CoViD-19: NY Governor Cuomo Declares "The War On COVID" | San Diego Officials Urge Holiday Gathering Attendees To Get Tested | NFL Is A Joke That Isn't Funny | Cyber Monday Must Buy: A Humidifier

 

Mask Up or Stay Home at Wild Holidays at San Diego Zoo Safari Park (Taken 11.29.2020)

Okay, I told you I would knock out a second post tonight, so I updated some numbers and ended up watching New York Governor Cuomo's media briefing just because it's interesting to see how other states are handling the current surge. His tone is much more direct than Governor Newsom even though their strategies are aligning and their warnings equally as dire. In the meantime, Nova is at derby today and I'm wondering if we're being risky, even though they are masked the entire time they're on the property and they're outdoor and distanced. Like, is skating through someone's outdoor aerosols risky? Do we assume everyone is following protocols in their private lives even when I've seen the facility on TV with skaters wearing masks below their noses? Is my shopping run to Ross, Big Lots, and Costco more risky than her derby? I don't know the answers, I only hope we're doing as best we can, keeping things balanced, and minimizing risk where possible. And we take our own temperatures about half a dozen times a day because it's kinda fun with the sensor gun. 

If you're interested in NY's strategy, notes are below, as well as some additional reading. Particularly funny is the piece on the NFL. Also, not to give anything away, but the Casbah has a big exciting announcement tomorrow, so check your email for the newsletter, or check social media for their posts. 

CoVID-19 Governor Newsom Announces Immediate Business Relief Funds, Warns Of Stressed Hospitals, Future Stay-At-Home | Fauci Warns Of 'Surge Upon A Surge'

Darren and Nova Posing at Tiger Trail, San Diego Zoo Safari Park for Wild Holiday (Taken 11.29.2020)

It's about 2:30 and I'm feeling great. I fell asleep early last night cuddling with my cat and woke up super enthusiastic and ready to take the day by the horns. It was kinda crazy how many articles had come through by 6am, so my morning reading is at the end of this email, but Governor Newsom and Dr. Ghaly had a media briefing and it had so much information that I decided I would post this now and prepare a separate post as I work through my email and separate the #CyberMonday and #GivingTuesday stuff from the news you can use kinda stuff. Nothing against either of those, but lets not be tonedeaf and guilt people for not shopping or supporting small businesses or eating at restaurants or donating to charity at this time. 

I was, however, reading a lot of news before it was even 6am, as I mentioned, and decided that I needed to stock up on goods. I had a plan to hit Ross, Big Lots, Petco, Grocery Outlet and Costco, but by the time I'd finished up at the Ross and Big Lots on Lake Murray, Costco La Mesa was opening and I figured I'd once again try to get paper towels. 

Before I get to that, I have to say that I love Ross and Big Lots, and they're often in close proximity. Sports Arena has them closeby, Chula Vista off Palomar, and Clairemont Mesa, too. And I don't want to ruin it for myself, but the stores on Lake Murray are always clean and not nearly as busy as other stores, and at least right now, are super stocked. Especially Ross, which, if I was doing massive gift-giving this season, I could've taken care of all of it in one trip this morning. And they open at 7:30am. 

After I grabbed odds and ends we needed or had been eyeing for awhile, I went to La Mesa Costco. It's not my favorite of their stores by any stretch, but it too was well stocked and organized. It did start to get crowded as I made my way through the store, so I was glad to have a specific list and know how to navigate to get it all and get out as quickly as possible. Since I grabbed a rotisserie chicken, I decided to save the pet store and Grocery Outlet for another time. I was home by 11 and feeling quite accomplished. Loads of information about the Governor's small business relief measures and current COVID-19 outlook are below.

