The COVID Chronicles #49: Have Yourself a Covid-weary Christmas, Let Your Mask Stay On...

 As of this morning, there are 1805 active cases in our county. 

800 of those cases are in the zip code for Douglas, AZ and 231 of those cases are in the population center of Sierra Vista, which is where I am employed. 

There are 65 active cases in our zip code for Old Mining Town. 

Overall, there have been 4,200 cases in our county with 82 deaths. In the state of Arizona, we are approaching 360,000 cases of COVID-19 with the death toll approaching 7,000 people. 

The debate in our house has recently been if we should attend Christmas dinner with my parents, who live an hour away in the next county. Their numbers are nearly identical to ours and surging just like ours are surging. My sister, who is in a "delicate condition" and brother in-law are planning to fly in from Virginia on 12/16 and so Wife and I are concerned about potentially spreading the virus to them or catching it ourselves, since they are flying through Atlanta, GA. They are taking extra precautions upon arrival, such as asking for their own car to drive back to my parent's house to avoid any possible contamination from their clothes (which I suggested they ceremoniously burn upon arrival). and they are staying long enough that if they are infected, they will become sick before returning home in early January. 

The results of our test one week ago were negative, but of course it's not negative forever. Wife and I are severely limiting or eliminating our social contact with others to limit as much as possible our potential exposure to the virus. We spoke with my father last night by phone and while he's not willing to call off the family Christmas yet, he did acknowledge it could be canceled up until the night before. He noted he has tried to dissuade the other 1/3 of the family from coming or at least driving to limit exposure and I spoke with my brother-in law earlier this week and he expressed concerns about coming as well, but there is a financial commitment that has been made that would not be returned if the trip is canceled. 

I am going to spending today working on finalizing the grades for my online class. I have been very neglectful in keeping up with the grades, but given the fact that I spend all day looking at the computer for my regular job, my enthusiasm and willingness to come home and look at home is also depreciated at the end of the day. I will probably start this little project at noon today and work through the afternoon. 

All for today





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The COVID Chronicles #26: Quarantine (Is Not Quite Over)

Image
We are still holding at 39 cases in our county. 14 are still active cases while 25 have been released from isolation. The age group with most number of cases has been 20-44 years and not surprising, given the demographics of the county, the highest number of cases has been in the hispanic or latino community. Still no reported deaths from COVID-19 in our county. For the state of Arizona, we are currently at at 8,640 cases, with 276 new cases being reported yesterday. There are 362 reported deaths in our state as of this morning. This family has kept me entertained through all this.... The first thing Wife told me this morning was a friend of ours who lives in the northern part of the state, in a place I will refer to as "Red Rock City", had told her the stay at home order for AZ had been canceled. I looked up Google News and told her that was poppycock, aka "fake news", but that 2 county sheriffs were refusing to enforce the stay at home order. I just ques...
Read more

Lenten Fast Post #3

On Saturday, I fasted all day. I did have a breakfast in the morning after sunrise b/c I legitimately felt hungry, so I had 1/2 cup of instant oatmeal, some blueberries, an apple, 3 dates, and a banana. I did not eat again until well after sundown when I got some chicken nuggets and chicken fries from Burger King b/c I was waiting on a locksmith to let me in house b/c I had locked myself out.  Sundays are "feast days" in the Methodist tradition so I had a balanced breakfast and then did not eat until after 7pm, when I had spaghetti, salad, and 4 St. Louis style ribs.  I have eaten nothing today, so I'm very much looking forward to dinner, which I expect will be a roasted potato cubed with carrots, leftover ribs, and a salad. Prior to the breaking of the fast, I will of course offer up a prayer and then break the fast.  All for today. 
Read more

The COVID Chronicles #39: Hail Storm!

Image
We had about 30 minute hail storm yesterday here in Old Mining Town and it did a number on our vegetable garden. It also knocked out power for about an hour. Wife was home alone and took the video above.  It also did a number on our vegetable garden. Below is a picture of what is left of our volunteer squash plants. It looks like we had one already starting.  Here's what it looked like before: Here's the zucchini plants:  And the beans:  So tonight, I raked up the leaves that were torn off our apricot tree and buried them in the new compost bed. Then I lit a fire of dried grassroots (that were still very wet in the middle): 
Read more