Covid 19 April update

Another three weeks have passed in this shelter in place world and not much has changed. Well, the one thing that HAS changed is that the state is finally testing people in large numbers, but it's still not available to everyone. If you have significant symptoms, are a front line worker or know you have been exposed to someone with it, I believe you can get tested now, but it's not easy. One testing location yesterday stopped taking new people about 5 minutes after they opened because they already used their allotment for the day. Crazy. The state is testing like 15k people per day for the most part which means that the number of cases has jumped up (makes sense) to about 2k new cases per day but deaths are pretty erratic still. Yesterday I think there were only like 50 deaths in Illinois. Over the last 5 days actually, the deaths have dropped steadily: 123,107,79,59,50. The two prior days were 119 and 97 so we may be really bending the curve and buying ourselves some time to come up with a vaccine.

A study on 6 Rhesus Macaque monkeys heavily exposed to Covid 19 after given an experimental vaccine, have been symptom free for 28 days. Very promising!!

More people around the country, mostly in states where they believe gun ownership is a God given right and not just a constitutional one, are protesting businesses being shut down, especially as unemployment hits 20%. Their argument is stay home if you want to or are at risk, but don't force me to stay home. They don't really consider that potentially infected people will: go to nursing homes, go shopping, engage in social activities, etc which will jeopardize the employees there and, in turn, their at risk contacts. It's just more of the selfish, ignorant Americana we've come to know and love, especially the last four years.


Anytime there is nice weather, the family heads out for a walk. Our nanny still shows up 4 days a week and goes through e-learning with the kids while Laura and I work.  Not too much has changed there except the kids don't go to school of course or Daisy Scouts or dance. I don't go to the grocery store daily, or almost daily, like I used to. Now I go maybe twice a week and we stock up. Neither of us go into our office one day a week like we used to, so that's saved commuting time, gas and such.

Oh, gas! Let's talk about this whole pandemic and oil. Late last year, the Russians got pissy with OPEC about limiting oil production and went AWOL from OPEC meetings. So the Saudi's said eff you and flooded the market causing oil to plunge to depths we have not seen in some time. THEN the pandemic hit and nobody is driving. Nobody is flying. Nobody is producing things. Smog around LA has lifted. Venetian canals are hosting jellyfish. The world is a much cleaner place as its demand for oil dropped dramatically. Last I checked, oil was around $10 a barrel. If you actually had storage for oil available, you would have gotten paid a week or two ago to accept a contract. Crazy! Gas at the pumps around here are still $1.89 or so, but just 40 minutes south in Kankakee, gas was $1.35. I've heard it's even cheaper in Indiana.