PLOG 86: 250,000 Deaths

 My PLOG just kind of survives, a little...

As I'm sure you could imagine, I got tired of writing updates about how many people were dying from the pandemic. But also, I found myself caught up in the routine of going to work every day and being part of a system pretending that this whole situation wasn't really as serious as it still is. In fact, it may be even more serious than it was before.

Here's one of the numerous news videos discussing the situation as of today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc2gh-qt0h8

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week.

Be safe out there. I'm hoping I'm still being safe too.

PLOG 85: 220,000 Deaths

 My PLOG limps along, but survives...

Sadly it looks like we are at about 220,000 US deaths from the Coronavirus, though there have been various articles/studies that suggest the numbers are much higher. I missed out on making a post about us hitting 215,000 US deaths; I just got lost in the busy-ness of things.

https://www.bu.edu/articles/2020/analysis-finds-true-pandemic-death-toll-is-much-higher-than-200000-in-us/

Going to work each day, worried about the pandemic and potentially getting infected just sucks. I enjoy talking to my co-workers, my academic and intellectual colleagues, but it feels different to be concerned about getting sick every time someone approaches.

When I home I've been reading and writing so much, I've just kind of lost track of time. I did clean up the place and rearranged the furniture, putting it back similarly to how it was before the pandemic struck. I teared up, thinking of the past and how we used to have people over every week for RPG sessions throwing dice and enjoying D&D.

I have hopes that eventually things will go back to some semblance of how they were before, but I'm not in denial that we're still in this thing.

Take care out there!

PLOG 84: Trump Stops Stimulus

 My PLOG continues...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/06/politics/trump-ends-stimulus-talks/index.html

I'm just speechless about how Trump is being so transparent about his selfishness. Here's the quote:

"I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business," Trump wrote in a series of tweets Tuesday afternoon.

I suppose surviving his bout with Covid has emboldened Trump all the more. But it's really sad news for all of the people, families, and businesses that desperately needed more stimulus right now.

Try to stay safe out there!

PLOG 83: 210,000 Deaths and Trump Infected

 My PLOG continues...

We are less than 1,000 deaths away from the US having over 210,000 coronavirus deaths. But the other numbers are staggering as well. There are 7.36 million infections in the US (which now also includes President Trump and his wife). Worldwide there are over 34.5 million cases and over 1 million deaths.

https://apnews.com/article/f6ba3a16ab9b74b161a3a7211248e97e

The lack of mask wearing seems to have finally caught up with Trump, who quickly had himself moved from the White House to Walter Reed Medical Center and thus alarmed the media. Is he there just as a precaution, or is there something Trump's people aren't telling us? He's an overweight 75-year old man with some health issues. Covid could hit him hard; maybe it already has hit him bad; CNN was reporting that they found out he had at least a fever before they moved him. My question is, where is the First Lady? Why didn't she go with him? It's strange.

Hopefully, if nothing else, this situation will at least get more people to take the pandemic more seriously. Also, it could be a great excuse to cancel the next debate between Trump and Biden; after that first debate turned out to be such a disaster, I don't think we need another one.

Be careful everyone! 

PLOG 82: 205,000 Deaths

 My PLOG continues...

Within the next 24 hours the numbers will reflect over 205,000 US coronavirus deaths. Once again it looks like we have about 5,000 deaths in 6 days. In addition to that, we have been over 7 million infections in the US for several days now.

Meanwhile, with Ruth Bader Ginsburg having passed away, Trump has now nominated a new US Supreme Court nominee. At least Trump picked a woman, and a person who appears to have conducted herself professionally in the public sphere. But, if the US Senate manages to confirm this appointment, it will drastically unbalance the US Supreme Court to a position to be able to support the agenda of extreme conservatives. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

Stay safe out there!

PLOG 81: 200,000 Deaths

 My PLOG continues...