CoViD-19 Sunday Shocker: Awaken Church Has An Outbreak | Football Facemask Fails | Loneliest Elephant Begins Journey To Freedom

A Family Photo at Wild Holidays at San Diego Zoo Safari Park (Taken 11.29.2020)

Sometimes I get to sleep at normal times which lets me wake up before everyone else, which I guess gives me the same space as when I stay up all night. It makes me feel ambitious, especially after being a complete slug on Saturday. I cleaned the kitchen a bit and made a big breakfast for everyone, then while watching football I decided to take apart our bedroom fan to get all the dust accumulation out. A dumb project but it was driving me crazy how gross it was. In the afternoon, Nova and I baked some simple Christmas ornaments from a recipe I saw on one of my dumb Christmas home makeover shows. (2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1 cup water. Mix to make a "dough" then roll out and press with cookie cutters. Bake for 2 hours at 250 or until completely dry. Paint/Glitter as desired.) We made an early dinner then went to Wild Holidays at San Diego Zoo Safari Park. 

I have to be honest here, because you know how much I love the Safari Park, but I was a little disappointed. The lights as you enter the park and into the village are beautiful, but I guess I knew that the majority of animals would be off limits. You can take the bridge up to Tiger Trail which has super cool tunnel lights that are synchronized with music, but once at the Tigers, you can't continue up to the condors or the back way to Australia, you have to backtrack and it seemed to create a clusterfuck traffic jam with no distinct ingress or egress, and everyone seemed maskless while drinking beers or coffees or hot chocolate or hot buttered rum, so it became uncomfortable to walk near or behind or just try to get around other people. From the village, you can walk around the lagoon and the lighting is magical and you can walk past the aviaries to the elevator platform, but the elevators and stairs get closed up at 5, as does the path down to the elephants. All this is fine, it's pretty and families, especially those with small children, seemed to really love it, but I would love some nighttime rhino action like we got last summer when they had select late hours. For December, I guess we'll stick to our midweek trips. 

Today's news was kind of all over the place. The County finally named Awaken Church as a place of outbreak out of caution because they're unable to contact trace everyone who was there in a two week timeframe around Thanksgiving. They point out that the cases didn't necessarily originate from the church, but we know an outbreak means at least 3 people from different households all tested positive and had admitted to being there within the same time span. Then there was the story about Kaavan the elephant and I watched a bunch of different Youtube videos and it makes me more emotional every time I think about it. I'm gonna head off from here because tomorrow you can expect a full media storm after everyone decided that even a pandemic doesn't trump Thanksgiving vacation. 

CoViD-19: San Diego Reaches 15.6 Adjusted Cases Per 100k | Situation Is Getting Dire | Are LA Lockdowns A Vision Of SD Future?

Another Take Of Our Fam at the Old Globe Dr. Seuss Tree (Taken 11.23.2020)

 When we went to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park on Thanksgiving, I was thanking Darren and Nova for always indulging me and Darren joked, "well, it's the only place you let us go." So I guess yeah, I'm a little bit psycho about everything, but today San Diego's numbers were reassessed by the state, and we're currently at 26.5 cases per 100k and 15.6 per 100k with the adjustment (which is based on daily tests relative to the state mean of testing.) For weeks we teetered at 7, arguing about whether businesses should remain open, and now we're not even close. The state hasn't issued guidance more strict than the purple tier, but I wouldn't be surprised if part of their 'emergency brake' strategy comes into line with some of the extra things LA is doing -- specifying that masks are required anytime you're out of your house whether people are nearby or not, further limiting capacities on essential and non-essential businesses, eliminating all in-person eating, whether indoors or outdoors, forbidding mixed-household gatherings at homes, businesses, and parks and beaches. Our county still doesn't seem to have any will to enforce anything so I don't know what can really be done except to stay home as much as possible and wait it all out. I guess I'm just saying that we shouldn't be surprised if we see more restrictions soon. Stock up on your goods and food just in case. 

CoViD-19 Headlines Suck | San Diego Sets New Daily Case Record, 82 Community Outbreaks | LA Drops New Restrictions | #DiaperDon Gives Twitter Life

 

Hamadryas baboon chillin on his bum (Taken 11.23.2020 at San Diego Zoo)

I did my best to avoid being online today. I slept in today, as one should on the day after Thanksgiving, and then I went back and forth on whether we should head to Safari Park or not, but ultimately decided I didn't want to mask up today, which means we were limited to hanging in the backyard, which was just fine by me. Now we're forcing Darren to watch Jingle Jangle and he's almost submitting, though I think we've paused the movie for longer than we've actually watched it at this point. Wish me luck with Senor Scrooge. 

