Corona Log entry 10/26/20

Monday, October 26, 2020

       It is a very warm 89 degrees here in SW Florida. We were out biking this morning, enjoying the cooler morning air. Coffee on the club house Lanai, while talking with friends was both pleasant and educational. Later, while shopping at COSTCO, we observed that mask-wearing in the store was universal. Surprisingly, it is still an issue here in the U.S. even though every medical expert on the planet suggests that mask-wearing helps retard the spread of Covid-19. The Trump rallies are numerous, during these last few days of the Presidential election. Most of his cheering fans do not wear masks. Unfortunately, the after effects can be deadly. Yesterday, the White House announced that five members of Vie President Pence’s staff were down with Corona Infections. Medical personnel are already tracing and identifying a trail of infections from people attending those non-mask wearing rallies.

         The Covid-19 infections rates are spiking across the nation. We experienced seventy thousand new infections that were reported on two separate days last week. The death toll from Corona complications now approaches 228,000 souls and there is no end in sight. No matter which way the election goes, this pandemic will be with us for many months.

         People still have an aversion to dining inside. It is costing the restaurant and tourist industry mightily. The Cruise lines are almost desperate in trying to recruit passengers to fill their ships for the coming Winter season.  Airlines now trumpet how clean their planes are, to attract customers. I wonder why they didn’t have these cleanly standards years ago?

          The financial markets chug along unconcerned. I think a 600-point drop got some attention today. The real blip, up or down, will come after November third, when speculators bet on what will happen with new election results emerge. For some of the speculators, it is sort of like placing a bet on a roulette wheel.

          Young adults continue to get sick with Covid-19 in colleges. Schools across the country open and close in person instructions due to waves of Corona infections. Our GM, here in Spring Run, has two kids away at college. Yesterday, he found out that both had come down with Covvid-19, one of them being hospitalized with respiratory issues. Incidents like this put a real face on the whole pandemic. It isn’t just statistics but real, living and breathing people who are dying out there.

         We go about our business daily, trying our best to wear our masks when appropriate, practice social distancing and hand wash as much as we can. Beyond that, we have to trust to fate.

        The border with Canada has been closed for yet another month until November 21. The Canadians have a much lower Covid-19 infection rate than ours and rightly fear contagion from visitors. Europe’s situation is the same. The loss of American tourist dollars is killing them, but they have their own problems with spiking infection rates to deal with. 

         As a Washington D.C.  backdrop, Judge Amy Coney Barret is expected was confirmed tonight, by the U.S. Senate, to fill the vacancy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the United States Supreme Court. In theory, it gives Conservatives a six to three vote advantage for future rulings. Let’s see what happens.

         There is Corona weariness in the land. People desperately want their lives back. But, the virus is uncaring. It will not go away on its own as some candidates have suggested. It is also a deadly killer to those who ignore its dangers. I am always reminded of Edgar Allen Poe’s story, “The Mask of the Red Death,” when I think of our situation. The virus creeps into every corner of our land. We will get through this, I know. It just seems like a long time ago since we first heard the term “Corona.” One day at a time.

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