I can almost see the argument that we're too big and varied for a single ordnance.

If New York and California can do it...

They had to. Part of the issue with New York (and I presume elsewhere) is that a lot of city folk are bringing their infected butts out to their vacation homes, in the Catskills and Adirondacks and, I dunno, coastal Rhode Island.

(Note this doesn't just apply to New Yorkers, but their license plates are easy to spot. I never thought I'd be glad that I finally got Rhody plates on my car, after decades of hanging on to my Jersey plates.)

Part of what is driving me nuts is the number of people, both regular folks and things like mayors and governors, who want to wait and then give reactive responses. The idea of not shutting down areas that aren't showing outbreaks yet. The problem is once the outbreak starts to show up, you've squandered your best opportunity to control it. Most of the current studies are showing that at least 25% of the transmission is coming from people who are completely asymptomatic, or in the first 48 hours of infection, when again, they aren't showing outward signs. So waiting to see the outbreak is too late. Proactive, nationwide measures are one of the best ways to control this.

Right? It looks like, overall, Ohio is doing well on flattening the curve, but then it was in the 60s for the past few days here and there were people playing baseball on the fields around the corner. So, y'know, any gains we make as a whole (country/state/city) are going to be in spite of the jackwagons who think the rules don't apply to them.

With the way the streets in my neighborhood are laid out, the area right in front of my house is where the neighborhood kids often come to play. A few days ago I was sitting on my porch, and there were about five or six kids there, maybe ages 8-12. I could overhear some of their conversation, and they'd clearly been told the rules for social distancing, and were trying to follow the "six feet apart" rule while running around, though sometimes they forgot. They were doing pretty well for kids that age trying to follow a rule like that, though. Then a mother came by with a baby and a preschooler, and the preschooler definitely knew these older kids, and she ran right up to them and started talking to them and wanting to play. I noticed one of the older girls glance at the little girl's mother like, "Is this OK?" and the little girl's mother just came right up and talked to all the kids from a normal talking distance, not making any attempt to even acknowledge social distancing. Why could this adult not even follow the rules as well as a bunch of kids could?

Essential oils?

I've been coughing a lot today, and had to use my inhaler once, and I know it's from allergies, and I know that I always feel like this around this time of year, and I know that my sinuses are really stuffed up and that's usually not a symptom (but it is an allergy symptom), but I'm still freaking out a little. (Temp is 98.8, which is a little higher than my normal temp, but definitely not an actual fever.)

Hang in there, Hil

Reading everyone's stories, I'm almost glad that I am in complete isolation and can't be driven nuts by running out for a necessary errand and having to see twenty-dozen people being doofuses about distance.

Hugs to Katie Bee, and healing but stern behave-yourself~ma to her sister. I'm sorry for the added stress.

My father is in his third day of holding steady--ventilated, sedated, stable vital signs, no fever, lungs still being cleared, being turned regularly to avoid pressure sores and because regular stints of lying prone help aerate the lungs. The rest of my family is increasingly feeling wisps of hope, but I don't know--he's now been on the vent for 6 days and is no closer to being extubated, he has COPD and pulmonary hypertension as a result of it, he's incredibly medically fragile, and I'm afraid that he just won't get any better than this. He could go on forever ventilated and sedated... but he can't. If he doesn't actually improve at some point, not getting worse isn't going to be enough.

And I just found out that my baby brother's monthly chemo infusion this coming weekend has been canceled--the entire med center complex (in NYC) is overwhelmed with covid patients and there's neither staff nor space to safely manage the infusion patients. So they're just... telling him to stay inside even more than he already is, and wait a month. DO NOT LIKE.

Oh, JZ. So much ~ma to your family

Amy, your boss sounds like a piece of work. I hope by the time you read this, Sara and you are safe at home.

JZ, I hope things move from steady to improving for your father soon. I'm sorry about your brother's chemo.

Still no word on how my uncle is doing.

A neighbor in the building next to mine is assumed positive for COVID due to symptoms and likely exposure. She's a grocery store clerk. And now she and her husband are quarantined. There are confirmed cases in the apartment complex (such as it is—8 units, I think) next door, too.

This is not a virus to react to. Proactive is the way to go but without consistent leadership, we be fucked.

In other news, I have been drinking all day and Liv and I are baking a version of Prince Henry and Princess Megan's elderflower wedding cake.