Although we continued to spend our time in much the same way as usual, the circumstances surrounding it were far from normal. The Covid-19 pandemic dominated the news, limited our options, and made even the normal feel strange. Adesanya and Romero disappointed with an uneventful bout, but Zhang versus Joanna was an instant classic! These two women put on a show and neither backed down despite suffering injury. Lisa and I continued to walk even when feeling under the weather (and despite her seasonal allergies to tree pollen). Unfortunately, most days I woke up to my entire newsfeed being updates, cancellations, and suspensions due to Covid-19.... another 6 confirmed cases... concerts cancelled... baseball suspended... travel restrictions issued... festivals cancelled... basketball suspended... another death... soccer suspended... celebrity diagnosed... tournaments, including NCAA basketball, cancelled ("March Madness" officially becomes "March Sadness")... Disneyland closed... HOCKEY SUSPENDED!!!... cruise industry shut down... Prime Minister in self-isolation... Italy has closed stores! (reinforcing the stockpiling of goods)… schools closed... no gatherings over 250 people... self-isolation... social distancing... no gatherings over 50 people... toilet paper shortages and hoarding... UFC events postponed... border restrictions... medical supply shortages... quarantines... curfews... lock-downs... 60 more cases... the Olympics postponed a year... 600 more deaths... global markets tumbled... billions of dollars are being lost! Every day when I check out the news and updates, I become more frustrated. Weeks ago, I looked at the available information and projections and said that we should ALL go into a mandatory 2-3 week quarantine. The incubation period for this virus is said to be 5.5 days and they claim people are contagious for up to 8 days after first displaying symptoms, so 14 days should be enough. I figured if everyone was quarantined, those with the virus early on could be treated as much as possible, and would then either die or recover within the two weeks. At that point, the spread should have been stopped. Instead, we're seeing more and more infections, deaths, expenses, and inconveniences. Why are we still not moving to a full lockdown situation that would result in short term inconvenience with huge longer term benefits? Instead, we're looking at loans, bailouts, job loss, travel restrictions for months and months, and maybe more than a year!!!?! This makes no sense! It seems so obvious that we have chosen the wrong approach, so I'm confused why we're sticking to it. The cost in both human lives and economic woes is going to be sooooo much higher than it needed to be. We made two trips to Honeymoon Bay, checking on the house, running errands, and in Lisa's case, making Lifeline calls and getting her hair cut. We also got to spend some time visiting with Shaun and Debbie before restrictions were put on socialization. On the last official day of Winter, we hiked up Cobble Hill. The first day of Spring marked the first time I mowed the lawn this year. Since travel is currently off the table, we are grateful that "self-isolation" and "social distancing" are not such hardships where we live. We hiked up Cobble Hill again on the 25th. Getting basic groceries and supplies has become much more of a challenge lately. The supply chain has been unable to keep up with demand during this crisis, as people stockpile out of fear and eat more meals at home than usual. Each time we venture to the grocery stores, we discover new protocols and procedures, more attempts at sanitation and prevention of infection, but fewer items available on the shelves. Watching movies and reading from the comfort, safety, and isolation of our own home made more sense than ever this month. I busted out the ol' X-Box 360 and turned the Blue Jays franchise around in "GM Career" mode in "Major League Baseball 2K7". I also enjoyed and appreciated all of the free Facebook Live performance streams by Keith Urban, Tim Hicks, Luke Bryan, Brad Paisley, Luke Combs, Jake Owen, Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood, Mark Wills, Thomas Rhett, Dierks Bentley, and Morgan Wallen.
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