NBA Booble

Posted on by Thor

The 2020 NBA Bubble is the isolation zone with strict rules created by the National Basketball Association (NBA) to protect its players from the COVID-19 pandemic. 22 teams were invited to Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida to participate in eight games being held at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. The bubble is a $170 million investment by the NBA to protect its season which was cut short by the pandemic. The bubble games will begin on July 30, 2020 inside the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.

Lou Williams a Clippers guard was granted an excused absence for a family funeral. While on leave, he went to Magic City an Atlanta strip club where he was photographed by rapper Jack Harlow. Harlow quickly deleted the post from his Instagram story. Harlow tweeted Friday, “That was an old pic of me and Lou. I was just reminiscing cuz I miss him.” In the photograph, Williams is holding a drink and wearing an NBA mask given out on the Orlando campus.

Williams said he went to the strip club for dinner. He wrote in a tweet, “Ask any of my teammates what’s my favorite restaurant in Atlanta is. Ain’t nobody partying. Chill out lol. #Maskon #inandout.” Williams was tested for the COVID-19 each day that he was away from campus, a source told ESPN. Williams claimed he only went to the strip club for the wings. But you have to wonder if he was also drawn to the breasts and thighs. We all grieve in unique ways.

Players are subject to a minimum four-day quarantine after they leave campus on an excused absence. However, the re-quarantining time could be extended up to 10 days if recommended by the league’s infectious disease specialists. Of course Williams will need the full 10 days of quarantine and he will miss the first two games of the season because of his stripper joint stunt. He is paid about $58,000 a game so those were some pretty expensive wings. .

This incident makes it clear that the notion of playing ball in the midst of a raging pandemic isn’t the best idea and the best plans don’t work when players act stupid. At the beginning of the pandemic Rudy Gilbert made light of the virus when he touched every microphone at a press conference and he was infected by the virus. That stupidity canceled the game and shut down the league for four months.

The NBA bubble will likely burst before the season is through. I am amazed Williams will be allowed to play. The bottom line is that the games bring in a profit for the NBA. It reminds me of how professional wrestling was considered an essential business by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Despite several dozen positive COVID-19 tests in June 2020, for performers and staff, the wrestling league keeps churning out matches.

Schools: Make Do

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued an order saying schools must open 5 days a week starting in August. That order has made Florida a political battleground over schools and the COVID-19 outbreak as he followed the lead of President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy Devos, who are pressuring states to fill classrooms with students in the fall. President Donald Trump said “The people of our country should think of themselves as warriors. Our country has to open.”

DeSntis doubled down on his assertion saying, schools must,  “find a way to make do.” The state is preparing to reopen schools amid a pandemic that has shown no signs of slowing. He gave his six minute address from Tallahassee during a week that saw COVID-19 cases increase rapidly, with an average of 119 deaths per day. A 9-year-old girl from Putnam County was listed among the updated death count Wednesday, the fifth child to die in the state. It used to be that one child’s death was too many but now, children are just collateral damage in the rush to re-open the economy before the November election.

As hundreds of Florida residents are testing positive every day, school districts are working to create back-to-school plans that call for face coverings on students, social distancing “where possible”, and frequent cleaning of schools and buses. But they have received opposition from teacher groups and many parents, who say conditions are not yet safe enough for in-person instruction.

DeSantis acknowledged that some teachers are more vulnerable to the disease because of medical conditions, or might not feel comfortable in the classroom. “They should be given the option of working remotely,” he said. “Let’s just find a way to make do.” The Governor did not discuss any precautions state wide which could help stop the spread of the virus. Face masks will be required in schools in an effort to limit the virus’ spread.

Researchers have found, with some exceptions, kids are less likely to be infected with COVID-19 or experience serious, if any, symptoms if they do get it. A recent South Korean study, however, discovered children 10 years and older spread the virus just as much or perhaps  slightly more than adults, particularly at home.

Three school teachers in Arizona worked in the same classroom to teach students virtually for summer school. All three teachers caught COVID-19 and one died from the infection. They took every precaution with masks, sanitizing and social distancing, but became infected anyway. The virus can be a threat even with the best precautions. Florida is not the countries epicenter with more than 400,000 cases of COVID-19. Dr. Anthony Fauci called on hard hit states to pause their re-opening. Dr. Deborah Birx compared the outbreaks in the sunbelt state to be like three New Yorks. According to a recent poll, only 44% of parents are willing to send their kids to school.

