It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like COVID!

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I heard the song,”It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like COVID” and I can’t get it out of my head. Right after the crowds gathered for Thanksgiving, I watched as the hospitalization numbers ticked upwards. Seems like everyone is partying mask less like it is 1999. Everyone seems to be over COVID but COVID continues to spread. It doesn’t matter how many times you have been vaccinated, the virus keeps finding ways to elude the immune system. Repeated infections are resulting in increased risks of fatal outcomes. Rather than boosting immunity repeated infections are destroying the immune response to COVID and other viruses like flu and RSV. Blood clots, heart failures and a huge rise in cases among children should have people concerned but the Who’s in Whoville keep going about their life blissfully unaware, while pressing together in tight crowds for comfort.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Medical Association warn that the surge in RSV, flu and COVID is threatening the upcoming holiday season. Thanksgiving has jump-started a new surge of COVID all across America. For weeks, RSV has been sending lots of babies and young children to emergency rooms and intensive care units. On top of that, Flu hospitalizations doubled in just one week and are at the highest they’ve been this time of year in a decade. When everyone masked up the last several hears and flu literally disappeared. No that all masking and distancing has been abandoned the viruses hare having a field day.

Nearly 9 million flu cases, 70,000 flu hospitalizations and 4,500 flu deaths have already been reported so far this year, including 14 deaths among children. And now COVID looks like it’s surging, too. CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky says COVID hospitalizations jumped 15 to 20% in just a week, raising fears that deaths could start rising, too.

The simple mitigation measure to keep you and your family safe have never changed, though some have chosen to make your health a political issue. Social distance. Wash your hands a lot. Wear a good fitting KN95 mask, especially around family and friends. Open windows as much as you can, and stay home if you’re sick. And get both a flu shot and one of the new COVID boosters. Most of all, think for yourself, since there is so much misinformation on social media.

 

 

Holiday Travel

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Holiday travel this year is like holding a hot air balloon Festival during a tornado. This is 2020 so a firenado seemed more appropriate.

There are 37 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The constant refrain of holiday carols and commercialization leads to a desire for human companionship. Millions of Americans ignored warnings from health experts and decided to travel for the Thanksgiving holiday. The CDC has said that small home gatherings are the primary source of spread of the COVID-19 virus.in a recent study it was found that the virus was spread 65% of the time at small gatherings. The coming weeks will be difficult, especially since so many traveled over the holiday and held in-person dinners indoors.

Anthony Fauci, the nation’s foremost authority on infectious diseases, and Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned about the potential for a spike in infections stemming from holiday parties, even if they’re small and only among relatives.

Nearly 3 million air travelers passed through security checkpoints on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday before Thanksgiving. Sunday was the single-busiest day at airport checkpoints since March. The Thanksgiving travel damage is done. It will take 7 to 10 days for people to discover if they have been infected. Dr. Anthony Fauci described what the United States will experience in the first weeks of December as “A surge upon a surge.”

Fauci said the arrival of vaccines offers a “light at the end of the tunnel.”However we all have to stay vigilant to help slow the spread of the virus until that vaccines can be distributed. Health care workers will likely be among the first to get the vaccine, with the first vaccinations happening before the end of December, followed by many more in January, February and March, he said.

In the mean time do not let your guard down leading up to Christmas. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said to think of COVID like the Grinch. If you practice social distancing, wear a mask in public and wash your hands often we can all celebrate the holidays safely. In many places, hospitals are being overwhelmed by rising case loads. More than 20 percent of U.S. hospitals expect critical staff shortages in the coming week, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Beds can be built but you still need enough doctors to handle the rise in cases. we are fast approaching 100,000 people who are hospitalized for COVID-19. Now the Midwest, Great Plains, and Mountain West are the new hot spots, but some former hot spots are warming back up as well, with cases and hospitalizations surging again. Florida which is third in terms of the number of deaths from COVID-19 is again becoming a hot spot. “Thanksgiving may be the beginning of a dark holiday season as the surge in coronavirus cases is likely to persist, or even get worse, through December, January and February.” said Dr. Fauci.

Beach Day

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The day before Thanksgiving, Pam and I decided we wanted to get away for a beach day with the dogs. Pam researched and found  a beach near Melbourne that allows dogs. The drive to the beach as fairly uneventful though Donkey kept blocking my view out the back window.

