covid diary: day 55

We've had better days.

Days when none of us broke down in tears over frustrating elearning assignments and the resulting bad grades and the long-term snowball effect of not understanding material that you then have to build on for later. Days when we weren't faced with a huge reduction in one job and the almost certain (though hopefully temporary) loss of the other. Days when we weren't nursing injuries from taking a nasty spill on gravel and getting a cut that maybe should have had stitches but going to the doctor for stitches isn't a thing that's happening now. Days when we weren't so mentally exhausted that three of the five of us went to sleep for the better part of the afternoon, and will probably go back to sleep soon. Days where we weren't contemplating spending Mother's Day away from both of our mothers.

We've had better days, but today hasn't been a good day.

Today's been a day where the media reports that we're in "phase two" of recovery, that everything is opening back up ... yet an average of 2,000 people are still dying every day, and we never met any of the goalposts to finish "phase one." We are still actively in the middle of the first wave of this pandemic, thousands of people getting sick and dying every single day, and yet what we're hearing about is how to prepare for the next wave that may come this fall.

Today's been a day where we read about how the president says he's been treated worse than any other president in American history. Including Abraham Lincoln. Who was, if you'll remember, assassinated for freeing enslaved people. But okay, sure, Trump has it worse than Lincoln ever did.

Today's been a day where we read about Russian doctors "falling out of windows" and dying immediately after they express concern about the scope of the pandemic and their lack of ability to care for people. Multiple Russian doctors. One who was in the middle of a conference call with her colleagues.

Today's been a day where we read about a security guard at a Dollar General in Flint, Michigan, telling a woman that per the governor's executive order, her daughter needed to wear a mask to be in the store (all workers and customers must wear masks). The woman yelled at the security guard, drove off, and returned 20 minutes later with her husband and adult son, one of whom shot and killed the security guard. Over a request to wear a mask.

So yeah, there have been better days. And probably there will be again. But today ... well, I'll leave it at that.

Nationwide cases: 1,180,288. Deaths: 68,922.