As for COVID-19 news, I don't need to tell you it is bad out there. San Diego set a new case record even as testing was decreased due to the Thanksgiving holiday, and is at a staggering 82 outbreaks in the last week. Nationwide we cleared 13 million cases. LA dropped even more restrictions as their cases averaged 4700 per day. I keep reading stories about people who were "doing everything right" and following protocols but then there's a subtext that they're a teacher in a school district that remained open or a "pandemic butterfly" who masked up but still coached little league, ate at restaurants, visited extended family, and worked in a distribution center. I guess I've never been so grateful to be unemployed and will ride it out as long as I can. Be safe out there. Today's data and news after the jump. 

CoViD-19 Thanksgiving Was Different | Holiday Season Fun | Photos: San Diego Zoo Safari Park

The Black Footed Cat Has An 60% Hunting Success Rate In The Wild
(Taken at San Diego Zoo Safari Park 11.26.2020)

I can't be 100% certain, but I think that this was the first Thanksgiving in many years in which I did not wake up with a hangover. The night before Thanksgiving is pretty much the biggest party night of the year, so when people were upset about bars closing or even alcohol sale bans for last night, I was thinking that it was actually a pretty good move, even if some people still opted for hangouts and gatherings. 

With that said, on Wednesday night we binged Dash & Lily on Netflix--because there's nothing I love more than teen romance and Christmas all wrapped up in one--and then Darren and I watched some Thelonious Monk performances that he'd never seen, and then I was in bed by midnight. I woke up far earlier than I expected and had three solid hours before anyone else did, so I cleaned out our cabinets, cleaned out the fridge, rearranged our kitchen storage areas, and made Hawaiian macaroni salad before I woke everyone up to go to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. 

We went about an hour later than I wanted, so we kept it to a short trip, but it was perfect. For one, it was relatively empty and the weather was ideal. But while we were there, half of the elephant habitat was being cleaned, so all of the elephants were actively interacting on the lower level. Then we moved on to the African Plains and there was a truck with staff who were bribing the rhinos with treats to take Happy Thanksgiving photos, so all 12 rhinos, including the calves Alice and M'weezy (?) were around and giving a show for quite a long time. We went all the way to the cheetah and then worked our way back up the hill before returning home, making my deviled eggs, and heading to my mom's. 

All those things about "Thanksgiving will look different this year," were not joking. My household and my sister ate outside and stayed there most of the time. My mom, niece, and godsister ate spread out in the patio, and my dad and other niece sat across the room from each other in the living room. Windows and doors were open, fans on, and the food was amazing. After dinner, Nova and Darren played a (socially distant) song for my parents--they've learned "Team" by Lorde with Nova on flute and D on guitar. We packed up leftovers, skipped dessert, and were home by 7pm. Kind of ideal after all, especially because we all got plenty of loving from my sister's new puppy, Roxy. 

I hope everyone had a great day. Today's stats, news, and some holiday fun thrown in below. And don't forget to skip the shopping on Friday and #OptOutside. 

 

