COVID K9

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Bristol County in Massachusetts is the first County in the United States to have COVID-19 sniffing K9 dogs. The dogs can sniff out the disease in a similar way the dogs detect drugs or weapons. The K9s began their new job starting July 15, 2021.

Bristol Count Sheriff  Thomas Hodgson said “Bristol County and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have come so far since the pandemic started last year,” Hodgson said. “Today, festivals are happening, restaurants are full and concert venues are packed. We’ve made so much progress, and our new COVID-19 detection program is one way the people of Bristol County can stay ahead of the curve.”

The detection program was developed by Florida International University’s (FIU) International Forensic Research Institute. “This is all science,” Bristol County Capt. Paul Douglas. “This program was developed by professors, doctors and scientists at FIU, and we couldn’t be more proud or excited to execute it here in Bristol County.”

Douglas is paired with Huntah, a 9-month-old female black lab, while Officer Theodore Santos will work with Duke, a 9-month-old male golden lab and retriever mix. The dogs were born two weeks apart with the same father and different mothers.

The dogs are available for use at schools, town buildings, non-profits, nursing homes, Councils on Aging, public safety facilities, and medical facilities in Bristol County. COVID detecting dogs were first employed at an airport in Helsinki, Finland. I am glad to see the United States starting to catch  up with Europe in employing dogs to sniff out the disease. At the University of Helsinki, researchers found that dogs can identify a Covid-19 case days before a person begins showing symptoms. They even believe dogs are more accurate that available COVID test kits, and the results are instant.

Delta Wave

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The Delta variant wave has begun in America. While many governors are opening their states fully, the Delta Variant is causing a rise in COVID-19 cases across the country.

President Joe Biden encouraged Americans to get out for the 4th of July as his vaccination plan to have 70% of Americans fully vaccinated fell short of his goal. The CDC shows that 48.2% of the American population is fully vaccinated. The vaccine initiative has ground to a halt as Americans cling to medical misinformation and partisan politics over their health needs.

July 4th weekend events were most certainly super spreader events. Cases usually rise two weeks after a super spreader and cases are on a steep incline doubling in the last two weeks. The unvaccinated account for 99% of fatalities.

“We’re losing time here. The delta variant is spreading, people are dying, we can’t actually just wait for things to get more rational,” Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health told CNN July 14, 2021.

Elsewhere, Indonesia set another daily case record of 54,517 and has overtaken India as the Asian epicenter of the pandemic, CNN reported. At least 991 fatalities were recorded in the nation of about 170 million people on July 14. 2021 to push the total to 69,210. In China, local governments are moving aggressively to push residents to get vaccinated and some are planning to bar them from accessing public venues if they refuse, The Wall Street Journal reported.

England is experiencing a huge spike in cases because so many people fled India where the Delta variant first ignited. England plans to fully open on July 19, 2021 while cases soar towards 100000 a day.The government in England seems to be pushing for a herd immunity strategy by just letting everyone get infected.

A cluster of COVID cases at a hotel hosting Olympic athletes is raising concerns coming just over a week before the opening ceremony, Reuters reported. Adding to the gloom, Tokyo has just recorded its highest number of new COVID cases in six months.

 

COVID 911

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Orlando officials confirmed July 13, 2021 that 16 employees at a 911 Communication Center had tested positive for COVID-19. 15 of those employees were unvaccinated. All of the employees are self-isolating and six other employees are in quarantine, due to possible exposure and possible symptoms.

The Orlando Sentinel reported, that, in all, 22 employees are out, with two hospitalized.

The Communication Center took the following measures as a result of the outbreak:

  • Staff are required to wear a face mask at all times unless at their desk.
  • Temperature checks are made upon entry.
  • A cleaning crew cleans twice a day at the facility, especially high-touched surface areas.
  • An Aeroclave unit, which is a machine equipped to disinfect and decontaminate spaces and surfaces, is utilized weekly to further sanitize commonly shared areas.
  • Hand sanitizer stations are deployed throughout the building.
  • Any vendors or visitors are not able to go inside the facility at this time.

