Hiking and Covid-19

Greetings gentle readers.  How goes it where you are?  We are really bored and miss being able to stroll the stores without being on high alert for a cough or a sneeze.  When last we were at Safeway, there was a young man with a cough bad enough to bring him to his knees.  He really did go down to the floor, it was pretty awful.  It happened in produce.

There has been the usual hiking.

Yesterday we had an unusual sky. Winds aloft were very strong.  By the end of the day, winds on the ground were strong.  A system was coming.

Some of the ocotillos are blooming.  Some have chosen to bloom before they leaf out.  Many are leafing and not blooming.  The hummingbirds love them.

This is a Penstemon.   They pop up when there has been rain and it's warm.  One of our neighbor's backyard is very hospitable to them, and he has a lot.  The neighbor next door to him is not attractive to them, although he wishes it would be.  They self seed and grow where they want to.  It's not a great photo, the wind was whipping them around pretty good.

This is a new house in the neighborhood.  Apparently they have a giant motor home and they will be parking it inside.  I'm not fond of their paint treatment.  The house seems to be an afterthought to the two giant garages.

I believe this is a thistle.  Many of them grow along the side of Ajo, but it's too dangerous to stop and get a picture there.  They look really nice in bunches with their large white flowers.

This is the sky out to the south west.  As I sit here, it's getting darker.

I have an eye exam scheduled for Friday, and hopefully the last 90 days of contacts I ordered will be there at the same time.  That gives me six months worth in total.  My corneas are so dry that I must wear contacts, after an hour in glasses the pain is too much; in case you were wondering why I just don't wear my glasses - that's why.  Anyway, I'm hoping the appointment will be available, so that I have another year of valid prescription.  Costco has stopped taking orders for contacts over the phone as of yesterday.  The store does not want the opticians handing things to people.  We used the Costco website last night to order for Jim, Costco needs a better IT department, it's a terrible website. I don't know what's being done for people who do need glasses ordered or adjusted.

Meanwhile, this is what's happening in Tucson.

The article is here.

This morning, after consulting with business stakeholders, the City Attorney, and City Manager, I have made the determination that it is in the best interest of maintaining public health to suspend dine-in services in restaurants and food courts, and transition to delivery/pick-up only services. Bars, gyms, and other specific venues stated in the proclamation where groups of people congregate are directed to be closed through the end of the month.”

The NYT is opining that social distancing is going to last for awhile.  Until there is a vaccine or a treatment, it won't leave the pool of potential hosts and the number of cases will ebb and flow.

No one knows for sure how long social distancing will have to last to reduce the spread to near zero. But if South Korea and China are appropriate exemplars, we’ll need to stay apart now for at least eight weeks, and maybe more. China locked down Wuhan and other cities in Hubei province on Jan. 23. Today, provincial officials are reporting few or no new cases of the virus. Just a few days ago, they closed the last of their 16 makeshift emergency hospitals. Consequently, restrictions are easing. Schools and offices are slowly opening. People are beginning to go out and see other people.

That timeline suggests that your kids are not going back to school on April 1. Nor are you returning to the office or catching a movie anytime soon. Plan for social distancing at least until mid- or late May, and be thankful if it eases off earlier.

The Guardian is reporting that there may be a treatment. The drug inhibits RNA polymerase, an enzyme that makes copies of the Covid-19's RNA.  According to the article it's most effective on people who just got sick, not so much on the really sick people.  It's a start.