touch

hugged friend's mom (and brother) today. my first consensual non-familial hug(s) since february 2020. didn't even consider it a momentous occasion until after.

maskmaker, maskmaker

maskmaker maskmaker
make me a mask
two plys of cotton
that's all i ask
maskmaker maskmaker
sit at your singer
and make me a perfect mask

maskmaker maskmaker
i'll bring my bandanas
if you've nothing to do
if you're going bananas
cover my face up so i can buy food
and a break from this solitude

for earloops
you can use hairbands
to hold it
as i sniffle and cough
a noseclip might
keep it from snagging
my stubble and sliding right off

maskmaker maskmaker
executive orders
have kept me all cooped up
alone in my quarters
the pantry is empty the larders are bare
so please make a mask i can wear

for papa
the family tartan
for mama
something flowery and bright
myself well i'd just be heartened
if i could buy groceries tonight

maskmaker maskmaker
make me a mask
stitch me a stitch
of cotton not bast
maskmaker maskmaker
if you're up to the task
oh make me a perfect mask

cf, for the youths
and see

a little perspective

Due to President Donald Trump's failure to respond timely and effectively to SARS-COV-2, lives lost to the virus in the United States as of March 30, 2020 surpassed those lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

Due to President Donald Trump's failure to respond timely and effectively to SARS-COV-2, lives lost to the virus in the United States between March 30 and April 2 surpassed those lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

Due to President Donald Trump's failure to respond timely and effectively to SARS-COV-2, lives lost to the virus in the United States between April 2 and April 5 surpassed those lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

Due to President Donald Trump's failure to respond timely and effectively to SARS-COV-2, lives lost to the virus in the United States between April 5 and April 7 surpassed those lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

Due to President Donald Trump's failure to respond timely and effectively to SARS-COV-2, lives lost to the virus in the United States between April 7 and April 9 surpassed those lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

Due to President Donald Trump's failure to respond timely and effectively to SARS-COV-2, lives lost to the virus in the United States between April 9 and April 11 surpassed those lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

Due to President Donald Trump's failure to respond timely and effectively to SARS-COV-2, lives lost to the virus in the United States between April 11 and April 13 surpassed those lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

Due to President Donald Trump's failure to respond timely and effectively to SARS-COV-2, lives lost to the virus in the United States between April 13 and April 15 were almost twice those lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

Due to President Donald Trump's failure to respond timely and effectively to SARS-COV-2, lives lost to the virus in the United States on April 16 surpassed those lost on Sept. 11, 2001 by 1,620.

Due to President Donald Trump's failure to respond timely and effectively to SARS-COV-2, lives lost to the virus in the United States as of April 6, 2020 surpassed U.S. lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq combined.

Due to President Donald Trump's failure to respond timely and effectively to SARS-COV-2. lives lost to the virus in the United States as of 7:38 pm April 17, 2020 exceed three times the number of U.S. lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq combined.

__________________________________
sources
wikipedia
http://91-divoc.com/pages/covid-visualization/
https://coronavirusgraphs.com/?c=d&y=linear&t=line&f=0&ct=&co=2

a reading from the book of SARS-CoV-2 4:12

Before you leave template

mom's pop used this. now mom does. not sure where it is from. posting here to make available to parties expressing interest in/frustration with related planning/documentation while sheltering in place:

‘BEFORE YOU LEAVE’ (BLANK)

PT. I: FINANCIAL/HEALTH ARRANGEMENTS

LIFE INSURANCE:

WILL:

LOCATION:

DATE:

EXECUTOR/TRUSTEE:

LAWYER’S NAME AND PHONE #:

LIVING WILL?

DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY FOR HEALTH CARE

(HEALTH CARE PROXY/APP’NTM’T OF A HEALTH CARE AGENT)?

LIVING TRUSTS?

WISHES ON ORGAN DONATION:

OTHER?