Orange County Florida made the enlightened decision to have all students begin virtual learning starting August 10, 2020. This will of course also have it’s costs in that not every student has a computer or internet connections but the county is committed to make it work. I have been teaching virtually and challenges abound for instance Zoom meetings get cut off every half hour and students cut out occasionally. One students computer is very old and the audio makes her sound like an unintelligible robot but we make do with the chat feature. It is a brave new world and we are working out the kinks. I honestly love teaching virtually because the students can see me create a drawing stroke for stroke. I can share what I do much easier since every student can see what I am doing on their computers. Some students want instant gratification but art is a slow process of discovery and problem solving. Staying connected an engaged with every student is the new challenge in the digital world.

Rush to Donner Pass and a Hill of Beans

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Donald Trump who described himself as a “wartime president” wants Americans to adapt to the COVID-19 virus in his rush to open the economy before the November election. As he put it, “Americans are warriors in the fight to re-open the economy.” He pushes Americans into the workplace despite the risks to their health. As he said, “Will some people be affected? Yes,” and followed with, “Will some people be affected badly (Die)? Yes. But we have to get our country open, and we have to get it open soon (before the election).”

Rush Limbaugh mentioned the Donner Party as an example of how we should adapt to the virus. The Donner Party was trying to get to California over the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. They made the mistake of trying to make the trip in the middle of winter. They got to the peak and it got so bad that they had to turn to cannibalism to survive. According to Rush, the diaries of the leaders of the party had only one sentence about how cold it was, “It was a particularly tough winter.” It is just what it was. He said they didn’t complain about it because there was nothing they could do. They adapted by eating each other. Oh, just 45 of the 81 pioneers survived. They didn’t do such a good job of adapting.

Of course there is something we all can do and that is to wear a mask, social distance and wash hands regularly. That is adaptation. We don’t have to resort to cannibalism as suggested by Rush. The Trumps response is, let them eat beans. On July 9, 2020, Goya CEO Robert Unanue appeared at the White House and praised the president. This resulted in Trump’s critics calling to boycott the Goya brand. Trump and then his daughter Ivanka posed for a photos to promote the beans.

These idiotic and petty photos earned criticism from government ethics experts, who said that the product plugging violated anti-corruption rules. “As a pictorial representation of the Trump administration’s war on government ethics, both photos are perfectly clear,” wrote Walter Shaub, the former director of the U.S. Office of Governmental Ethics. “They scream ‘the rules don’t apply to us,’ a central message of the Trump administration from the start.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, “If it’s Trump, it has to be corrupt.”

What is so sickening about “Beangate” is that this is the presidents priority as the COVID-19 virus has taken more than 137,000 American lives and is surging to higher case numbers every day. Trump has been undermining the work of his own infectious disease experts instead of doing everything in his power to combat the virus. Though largely sidelined by the president, Dr. Fauci said, “The problem is, since we started our baseline so high, as we tried to open up, what we saw was it went from 20,000 cases a day to 30, 40 50 and now we are hanging around 60,000. That’s untenable we have to turn that around.”

New data from the John’s Hopkins School of Public Health showed more than 75,000 new cases on July 18, 2020. That is the highest number of cases in a single day anywhere on earth. By current mortality estimates about 2,700 of those people will die. Nationwide cases are rising in 38 of 50 states. Miami-Dade Couunty in Florida is now out of ICU beds. Dr. Aline Marty said, “On a scale of 1 to 10, we are at maximum urgency, we need to turn this thing around right now.” Florida Governor Ron DuhSantis has still not issued a state wide mandate to wear masks. On July 16, 2020 Trump refused to wear a mask on his trip to Atlanta Georgia. He has more interest in pimping beans. Body bags and 14 refrigerator trucks are being sent to Texas to handle all the bodies.

Florida Schools to Re-Open in August

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Donald Trump is the one person you should not listen to in order to keep your children safe. Re-opening schools should not be a priority over public safety. The president and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said they want all schools to reopen full time in the fall. They do not offer ways to do that safely.

