The Pandemic Continues

That's right.  Four months later and the world is still struggling to get the pandemic under control.  I thought I might highlight a few of the more notable things that have happened in those four months on both a national scale and on a much more personal level.  

Let's start with some national highlights. 

• As of today, the New York Times is reporting the U.S. has had a total of 3.5 million cases and 137,319 deaths.  
• As of today, The New York Times is reporting that Michigan has had a total of 79,081 cases and 6,333 deaths.  
• No one really trusts the case counts or, as strange as this may seem, the death counts. 
• Why are the case counts suspect?  Not all states are reporting lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases, some are reporting suspected cases as well, which is allowed by CDC guidelines.  Additionally, the numbers may be inflated by duplicate counts for individuals that are tested more than once. 
• The death count should be a no brainer but I have family members that actually know of a couple that died from the injuries sustained in a car accident but their death certificates indicate the cause was COVID.   
• In April, the Pentagon released some UFO pictures. Yes, you read that correctly.  
• In May, headlines warned of "murder hornets".  (They are not expected in Michigan for decades, so not really high on the list of things to get anxious about..)
• Murder hornets fade into obscurity because George Floyd's death sparks nationwide protests and riots. There are even calls for defunding the police, which doesn't actually mean disbanding the police just reallocating resources so that police aren't responding to situations that might be better suited to social workers, mental health professionals, or other first responders.   
• In June, the Supreme Court makes a couple of landmark decisions. 
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is expanded to provide protection to LGBTQ individuals.
• Upholds DACA.
• In mid-July, a company announces it's ready to move on to the final stage of vaccine testing for COVID-19.
• To wear a mask or not to wear a mask is a big point of contention. So much so that people have been murdered over a difference of opinion. 
• Man stabs someone over masks and is killed in turn by the police.  
• Security guard killed over face masks.

And these are just the major news stories I remember hearing about.  I'm sure there is a lot I have missed or forgotten to mention.  It's been a crazy year.  There's a lot to track!

While all that was happening in the state and across the nation, things here at home were moving much slower.  The little man grew month by month.

KC and Allie both went back to work.  He went back to being a direct care worker in a residential home and she went back to Subway.  Subway lasted until the local Brewery asked her if she'd like to return to work in their event center - yes, people are throwing birthday parties and getting married even with the pandemic still making national headlines. 

In fact, we had a wedding to attend.  We planned to only attend the wedding and skip the reception because the reception was supposed to be held inside.  However, the day before the wedding, the bride and groom found out the entire event had to be held outside or canceled.  An outside reception seemed less problematic, so we stayed.  The picture I took below was from our vantage point at a distant picnic table. There were six of us at the table:  me, Ken, Jaime, Megan, Lee Ann, and Aunt Linda.  

We did have fun visiting with family and dancing under the pavilion.  I still don't understand why these young couples spend money on a DJ when they don't seem to be interested in dancing at all.  The bridal party did the traditional dances and maybe a line dance or two, but for the most part, it was really only three or four of us out there dancing most of the night.  This was fine given the fact that social distancing is still highly recommended.

Earlier this summer, after waiting impatiently for the governor to lift restrictions a bit, we were finally able to get the camper out and head off on some low-key adventures. We were even able to work from the camper on a couple of instances.

Oh, yeah.  Ken and I have been working from home since the pandemic started.  Now that campgrounds are open, we have been testing our cell phone signals to determine if our hotspots will work or not.  Most often, they do not.  However, we have identified a few places where we can work remotely from the comfort of our home on wheels.

I'd like to think this will be my last pandemic update, but I don't think it will be.  The numbers are rising in states where restrictions have been lifted and I suspect Michigan will reinstate some of the earlier restrictions that have been lifted in the last couple of months.