The US coronavirus deaths are going to surpass 200,000 within the next 24 hours. And yet many people in our society seem to be at a point that they just want to ignore that the pandemic is going on so they can have a sense of "normalcy."

Meanwhile, this week US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg died at 87 years old, after multiple bouts of cancer. She had fought for so long in hopes that she could survive until another Democrat was elected as US President. That means that Trump's team now has the ability to appoint yet another US Supreme Court justice, which could give the extreme conservatives control of the courts. And that is very scary. We could all be screwed. The extreme conservatives have the White House and the US Senate, which basically gives them 2 of the 3 branches of the government. If they dominate the court and Trump gets re-elected, that'll be just horrendous. I can't even begin to predict the horrible things they will be able to get away with, but I know that it'll cause me to lose even more hope. And that's sad.

Be safe out there and let's hope for the best (while we still have some hope left in us)!

PLOG 79: 190,000 Deaths

My PLOG continues...

The numbers reported by CNN, US News, and other sources show that at some point tonight or tomorrow the US coronavirus death total will exceed 190,000. My goodness. It's so crazy that we find ourselves here. What's worse is that the predictions for the rest of the year are looking worse than before.

Meanwhile, having seen schools reopen in person myself - that's right - me on the frontlines as an essential worker - I can account for the absurdity of this situation. The strange, sad looks on the faces of the students, the shock of the safety protocols, the strangeness of coming to school but having all the work be online (because teachers aren't passing out and collecting papers) - it's like something out of the Twilight Zone or a nightmare. It almost doesn't feel real because it's so surreal.

But it's real. And we're right in the middle of it. During hall duty today I asked a student to please put his mask all the way up over his nostrils and he replied, "I have a huge nose!" It was like a joke to him, though in fairness, his nose did rival that of Harrison Ford.

I wouldn't want to be a student in a class with all of the restrictions. The fun and social aspects are mostly gone from the educational setting.

As for shutting back down, now that we are in the thick of it, I realize that the admins - in their bureaucratic brilliance - have phrased the policies in such ways that will make it very difficult. We are being told we don't even need to quarantine if we had masks on because direct contact has been redefined as only being maskless and for a duration of about 15 minutes or more.

Well, be as safe as possible out there and I will be doing the same (while maintaining my paycheck).

PLOG 78: 185,000 Deaths

 My PLOG continues to continue...

The US has been at over 6 million total cases of coronavirus for several days now. Either today or tomorrow, according to the official numbers used by CNN, we will be at over 185,000 deaths.

Meanwhile politics continues its absurdity with lies and propaganda during the build up to the US Presidential elections.

Also school reopening with both in-person and online learning reaches new levels of denial with the pandemic. More and more schools and universities are reporting more and more infections every day. As a teacher I remain shocked by what we are being asked to do this year. I can only hope that things get better. I don't want to lose any of my colleagues or students to the virus and the crazy practices that our society seems willing to accept right now. At least wearing masks is helping (see below).

I haven't been able to lose myself in my hobbies lately. I haven't played D&D in a long time. Sorry to long-term readers of the blog; I know the blog used to be all about RPG with game session logs and now it's transformed into a pandemic personal log. I haven't been escaping into computer games either. My work duties are taking up so much of my time, I haven't been able to finish my recently started Lego builds. Though now that I'm typing this out, I'm feeling more determination to get back to building. Sigh.

Be careful out there. I'll be as safe as I can, having to venture back out into the world.

UPDATE: CNN reports that Russia claims to have a vaccine and is asking teachers to take it. Sigh.

PLOG 77: 180,000 Deaths & Hurricane Laura

 My PLOG continues to continue...

Depending on your source, the US either hit 180,000 deaths from the pandemic today, tonight, or will sometime tomorrow morning. And yet we are still reopening schools everywhere and allowing people to pretend like the pandemic isn't a big deal. In many places, people are still fighting over face masks. It's just sad.

