covid diary: day 140

the things you see when you're out early for the tennis run

Look what happened this weekend:

That first one is Friday, when the state set a new one-day record for new infections. Saturday and Sunday don't look much better. It's out of control here, just like it is almost everywhere else across the country.

Over the weekend, I read a very smart thread by Andy Slavitt, who was the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during the Obama administration. He reminds us that as a nation, we can virtually eliminate this virus anytime we want to. We can be, like other countries already are, back to normal. We can go back to seeing our families and friends, traveling, having a strong economy. Anytime we want to.

The catch is that it has to be four to six weeks of complete lockdown, during which time we establish better testing and contact tracing procedures, and after which we follow through by isolating any new cases and diligently working to stop new outbreaks.

We could do this at any time. We didn't have to wait until 147,000 people were dead. We don't have to wait for that number to rise even higher. This doesn't have to keep happening.

But we won't. Because our leaders are incompetent, and our citizenry is populated with a bunch of angry loudmouths claiming that their freedom to not wear a mask and to go wherever the hell they want is more important that lives lost and forever altered.

It's just the worst.

Anyway. Liam started official tennis conditioning this morning, so he was up and running (literally) at 7 a.m. He said it was really hard (so much running!) but he felt great afterward. He is ready for some tennising, people.

Max, in contrast, woke up at the crack of 2:30 (p.m.!!!) and came to tell me good morning. He reports that his father spent the time after I went to bed last night watching a marathon of Robot Chicken, even calling Max in to explain the finer points of the lore. I seem to recall the last thing Mike said to me before I went to bed was that he was going to call the boys up from the basement to tell them that they need to start keeping more standard hours in anticipation of school starting, but I guess that's not at all relevant here.

We mostly spent the weekend relaxing, by which I mean I only worked a few hours (I didn't even turn on my computer Saturday, which is a rare and positive development) and spent a lot of time reading for fun and napping instead. I also gave all three boys haircuts, which I don't think turned out half bad. I'd like to say I'm recharged and ready to face the workweek, but no. It's 5:37 p.m. as I write this. I just finished working for the day (so that's 10.5 hours, if my maths are correct), and I'm ready to fall down. But instead I will go scrub some bird feeders, because these birds don't care if I'm tired. Besides, I heard a rumor that it's chicken fajita night, and that's definitely worth staying up for.

Nationwide cases: 4,275,346. Deaths: 147,285.