At a Commissioner’s meeting, a director bragged that there were no cases of COVID-19 among his departments. However when each department gave a report they contradicted him, reporting may cases of COVID-19. He stood corrected. It would seem Orange County  Government isn’t aware or chooses to ignore the infections in their own ranks. On July 12, 2021 Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings recommended that all residents, vaccinated and unvaccinated, wear face masks indoors as the county reports a nearly 8 percent 14-day rolling positivity rate. Ironically most of the people at the Commissioner’s meeting on July 14, 2021 were mask less. Commissioner’s were separated by plexiglass barriers but plexiglass does not stop an airborne virus.

The highly contagious Delta variant continues to spread among unvaccinated people. 100% of new cases and deaths on July 11, 2021 were unvaccinated people. Get the shot people.

Two Americas

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Dr. Fauci said on an interview with Don Lemon of CNN, “When you have such a low level of vaccination superimposed upon a variant that has a high degree of efficiency of spread, what you are going to see among undervaccinated regions — be they states, cities or counties — you are going to see these individual types of blips. It’s almost like it’s going to be two Americas. You’re going to have areas where the vaccine rate is high, where more than 70% of the population has received at least one dose. When you compare that with areas where you may have 35% of the people vaccinated, you clearly have a high risk of seeing these spikes in those selected areas. The thing that’s so frustrating about this, Don, is that this is entirely avoidable, entirely preventable. If you are vaccinated, you diminish dramatically your risk of getting infected, and even more dramatically your risk of getting seriously ill. If you are not vaccinated, you are at considerable risk.”

In Florida Cruise ships have started sailing and unvaccinated guests are being allowed to board. Vaccinated guests, identified with special wristbands, get full run of the ship, while those unprotected from the virus won’t even be able to walk into the bar, casino, or spa. Since June there have already been cases of guests testing positive for COVID-19 while at sea. Two unvaccinated teenagers who tested positive and had to be flown back to the states from the Bahamas and  two asymptomatic guests testing positive on a ship from St. Maarten. Two vaccinated guests and one unvaccinated crew member on an Alaska cruise tested positive for COVID-19 as well.

The CDC recommends at least 95% of passengers and crew be vaccinated. However Florida’s governor Ron DeatSantis filed a lawsuit insisting that unvaccinated people must be allowed to sail. Norwegan Cruise Line is suing the state of Florida because of this ban on vaccine passports. The unvaccinated want total freedom and the vaccinated resent having to wear masks because unvaccinated lower class are on board. The only way to keep both sides happy is to insist that only vaccinated guests can go on the ships. Quite honestly anyone who wants to sail on a cruise death trap during a pandemic is insane. It turns out there are plenty of insane Americans.

Playalinda Beach

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After I finished teaching on Sunday at Crealde, Pam, her niece and I headed out to Playalinda beach. We had never been to this beach before so it was an adventure for all of us. Playalinda is known for having a nude beach section and research on the road trip indicated the nude section was at the 13th parking lot.

Being a park on the Canaveral National Seashore, it costs money to get into Playalinda. A car load costs $20. For $40 you can get a yearly pass and Pam decided to get that since it would be paid off in just two beach trips. We quickly realized that these beaches are much less crowded than at Coco Beach. The water was a magnificent turquoise and deep blue and there were no rocks leading out to the surf.

Even I have to admit that the water was warm and delightful. The waves were gentle and rolling rather than threatening.

I decided I was not getting a sun burn this beach day. Sun screen was slathered on at home and I kept my white t shirt on even when I went out inn the waves. I stayed under the beach umbrella and kept my white Pocahontas beach towel over my legs the whole time to be sure my legs didn’t turn beat red. The last beach day I slathered some sun screen on my chest and shoulders and found out the next day that I had only applied sunscreen to a few patches and the resulting red pattern made me look like a camouflaged burn victim. Hopefully this trip I avoided getting to much sun. I suppose I will know by tomorrow.