Meanwhile, a double-hurricane threat has led to the 2nd hurricane (Laura) being a Category-4 or 5 as it hits Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas today. On the news they were using the word "unsurvivable" for the coastal areas in Louisiana. I've never heard them say that before. They expect 20 foot waves to hit the coast and to flood in at least 30 miles. People were faced with the choice of evacuate or die.

2020 is one hell of a monster.

Take care!

PLOG 76: 175,000 Deaths

My PLOG continues...

Sadly, the US reached over 175,000 deaths due to the pandemic. Many websites believe the number is much higher.

I wish I had better news.

Meanwhile, I'm working full-time since we're back to business as teachers.

Take care!

PLOG 75: 170,000 Deaths

 My PLOG continues...

If I wasn't mostly just reporting death numbers, I'd celebrate 75 PLOG entries. But it's not a day for celebrating. At some point today we will reach 170,000 US deaths from the Coronavirus, according to the CNN numbers. Other sources have even more deaths counted and we have already reached this threshold.

Be safe out there!

PLOG 74: 165,000 Deaths

 My PLOG continues...

Life has been busy, preparing for the school year. I believe I missed yesterday's numbers, but I think it was yesterday that the US pandemic total went over 165,000. Also, for the first time in a long time we got some good politic news: Biden picked Kamala Harris as his running mate.

Meanwhile, I'm learning more and more about virtual teaching. I'm also enjoying my Lego hobby. I'll post more in the near future.

For now, let's have a moment of silence for those that we have lost.

Be safe out there (and I will try to work from home as much as I can).

PLOG 72: 155,000 Deaths

My PLOG continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

My summer break is over so I am switching to weekly posts, instead of daily PLOG entries.

Sadly, the US is at over 155,000 deaths from the pandemic. I realized that different websites and channels post the numbers differently. Google showed the number above 155,000 yesterday, but today CNN caught up to that number. Other trackers may be interpreting the numbers in different ways. Who knows? Either way, it's horrible that the numbers have gotten this high.

Take care everyone! I've got a bunch of teacher work and meetings this week.

PLOG 68: 150,000 Deaths

My PLOG continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

from The New York Times

The US death count has reached 150,000.

It's so sad and tragic to think how much of this could have been prevented.

That's all for today.

Be safe out there and I'll be safe at home.

PLOG 65: 145,000 Deaths

My PLOG continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

I've been trying to escape into video games and Lego, but the news and numbers are impossible to ignore. In the US we are now at more than 145,000 deaths (probably at 146,000 by the end of today), with more than 4.1 million people infected right now. There are so many people who need help and the government seems ambivalent; instead of passing stimulus directly to the people, the US Congress continues to stall and are about to let the unemployment pandemic benefits expire.

The first major hurricane of this season is about to hit Texas. The combination of the pandemic and a hurricane means really bad news; storm season has heated up with lots of dangerous possibilities. People who may be in quarantine and self-lockdown are now going to need to potentially evacuate and get help from the community. And if the hurricanes don't get them, then the coming tornadoes might.

As for the protests, it sounds like Trump's administration is going to take its act from Portland (with the hired private security forces) to more cities. The plan seems to be to intimidate the protestors with these illegal grab and snatch operations.

Meanwhile I've got teacher work/prep to do, but I also have some Lego sets and some Minecraft goals. Oh, and I have some ice cream. I think this would be a good time to cook up some jambalaya and have some ice cream. The stress eating continues. The night time anxiety and difficulty falling asleep continues.

Be safe out there and I'll be safe at home!

PLOG 61: REAL RISKS!

My PLOG continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

Let's get real here. Listening to the news has become very frustrating. The US Congress has been debating the next stimulus bill (for a long time). It's insane. We're not just talking politics as normal. We are in an emergency, pandemic situation. People need relief yesterday. It's life and death for a lot of people; it's time for the government to take action and help people.

