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Eligible medical volunteers will be able to book round-trip Delta flights free of charge to Georgia, Louisiana and Michigan, where they will work in coordination with the state and local government offices.
Finally, some good news out of the whole COVID thing.
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Four passengers have died aboard a Holland America cruise ship that soon may make its way to Port Everglades, the liner announced Friday. Holland America said “four older guests" died on the Zaandam, but didn’t say whether the new coronavirus was the cause. Nearly 140 people on the ship have complained about feeling sick, including some with respiratory symptoms.
Why people are still doing the cruise ship thing remains a mystery. Around here, things have slowed considerably; I'm used to having a dozen or so jets overfly the house on their way into PDX, but over the past several days that's dropped to one. And it's not just here:
Redmond is just one of hundreds of airports across the county and the world that has seen passenger numbers grind to a near standstill as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under normal circumstances, Redmond has more than 30 daily flights, serving 10 nonstop destinations, said Bass. He anticipates the number of flights in April and May will be down by at least 40%.
Alaska Airlines, which operates a number of flights out of Redmond to Portland, Seattle and destinations in California, said Wednesday that demand for flights has dropped by 80% since the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S.
It's also a good idea to leave contact lenses in their disinfecting solutions in their cases - not in your eyes:
Contact lens wearers are being urged to switch to glasses temporarily as a way to avoid being infected by the coronavirus.
One of the key pieces of advice medical professionals have been giving is that people should avoid touching their face. Contact lens wearers touch their faces and eyes multiple times a day, whether it's for putting in contacts, taking them out, or adjusting them if they get a little out of place.
None of these things affect me, but your mileage may vary. I wore contacts for a while, years ago, and am to this day not sure why; the hassles associated with them (and the supplies) were not, I decided, worth the trouble. I've flown Alaska to Seattle and back on a number of occasions, but airports have become a big hassle in recent years as well, so I've cut way back on flights.
As for cruise ships: I've been on a couple of cruises, but my favorite part of those was when the boats docked at various ports; the boats themselves are pretty boring after a day or so. And they are, to my mind, sort of like floating Petri dishes.
But to each their own.
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BALTIMORE, MD—A new study by Johns Hopkins University found that the novel coronavirus is impacting men and women more than all the other genders combined. According to the study, 100% of coronavirus cases have affected men and women and not a single other gender.
And in an interesting twist, some Mexican nationals seem to want a border wall between the USA and Mexico:
In a seemingly paradoxical turn of events, Mexican protesters on Wednesday blocked incoming traffic at the U.S. southern border, demanding their government do more to restrict American travel into their country. The protesters said their stunt was meant to highlight the dangers posed by incoming U.S. residents who might carry the coronavirus. The protesters, who identified themselves as “Sonorans for Health and Life,” blocked traffic for several hours and made clear their concern of incoming Americans. Some of their signs explicitly told U.S. residents to “stay at home.”
Thus far, our usually vocal contingent of Leftists have been remarkably quiet in regard to this development; they've not referred to the Mexicans as racist or xenophobic as yet.
Meanwhile, in California and elsewhere in the USA:
Starting last week in California, paranoid citizens began calling their local police departments via 911 to report their neighbors — for coughing. Seriously. Fast forward to this week, however, and we now have a hotline set up in Kentucky designed to take calls from people just like the ones in California who call the cops to report their neighbors for coughing. In the metro Louisville area, citizens are urged to call 311 to report their neighbors who may not be complying with social distancing policies.
To learn what you should do to protect yourself during this pandemic, you can look at the CDC website here. Take note that “snitching on your neighbor for coughing” is not a CDC recommendation on how to protect yourself from COVID-19.
Kind of imparts a whole different angle to "Neighborhood Watch" programs.
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As of this morning, New York reported over 33,000 cases of coronavirus, and 325 dead. The state, however, estimates that it is still two to three weeks away from suffering under the deluge of peak infection. Accordingly, the New York Times reports that the state has requested 85 refrigerated trailers from FEMA to house the anticipated number of bodies as a result of COVID-19.
It’s been interesting watching J.D. Power’s sales projections amid the coronavirus as they get worse and worse and worse. Just three days ago, J.D. Power was projecting that new car sales in March would drop 41 percent compared to a year ago.
Yesterday, the company said an 80 percent sales drop could be in the offing for states with coronavirus related lockdowns.
Only 11 passengers flew on a Houston-bound flight that usually packs in 162 customers.
