covid diary: day 15

Today the Senate has been negotiating a stimulus/relief package that would distribute $2.2 trillion to workers, corporations, industries, and other groups in need. It's been quite a process. In short, the Republicans want to focus on giving bailouts to huge corporations. They've included $500 billion that they wanted the Treasury secretary to just be able to hand out to whatever corporations he deems worthy. The Democrats, recognizing that this is a very bad idea, have fought for independent oversight of the process, along with increased unemployment insurance for workers, and funding for educational and cultural institutions that have been hit hard by this crisis. The Democrats are fighting for funding for health care, for small businesses, and (crucially) for mail-in voting so we can retain a democracy at the end of this. By the end of the day, a deal had been reached that both sides could be happy with, but four Republican senators were threatening to hold up the process because they said people would "want" to be laid off if the unemployment benefits were so good. It's the height of stupidity.

New York continues to be the epicenter of the crisis, with hospitals full and people dying and nurses wearing literal garbage bags because they lack the proper personal protective equipment. Refrigerated semi trucks are being used as temporary morgues because the permanent morgues are full. The Javits Convention Center, where Hillary Clinton would have given her election night victory speech if the world were sane, is now a temporary hospital for the overflow of patients with COVID-19. But it's not just New York. New Orleans has reported that up to 50 percent of EMS workers are in quarantine after revelers spread the coronavirus far and wide during Mardi Gras. California and Washington continue to have big outbreaks, and Florida is showing worrying signs too.

Meanwhile, at home, work continues to slow way down for me. It's hard not knowing if I will get more hours cut (inevitably), and if/when things will get back to normal, or at least a semblance of normal. Mike will be on "vacation" next week, so the plan is to just stay at home, stay safe, do our part to interrupt the spread of this. Late this afternoon, our county announced the first official case here, though I suspect it's been spreading unchecked all over the place while testing has been either unavailable or limited to such an extent that it might as well be unavailable. These are absolutely terrifying times.

Stay safe, friends.

Nationwide cases: 69,222. Deaths: 1,050.