The politicians need to remember that they are supposed to be serving the people. The government should only exist to further the needs of the people. Instead, we are continuing to see clashes with protesters.

The situations we are facing seem to just worsen, which reminds me of the coutuniunig unknowns about starting the school year.  Some states are starting all classes online. Other have left that decision up to the local districts, like in Texas. In Texas we have some counties where the health commissioner is even stepping in and forcing in-person school to be delayed. But you know what's weird? People either don't seem to understand/know about the fact that teachers are still expected to show up in person - or people just don't care.

Studies have been done. Kids and teens get the virus. They spread the virus. Air conditioning systems spread the virus. Whether students are there or not, the virus will spread. What in the world are we doing? And because the details have been revealed so late, it's too late for teachers to be freely released from our contracts. Now if we decide to not show up for work in protest of the situation, or out of concern for our health, we will lose our certifications and potentially our retirement pensions.

I feel like it's all really obvious and yet we still have about (I'm guessing here) 30-40% of the population in denial of how medical science and virus infections work.

I can only spend so many days escaping into books, The Sims 3, Minecraft, and Lego. My summer vacation days are running out.

Wish me luck.

Be safe out there (and I'll be safe at home).

PLOG 59: 140,000

My PLOG continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

Well, it's after midnight so I turned the news back on and I was saddened to realize that today we will pass the 140,000 total death count for the US. It's a horrible day.

I saw some more bad news for Texas. In addition to what CNN is reporting with the record number of infections, deaths, and hospitalizations (seen below) - schools have been allowed to push back the school start date for students; despite the change from TEA, many school districts are still insisting teachers report to work around August 3 to August 6.

 I'm clinging to hope for some kind of intervention to save the kiddos and the staff; parents have been given the choice to either send their kids in person or have online school. I hope they all pick online school. It's not just unsafe, it's less safe than it was in the past when we shut down. Going back now will certainly mean death for some people. Those will be preventable deaths.

Apparently the Portland officials are allowing law enforcement officers (of some kind) in unmarked vans to take away protesters for questioning and/or arrest. In the US, this is certainly shocking. The speculation online is that these officials who are not identifying their agency are actually private security and not actual police or military forces. But where are the protestors being taken and what is happening to them?

What's that next to the TV? Another box arrived in the mail. I've got some sorting to do.

Be safe out there (and I'll be safe at home)!

PLOG 53: 1/100

My PLOG continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

This morning I woke up and decided to use the Texas website for Gov. Abbott to send him an email, begging him to not allow the schools to reopen for in-person learning.

I felt better after doing something, even if my voice is only one in a huge storm of voices. Then I watched the news while reading and doing things online. They have been talking about teachers; I mean majorly focusing quality news time on reopening the schools and the variables involved for students and staff. Thank you CNN! Thank you media! 

Unfortunately, I found out that in Arizona there was a situation with 3 teachers teaching summer school in one classroom and all of them getting infected; one of them died from the virus. Sigh. Just like that; I mean, it's that easy for it to happen. It just makes your heart heart.

Meanwhile Trump's people continue to attack Dr. Fauci, who is well-known as the leading expert on our situation. They don't want us to know the truth. They don't want us to know the facts, the medical science. It's horrible, but at this point, not unexpected. 

Did you know that at this point, we are statistically at a rate of 1 out of every 100 US citizens being infected? That's insane. We are at the point where each infected person is basically infecting 2 more people. That means the virus is really out of control. The infection rate needs to get back down to less than 1 person if there is any hope of slowing down this situation again.

Thinking back, it's possible I got coronavirus and didn't even know it. I remember being sick back in the January-February time frame before we Americans realized what was going on with the coronavirus. I doubt it though.

Well, it's time for stress-management. I've got to relax more.

Be safe out there (and I'll be safe at home)!

PLOG 52: 135,000

My PLOG continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

The US is at over 135,000 dead from the coronavirus. I don't feel like making a PLOG entry today, but I will write at least a little bit.