‘BEFORE YOU LEAVE’

PT. II: FUNERAL DETAILS

CEMETERY:

PLOT:

CASKET:

BURIAL VAULT:

GRAVE MARKER:

FUNERAL HOME:

KIND OF SERVICE:

EMBALMING:

PREPAID FUNERAL PACKAGE:

FLOWERS, MUSIC, RELIGIOUS READINGS:

PRE-WRITTEN OBITUARY:

OTHER:

‘BEFORE YOU LEAVE’

PT. III: PERSONAL AFFAIRS

INSURANCE POLICIES

AGENT’S NAMES, PHONE #’S

MILITARY SERVICE INFO

BANK ACCOUNTS:

CHECKING

SAVINGS

LOCATION OF PASSBOOKS

ACCT. #’S & LOCATIONS

STOCKS & BONDS (LIST OF SERIAL #’S)

CREDIT UNION ACCOUNTS

MUTUAL FUNDS

CREDIT CARD COMPANIES

#’S, BALANCES

BROKERS

(ACCOUNT #’S., BALANCE, PURPOSE OF $)

MORTGAGES

CAR LOANS

OTHER REGULAR PAYMENTS

LOCATION OF COUPON BOOKS

LOCATION OF PAST STATEMENTS

BILLS (TAXES, UTILITIES, DUES, ETC.)

PEOPLE WHO OWE $

‘NOTIFY OF DEATH’ LIST:

PRIEST/MINISTER

RELATIVES (NAMES, PHONE #’S.)

INSURANCE AGENTS

BROKER

ACCOUNTANT

ATTORNEY

FRATERNAL ORGS.

CLUBS

BUSINESS ASSOCS.

CLOSE FRIENDS

SOCIAL SEC. ADMIN.

IF VET, CALL NATIONAL CEMETERY SYSTEM OF THE DEP’T. OF VETERANS’ AFFAIRS TO GET A COPY OF BURIAL BENEFITS AVAILABLE FOR HONORABLY DISCHARGED VETS.

OTHER

LOCATION OF:

CEMETERY PLOT DEED

TAX RECORDS

SAFE-DEPOSIT BOX #, ADDRESS, & KEY

SOC. SEC. # & CARD

HOUSE DEED

CAR TITLE

BIRTH CERT.

MARR. CERT.

MILITARY RECORDS

PENSION RECORDS

LIFE, HEALTH INS. POLICIES

UNPAID BILLS

RECEIPTS

WARRANTIES

CANCELLED CHECKS

CREDIT CARDS NOT IN WALLET

CAR TITLE

CAR REGISTRATION

OTHER VALUABLE ITEMS

OTHER USEFUL INFO:

morbid games

little oomph and i got chased off the local grade-school astroturf soccer field where we've been practicing bike riding by public health authorities who were staking the place out. little oomph had just clipped a post with a handlebar and was crying between the ground and my embrace as public health authority called to me from the far side of a car to inform me the place was closed. i comforted my child (little oomph was ok; their hand was a little sore from whacking the post) while the authority approached (to about 10 ft) and repeated it. "i wondered" i said, "we were going to read that sign over there when we got within reading distance." "the signs are posted" said the authority gesturing to no signs at all. "maybe you ought to put them on that gate we came through where there were no such signs" i didn't grumble back. no need to argue or express pique; it's a thankless job, i reasoned with myself as we left. we tried a local church nursery school. had some success, bailed a couple times, decided it was too small. so we went to a local public high school parking lot across the street from a park. there were lots of people going and coming from, traversing and gathering in the park all day. we rode unmolested in the parking lot for several hours. little oomph can bring the bike to a stop and stand there holding it with fair consistency. toward the end the child managed to get going from a standstill unassisted several times, though with some frustration. finally little oomph fell and we packed it in.

talked to mom. she wanted to read an email to me. these people mostly send me jokes, she said and read a headline "guiliani interviews dr. soandso about 100% success rate curing coronavirus -- is there really a dr. soandso?" i don't know. it sounds like a name -- waitaminute: did you say guiliani? delete that and block the sender. she read on about a 100% success rate curing coronavirus with azithromycin, and zinc. i interrupted her: did you say guiliani? she said "what is the citizen free press?" it sounds to me like one of those right-wingnut propaganda sites that wingnuts accept as news. i don't think that's a joke. i mean, there's a fine line between what we recognize as trenchant parody and what a certain portion of the population take as serious independent news. so, yeah, it is a joke. you should regard it as a joke. but it is malicious disinformation. as i understand azithromycin and hydroxy chloroquine are dangerous; she seemed to know and agree to this. as a general rule, you should make every effort to prevent anything from rudy guiliani from getting into your awareness: that stuff is bad for your mind. "oh!" she twigged, "rudy guiliani?" yes: guiliani. rudy guiliani. all he wants is to throw sand in your eyes. "i didn't realize." delete that, and tell those idiots to skip you with the bullshit disinformation in future. she agreed to delete it, but probably won't push back on her brainwashed friend, more's the pity. then -- as i often do these days -- i related a recent episode of TWiV on which a virologist who has recovered from covid-19 said he'd been treated with hydroxychloroquine, and he recovered -- after experiencing some explosive diarrhea -- but was hesitant to link them causally, "because he's a scientist." mom chuckled.