On Monday July 6, 2020, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran ordered Florida public schools to reopen in August. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that if Walmart, Lowe’s and Home Depot are open, then schools  should be open as well. But neither the governor, nor the White House, can force school districts to open in Florida, which has just set another record of 11,433 new COVID-19  cases in a single day this Friday July 10, 2020.

DeSantis and Corcoran both conceded last month that county school boards would have the final say about when and how to reopen their campuses. The state constitution, empowers school boards, not the state education commissioner, to “operate, control and supervise” public schools.

Vice President Mike Pence said, “The president said today that we don’t want the guidance to be too tough.” So, next week, the CDC will issue weaker and less specific and less costly guidance to keep students safe during a pandemic. The president threatened to cut off funding to schools if they do not open, but the federal government only funds a small portion of school budgets. States fund the bulk of school budgets.

States that opened too soon including Florida, have already ignored CDC guidelines on how to re-open safely. They are knee deep in a huge spike in infections with no plans in place to slow the spread of the disease. Up until now parents have been able to protecting their children by keeping them at home. No one knows how the virus presents in children, or how children might transmit the virus to older adults.

To date, two 11 year old children have died from the virus in Florida. 44 Florida Intensive Care Units are at full capacity. Florida State’s lead epidemiologist, Scott Pritchard, who had held his position for 15 years, quit on the day that DeSantis announced the state would open K-12 schools at full capacity. Clearly the scientists disagree with the mindless politics of rushing to open schools in the midst of the pandemic.

Florida teachers are warning that re-opening schools at the height of the pandemic could be deadly. “We’ve been given no guidance. We’ve been given no regulations that make sense to reopen our schools, and in the middle of a pandemic, we’re being told we have to reopen schools come hell or high water,” said Fedrick Ingram, president of the Florida Education Association told CNN Tuesday night.

At least one superintendent has said he will let “local conditions at the time” dictate whether schools open. Six associations representing teachers and parents – including the National Parent Teacher Association and the American Federation of Teachers – have criticized the President’s push to reopen schools. One of the teachers that will soon have to go back is Tracy Merlin, who teaches elementary school students and says it’s nearly impossible for instructors to guarantee their students’ safety under the current circumstances. On social media, teachers were posting, “Where can I get a living will?”

Lily Eskelsen Garcia, the president of the National Education Association, said she previously taught nearly 40 middle schoolers in a “tiny little classroom with one window. That was not healthy before the pandemic,” she said. “My classroom was a germ factory. I knew that I was going to catch someone’s cold every year. This is different. This is a virus that kills people.”

Dr. Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases advised superintendents to use the CDC guidelines as a guide to get students back to school safely. Physical distancing, masks, and hand washing could help keep the level of infection in the community down. Schools can consider modifying the school schedule with alternate days, morning versus evening, allowing online virtual lessons.

The above illustration was done as a virtual online demonstration for my Elite Animation Academy students about how to illustrate contemporary news. While instructing students on how to research, I found images of a Japanese teacher who had students create their own wings which promote social distancing. I also found research showing robots and automatons in front of students. Perhaps this is the only sane solution for the rush to crush students into crowded classrooms.

Orange County Florida Public Schools, will offer a three-pronged plan including face-to-face instruction, virtual schooling and innovative learning.

Resurgence in Dating and COVID-19

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A dating app for wealthy people sees their members getting ready to date on the Fourth of July weekend despite social distancing rules still being in effect. Men and women who have been in isolation for months are desperate to score a date. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, online dating has taken off. Messaging on Hinge increased 30%, and Tinder saw its biggest day ever on March 29, with over 3 billion swipes. People have more time to talk online.

The virus is primarily spread, through respiratory droplets. And this is why it’s important to maintain that physical distance. Because you don’t know who has it and who doesn’t. And so, if people act irresponsibly and go out wanting to meet people, well then we’re gonna create new chains of transmission. Writing love letters is quite romantic.

With  a resurgence of COVID-19 cases hitting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ordered Bars closed though he refuses to consider a step back in his phase 2 re-opening plan. On June 26, 2020 there were 8,942 new COVID-19 cases on , shattering the previous record of 5,508 set just two days ago. New Case counts keep rising by about 1000 cases each day. DeSantis said the order was issued because many people were disobeying the state’s reopening guidelines. “People weren’t following it,” the governor said. “There was widespread noncompliance, and that led to issues. If folks just follow the guidelines, we’re going to be in good shape. When you depart from that, then it becomes problematic.” He however  refuses to make mask wearing mandatory state wide.