In protest news, Texas teachers are organizing to march on the state capitol in Austin, Texas. That sounds really exciting and I wish I could join them, but I am going to have to stay safe at home. I wish them luck though. 

Why are they protesting? Because Trump and Abbott continues to publicly insist that we open schools on time, despite the fact that it is unsafe. I found some interesting responses online.

The fact is, I am really frustrated and tired of this situation. I am clinging to a little bit of hope that our political leaders get their act together and order us to move to online school again, but with each passing day that they don't do it, my hope is dwindling even more.

How many people have to die for change to happen? Clearly, the answer is more than 135,000 in the US.

Be safe out there (and I'll be safe at home)!

PLOG 51: Code Blue

My PLOG (Personal Log) continues during this time of pandemic and protests...

A little after midnight last night, I found this article about our "Code Blue" situation of hospitals not having enough room for the number of dead patients. They are renting storage units for the dead bodies.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/As-COVID-19-continues-to-slam-Houston-the-death-15400462.php

Notice the article also explained that the number of COVID-19 deaths is under-reported in 24 states, including Texas. That means that if I got sick with the virus, went to the hospital and died, but they hadn't performed a test that showed a positive result yet, I would not be listed as a COVID-19 death in Texas. That's insane. Absolutely insane.

It's getting hard to sleep again; similar to the early days of the pandemic. I have trouble falling asleep. I don't tend to sleep well. I have nightmares half the time. This afternoon I kind of lost it about how crazy this situation is and there's nothing we can do about it while our government leaders seem to just be making it worse. Needless to say, that put me in a "not so good" mood a lot of the time now.

I'm sincerely a naturally happy and optimistic person. I need that kind of energy back.

I read some Facebook discussions about teachers going back, hoping that I would see inspiring words there. I found some good stuff.

There is a little bit of good news today. Trump was openly wearing a mask when he went to visit injured soldiers at Walter Reed Medical Facility. I imagine, in the background prep discussions, they had to explain to Trump that it didn't matter if he was the US President or the Commander-in-Chief, absolutely no one gets to walk around the hospital without a mask on. Of course, Trump made sure he was seen by the media in a hallway where he could look like a dictator walking around with the military-uniform-wearing guys surrounding him.

Baby steps. Unfortunately, it also comes with the highlighted news that Trump's corruption is running even deeper with him, yesterday, commuting the prison sentence of Roger Stone - who was going to prison for lying to the government in order to protect Trump. Sigh. Baby steps.

But baby steps won't be enough to get us out of this situation. As the virus spirals out of control, too many people are dying. Are we supposed to just sit around and wait for Trump to be voted out of office and hope the newly elected officials can better organize and take care of business? That's a long time. The election is in November. The new president wouldn't take office until later in January. Even with fast-acting, sweeping changes, it's July now so that would be at least 6 more months of staring in disbelief as the leaders make everything worse. And if Trump loses in November, I can see him trying to "burn the house down" so to speak.

I don't mind being in lockdown. I don't mind quarantine. I do mind stupid mistakes that, to me, are obvious. Let the doctors and scientists make the decisions, or at least listen to their advice. From day one of this stuff, I looked it up on the internet and understood we were looking at a minimum of 12-18 months, but with that as a best estimate for dealing with this situation. Why is it so hard for people to grasp? Why do they have to stay in denial that it'll end in a few weeks or next month?

In a few weeks I may have to decide between returning to work in the high-risk school environment or forever financially ruining myself and my family in order to try to protect my health. I don't like being forced into a situation like that. My only hope right now is another state-wide shut down in Texas. I guess we will see what happens.

Humanity is forever changed. What we do now matters. How we transform society matters. Every bad decision is leading to people losing their homes, their savings, and sometimes their loved ones. It's big money on the line, but it's also life and death.

Be safe out there (and I'll be safe at home).