The View from the Hermitage, Day 270

First, the good news. The Professor's covid-19 test came up negative! Needless to say, we were both very pleased. I did not jump up and down but only because he yelled the news to me as I was trying to fall asleep. We are staying apart for a couple more days just in case and to meet CDC guidance.

So The Lame Duck wanted to Make America Great Again. Usually "great" would mean the best (remember the "America First" inaugural address?) or first place. The other day, The Duck said things were going "incredibly." Was he celebrating that the US has 20 percent of the world's covid-19 deaths. We certainly don't have 20 percent of the world's population living here. As for how many deaths that 20 percent might be, it's probably going to hit 300,000 in the next week. Over 3,000 people died from covid-19 here yesterday. New cases? Yeah, we're doing our best to lead there as well. We had over 222,000 new cases yesterday. The total number of cases is around 15.5 million. Do I hear 16? Give it two days, three is we're lucky.

Virginia numbers continue to rise. We're seeing nearly 3,800 new cases per day here, and the percent positivity continues to climb. It's at 11 percent now. The governor had a briefing this afternoon. After briefly discussing the rising numbers, he announced the state's new or revised measures to deal with the increases, not that they really will deal with the increases. I think I mentioned yesterday the 10:00 pm to 5:00 am curfew in North Carolina. As of 12:01 am Monday, Virginia will have a midnight to 5:00 am curfew, with the only travel allowed being to or from work. That might mean something in terms of students at the local university, but they've all gone home and won't reappear until February 1, 2021.

Masks will be required for everybody even indoors. The police aren't going to break your door down and give you a ticket for not wearing a mask, but everyone in a grocery or department store must be wearing a mask. Masks are required outdoors if it is not possible to stay more than six feet apart. Since I don't go out, I have no idea what percent of people now might be wearing or not wearing masks in public. I do see news photos showing people walking together not wearing masks. If they actually enforce that, it might do a bit of good. 

Social gatherings were limited to 25 people before Thanksgiving. As of Monday, that limit will be 10. While this might mean something if an office is planning a holiday lunch for 20 at a local restaurant, the same 20 people could go to a party at someone's house with no chance of being "caught." It's nice in theory, but I'm not sure how much it will help in practice. And religious institutions are exempt from these limits.

Finally, they've changed crowd size rules for "recreational sports." I'm assuming that the "recreational" means things such as kids' soccer or intramural softball. The limits will be 25 people per "field" for sports held indoors. For outdoor sports, the limit will be two people per participant. The governor suggested that basketball games be played on a playground instead of in a gym; depending on the sport, more spectators might be possible outdoors as opposed to indoors. 

When I emailed Son #1 about the governor's actions, I told him I did not know whether these probably-won't-do-anything changes made me angry or sad. I seem to be alternating between the two lately. Angry that so many people are putting the lives of other people in danger, but at the same time sad that so many people are dying. It does not have to be this way. I read yesterday that half of Americans said they would not get vaccinated against covid-19. Again, I'm angry that half of Americans are idiots--I should not say that, but it is what popped into my head. More politely, I'm angry that the half of Americans who won't get vaccinated will prevent the development of any herd immunity. And, again, I'm sad that so many families will lose beloved members and probably not have the opportunity to say goodbye before they go.