• COVID-19 (According to JHU Dashboard at 11/26 8:25pm):
• 60,930,094 Global Cases 
• 12,883,255 Total US Cases
• 263,417 Total US Deaths
• California COVID-19 Stats:
• 14,640 New Cases/1,158,689 Total Cases (1.3% increase)
• 104 New Deaths/18,979 Total Deaths (0.6% increase)
• 6.1% 14-day test positivity rate
• San Diego County Stats
• State Data:
• 944 New Cases/75,307 Total Cases
• 4 Deaths/988 Total Deaths
• 21.5 cases/100k population (Based on week ending 11/16, Assessed on 11/24. Unadjusted Case Rate Using Linear Adjustment)
• 3.1% Test Positivity (Based on week ending 11/16, Assessed on 11/24)
• N/A Health Equity Positivity (Based on week ending 11/16)
• County Data (Limited Data due to holiday):
• 1,052 New Cases/76,357 Total Cases 
• 8 New Daily Deaths/996 Total Deaths
• 13.1 cases/100k population (Based on week ending 11/16, Assessed on 11/24. Unadjusted case rate per 100,000 excluding prisons.) 
• COVID-19:
• Supreme Court Blocks Covid Limits on New York Churches, Synagogues - Bloomberg (11.26.2020)
• World’s Biggest Glove Producer At Risk as Pandemic Hits Home - Bloomberg (11.25.2020)
• Politics/Other News/Reading:
• The Democrats’ Maddening Cowardice Is Carrying Over into the Biden Era - the Soapbox/The New Republic (11.25.2020)
• Holiday Fun: 
• San Diego Zoo Safari Park Wild Holidays:
• Wild Holidays Proudly Supported by California Coast Credit Union to Bring Festive Cheer to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park: Safe holiday fun for the family to enjoy begins Nov. 27
  Wild Holidays proudly supported by California Coast Credit Union are on the way at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and this year’s celebration— on select dates Nov. 27, 2020 through Jan. 3 2021—will offer safe, festive fun for the entire family.  See the Safari Park in a whole new light! Go on a holiday expedition of light and travel through places that glow and twinkle with holiday cheer. During Wild Holidays the Safari Park will be open from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. each day, with holiday festivities from 4 p.m. to 8 pm.
  There will be culinary delights to enjoy at the Safari Park’s food stands, and guests can shop for the perfect holiday gifts at the Safari Park’s retail locations.
• WHEN:  Wild Holidays at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Nov.27–29; Dec. 5–6, Dec. 12–13, Dec. 19–23, Dec. 26–31, 2020; Jan.1–, 2021. During Wild Holidays the Safari Park will be open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., with holiday festivities from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• San Diego Zoo Jungle Bells:
• Jungle Bells Festivities Return to the San Diego Zoo, Proudly Supported by California Coast Credit Union:
  San Diego Zoo guests are invited to ring in the holiday season with the Zoo’s annual celebration, Jungle Bells proudly supported by California Coast Credit Union. The jubilant festivities will take place Dec. 4–6, Dec. 11–23, Dec. 25–31, 2020 and Jan. 1–3, 2021, treating guests to views of some of their favorite animals, seasonal decorations, lighted displays, music and joyful roaming entertainers.
  There will be an abundance of culinary delights to enjoy at the Zoo’s many restaurants and food stands, and guests can shop for the perfect holiday gifts at the Zoo’s retail locations.
• WHEN:  Jungle Bells runs Dec. 4–6, Dec. 11–23, Dec. 25–31, 2020 and Jan. 1–3, 2021. The San Diego Zoo is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. during this event, with the exception of Dec. 24, when the Zoo closes at 5 p.m.
• Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas! On the Radio
• Free on KPBS Radio 89.5 FM, on the KPBS website and app, and on smart speakers!
• Saturday, December 5 at 12:00 noon PT
• Sunday, December 20 at 12:00 noon PT
• Thursday, December 24 (Christmas Eve) at 6:00 p.m. PT
• Where to see holiday lights this year - Pacific San Diego (11.26.2020)

CoViD-19 San Diego Passes 75,000 Cases, Could Reach 1000 Deaths During Holiday Weekend | County Approves Additional $20m In Small Biz Grants | Moscow Mitch Is A Monster

Another View of the Dr. Seuss Tree at The Old Globe (Taken 11.23.2020)

I have not been sleeping well at all. I'm up all night and then by the time I'm ready to sleep around 3 or 4 in the morning, east coast news starts to roll in and I can't stop the doomscroll. Hopefully Thanksgiving weekend allows me to chill a bit and click my body back into some normal rhythm. I'm hoping tomorrow we can zip up to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park before doing the backyard thing at my mom's. 

The COVID news shouldn't come as any surprise these days. I think the US went from 12 to 13 million cases in 5-6 days, and we hit over 2000 deaths a day nationally as San Diego approaches 1000 deaths since the start of the pandemic. It's grim but people are just gonna carry on however they see fit, I suppose. 

I hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving. I'll keep updating because now I've got it to a quick and easy task when I want it to be. Today's data and news are all after the jump.