The beach had its own parking lot long with a bathroom and the lot was almost full with just a few parking spots left. Rather than carry the umbrella and towels out we decided to walk out to the beach with the dogs thinking we might have to turn around if it was too crowded.

We both wore masks the entire time and discovered that no one else on the beach wore masks. The beach was crowded but we decided to try and find an isolated spot. My comfort level included at least 30 feet of space or 5 times my height removed from others. That amount of space was hard to find. A sign staked out the limits for the dog beach and all said, maybe 100 yards were allowed for dogs. It was also high tide which meant people and dogs were crushed together. More than half the people on the beach also didn’t have dogs which was frustrating because they could spread out to the vast stretched of beach that were deserted on either side of this crowded mess.

The breeze was coming off the ocean so my other thought is that we should find a spot with no one camped out directly in front of us. We found one spot back by the dunes that was properly isolated. As I held the dogs, Pam started setting up the umbrella. As she was doing that a woman with her dog plopped down a few feet directly in front of us. Pam picked up stakes and we moved about 30 feet south to another spot.

We relaxed for a bit and then took the dogs out to the surf on their leashes. Our masks stayed on, we were no going to swim ourselves, we just let the dogs pay in the surf. Sprout was caught off guard by one wave, but swam back to shore like a pro. Donkey, a puppy, had never been to the beach and she had a blast. We played out in the surf twice. One lady lost her flip flop in the surf and we recovered it for her. On the way back to our umbrella that same lady lost her French Bull Dog and we had to catch it. All three dogs on leashed got tangled up. It would have been funny otherwise, but this lady was not wearing her mask. I worked hard to pull back from the chaos as dogs barked and tugged in all directions. When we got back to the umbrella two college girls had plopped down a few feet from us. We decided to call it a day rather than constantly having to pick up and move. The congested strip of beach kept getting more crowded.

We actually did spot one other responsible dog owner who wore a mask as she walked her pup. Several mask less children flew kites.

Pardon

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Don’t travel this Thanksgiving. The Omaha World Herald headline read, “See that Thanksgiving celebrations are restricted as much as possible so as to prevent another flare-up.” Health officials in many cities issued the same holiday warning: “Stay home and stay safe.” That headline ran November 28, 1918 during the Spanish Flu epidemic. 102 years later and we find ourselves in the same predicament.

In 1918 the Thorspecken family lived in Omaha and they survived the Spanish Flu. I have to imagine they were as shocked as I am at peoples stupidity and indifference to the public health threat. Despite the warnings in 1918, many churches held services on Thanksgiving. A big party was held for 150 soldiers returning from WWI at the First Methodist Church. After that festival, 500 soldiers were to be entertained in private homes. These were likely super spreader events at the time.  Back then people made the same mistakes being made today by ignoring basic health warnings, masks social distancing and washing hands. My father was born a few years after the flu epidemic subsided, a sign of hope for the future.

In 2020, more than 1 million COVID-19 cases were reported in the United States over the last 7 days.

As cases continue to increase rapidly across the United States, the safest way to celebrate Thanksgiving is to celebrate at home with the people you live with. Gatherings with family and friends who do not live with you can increase the chances of getting or spreading COVID-19 or the flu.

Celebrating virtually or with the people you live with is the safest choice this Thanksgiving. Zoom has cut off the 40 minute free time limit, so you can stay connected virtually with loved ones on Thanksgiving day.

An Iowa turkey will be traveling to the White House for a presidential pardon. Turkeys are not known to catch COVID-19 and the trip will literally save their lives so it is worth the risk. The turkey “pardoning” tradition seen today dates back to 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln reportedly first granted clemency to a turkey. The tradition formally began in 1989, under former President George H.W. Bush, and presidents have spared the lives of Thanksgiving birds since. Donald Trump is not one for honoring traditions, so I fear for the Turkey. Trump has been hunkered down in the white house refusing to accept reality. In the past, the pardon ceremony has been held in front of a crowd of spectators in the Rose Garden at the White House. I am sure Donald will want to make it another super spreader event.

Cutting the Turkey.