Pam and her niece wanted to see the nude beach, so we drove to lot 13. They walked out to the beach to have a look but I stayed behind in the air conditioned car. If there isn’t enough time to sketch naked butts, I am not interested. Apparently there were quite a few very large naked men on the beach.  The larger the man, the smaller the dangling bits tend to appear.

After Pulse: Roberta Blick

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Roberta Blick moved to Orlando in 1986. She became a member at Windermere Union Church teaching oil painting. Nancy Rosado another member of the church came in on Sunday morning, to enlist volunteers to help first responders at Pulse. Roberta wanted to participate. She said, “What can I do?” Her son heard her and he said, “Do what you  do best mom, and make a quilt.”

So she sat down in her hospice chair, and she watched the TV seeing all those beautiful people from Pulse. Their gorgeous eyes looked at her. It broke her heart. She had to do something with all those wonderful people. She got to know them. She gathered pictures of each of the 49 young people and she transferred the photos onto plain white cotton. She began making the quilt out of her white squares of fabric.

When she got all the squares finished she had to lay them all out on the floor of her sewing room. She called some people from church and they helped her make a nice big square out of it. It became a big quilt with all 49 pictures on it. She worked on it all week and that next Sunday she brought it to church. Nancy Rosado was there and she sat down next to her. Nancy took the quilt to share with others. Nancy got so many amazing people to sign it. The first names o the quilt were fellow church members.

It pleased Roberta so much that something we were doing helped others. Nancy said that some of the people who came into her office didn’t even have a picture of their child. That must be such an awful feeling to not have a picture of the child they love so much. Anyone who is a mother would know that. Her first thought was to create something that would have a beautiful picture. Friends from church wrote the name of each one of the children, and the names went above their picture.

The quilt traveled everywhere.  Nancy would sit down beside Roberta to tell her who had signed the quilt. She said President Obama had signed it. He had put a special thanks to Roberta because he heard she was an old woman. That meant so much. The only thing that hurts is that she did not think to start doing it earlier of the Sandy Hook babies and others who died needlessly. Think of the impact walking into a room an having all those beautiful eyes looking back at you. Think of the impact for all of those mothers and fathers. Think of all the beautiful people who have been killed. Look what they have done.

At a one year remembrance exhibit the the Orange County Regional History Center, 453 family members of victims saw Roberta’s quilt in one and a half hours. Thousands of photos must have been taken of that quilt on exhibit. Roberta Blick died December 20, 2017 from cancer.

 

Nurse Magneto

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Nurse Magneto appeared before an Ohio House meeting to claim that COVID-19 vaccinations cause people to become magnetized. She wedged the key in her cleavage and the tried to get the same key to stick to her neck. It refused to stick. It as a laughable fail, yet people believe this shit.

The CDC says that the vaccine cannot make you magnetic. “Receiving a COVID-19 vaccine will not make you magnetic, including at the site of vaccination which is usually your arm. COVID-19 vaccines do not contain ingredients that can produce an electromagnetic field at the site of your injection,” the CDC says. “All COVID-19 vaccines are free from metals such as iron, nickel, cobalt, lithium, and rare earth alloys, as well as any manufactured products such as microelectronics, electrodes, carbon nanotubes, and nanowire semiconductors.”

Get vaccinated folks. Less than half the people in Florida are smart enough to be fully vaccinated so far. The Delta variant first found in India is ravaging the state. An Israeli study found an amazing high rate of breakthrough infections. If you are fully vaccinated, you are about 64% protected against Delta which will be the predominant strain of the virus by August. If you aren’t vaccinated you are facing a highly virulent strain of the virus. The unvaccinated continue to die. Over 4 million people have died world wide from the COVID-19 virus. Get the shot.

After Pulse: Nancy Rosado

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Nancy Rosado was is native New Yorker. She is a retired sergeant from the New York Police Department. She was in New York City when 9-11 happened. She moved to Florida in 2008. She became involved in politics and community activism.

Sunday morning June 12, 2016 she got a phone call which woke her up. “Oh my god, 20 people are dead.” She turned on the TV an brought herself up to speed. Her partner said, “This is not going to be a good day.”  Nancy was immediately thinking ahead to the psychological effects on a marginalized community. It had been Latin night. It would have a huge impact on the Latino community.