CoViD-19 How To Wear A Mask | Recreating Responsibly | San Diego Hits 21.5 Cases Per 100,000 People | If We Keep It Up, Christmas Is Canceled |

 

The Dr. Seuss Tree at The Old Globe (Taken 11.23.2020)

Last night when I left off, we were running to Balboa Park to try and get some photos in front of the Grinch Who Stole Christmas Tree at The Old Globe. This was my first time trying to use a tripod and my phone as the shutter trigger on anything other than the moon, and I wish I'd checked between pictures more because most of them ended up out of focus. But there were other people there, so we didn't want to hog the space, and as we were putting my stuff away there was a rogue Santa who had quite a crowd that had followed him to take pictures for donations for his dog that needs surgery (according to his sign.)

I also mentioned that I was going to rant about masks. The messaging has really sucked on this whole point since the beginning, but it makes me crazy. I do not want to be walking through aerosols, whether they've got the virus or not. Just, ew. Have some respect, some common courtesy, and some common sense unlike a fair amount of people at the Zoo yesterday. Today we not only watched the California media briefing but sometimes we float around YouTube to watch other states. Today, the Louisiana governor said, "Even if we got 100% compliance with mitigation measures today, we wouldn't see any result of that for at least two weeks." So, even though the republicans have claimed for years that the dems have a "war on Christmas," you can remember that Christmas will be canceled because of this covidiot-in-chief and his lack of preparation and mitigation of this pandemic. I can't wait for him to get locked up.  

Me and Darren had a late night in the speakeasy last night, so today we made a 7:30pm Costco run to restock and get some last minute things for Thanksgiving, as did the whole of San Diego, apparently, because it was way more crowded than it usually is at that time. Pro tip: Costco has been out of paper towels for at least my last four trips there. Instead, go to the automotive section where you can buy an 8-pack of blue shop towels for about the same price. It's nearly midnight so I guess I should post and prepare for yet another newsy day.

CoViD-19 CA Hospitalizations +77% in 14-Days | SD County Has 61 Outbreaks in 7 Days | If Limited-Stay-Home Doesn't Work, Expect Lockdowns | Have You Heard? Gatherings Are Risky! | #BlackOutBezos

MGMT at Wonderfront (Taken 11.23.2019)

You guys. There was so much news today that I'm gonna save some of it for tomorrow, though I suspect tomorrow's Dr. Ghaly media briefing will be as longwinded and repetitive as today's was. I was actually surprised that Governor Newsom did a briefing today because he's in quarantine with his family. So yeah, there's COVID news, San Diego County is at 61 community outbreaks and 1167 cases, which is astonishing. The governor had to defend his "limited stay-at-home" order, saying that they hope it will lower the state's numbers by reducing risky behavior, that people out drinking tend to let down their guard, but if you read between the lines, he's telling all of us now that if it doesn't work, we will have to go more extreme in lockdown. On top of all that, a local lawsuit to overturn the State/County's pandemic response restrictions was denied by the judge. 

The big news, however, was that the GSA has finally signed whatever she needed to sign to allow the Biden transition to begin. That's about as much of a concession I think we're going to get from the covidiot-in-chief, seeing as he's trying to drag it out and continue raising money to pay for all of his campaign debt and to stall his inevitable indictments. 

Today we went to the San Diego Zoo, but everyone is off this week so it was more crowded than I personally like. And you can really tell when it's full of local passholders vs. tourists because the incorrect mask-wearing is abundant. I was going to go off on that but I'll save if for later. Right now I'm going to drag my family to Balboa Park and try and snag some family photos in front of the Dr. Seuss tree. Lots of links and stuff after the jump. 

CoViD-19 Numbers Continue To Rise | Defiant Americans Traveling | Why Aren't We Learning From Asia? | How Many More Will Die?

A Bayfront Shot from Wonderfront 2019 (Taken 11.22.2019)

The other day I estimated conservatively that we'll have 325-350,000 known COVID deaths by Inauguration Day. Turns out The Atlantic wrote an article on this very subject two days later and got an expert to weigh in. I've also been reading a lot about our food supply. As we saw in the spring, not only are paper goods disappearing from the shelves, but the safety of our food supply has been questionable for month, and it's now really starting to get some attention with Tyson bosses betting on factory worker deaths, African swine fever spreading worldwide and surviving in feed, and while not affecting our food, the spread of an equine flu is concerning, too. I'm not ready to go vegan, but I certainly look harder at the sources of my food when I'm buying or eating animal protein. All this as the news screams about the shortage of smaller turkeys because of people rearranging or canceling traditional Thanksgiving plans. 

