Day 16: California Under Martial Law Lite (My Smile Is A Mask)

Parents will keep their infected children a lot further than 6' away from me when I go out in this mask.

Humboldt's Health Director is recommending masks. Something, anything, to cover the nose and mouth. I don't know why this is so controversial around the country. The president says he won't do it, though he advises others to wear them. Karma, he may find, can be a prickly bastard. Of course, Humboldt residents, some of whom still think this is a hoax or just a nasty little cold bug, have scoffed at the idea.

Meanwhile people here are officially being put under quarantine. That means if you get the call saying that you are under quarantine, there are only three ways to get out of that said quarantine. You can test negative. A nurse can clear you. Or you can go 14 days without displaying symptoms. If you decide to be a "rebel" and leave your home while under quarantine, you have now broken the law. Unfortunately, they can't shoot you yet, but I'm sure the fine is fairly heavy. I imagine that the one who scoffs at this being real will be the same one who leaves the house after infecting his kid, wife, neighbor, and who knows who else, just so he can grab a six pack of his favorite alcohol all while bragging loudly that he's suppose to be under quarantine. Maybe another "rebel," one who is on the other side of the spectrum and is super paranoid, will take that opportunity to pull out his recently purchased gun and blow him away. Are we there yet? No, but the exit to it is fast approaching on the highway here in Humboldt.

The reason I didn't go to work for almost two weeks is because someone my family had contact with was getting tested for Covid-19. We figured since hardly anyone in the county was being tested at that moment, the fact that doctors deemed her worthy of the test was good enough reason for us to stay home, though my doctor's office told me (after the first call, which was comically unproductive) that I could do my normal routine! I decided to use caution and ate up a week's work of sick time until the test results came back. It took almost fourteen days for the person to get them!

Do you get the feeling this country is woefully unprepared?

On a side note, one that I will be investigating, I had read that the numbers out of China may have been inaccurate. This is, of course, huge news because we based a lot of our actions on those numbers. Well, I saw a tweet from Donald Trump Jr., this morning. He was retweeting a bit that said the original numbers out of Wuhan were something like 2,500 plus dead, but the numbers may be more than 40,000. Little Donnie isn't the most reliable source, but I am going to look into this. If that's true, those morons who believe this is just another flu better be prepared because that means there's a good chance it will get their asses.

Karma strikes back.