Stimulus checks started showing up this week, so everyone in the US is checking their bank accounts constantly, which means that basically all of the bank websites are crashed from the traffic. I went to log into my bank website this morning to pay bills and couldn’t get in – the site’s down. I was able to pay bills at each bill site individually instead, so that’s all good. I just hope I remembered them all. Heh. Usually I let my bank account keep track of that for me.
⚰️ As of this morning, there’s been 126,119 deaths in the US from COVID-19. Or at least, deaths that were officially attributed to COVID-19. There’s probably been way more than that, though. There’s been a spike in the numbers of people dying at home, likely from COVID-19, but those don’t seem to be getting added to official counts. I’ve also seen reports in the last couple of weeks that COVID-19 deaths in some states – Florida, for one – are being recorded as deaths by generic causes like “pneumonia” or “respiratory distress,” so those probably aren’t making it into the official counts, either.
🇷🇺 Russia’s having a bad time with COVID-19, too. They seem to have followed the Trump method of dealing with the disease (or he followed theirs). That is, Putin lied about it and ignored it until he couldn’t anymore, and now they’re scrambling to play catch-up in dealing with it. It’ll be hard to tell how bad it hits them because they’re gonna lie about everything that’s happening.
🦠 I’ve said this before; I’m gonna say it again. Please don’t assume this will be over in a month. It will not be. We’re probably looking at intermittent quarantines and lockdowns for the next two years – until there’s a vaccine. Look around you. This is your new normal. This is how life is going to be until we get a vaccine rolled out. I’m not saying that to upset you – I’m telling you to brace yourself. This shit will not be over in May. It will not be over in June. We’ll still be dealing with this shit in the fall, in the winter, over Christmas, through New Year, well into 2021. Possibly into 2022, depending on how fast we can develop a vaccine and get it into everyone’s hands.
🏫 March 2020 was the first March with no school shootings since 2002.
🤥 Kellyanne Conway, a woman whose existence I generally try to ignore, said on Fox News this morning, “This is COVID-19, not COVID-1 folks, and so you would think the people in charge of the World Health Organization, facts and figures, would be on top of that.” Guys. It’s called COVID-19 because the disease was discovered in 2019, not because there’s been 18 other versions of it. Also, Kellyanne Conway did not say that because she’s stupid. She said it because she thinks you’re stupid.
🚗 Meanwhile, in Michigan, a bunch of rednecked hillbillies are having a great big protest in the capitol, against Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s “tyrannical quarantine.” They’re clogging up all the roads with their cars. Also, their protest blocked an ambulance trying to get someone to the hospital. Good job, you idiots.
🍊 Trump is hard at work trying to get more of us killed without being blamed for it, as his administration both scrambles to come up with a plan to “re-open” the economy and spread blame around so the backlash doesn’t hit Trump.
🦠 Here’s an idea of what life might look like as this first series of lockdowns ends: No concerts, conferences, or large gatherings; way fewer tables in restaurants and servers in PPE; regular sanitizing of public spaces; re-arranged classrooms and daycares; and more.
💰 As of today, 13 days after it opened, the Paycheck Protection Program has run out of funds. The Paycheck Protection Program is the fund that was part of the recently-passed CARES Act, and it was supposed to be a rescue fund for small businesses affected by COVID-19 closures. Its rollout was completely bungled, and now it’s out of money. Awesome.
Today was a rough day for news, y’all. You better go look at this puppy until you feel better.
Notes & Thoughts 