Quaranteaming

It sounds cute, sort of.  But, hold up a minute here.  It started as a way to self-isolate, but, with another person, thus “teaming”.  The thought behind it being, ‘if we both have to stay home and quarantine ourselves, why not do it together’?

Again, almost sounds like a good idea… however, consider this.  That means the two of you can never go out alone, must stay together 24/7 (just like a married couple), pretty much do everything together.  The second you separate, and don’t do things together, but rather apart, that’s when you set yourself up to come in contact with an outside party.

Is that so bad?  Y-E-S!!  Why? (Because I know you’re thinking that.)  Think of it like another very well known virus, HIV.  Sounds extreme, and it IS.  HIV is transmitted by unprotected sexual contact in the semen.  We know that using condoms dramatically reduces the chances of contracting it. In the same way that HIV changes with each new infected person, the coronavirus adapts to new "hosts" (people) as well.  An antibody test is a very good start.  Many, many more coronavirus tests are likewise a good start, but ultimately, a vaccine is what we need and that is still 12 to 18 months away, putting us well into 2021, closing in on 2022.

Guess what?  The protection, or condom, in this case in regards to the coronavirus, is that face mask.  So, where are we going with this?  I’m glad you asked.

In the same way that condoms and fewer sexual partners reduce that chances of one contracting HIV, that face mask is your protection against potentially contracting the coronavirus, and further, limiting people with whom you spend time quaranteaming, if that’s your choice, you lower your risks of getting it.

And to be clear, no, I wouldn’t start calling your mask a face condom.  That just sounds wrong, and not a pretty image you want floating around in your noodle.

I guess if you are someone that easily feels isolated/alone, then maybe that’s a good choice, but, keep in mind, it IS a commitment, potentially for several months.  It sounds great, and I get that you don’t like being alone at home.  That’s a tough one, for sure.  Maybe getting tested for the coronavirus first, to make sure you’re both negative?

My only concern would be what it does to your friendship during the quarantine.  Could potentially be a friendship killer, and I don’t know that ground rules would help much, if at all.

Since you have to be at home anyway, what about:

• Catching up on reading
• Binge watching those TV shows you’ve missed because you don’t own a DVR
• Journal writing
• Learning a new musical instrument (Guitars are a great one to start with)
• Jigsaw puzzles
• Word Search puzzles, crossword puzzles
• Sewing
• Meditation
• Yoga

… and on and on, ad infinitum.

Trump As Gasbag & Gaslighter

Trumps Off-Hand Remarks About 

The Novel Coronavirus

March 17, 2020

CNN

“I’ve always known, this is a, this a real, this is a pandemic. I’ve felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a ‘pandemic’.”

Really Donald?  Seriously?   

NO.  

These are his previous remarks on the subject, verbatim:

January 22, 2020

CNBC

“We have it totally under control. It’s one person, coming in from China. And we have it under control, it’s, uh, gonna be just fine.”

February 2, 2020

Fox News

“We pretty much shut it down, coming in from China.”

February 10, 2020

Fox Business

“You know in April, supposedly it dies with the hotter weather.”

Rally in Manchester, New Hampshire

“Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.”

February 25, 2020

New Delhi, India

“In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine.”

February 26, 2020

White House Briefing Room

“We’re going down not up.  We’re going very substantially down, not up.”

February 27, 2020

White House conference room

“We have done an incredible job. We’re going to continue. It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”

February 28, 2020

Rally in North Charleston, South Carolina

“One of my people came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia, and that didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the Impeachment Hoax. That was not a perfect conversation. They tried anything. They tried it over and over, and this is their new hoax. (The elusive, nebulous "they")

March 4, 2020

On the phone with Sean Hannity

“Personally, I would say, I would say the number is way under 1%.”

At some point in there, he made a statement about, “… these tests are very complex. Very complex.”  Yes, so complex that people were able to have them administered at drive-thru emergency stations.  SO COMPLEX!

 -------

All of that while people, hundreds of people, who had contracted the novel coronavirus began to die. 

As of March 19, 2020, eleven thousand cases have been reported in the U.S., and more than 164 have died. 

As of March 26, 2020, 500,000 (that's half a million) people globally have been confirmed as having the coronavirus, and 82,000 confirmed here in the U.S.

3.3 million unemployment claims were filed last week , March 15 - 21, 2020.  

And this news headline just today (03/26/2020):
"Trump says he doesn't "know" what steps are being taken to stop hate crimes against Asian Americans"  
Excuse me, but, you're the President of the United States and "knowing" these things IS part of your job description, Donny.  Start asking more questions AND pay attention to the answers.

One million people are expected to contract the virus by June, if not sooner.  With the lack of test kits currently available, it's hard to know who is infected.

All of this from an animal sold at an open-air market in Wuhan, China in December  2019. 

Did it originate with that animal in China?  Or elsewhere?

We're still working on that part.  Hopefully we get an answer very soon.