Back in April while NYC was suffering from the onslaught of the deadly virus, the governor claimed victory over the virus when he visited the president at the White House. “Everyone in the media was saying Florida would be like New York or Italy and that has not happened,” he said. “We had a tailored and measured approach that not only helped our numbers be way below what anybody predicted, but also did less damage to our state going forward.” Now he has to eat his words.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in response, ” look at the numbers, You played politics with this virus, and you lost.” “It was never politics. It was always science,” Cuomo said. He  criticized other state leaders’ response to the coronavirus pandemic Thursday June 25, 2020, saying some states who rushed to reopen their economies were playing politics.

Dr. Anthony Fauci in testimony before a congressional committee said on Tuesday that the rate of new coronavirus infections could more than double to 100,000 a day if current outbreaks were not contained, warning that the virus’s march across the South and the West “puts the entire country at risk.” “We have a very heterogenous country, but heterogeneity doesn’t mean that we are not intimately interconnected with each other,” Fauci said. “So what goes on in one area of the country, ultimately could have an effect on the other areas of the country.”

Vice President Mike Pence wore a face mask to a public briefing on Tuesday June 30, 2020 where the message from the surgeon general and others was clear: Americans should to do the same while in public to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The vice president and others removed their masks only when delivering remarks. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said “When you do not wear your face covering, we end up in a situation where you see higher rates of disease spread and you end up having to close places. This mask, this face covering, actually is an instrument of freedom for Americans if we all use it.”

Today July 2, 2020 Florida reached a new milestone surpassing a 1000% increase in COVID-19 cases since it re-opened.

Creative Social Distancing

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I began to teach summer camps and started to think about creative social distancing solutions. Kids are notorious for not social distancing, and I didn’t want them to give each other the virus to take it home to their parents or grand parents. Children are less likely to develop severe symptoms but I was also concerned for instructors and their families.

On May 22, 2020 Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that all children’s summer activities including Summer Camps would be allowed to re-open after two months of lock down. He said this would be safe because children appear to be less susceptible to complications from the virus. “Our kids have been out of organized activities for a couple months now,” he said. “We need to have a pathway to get it back.” he said.

Broward and Miami Dade Counties voted against opening summer camps. They felt three things had to be in place, social distancing, face masks and sanitation. Pediatricians had mixed opinions about whether the move is too hasty. Dr. Bruce Peters, said, “Children could infect the people they live with, including grandparents who may be compromised because of age, and it could cause another peak, another outbreak of COVID. There are so many factors we can’t control.”

An 11 year old is the youngest person to die in Florida and some children have been infected and become critically ill. State data show that 1,049 children 14 or younger had contracted the COVID-19 virus as of Thursday May 21, 2020 and forty-two children were hospitalized. In one hospital case study, a child tested positive for COVID-19 and was infectious for 17 days while showing no symptoms such as a temperature or cough. Children might be infectious for longer than adults while remaining asymptomatic.

DeSantis said he would leave it up to parents to decide whether their children participate in summer camp activities. So, with no effective leadership from Federal, State or County officials it became the responsibility of camp instructors to come up with possible ways to get kids to social distance. My first students were troopers about keeping their face masks on. I spoke to them about hand washing and wiping down anything they picked up before I started any art instruction. Temperature checks before entering the classroom were re-assuring but not a guarantee since anyone can be asymptomatic and still spread the virus.

Social Distancing was the difficult conundrum. I searched online for creative solutions. Restaurants put manikins, cardboard cut outs of celebrities or ghosts in empty seats to fill out a room. I liked huge plush toys like Sea Otters, Teddy Bears, or Panda Bears filling the seats. One restaurant had large plastic cup shields that surrounded diners like the cone of silence in Get Smart. One restaurant had individual greenhouses placed outside for diners. Partitions and shower curtains actually do little to stop the virus since they are not sealed off. Pool Noodles strapped to hats seemed fun as well a very large Burger King crowns the size of hoop skirts. Cardboard dragon sculpts seemed a perfect solution for a video gaming summer camp.