fucking guiliani, man.

little oomph and i played "coronavirus testing and contact tracing" which mama found a bit morbid (the child is 5), but i'm game to run with the imaginative play and try to infuse the sensible nonpanic of not unduly censoring the scary thing. the child also reported spending a lot of time thinking about coronavirus like everybody else, and worrying that while we're all paying attention to that disease we'll fail to be attentive to the dangers of other diseases. both mother and i, separately, explained that those measures we're taking to stay safe from coronavirus are also keeping us safe from most other transmissible diseases. but it is true that if everybody in the hospital is focused on that one emergency maybe some of the other care we count on hospitals to perform will not be available or not be as good. so we were going to do our best to stay safe and healthy and not go to the hospital.

stay safe, y'all.

trying not to go viral

oh yeah i might have caught something
spreading across the land
so you don't catch that something
i'm gonna wash my hands
i'm gonna wash my hands
i'm gonna wash my hands

if you pick up that something
while we all shelter in place
to better avoid contagion
try not to touch your face
try not to touch your face
try not to touch your face

and when you lather up the palm of your hands
please make sure thoroughly that you scrub each phylange
each phylange
each phylange!

oh yeah i might have caught something
spreading across the land
so you don't catch that something
please go and wash your hands
i'm gonna wash my hands
please go and wash your hands

and when i watch you in the bathroom with the soap
i tell you baby for a moment i feel hope
i feel hope
i feel hope!

as i cough up a droplet
no telling where it lands
the surest way to stop it
frequently wash your hands
i'm gonna wash my hands
i hope you wash your hands
i'm gonna wash my hands

cf, for the youths

useful graphs & trackers

https://covid-19.direct/US
-- pretty good county level data

https://ncov2019.live/data

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
-- the Johns Hopkins CSSE tracker

https://coronavirusgraphs.com/?c=da&y=log&t=line&f=0&ct=&co=2,89,116,215

https://covid-19.splunkforgood.com/coronavirus__covid_19_

https://coronavirus.1point3acres.com/en
-- so granular, so much information!

https://www.unacast.com/covid19/social-distancing-scoreboard

wobbly loops

that mask i was prompted to search for in the basement and found (over in the truthiness thread, yesterday) will be en route to an acquaintance-chained emergency room doctor in kissimmee, florida, via usps tomorrow, if all goes well at the post office. serendipitously, i also happened to have a large-enough bubble-mailer and $4 in odd old stamps available.

check-in-wise, just to update a tale left mid-stride last episode, whereas yesterday little oomph went from freaking out and losing balance when they noticed i wasn't holding them anymore to excitingly riding alone for up to thirty seconds, today little oomph worked up to being able to ride indefinitely, in big wobbly loops, and even to steer a bit. the starting and stopping still leaves a bit to be desired; there were some falls, some bouts of tears, a multiparty collision with some soccer-playing boys (who, after, were very, adorably, concerned that little oomph was ok), their ball, little oomph and myself, running alongside. there were some moments of terror and some crying, but little oomph was game. the child's mother was there for much of the time, took some videos, did some running, voiced some praise before heading to the grocery store. eventually i commented that at this rate i'd have to switch over to a zone-defense. what's that? i'll have to tell you next time we rest, i panted. so i got to be jock dad explaining a sports metaphor -- not my usual lane! not sure i did a great job, little oomph not knowing very much about the gameplay of the several sports i referred to, or what offense and defense are, as far as i can tell. i guess little oomph humored me, pretending (?) to follow my breathless dadsplaining. and, after some time, i did get to stand mostly still, toward the center of the big wobbly loops, only occasionally sprinting to intervene when it looked like little oomph might ride straight into a fence or wall or another child, and mostly not having to. even grew calm enough to hoist the phone and shoot some video, myself.

i'm quite proud of little oomph & very happy with the rapid accomplishment. and exhausted and quite debilitated with allergies from running so long and breathing so hard in the chill breeze on this perfect, pollen-filled spring day. also: i didn't have a heart attack and am probably far enough past flu (and subsequent cold and acute allergies) to be increasingly confident it has probably not been sars-2 coronavirus.


take care of yourselves; care for others; keep eviscerating the bullshit while bringing the humor, hope, humanity and sense.

