covid diary: day 45

The Onion is a satirical newspaper. It used to be a free physical newspaper that came out once a week. Back in my Borders days, I would read every page every week. I love The Onion. I own no less than three compilation books of articles and columns from The Onion. But that doesn't mean I want to actually be living in a world that could be imagined by The Onion. Go on, look at the date of this tweet (there's an accompanying article, but you get the idea just from the title), which I've helpfully circled in red and pointed to with a big red arrow.

That's right. The Onion wrote this as satire a month ago. So it was written, and now it has come to pass. America's Finest News Source, indeed.

So that's where we're at. Donald Trump responds to reporters who dare to question him with "I'm the president, and you're fake news." Great, so now we're also living in the world of the movie Matilda. What's next? Miss Trunchbull is going to put us all in the chokey?

(See, I can predict the future too!)

Anyway, after a full 24 hours of being mocked and derided for his comments about injecting disinfectant into human people to kill the virus (along with several official statements from various medical authorities and the manufacturers of cleaning products, including Lysol, imploring people not to try this at home), Trump has maybe finally realized that his daily campaign revivals press briefings aren't helping him at all. That maybe people actually don't like hearing him spew dangerous nonsense day after day while attacking members of the press. So today's briefing clocked in at a mere 21 minutes, and there were no questions allowed. A couple of different outlets are reporting that he plans to pare these briefings way back, maybe even not having them every day. Praise be.

And on a serious note, today we blew right past 50,000 American deaths. Since late February. I can't wrap my head around this kind of grief and trauma. Most of these people died alone, with no chance to say goodbye or to be held or comforted by their loved ones. And now their loved ones can't hold each other for comfort either. This loss is unfathomable, and I can't even begin to see how we recover.

Nationwide cases: 905,333. Deaths: 51,949.