I was told that an Orlando Bar downtown had Halloween skeletons seated in empty seats. Considering the meteoric rise in COVID-19 cases in Florida this past week that seems the most fitting solution. On Saturday June 27, 2020 the Florida Department of Health, 9,585 new cases of COVID-19 were reported and the sales of alcohol in Florida bars was suspended. To put that in perspective NYC’s highest COVID-19 case count was about12,000 in one day. Florida may very well be in the same dire situation NYC was in back in March in the coming weeks unless measures are taken to stop the spread.

The CDC offered tips on how to protect children during the pandemic. They recommend, “keeping children at least 6 feet from other people and each other. If children meet in groups, it can put everyone at risk. Children can pass this virus onto others who have an increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19. The key to slowing the spread of COVID-19 is to limit contact as much as possible. While school is out, children should not have in-person play dates with children from other households. If children are playing outside their own homes, it is essential that they remain 6 feet from anyone who is not in their own household.”

The CDC has house hold studies in the works but they do not know the impact that children have on the transmission cycle of the virus. The CDC is moving forward to find ways to open schools safely. Dr. Fauci in testimony Tuesday June 30, 2020 said, “We need to do whatever we can to get the children back to school.” At a COVID-19 Task Force press briefing, Secretary Ben Carson said, “The CDC is advising schools on how to bring students back to school safely. You don’t have to have everyone in auditoriums, those congregate settings, you would avoid. There would be fewer kids in the classrooms and the desks would be socially distanced. Instead of having the kids eating in a cafeteria they should be eating at their desks.”

First Day of Summer Camps Elite

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The first day of Elite Animation Academy summer camps began on Monday June 22, 2020. I had three students for a class that focuses on drawing people places and things. It is essentially an Urban Sketching Class with the glitch that I can not, in good conscience, take students out on locations like restaurants to sketch. I brought a six foot stick with me to class to keep a visual reminder of what six feet looks like so I could space out the students. I bring that stick everywhere I go now. It makes me feel a but like Moses parting the viral sea.

Two of my students were sisters. Everyone thankfully was wearing masks. I spoke about the pandemic to my students without focusing too much on the statistics and data of the past week.

Florida is quickly becoming the next epicenter for the spread of this virus. Florida was late to shut down and early to re-open. Governor Ron DeSantis ended all restrictions on youth activities across the state, including camps. “At the end of the day, we trust parents to be able to make decisions in conjunction with physicians.” he said. A 17 year old girl is the youngest to die from Covid-19 in Florida so far. Oh, wait, sorry, I got side tracked, I didn’t discuss any of that with my students. I kept that to myself.

I covered the basics of hand washing, social distancing and keeping the masks on. There was hand sanitizer on each table and disinfecting wipes. I advised students to wipe down every pencil or sharpener they used. My students were troopers keeping their masks on at all times. Talking through a mask was a challenge and I realized I couldn’t dash off quick sketch notes to hand off to each student. Each sketch would be contaminated in theory.

There were a few students taking a computer class and several taking a character design class and my three students. I managed to keep my students six feet apart by taking out all the chairs but four and pushing the two tables in the room to opposite walls. I then seated students at opposite ends of the tables. The tables are just short of six feet long. Most of the morning I was concerned with being sure my students were properly spaced and safe. They were troopers keeping their masks on for the whole class. I was wearing the cloth mask Pam created for me which has three layers of fabric. This was the first day I wore the mask all day and I got used to having it on. I find I breath best through my mouth and then exhale through my nose. It is surprising having to think about every breath.

Before lunch I decided to get the students out of the small classroom. It is safer to be outside rather than in enclosed spaces. We walked down to a small lake to draw. I gave then some basic composition tips with a horizon line and basic tips on how to draw trees and then let them go. I scheduled an hour for them to work but they really didn’t have the attention span yet to focus on the endless details that existed at the scene. One student delighted in drawing the ducks and a family that arrived to feed the ducks. She has the passion and it will be a joy to help her see better so she can get more on the page.

The next day the two sisters did not show up for class leaving me with one student. I may have discussed Covid-19 than was needed. So much of my attention was focused on student safety. The older sister would drop her pencil when done with a sketch as if dropping a mic. She had some talent. It is a shame she didn’t push herself. The phone for now is her world. The younger sister sneezed once. Three cheers for her mask, which did it’s job.

It is much easier to maintain six feet distance from one student rather than three.

