Decent week, maybe the last for awhile
By week, I mean two days of work with decent sized cases. Enough for a month+ of groceries, probably more considering we’ve bought so many dry goods that will keep for a long time. I braved the wilds of Sam’s Club yesterday, starting with a drive-by recon and seeing that there were no lines snaking out the door, I decided to stop in. There were lines at the cash registers again, but only about halfway back in the store this time. TP was sold out and I noticed a lot of people were buying water, which is probably not necessary, assuming infrastructure won’t collapse, but I went ahead and bought another case as an emergency backup for any scenario, including tornadoes, etc. Other dry goods were depleted, but I managed to get another five-pound bag of flour, so that should keep us eating for a while. The biggest challenge is the short term perishable produce and the like, these typically need resupply at least weekly.
The situation at work isn’t much different since last week, there was some more specific guidance for triaging and patient flow of suspected COVID-19 cases, and they have restricted patient visits to appointment only. The VBA regional offices have also announced that they aren’t accepting walk-ins for Veterans now, but they will remain in operation at present. They’re trying to get us set up for remote access, but I wasn’t able to get it working yet. There are always several hoops to jump through for this stuff. I’m going ahead and ordering a CAC reader in case that will make it easier. It would be a huge change if I was able to check email and my schedule from home. I wouldn’t have to depend on others to send me emails at my personal address whenever something changed.
I think we’re still right at the edge of the cliff. We’re about to see that exponential rise in cases and the real test of the American people, healthcare system, and the government will commence at that time. There are still a bunch of people completely ignoring the recommendations, including a lot of young adults and teenagers. This won’t hit home until someone they know/love gets sick and/or dies. Then it will hit home hard. The willfully ignorant are in for a rude awakening, but I have a feeling many of them will just project the problem onto others. The “leader” of this country has taken to referring to COVID-19 as the “Chinese Virus” and this has just fueled increased incidents of racism against anyone with Asian features. I’ve told Aeyong she needs to stay home for infection control reasons, but I also don’t want her at risk for any racial attacks. I know we have plenty of racists in Texas, and it cuts across all demographics. Just yesterday, I was talking to a psychologist that’s been in our department for a long time and she was regurgitating this idea of a Chinese manufactured viral weapon. She has a history of this, and although I try to avoid these conversations with her, I’m fairly confident she fits squarely into the Fox News demographic. A Ph.D. Education and rationality don’t always go together.
There are already several reports showing that the data overwhelming supports a natural, not manufactured, origin. Still, racists are going to race. They’re just going to latch on to whatever flimsy excuse they have to call someone out for looking or thinking differently.