family matters

finally convinced, on the one hand mom & pop, and on the other hand, little oomph & mother, to stop visiting each other. kinda heartbreaking, but hopefully not as heartbreaking as otherwise it could be. i think what moved mom -- apart from her new habit of hatewatching the president's autos-da-nascent-fascism and obsessively tracking a handful of (mostly local) case-tracking websites -- was when i told her "if you're having baby and mama visit i'm coming over too, so that little oomph doesn't have to grow up feeling solely responsible for your death." i know: a bit harsh; it followed a lot of other attempts at persuasion and then a decision to stop arguing. not certain what little oomph's mother has been thinking, beyond that she's better at hygiene than everybody else (she's not wrong to think so!), but she acquiesced without resistance.

it is tough: pop has dementia at just about the point where he's sometimes almost too much for mom to handle (though he remains remarkably serene about it) and mom loves nothing more than time with her grandchildren, while little oomph loves the visits and the doting love of both. have really been valuing their time together while pop is still more lucid (for very-confused-and-wanting-to-go-home-although-already-there values of lucid) than not: he knows his grandchild, and usually his son. also mom's not as naturally talented at social distancing as i am, and chafes at isolation. thought little oomph would weep to learn visits with grandparents are on indefinite hiatus, but little oomph took it in stride, very interested just now in infectious disease and being safe. (pop was a great depression baby, and has been marked by admirable if sometimes frustrating frugality throughout his life in common with many of his generation; not sure what this is likely to foster in little oomph). we all hopefully agreed to revisit the arrangement in two weeks.

i'm still visiting with little oomph & mother regularly, but will isolate from them should the occasion arise that my parents require in-person support i'm able to provide. ... though, come to think of it, that would probably defeat some of the purpose.

today little oomph managed to ride unsupported on their bicycle for the first time ever (and several other spans of several seconds up to about a max of thirty) before being grabbed in the process of ... no longer successfully balancing. i was the only one there. it was exhausting to run alongside & exhilarating.

just drove home: the roads were almost empty. also the first time on the roads in maybe two weeks that i haven't felt (more) endangered (than usual) by several other drivers, i guess trying to lock in that hospital bed (for themselves and me) while supplies last.

rush hour

rush hour: 8:10 am wmata

presumptive flu?

43% increase in confirmed cases in u.s. since this morning (233 to 336 per hopkins tracker), likely reflecting more, faster testing rather than increased community transmission. but.

maryland health authorities have shared some information on what our three patients were doing between their return from a nile river cruise feb. 20 and getting tested march 4.

One patient attended a school event in the Philadelphia area. As a precaution, the Central Bucks Schools District closed five schools Friday.

Another patient attended an event at the Village at Rockville retirement community Feb. 28. The Maryland Department of Health determined the time period of risk of exposure is from noon to 6 p.m.

that retirement community is about a mile from my parents' home. mom & pop have lately been visiting some such facilities seeking activities/support/services related to pop's developing dementia, so i sent mom the article and asked whether she'd been there, and read on. the article continues

"The facility there has a workforce staff that they will be looking after, monitoring to make sure that those health care workers do not develop symptoms. They also are very cooperative in making sure that residents that may have been exposed only at that one gathering, that one day, that one gathering, if those residents have any symptoms," said Fran Phillips, of the Maryland Department of Health.

The MDH recommended that members of the public who attended the event should monitor themselves for symptoms of a respiratory infection, including fever, cold-like symptoms, cough, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, until March 13.

the article followed with the phone number of the Maryland Emergency Management Agency call center. but i was stuck on "the residents that may have been exposed only at that one gathering, that one day," because transmission occurs from fomites -- objects or surfaces capable of carrying/transmitting infectious agents -- not just being present in the same space, and i've been to retirement communities and assess it as doubtful they've been routinely sterilizing all the surfaces in that facility since february 28. mom wrote back

We've been to the Village several times in the last few weeks -- that's where [friend & spouse] and [person whom my parents routinely drive to medical appointments] were!

when pressed on timing, mom said they'd been there feb. 4, 18 and "maybe one other time." she learned from the emergency management call center that the event between noon and 6 pm on feb. 28 was a funeral: "I KNOW we didn't do that!" it was late, so i have been unable to grill her on her use of the past tense referring to her friends' residency there (pretty sure [friend & spouse] have recently transferred to a more acute-care setting, but thought the chauffeuring was ongoing). anyway, that there were cases in montgomery county was striking; to learn that it is that close, physically and socially to my parents, is somewhat more distressing.

i imagine those three patients bought groceries and attended some sort of community religious observations, perhaps visited libraries, coffee shops or gyms nearby. i have some faith the state health department includes such considerations in contact tracing, though that paragraph above about that one 6-hour window of risk does not foster a great deal of confidence on that score.