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Thanksgiving in Iowa was a crash course in Midwestern hospitality. The family farm occupies 16 acres but is land-locked on three sides by neighbors’ farms. The red house is at the top of a hill which allows epic views of sunsets and sunrises. It is the end of bow hunting season, but that didn’t stop a lone doe from standing at the edge of the woods about 100 yards away from the back sliding glass doors. Up in another clearing about a quarter mile away wild turkeys foraged at the edge of the field.

Ron Schwartz was responsible for carving the turkey and I couldn’t resist sketching the Norman Rockwell moment. First, all the stuffing was removed and then carving commenced. Ron is skilled with knives, so the carving went quickly. The kitchen behind him was alive with activity as the other Thanksgiving sides were prepared. Green beans had crunchies, potatoes had gravy and four different pies waited for desert. No one at a Schwartz dinner table leaves hungry.

Once the Turkey rib cage was cut free of all the white meat, Ron put the bird and platter on the back porch where four outdoor cats picked it clean. The cats must have even swallowed some of the bones. Later, after we ate and were playing board games, the black cat hauled a huge dead squirrel up on to the porch and dropped it down by the sliding glass doors like some sort of reciprocal peace offering. The cats had celebrated Thanksgiving in grand style, and even enjoyed a squirrel for dessert.

Board Games in Iowa.

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After the Thanksgiving Turkey Dinnr, the Schwartz family plays board games for the rest of the day into the night This game called “Quelf” was rather strange. The board has characters that move around a rainbow brick road using a die to set the number of moves. Different spots would have players pick up cards much like in a game of Monopoly. Some cards in the deck insist that a player perform an action throughout the length of the game, “Roolz Cards.” For instance, Pam Schwartz had to say “Wacka Wacka” any time another player laughed. Of course when she said “Wacka Wacka” we would all laugh again. Another card had Pam shout out commands like a drill Sargent, which she did with some gusto.

I pulled a card that said I must pinch the flesh around my belly button to manipulate it like a mouth to say something like, “Well this is awkward.” I thought long and hard before performing that task, but ended up doing so to avoid paying a penalty. Another card insisted that I must stand in slow motion and point at the player to my left and say, “You have sabotaged my plans for the last time, en guard!” The simple goal of the game was to get to the end of the rainbow paved rainbow first. I didn’t win.

Another board game called “Baker Street,” based on the Sherlock Holmes books, had four players trying to solve a murder on the streets of London. Once again, a die set the pace of game play. I thought I was being clever by bypassing many possible clues to get to the scene of the crime first. The clue at the scene was no better than any other spot on the board so I had to backtrack to learn what the other players already knew. I knew that the crime had to do with the value of a bible. So I had my suspicions about the murderer and his motive, but I wasn’t able to find the weapon used in time. Each player was on their own private quest and didn’t have any reason to interact. After the  boisterous insanity of Quelf, this seemed far too tame a prospect.

Playing Canasta.

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Playing cards and board games are a family tradition in the Schwartz household in Iowa. Grandma Schwartz, and Pam’s other grandparents, have been carrying the card game Canasta on as a family tradition for decades. I followed along trying to understand all the rules. Two team members sit diagonally across from each other, the cards are put down on the table in groups and the first team to get rid of their cards wins the round. Any cards remaining in players’ hands are then added up as negative points.

These card games can go on until three in the morning. I sat in on several games with Pam Schwartz offering advice over my shoulder. For the kids, we played Gubs, which is a card game in which you try and collect as many Gubs (bugs) as you can. The trick is that opponents can steal your Gubs, entrap them, or even kill them. I never did manage to hold on to all my Gubs.

Thanksgiving was a week long event in which family slowly arrives in a crescendo until Thanksgiving day when there were 24 people in the Iowa household. Then over the next several days people slowly disappear. When the house was full, everyone shouted out their story over each other. It was a bit overwhelming at first, but then I adjusted and just enjoyed the variety of exchanges. All the board games reminded me of Thorspecken family games that I have sketched in the past. My family however has scattered to the winds and no one household hosts large holiday parties.

Thanksgiving at home.

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My sister Pat Boehme drove to Orlando from Port Charlotte to spend Thanksgiving with Terry and I. We sat around the dining room table going over old family photos. Pat was able to identify some people that to had not been able to identify. For thanksgiving all went to Mitchell’s Fish Market (460 N Orlando Ave #122, Winter Park, F) in Winter Park Village. The reservation was for 2pm and at that time, the restaurant was less than half full. Driving on Thanks giving Day was an absolute joy because there were no of the cars on the road. Orlando was a ghost town.

