A Corona Virus Blog
While still reporting deaths in the hundreds, New York and New Jersey are eyeing May 15th as a target date for reopening parts of their respective states. I’m not sure how bowling alley’s will fair, but I suspect that the Jersey shore crowd is ready to hit the beach. As for me, I think I am going to hold off on my next haircut.
It’s raining and I am back cleaning up my attic. Today’s chore, going through a box of documents from 1999. What a wonderful trip down memory lane of the early part of my career. I scanned in the notes from the CEO congratulating me on a job well done, the performance reviews, awards and bonus letters. Someday, my grand kids may stumble upon old grandpa’s digital war chest and they will get a glimpse of the person I was.
Global COVID-19 cases are nearing 3 Million and the U.S. is closing in on the 1 Million mark for infections. Over 16,673 New Yorker’s have passed away due to COVID-19 as of 2 p.m. Sunday. New Jersey COVID-19 related deaths rose to 5,938 people.
It’s finally time to break out the lawn mower. The grass definitely needs to get trimmed, but I need a workout. I have the mower charging. Yes, I have a cordless mower, which I love. Its super quiet and environment friendly. Whether you are a “treehugger” or not carbon dioxide is a “bad” thing for you and the environment. The are so many new choices for electric mowers and battery options increase their range. One new mower has made the short list for my next purchase, Robotic Lawn Mowers. These robots are a little pricey, but they may save my back! And anyone who has hurt their back can tell you, that makes it priceless.
After 42 days, I have finally reached the clean out phase. Today, is attack the attic day. At a quick glance, I see car seats, toys and more toys, random house ware, etc. My kids are older now, so I will let them sift through toys and let them select a few special items. But the rest will go in to the trash. Normally, small appliances, toys, sport equipment would find its way into the next garage sale, but I don’t see those happening in the near future.
My goal is to toss at least two large bags of “STUFF”.
It’s draft and my NY Jets selected Mekhi Becton, OT from Louisville. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Jets grab a few more O-Line bodyguards for Sam Darnold. This was a true sign of hope for the start of the Football season.
It seems like the world was caught off guard by the first modern day pandemic to spread to every corner of the world. COVID-19 was identified as a Pandemic on March 11th (https://72inapart.com/its-a-pandemic/) by the World Health Organization (WHO).
This made me think what is a Pandemic? and What was COVID-19 prior to being classified as a Pandemic?
So, what is a Pandemic? A pandemic is used to describe a disease that has spread across many countries and affects a large number of people. The data scientist in me needs to quantify what “many countries” and “a large number of people” means. How many countries need to have a disease before it becomes a global emergency? 5, 10, 25, 50 … Is a large number of people 100, 1,000, 10,000 ? I couldn’t find the answers, the CDC nor the WHO specify how many countries or how many people need to be affected in order for something to be declared a pandemic.
When the WHO declared COVID-19 a Pandemic on March 11th, there were 126,000+ COVID-19 infections globally and 114 affected countries. So maybe the answers to what qualifies as a Pandemic are when a disease spreads to greater than 100 countries and greater than 120k people (infected).
According to the CDC, here are the stages diseases travel on their way to being labeled a Pandemic.
I am not sure which classifications were applied to COVID-19 prior to becoming a Pandemic or whether were applied.
Like millions of other Americans, I have taken to Spring Cleaning. So I am attacking my shed first. Its time to get the garden hose out, test my clippers, and check the mower. I did purchase an inexpensive green house ($40), with the hopes of growing a few vegetables (you’ll need seeds).
Everyday my USPS mail person delivers mail and packages to me. Our garbage collectors show up twice a week to pick up our trash. UPS, Amazon and FedEx delivery are also getting bring us the supplies we ordered.
Today, I printed a sign to thank these people. It’s a simple gesture to let them know that my family appreciates what they are doing for us.
Thank you to all of the supermarket workers, trucker drivers, transit workers, doctors,nurses, EMS workers, mechanics, police, fire,reporters, politicians, health aides, caregivers, pharmacies, gov’t employees. I probably missed a hundred folks.
Given the most recent projections for deaths in the US and the spike in the Northeast, it looks like the shelter in place order is going to be with us for at least 90 more days! If you’re like millions of folks and found yourself unprepared for a social emergency, don’t worry you can start preparing now.
Here are two things that I purchased on Amazon that are handy to have. A dehydrator, this kitchen tool helps you preserve fruit and vegetables. Depending on the model you select, I went with an under $40 model, you will be able to dry fruits and vegetables, fruit roll-ups, and even meat-based jerky’s. If you have kids, they will love helping prep the food, and they love being the first to try the finished products.
The second item was a vacuum sealer. There are a few items that you won’t want to dehydrate, but still want to preserve. Depending on your budget, you can find vacuum sealer, some use bag systems and others can vacuum items in jars. For the wine connoisseur, some systems will vacuum seal your wine bottles.
The goal here is to minimize wasting food. I hope this helps! #staywell #staysafe
The question of the day: Should people who are not sick wear N95 masks? There are so many mixed messages.
While the experts chime in – I’ve decided to 3D Print a mask at home.
My little 6 x 6 print was able to produce a small version of a “Covid-19” mask. The first one I printed cracked as I tried to fold it. I warmed up the second one to make it more pliable, which allowed me to bend it. Unfortunately, it didn’t fit well. Even after sanding down the edges, it felt uncomfortable around my face.
I’ve seen a few videos of people making masks from paper towels, coffee filters and clothes. At this point, I am going to pursue making my own mask using one of these methods. We will see how this turns out!
