread. This will be a FaceTime Christmas with family this year. First time without some relatives in over 20 years!

 

I have a friend who has a friend who has it. He has now tested positive six times. My friend feels that this means that he has been counted 6 times in the "tested positive" column. Part of the plot to make it seem worse than it is, I suppose. I feel otherwise, but does anyone know how that math is done?

 

Minnesota has an interesting figure in their reporting. They give the total number of tests given but then show how many individuals have been tested. Many people have many multiples of testing if they are in high risk categories i.e. health care, emergency service, sports etc. AZ doesn't do a breakdown of how many individuals have been tested and only reports total test counts. Our already woeful shortage of testing would only show worse counts. So, don't rely on people saying they are safe because they have been tested as that negative result was only good on the day the test was analyzed.