At least the passengers had a lot of leg-room. And it might be a good time to make an offer on a new car.
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MyPillow is excited to announce that we are now manufacturing face masks for hospitals across the country!
The company announced Tuesday on Twitter that it is making face masks for hospitals across the country. MyPillow joins a growing list of private companies pitching in to address the shortage of face masks that U.S. healthcare professionals are facing as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to climb.
Good for them! And they're already in production - none of this "we plan to..." stuff!
Private enterprise at its finest. And no, they won't be available to the general public; they're all destined for health-care providers.
But speaking of production, Babylon Bee reports that China forgot to take the little tags off their virus:
Ooops!
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Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti opened his daily briefing Tuesday recognizing what may have been the first teenage COVID-19 death in L.A. County and went on to announce actions against nonessential businesses that don't close and a new portal for recruiting medics.
He reminded young people that the virus can hit them too, urging them to stay at home and practice social distancing.
"Your behavior can save a life and take a life," Garcetti said. "And that life could be yours.”
The mayor went on to announce the "business ambassadors program" — an effort to get nonessential businesses to close.
“This behavior is irresponsible and selfish,” he said of those that remain open. He said the Department of Water and Power will shut off services for the businesses that don't comply with the "safer at home" ordinance.
The mayor had also announced that restaurants and bars could deliver alcoholic beverages, as a means of stimulating business.
Hmm...around here, the bars and many restaurants had to shut down. The pot shops and state liquor stores are allowed to remain open, though, as long as they allow no more then 10 customers in at a time. It's easy enough to see why that's not a problem; those folks usually trickle in at the local liquor store, and it's rare to see more than one or two vehicles in the local pot shop parking lots. Besides, the state makes a lot of money from sales that do occur at these locations.
In related news, if ironic:
The doctor who served as a medical adviser during the filming of the 2011 pandemic movie “Contagion” has announced he tested positive for coronavirus. Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, who assisted director Steve Soderbergh during the filming of the 2011 film, revealed the positive test during an interview on Fox News Tuesday night.
“If it can hit me, it can hit anybody. That’s the message I want to convey,” Lipkin told Fox’s David Asman.
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Here’s what Nancy Pelosi’s House of Representatives did today:
10:00:42 AM—Convened in the House
10:02:37 AM—Adjourned
One minute and 55 seconds of work
It's all set and ready to go, but she wants more pork inserted into it, like more funding for abortion providers, stricter airline emission standards, and more. None of which have anything to do with COVID-19 relief efforts.
Meanwhile, the military's setting up makeshift morgues in NYC to address the shortage of morgue space around the city due to COVID-19 deaths.
Two refrigerated trailers were trucked to the site at 30th Street and the FDR Drive, along with a customized RV labeled “MOBILE COMMAND CENTER — MEDICAL EXAMINER.”
She hasn't missed a Congressional paycheck in 37 years, and she sits as an indisputable argument in favor of term limits.
She has different priorities than most normal people.
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The Portland Police Bureau is shifting gears to figure out how to enforce the statewide Stay at Home order issued by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Monday, March 23.
Last week, before the order was issued, Portland Police Chief Jami Resch told reporters the bureau did not have any role in enforcing Brown's previous orders, such as closing restaurants and bars except for take-out food.
But the Monday order makes violating it a Class C misdemeanor, which is punishable by 30 days in jail and a $1,250 fine. That means the police now have an official role to play in enforcing it.
Lots of luck trying to figure this one out, PPB! They can probably enforce Brown's Law when it comes to businesses, but people on the streets is a whole 'nother bag of worms.
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The Food and Drug Administration approved a coronavirus test that will give results in less than an hour.
The test, made by Cepheid, will be rolled out on March 30. The company said the test has “a detection time of approximately 45 minutes.” Existing tests delivered results within days.
There's no vaccine, and there's as yet no cure. Testing is therefore merely a tracking tool to determine where it's spreading,and how fast.
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Approximately 20,000 to 40,000 New Yorkers are currently arriving in Florida daily as they flee from the epicenter of the most explosive coronavirus outbreak. However, if the elderly are the most vulnerable; and if isolating the most vulnerable population is the best course of action; and with the largest population of older residents living in Florida; then why are New Yorkers allowed to travel to Florida?
In an attempt to mitigate the inbound infection spread, today Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed an executive order requiring all arriving New York and New Jersey residents to be screened upon arrival and self-quarantine immediately after arriving in the state.
Good luck with that, governor.
The invasion is already underway.
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