April 27th: Bay Area in lockdown through May
Headlines
Bay Area counties extend shelter in place orders until the end of May.
Trump administration pledges to help states conduct more tests.
Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido lifted restrictions, was hit harder with a 2nd wave leading to another lockdown.
New Zealand has eliminated COVID-19 and moves toward lifting restrictions. Cases: 1,469 - Deaths: 19.
Kids in Spain allowed to play outside for the first time since the lockdown. I suspect tried parents are rejoicing.
TriBeCa, Cannes and other film festivals will launch virtually on May 29th on YouTube.
Leaving Golden Gate Park during simpler times
I woke up to a voicemail from Neighbor Brenda today and that only means one thing - time to go to the grocery! I stayed up way too late finishing a book, and must admit that a thriller about a serial killer couple is not necessarily the relaxing reading I should be doing right now. Though I must recommend “My Lovely Wife” as it was quite good. I have a light-hearted book called “Temporary” up next about one woman’s bizarre temp jobs….feels timely.
It was announced around Noon that all Bay Area counties are extending their “shelter in place” order until the end of May. I think we all expected this, so it doesn’t feel like a huge deal. California is a massive state and we had the bulk of the cases up here in the beginning, so I’m pretty damn comfortable staying put. In related news, my birthday will be celebrated via Zoom this year.
The journey to Safeway was pretty unremarkable - got Brenda’s groceries and a few things for myself. I can report that carrying Brenda’s two 2-liters of 7-Up in my backpack was a bit heavy. I have replenished my supply of Pepsi and Pop Tarts thus illustrating my total slide into comfort eating. A 2-liter of Pepsi is much more economical than two 20 ounce bottles, but would increase my consumption too much. So clearly I DO adhere to some level of self control.
A few of the neighbors congregated upon my return and we had a bit of a hangout. I learned that Trader Joe’s has a great $10 vodka. Who knew? I floated the idea of a vodka birthday for me….stay tuned.
I watched the daily White House briefing that seemed to be cancelled….until it wasn’t. Some people seem to think Trump just can’t resist all the attention. He’s promising much more testing, suggested schools think about opening up, and said claimed no responsibility for people who drank chemicals, because they thought that’s what he suggested last Thursday. So, a pretty typical day.
I also watched OH Governor Mike DeWine’s daily press conference to get a sense of Ohio’s gradual reopening as of Friday, May 1st. He went over testing capacity which goes from 7,228 per day starting this week to 22,575 over the last days of May. He then outlined the phases of opening to come. Looking through Facebook posts and clearly you cannot please everyone. People are hurting, many already living paycheck to paycheck and feel like things can’t open fast enough. I don’t have the answers…it just feels like if we move too quickly we’re headed for further spread and more death.