meanwhile, little oomph seems to have the flu. babymama & i have been trying to elicit descriptions of symptoms (beyond coughing in our faces, vomiting in our dinner, sneezing everywhere & running a fever, which are patent) without tipping off little oomph we're probing for covid symptoms. but little oomph is pretty savvy and just as scared of the flu. babymama thinks they shouldn't visit weekly at grandparents', as is their wont, due to that possible, if attenuated, exposure risk; i'm not certain they should bring flu into that home (though g'parents got their flu shots). also, they're expecting a houseguest from hawaii who will be transiting LAX on sunday, and then staying for several weeks and meeting clients in their home. mom reports he's "going to bring masks and Clorox wipes."

ray of hope: that oft' cited WHO report notes very low proportion of cases among persons younger than 18 years observed in surveyed population, and lower proportion of critical cases, though it drew no conclusions.

i appreciate all y'all's sharing, sympathize with your anxieties and frustrations. thanks for the space to share my own. -- (reported u.s. cases rose by two while i was writing).

the mask of the orange clusterf*ck

i am not far from washington dc, where there are as yet (per lancet/johns hopkins CSSE tracker at 12:13 am) no reported cases. a migraineur whose triggers include breathing fragrances, i have routinely worn a surgical mask (bought in a box from walgreens long before novel coronavirus was a thing) while on public transport or in the workplace, for some years. until recently this has usually caused people to recoil from me, often securing me a seat alone on the train; occasionally another person wearing such a mask can be seen in the same train car. no one ever initiates conversation with me. until last week, when the number of other masked persons started ticking up, and people began approaching me in the office or the street to ask where i got it. on thursday some among management asked me who the manufacturer is, but it is not clear from product info online or packaging (made in taiwan, though). when i provided some market reporting on mask manufacturers, it turned out that those management parties were trying to figure out whose stock to buy, although a few among them were concerned enough to accept masks from the supply i carry with me when i offered (first one's free). on saturday, president horrorshow mentioned encouraging 3M (among top five reported manufacturers) to make a greater supply available during the press conference (where an inordinate amount of time was spent talking about afghanistan).

today nobody else on the train was wearing one. several coworkers -- including identified sources of overweening workplace fragrance -- helpfully told me that the attorney general said i shouldn't be wearing a mask. i think they meant surgeon general, but, this misministration being what it is, attorney general is just as likely. i said "it's not for coronavirus but to mitigate fragrance exposure." (it is information i do not generally share unsolicited with my coworkers because we're a pathalogically-hostile and inconsiderate group of children in adult bodies, as a class.) "no," one replied, "it is for coronavirus." "this mask," i insisted, "i wear so that breathing fragrances doesn't make me sick and unable to work." we all laughed (an attentive interlocutor can see my eyes crinkle when i smile, i'm told): pronouns are imprecise. i figure next time i'll just start coughing rather than try to explain myself. i too have had a runny nose and headache for some weeks. no fever though. i wash my hands frequently, and try not to touch much more than i have to. if nothing else, i figure the mask decreases the likelihood that i'll be the vector by which someone else catches my cold.

the messaging in the u.s. has been abysmal; it is worse with the president involved. i can take an expert epidemiologist explaining that the elderly and immune-compromised are at greatest risk because that is true and a refrain we hear in the context of the flu every year. but not when he's standing next to president horrorshow who's crowing about how everything's okay and our response has been unprecedentedly perfect: it's not ok for those elderly, infirm and immune-compromised; that they may not recover is no goddamn comfort nor an index of everything being fine. it is not okay for their loved ones and communities. stop smiling.

last week, when centers for disease control stated we should prepare for community transmission, i accosted several representatives of the management: "the cdc encourages me, in preparation for community transmission, to ask you about telework opportunities." those management representatives looked thoughtful and replied, "hmm," (before inquiring where i got the mask). some days later an email was received encouraging us to, out of consideration for our coworkers during cold/flu season, cover our sputum-holes while coughing and sneezing, providing instructions as to how to wash our hands, and encouraging us to apply the heavily-scented sanitary wipes to our workplaces. i wrote back: please provide fragrance-free wipes. my very own canister of "fresh scent" wipes were quickly brought to me by a sympathetic staffer who had been given incomplete instructions, and promptly, abashedly, taken away when i pointed to that part of the label.

my best wishes to those closer to known infection clusters, and where no cases are reported. be well, y'all.