Virtual Courses and Summer Camps

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I had never used Zoom prior to the pandemic. I now use it every week to teach students traditional foundation drawings skills and animation for Elite Animation Academy. I like the platform because students can watch me draw live in an intimate online setting. I can take a drawing done by each student and then quickly add a few strokes to show them how their sketch might be improved. As students sketch away on assignments I like to sketch them from my end of the virtual classroom. I honestly feel that students get more from me than when I taught them in the classroom setting, pre-pandemic.

In a news conference Thursday June 18, 2020 Governor Ron DeSantis and Commissioner Richard Corcoran announced that they plan to reopen schools for in-person learning in the fall of 2020. DeSantis said, “We are not going to be instituting a lot of rules, or really any rules.”

  • Step 1 – June – open up campuses for youth activities and summer camps.
  • Step 2 – July – expand campus capacities further for summer recovery instruction.
  • Step 3 – August – open up campuses at full capacity for traditional start of the academic year.

According Florida Today, Florida’s surgeon general has acknowledged that a syndrome that attacks children and is associated with Covid-19 has surfaced in Florida, adding yet another critical layer to diagnosing and treating the disease. Emergency Medicine Physician Rajiv Bahl, MD, said that it’s too soon for children to begin playing together and having play dates.

Starting tomorrow, June 21, 2020, I will be teaching summer camps and classes 7 days a week until August 7, 2020. Summer camps will begin Monday June 22, 2020 at Elite Animation Academy and I will be instructing 5 days a week. I don’t know how many students are in the summer camps, but maintaining 6 feet of distance between students might be a challenge.

Today Sunday June 21, 2020 I will begin teaching a course at Crealde. Last week was the first class but I did not have the course on my calendar since I wasn’t given the course schedule, so I missed it. Six students showed up. I felt bad when I got the call and I was still in bed.

One Crealde student received notice that someone that they had been exposed to on June 11th, 2020 just received a Positive Covid-19 result.   Out of an abundance of caution, they were tested June 20, 2020, and will self isolate until results come back on Tuesday June 23, 2020 or Wednesday June 24, 2020.  They withdrew from class. I was asked to let the other five students know why the student left.  This student was with all of the other students for the entire 75 minutes that they waited on Sunday June 14, 2020 when I was at home.   Most students were wearing masks.  This student was wearing a mask.

The person this student was exposed to had no symptoms. People who are asymptomatic can expose others to the virus. They were both wearing masks, exposure was less than a minute together, the doctor says there is a very slim chance the student contracted Covid-19.  I feel like I dodged a bullet for now.
Tomorrow Sunday June 21, 2020 when I go to teach at Crealde I will of course wear a mask, but if any students decide to show up despite the possible Covid-19 exposure, then I will feel the need to get tested as well. I have been locked down for the past 3 months doing a pandemic themed painting every day. It will be a shock to try and return to “life as normal.”
At President Donald Trump‘s poorly attended Tulsa Rally, he said he had told officials in his administration to slow down coronavirus testing because of the rising number of cases in America. He said that the US has now tested some 25 million people. “Here’s the bad part… when you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people; you’re going to find more cases. So I said to my people, slow the testing down please.”
Florida reported another 4,049 coronavirus cases Saturday June 20, 2020, yet another record-shattering increase as the number of infections statewide approaches 94,000. Every day this week has show exponential growth in the spread through the state with a new record set each day. Florida has “all the markings of the next large epicenter of coronavirus transmission,” and risks being the “worst it has ever been,” according to projections from a model by scientists at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania.
Working 7 days a week, I will not be able to produce a pandemic themed painting each day. I will have to limp by, doing one or two a week. I am about the enter the Wild West of teaching summer camps and courses in the midst of a pandemic.

Security

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In a news conference Tuesday June 16, 2020, Governor Ron DeSantis said that 260 workers from the Orlando International Airport tested positive for Covid-19 after nearly 500 employees were tested. Airport Chief Executive Phil Brown had to correct the Governor’s statement. According Brown, of the 500 airport workers who were tested for Covid-19, only two had positive results. Those tests were done over a three day period.

Between mid-March and through June 6, there were 132 employees of all the airlines, rental car companies, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Aviation Authority that tested positive, according to the statement. Another 128 people who tested positive were not airport employees but were traceable connections to the workers who tested positive for Covid-19, according to the public health team. so, 132 plus 128 is, 260 people with some affiliation with the airport have tested positive for Covid-19. This shell game is rather funny as executives try to confuse and downplay the numbers.