As for me, we've been staying home but at this point are still planning on heading to my mom's on Thursday, probably after a morning run to the Safari Park. We're gonna have to keep it short and outside so of course this is all weather dependent. Our management company has been showing the empty downstairs apartment a lot, so Darren and Nova have been cleaning up the yard and organized about a year of recycling that we'll take in this week. We've been watching "We Are The Champions" on Netflix and Rainn Wilson's narration is reason to watch alone. Nova is obviously out of school this week, so hopefully we can all adjust and give each other enough space while we're all on top of each other. 

CoViD-19 US Passes 12 Million Cases, 200k New Daily Cases | San Diego Passes 70k Cases, 53 Outbreaks In 7 Days

(Taken 11.19.2020)

The US just keeps breaking records. We've passed 12 million cases including over 200,000 today. People are flooding testing sites in hopes that they'll get results before Thanksgiving. News is kinda slow because people are taking the week off, which I would imagine is the perfect time for the current administration to sneak some more crazy shit before they're booted from office. 

I didn't really do anything noteworthy today so I'm gonna scoot off and join the family for a movie. We're watching The Sunlit Night on Hulu and apparently my algorithm thinks I have an affliction for movies about Nordic countries. Today's stats after the jump.  

CoViD-19: With Batched Results, San Diego Sets New High For Daily Case Reporting, 43 Community Outbreaks In 7-days | Everybody's Talking About CT Values |Transgender Day of Remembrance

Taken at San Diego Zoo 11.19.2020

I was in a bad mood today. Not grumpy necessarily, but more I'm-not-gonna-smile-when-I-don't-feel-like smiling. I don't know why exactly. The news of the world is just overwhelming and exhausting, and our media just keep interviewing deniers and ignoramuses. Why aren't they talking about aerosols whenever another restauranteur or gym owner talks about all of their safety precautions?? Why are we still talking about April science when we have November knowledge? Why don't they ever ask the doctors, "Hey, why do you all wear masks AND safety goggles? What do you know that we don't?" Today Nova talked back to the TV with such sadness in her voice, "Why don't people just listen to the changing science??" 

Maybe it's a general sadness. It's Scott Huchison's birthday and I think about the loss of him to the music world almost daily. 

Maybe it was because I didn't get myself together early enough to catch the Zoo or a hike or something this afternoon to get some sun on my skin. 

Or maybe it's just general anxiety. We still plan on going to my parents' house for Thanksgiving, but plan on staying outside and staying for max two hours with our masks on except when we're eating. We'll exploit the San Diego sunshine tax, but it's just not that easy in other parts of the country so it will continue to get worse before it gets better. 

The good news though is it was all remedied by the awesome taco dinner Darren made and the San Diego Symphony's performance on YouTube and just going through the process of writing it all down. I miss live performances so much but as someone who finds the symphony cost-prohibitive, even in the before times, this was awesome to watch and you should definitely check it out. Lots of articles and news today, after the jump.

CoViD-19: With Cases Surging California Announces Curfew For Non-Essential Activities | County Commits Sheriff Deputies For Health Order Compliance | Biden Wins Georgia (Again) | Photos: San Diego Zoo

Grevy's Zebra at San Diego Zoo (Taken 11.19.2020) 

It was a big news day but Nova and I went to the San Diego Zoo again this afternoon, so watching all the briefings and putting this post together went way later than I planned. 

Regardless, the big news is that California has issued a 'limited stay at home order' which makes an enforceable move to require all non-essential businesses be closed from 10pm-5am and for people to stay home during that time period. No joke, some reporter asked about house guests and it sounded like it was asking-for-a-friend seeking permission for booty calls. So Secretary Ghaly had a press conference, the County had an unscheduled briefing to announce that sheriffs will be enforcing the health order. Meanwhile Mayor Faulconer has decided to model his life after the Covidiot-In-Chief and has taken to Twitter to mock the Governor, gearing up for his future run for the office. Stay in your lane, Vanilla Ice. You haven't addressed the City in months, so maybe just simmer down and crawl back under your rock. 