On Sundays Nancy goes to church. She got ready for church. On the drive to church, she had to take a detour to the LGBTQ Center. She met friends and let others know how she could help moving forward. She did get to church for a minute but had to leave and she went to the hospital.

The mood a the hospital was like a funeral. Here people looked like her. She and a friend started talking to people inn the room in Spanish. People were so relieved. Everything as being said in English. Latino names were massacred. A politician and a police chief were in the front of the room. She asked why they were addressing people just in English. Both languages could be used. Most people in the room were Spanish. They asked everyone to move to the Hampton Inn. No one wanted to move to the Hampton Inn. Their loved one might be in the hospital. The police chief made the announcement to move to the Hampton Inn in Spanish and there was an audible sigh of relief in the room. She advised the politician to pray and you could hear a pin drop as everyone grew silent. It became a smoother process to move everyone to the Inn. There were a lot of cooks in the kitchen at that point. She left for a while but could not stay away.

She was hoping there would be some order when she returned and maybe she could help somehow. She returned later in the evening. A large group of her friends were there to help. They agreed that what was happening was culturally insensitive. It was also an LGBTQ issue.

She helped found Somos Orlando but once it was up and running, she stepped back. The four women founders had one mission in mind, that this was a crime committed against Latinos. 23 of this who passed away were Puerto Rican. 68 Latinos were injured. Where are the organizations to back these people up? The four founders remained behind after a press conference and realized their message could not end there. So Somos Orlando was born. It started as a hashtag. The Hispanic Federation gave money and it picked up steam. A huge office space was rented to build capacity in Orlando.

Nancy always wanted culturally and linguistically competent delivery of services to the community and most importantly mental health. Nancy has first hand experience about what happens when PTSD is left to fester. PTSD can pop up 5 years out or 10 years out. It could be the sight of something it could be the smell of blood, it could be anything. These marginalized communities do not have the resources to pay for mental health.

 

Capone’s

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Pam got tickets to Capone’s Dinner Theater and we went with her aunt and niece. Actors hinted that this was the first performance they had done without masks. We ended up at this amazing table right next to the stage which was perfect for sketching. Masks were required according to a sign, but few people wore them. I hope everyone was fully vaccinated. We wore our masks until we got to the table.

Capone’s used to have an open buffet but that changed when the pandemic hit. I ordered a pesto pasta dish and it was quite good. The performers were quite good especially the female lead who played a ditsy dame. The premise was that the entire audience was there for an evening of illegal gambling.

It was set up as a speakeasy and we had to wait for a knock at a secret doorway and give the password to get in. Mug shots were immediately taken upon entry. Later in the evening we were offered newspapers with the mugshots plastered across the front page.

This was the first indoor theater I have sketched in over a year. It felt good. The venue did a decent job of keeping tables separated. I ended up becoming part of the act when a male lead noticed me sketching during the intermission. In the second half of the show he asked to see the sketch and held it up for those audience to see. Then came a Bob Ross joke about how my hair had caught fire and burned off. This is actually not far from the truth. A week later the actor internet stalked me to inquire about the sketch. He asked another actor about the artist who sketches performances and I wasn’t hard to find. Not many artists are out there doing what I do.

The bottom line is this was a fun night of dinner theater. I would highly recommend it if you have guests looking for a fun night out.

Ghost Tour

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Pam and her niece booked a ghost tour in Saint Augustine for July 3, 2021. I was teaching virtually all day so we left for Saint Augustine after my last class let out. We stayed at an air B&B just minutes from Saint Augustine. Unfortunately that meant a 45 minute drive. I suppose anything under 60 minutes counts as minutes. We could have driven from Orlando just as well.

I used my iPad all day to teach and it was plugged in all day so I decided to use the iPad to sketch on the Saint Augustine trip. I decided to sketch the ghost tour guide as he waited for people to show up and pay. Within minutes of starting my sketch, the iPad died. I did not have a paper sketchbook on hand. The only answer was to do a sketch on my iPhone with my stubby finger.