Clearly the airport executive tried to downplay the number of workers affected but regardless, 260 people were infected by the virus. That left me wondering, what would it be like to try and get through security knowing the TSA agents might be infected with the virus. A pat town might not just be invasive but downright terrifying.

On Wednesday June 17, 2020, the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority approved a new policy requiring all 22,000 airport employees to wear facial coverings in public areas of the airport. Employees will need to observe social distancing “to extent that they can.” I imagine social distancing goes out the widow as a TSA agent spears the virus all over your clothes as they pat you down.

Some people have felt they were sexually assaulted when they were patted down. a well-known CNN political commentator and analyst, Angela Rye was subjected to a humiliating vaginal pat-down before boarding a regular flight from Detroit to New York. In addition to being screened by the backscatter X-Ray machine, the female officer advised that she had to be patted down. It was only supposed to be “a backhanded pat around her upper thigh.” Instead, the female officer went down her leg, up her dress and her hand sideways touched Rye inappropriately. The same officer then faced Rye, and her sideways hand once again hit the middle of Rye’s genitals. Rye believed she was sexually assaulted. She filed a complaint.

OIA is stepping up its cleaning efforts in high traffic areas, and hand sanitizer stations have been added throughout the airport. And as reported earlier they are downplaying the tread of the virus.

I hear flights going into and out of OIA all day long. Airlines have to keep the flights on schedule even if they are empty because it is a requirement of the 25 billion dollars in government bail outs. Known as the CARES Act, airlines receiving aid are required to continue flying to every domestic destination they already serve, even with low passenger numbers. The requirement is designed to keep supply chains stable and transport essential personnel, like government and healthcare workers, as well as to maintain connectivity to smaller areas. While airlines collected 25 billion dollars small businesses are folding all over the county. So, ghost planes are flying all over the country literally empty except for plane crews and very few passengers.

We are living in the age of ghost planes and zombie molestation in the name of “security.”

Republican National Convention

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Donald Trump has one thing on his mind and that is getting re-elected. He hasn’t been holding his political rallies, which stoke his ego, for months. As the death toll from Covid-19 neared 100,000 he threatened the governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, a Democrat, ahead of the 2020 Republican National Convention, that he might not hold the Republican National Convention in his state because the governor was “unable to guarantee” that the arena can be filled to capacity. The convention is expected to be held August 24 to 27, 2020.

Trump Tweeted, “Unfortunately, Democrat Governor, @RoyCooperNC is still in Shutdown mood and unable to guarantee that by August we will be allowed full attendance in the Arena. In other words, we would be spending millions of dollars building the Arena to a very high standard without even knowing if the Democrat Governor would allow the Republican Party to fully occupy the space.” The President’s calls for a “guarantee” overlooks the uncertainty surrounding the summertime levels of Covid-19 and the challenges of hosting a political convention in the middle of an ongoing public health crisis.

It is hard to imagine a more convenient super spreading event for the virus that a crowded convention. This politicization of the rush to re-open reminded me that the virus doesn’t care about red or blue. It just wanted to find people to infect. Over Memorial Day weekend pictures showed crowds of people practicing no social distancing as they crowded to beaches pools and parties. A huge stadium of adoring fans is precisely the thing that Trump must miss the most since the start of the pandemic. A nice round of golf is fine but a stadium of cheering fans is Trump’s wet  dream.

Immediately Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he supports moving the Republican National Convention to Florida. He said, The political convention would be great for Florida’s coronavirus-damaged economy as President Donald Trump has suggested moving the planned Republican convention out of North Carolina. Since he is lock step with Trump in the rush to re-open it makes see that he would not mind a huge Convention in the midst of a pandemic. DeSantis said numerous areas in Florida, Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville, could quickly organize a multi-day showcase. But he wouldn’t promote one area over another. I can not imagine a scenario in which a fully attended Republican National Convention could be done safely. There is no GOP safety plan in place. In response to Trumps threats, North Carolina Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen requested a written COVID-19 safety plan from the CEO of the Republican National Convention Monday. Before the pandemic, the RNC was expected to draw 50,000 or about half the number of people who have died from the virus.