Mitchel’s had a traditional Thanksgiving diner for $27. The appetizer, had was a seafood gumbo the was absolutely delicious. Honestly I was satiated after the gumbo, but the turkey dinner was so good, that I managed to wolf half of it down. Desert was a slice of pumpkin pie. Terry had purchase an apple pie and a pumpkin pie a Publix, and we had baked the pumpkin pie the night before, so I knew there as a whole pie cooling down at home. After going out for dinner, we sat around the living room watch in movies and trying to digest all the food. Pat’s Stomach started rumbling and we didn’t have any Pepto-Bismol, so we gave her a heating pad to put on her tummy and that seemed to help.

Terry had rented two movies. On was “Far from the Madding Crowd” this is definitely a Victorian Era woman’s film. The female lead planed by Carey Mulligan  meets three men each of which asks for her hand in marriage almost immediately. Life just doesn’t work that way, although maybe it did way back then. Pat and I watched the film while we waive for Terry to gel home, then after our Thanksgiving meal Terry wanted to watch the film. That is when I got my sketch done for the day. 

A Cracker Barrel Thanksgiving

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For Thanksgiving, Terry and I drove to Port Charlotte to visit my sister Pat Boehme. Pat has been on a diet and ultimately lost an incredible amount of weight. I had to take a health assessment for my insurance company and the results came back with big red X’s for each result right before the holidays. My body mass index showed that I am overweight. I need to reduce my waist circumference by two inches. My blood pressure showed that I am prehypertensive which puts me at risk for a heart attack or a stroke. Oddly my total cholesterol is too low, indicating I am malnourished or anemic. Put simply I am a  train wreck waiting to happen.

I asked my sister for advice on how I should change my diet and she gave me tons of pointers. She had a medical condition that actually kept her from exercising, so all the weight she lost was from carefully watching her calorie intake. The rules are pretty simple, less sugar and no breads with tons of vegetables.  Right now however the house is full of leftover food from a New Year’s Day party. That means we have tons of beers, sodas, potato chips, pastries and other assorted junk food. Dieting will have to wait until the fridge is purged.

Rather than cook a large Thanksgiving dinner, we all decided to go out to Cracker Barrel on Thanksgiving day. It is amazing how many people had the same ides. The parking lot was jammed and there was a long wait to get a table. The long front porch of the restaurant is lined with rocking chairs and most were full. Towards the end of the porch, we sat across from these teens sitting in baby sized rocking chairs playing a game of checkers. When we ultimately got to our table, Terry and I took turns playing with a game that was like checkers using golf tees inserted into holes drilled into a triangle shaped piece of wood. With only one tee missing the goal was to try and eliminate all but one tee by jumping over other tees thus eliminating them. I’m convinced the game is impossible to win. Terry and I always had three or more tees left over.

The Thanksgiving dinner had all the fixings and was quite delicious. I had to admire the efficiency with which all the comfort food was served. Pat ordered a light fish dish, keeping to her diet.  I wish I had the ability to turn away from the trimmings. No more stuffing!

Black Friday

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The day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday, is supposed to have some of the best shopping deals of the holiday season. Actually the night of Thanksgiving, stores like Wall mart are supposed to kick off the holiday shopping binge. Carol served us Mike’s Hard Lemonade which I developed a taste for. She cut up vegetables and lettuce for a salad to accompany our left over feast. Carol’s boyfriend’s dog eyed her progress waiting for scraps. Her own dog, a dachshund named Reese’s was blind but he still roamed the room by scent searching for any abandoned morsel. It was like having one of those robot vacuums underfoot constantly roaming the room.

There was definitely no shortage of food and we worked hard devouring the leftovers.  It began to snow. It was only flurries, but it was thrilling for people who are used to the Sunshine State. We took some less than traditional Family portraits at the dining room table. I’m sure the Thorspecken’s back in Germany will be impressed by our refinement and culture. Nini Thorspecken Skyped her parents in Weisbaden every evening. Cornelia and her husband did their best to speak in English. Technology is indeed making the world a smaller place, although we kept loosing the Internet connection.