Besides the Zoo, things have been pretty chill around here. I'm reading Glennon Doyle's Untamed which is *meh* but it's all short stories/blog posts, so it's an easy read to pick up and put down at will. We watched Hateship Loveship on Hulu and it was weird but Kristen Wiig is great at playing weird.

Today's stats, briefing notes, and other news links are all after the jump. 

CoViD-19: US Passes 250,000 Deaths | Nearly 1 in 100 Americans Est. Contagious At This Moment | Photos: San Diego Zoo Safari Park

Today I fell in love with a Cockatoo at San Diego Zoo Safari Park (11.18.2020)

Nova has short online days on Wednesdays, and I got to sleep early enough last night that this morning we all had brunch together and made plans to go to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in the afternoon. Before I left, I created the subject of this post: US Passes 250,000 Deaths. At the time, we were still hovering around 247k. Sure as shit, I got a notification around 2pm, when we arrived there, that we had hit that number nationally. It's so grim. 

I also get lost in numbers sometimes. If 184k people tested positive yesterday across the country, and you look at San Diego's analysis that 6.4% of cases end up in the hospital, that's nearly 12,000 new hospitalizations to come just from one day alone. If you use California's number which is over 12%, that's almost 25,000 hospitalizations nationally just based on yesterday's test results. When you hear doctors and nurses and experts in a panic, this is why. 

We did end up at the Safari Park for a few hours and it was very sparsely attended so it was easy to avoid people. I fell in love with a cockatoo I never knew was behind the coffee stand and we pretty much covered every area of the park except the world gardens. I'm looking forward to the holiday celebrations there and at the San Diego Zoo, though we may find ourselves driving up and turning right back around to drive home if crowds get too intense. Me and Darren have plans to meet in the speakeasy tonight, so I'm gonna wrap it up and will be back tomorrow. 

CoViD-19 Community Spread Challenges Contact Tracing | Kids ' Cases Continue To Rise Nationally | Reducing Thanksgiving Risk | Photos: San Diego Zoo

I'm gonna have to do some reading because I decided not to tune in to either the County Board of Supervisors or the City Council Meetings today. I tuned in for a moment and people were commenting on flavored tobacco/vapes and I knew there was no way I was wasting my time. I wonder if sometimes agendas are just determined just by what will be the least painful public testimony? Like pre-pandemic, you'd maybe have a couple dozen comments on any item, now that people can call in, there are sometimes hundreds all calling with similar scripts and it must be absolutely exhausting. 

The pandemic hasn't slowed down at all, but the news is just redundant. Today I heard a commentator suggest that we could have 500k COVID deaths by the end of the year and I think that's crazy and exactly why people don't believe the news. I'm sticking with my conservative 350k by inauguration. Though when I predicted we'd hit 10 million cases by mid-November I didn't expect to actually hit 11million in that time. One thing you should take a look at today is the COVID watch linked below. The county is still saying that we're at 94% case investigations, but the COVID watch tells another story: it says that in the time from 11/1-11/14, there were 7,661 cases but only 4,917 interviewed. That's an awful lot of unidentified possible community exposures. I'm gonna have to find a way to ask Dr McDonald a question in the next media briefing. 

I finished reading Love Warrior last night and I get why Glennon Doyle has such a huge following but it was a little too "hashtag blessed" for me. When I finished the book in the middle of the night, I started putting some new ones on hold, including Barack Obama's memoir. Maybe it will be available by the time I finish reading Michell's Becoming. Of course I did my share of doomscrolling, too, and was fascinated/horrified by the latest election conspiracy having to do with a server found by the army in Frankfurt. OMG. It's pure insanity.

Anyway, Nova and I hit the San Diego Zoo for the closing hours today while Darren built a new planter box out of a palette at home. Tuesdays at 3pm have proven to be a great time to go, though I still finding it annoying how many people are unmasked to drink their beers while spreading out across entire walkways. To avoid people, we did a long time in a couple of the aviaries, hung out by the bonobos for a while, and watched the leopards sleep in hopes they'd get active at the end of the day. They didn't. There are supposedly a few new koala joeys, so we closed the day watching one of them. Stats and news and photos from the Zoo after the jump.