​

     This nation is equipped with power undreamed of in the 1940s.  Microporcessing circuitry makes the speed of cell phones and iPads do things you never thought possible just 21 years ago.  

      Videoconferencing, once, was only for the rich. You now have powerful work stations. Countless students taking their classes online is the new norm.  You don't need to wait for paper pamphlets or books to get the latest help or facts.  We have a sense of community that has the power to help.

      We need to do new things never done before.  Three things come to my mind.  If hospitals start to become overcrowded, create make-shift hospitals in university and college dorms.  

      Co-ordinate with officials to handle the foreseeable overflow.   In N.Y., for example they created an unprecedented move by building a temporary hospital in Grand Central Park.   But be careful with parts of the country like Florida, for hurricane season is due in 4 months or so.  And lastly, start thinking of how one emergency measure was utilized in WW II, to create a backup system of retired persons, in our case physicians and nurses to help.  Begin to set up the system with a novel approach so when things get haywire as they tell us might happen, the novel setup would be ready. 

     Here in California, they started early with stay-home mandates.  As of midnight March 15, Los Angeles had been issued orders to close all gyms, bowling alleys, nightclubs, bars, museums, libraries, movie theaters, arcades while churches and houses of worship were left to their discretion.  Restaurants are not allowed to hold tables etc for the public but, restaurants can deliver from, and people can take out or drive through for their meals.  The Santa Monica hiking trails are closed & also the nearby beaches.  California's governor ordered all Californians on Mar. 19 to stay home.  California, it must be remembered, is the nation's most populace state. 

     Go home and stay home, the new orderly way of life?  For the time being, yes (credit to NBC.) Like it or not, it is the new normal.  During Coronavirus Shelter In Place, plumbers who help. This is but a small expression that can be good people-multiplied!  The truckers of America are indispensible and vital.

 

 

 

     How does the U.S. stack up to other countries in confirmed Coronavirus cases?   We now view an extra meter on how it affects travel by this short 3min 54 second video from the TodayShow.   The Coronavirus also affects Amtrak and Greyhound (39 seconds).  Chinese precautions when traveling by train, kind of scary but tactically necessary.   (3mins19 video).  A glimmer of hope: March 28 saw the fourth consecutive day in China without new infections.  

      One of the harshest lessons in this--at least here in the U.S.--is that preparing to handle it, including testing by hospital professionals, started slow (credit to Skynews) as in Europe, and in many areas, the system of handling cases are still totally inadequate.  An early report on how it used to look, March 3, 2020, ABC World News Tonight.  ABC reported nine people died of COVID-19; all 9 were in the Seattle area.  

     Las Vegas Strip hotels and casinos how they are affected, thank you FRANCE 24 English.

     Downtown Boston and how they are affected, thank you Boston Herald.

     Seattle and the world and how they are affected, thank you ABC News.

     Portland, Maine and how they are affected, thank you NEWS CENTER Maine.

     El Paso and how they are affected, thank you Carlos Marquez.

     Phoenix and how they are affected, thank you azfamily powered by 3TV & CBS5AZ.

     San Francisco and how they are affected, thank you QuickTake by Bloomberg.

     San Diego and how they are affected, thank you ABC 10 News.

     Orlando and how they are affected, thank you WKMG News 6.

     Chicago and how they are affected, thank you Drone Media Chicago.

     Sacramento and how they are affected, thank you Sacramento Bee.

     Los Angeles and New York and how they are affected, thank you Nine News Australia.

 

     The barometers of life, are getting harsher, too, thank you BBC. 

     As each day passes, some of the things we knew are not what we thought and are changing, like the risk among younger people.  Something new up your sleeve I heard from GMA Saturday Mar. 21: 40% of those hospitalized are between the ages of 20 and 50.  Furthermore, for the record, more than half of the infected cases are from 3 states, California, New York and Washington.  Party animals risk their lives for being infatuated with "they can handle anything" know-it-all idea. It must stop.  The bottom map shows at one point how in early March of 2020, not all of America was hit...but as time passed, well, you know the score.  It is up to everyone of us to defeat this thing. [Note: a stimulus bill is in the works to help the nation.  The Stimulus Package designed by the Senate is a deal involving a novel positive, w/a Paycheck Protection Program for small Business, a special loan if you do not give the pink slip to your employees.  Guess what?  That program which is a loan, like magic disappears or as they say, you get one of the biggest breaks this side of the world: the loan is forgiven.  That involves over 50% of businesses in the U.S.  This program is only domestic and totals $350 blllion and is on top of the already other loans. Another $500 billion will help the airlines and travel industries hit by Corona, in particular the 750,000 airline employees. A few caveats, the airlines must pay employees til September, limit compensations, dividends and stock buybacks, maintain current U.S. service and must agree not to layoff.   Families and individuals are not forgotten, and will get cash relief as well as getting an expansion in Food Stamps.  For individuals making up to $75 grand, they get $1,200.  For couples making up to $150 grand or less, they get $2,400.  For each child you will get an xtra $500.  The payment would scale down by income, phasing out entirely at $99,000 for singles and $198,000 for couples without children. The program will increase max state unemployment checks by $600 per week.  As of 8pm PDT Wed it had not passed. Then finally it passed!!  On an unanimous vote 96-0.  The giant $2 Trillion in total package then passed Congress on Fri. Mar. 27.]

​

​Now, for a lighter moment in time.  Maybe this helps alleviate the situation.  Bangkok's train service released a safety dance video against the coronavirus (1mins03).   Trying to maintain a semblance of happiness in Italia, music from balconies and all over.  From people in the Bavarian town of Bamberg, Germany singing ‘Bella Ciao’  (an Italian resistance song) to a whole lot of others in solidarity to fight and not be pessimistic.  Spanish singer song livens up the place (like 1min.) And, some cool local cops in Mallorca grabbed their guitars and sang to entertain families as they remain in a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus.  Cheer up, we can handle this thing together if we work together to beat it.  On CNN, Mar. 13, Chris Cuomo was right when he told Anderson coronavirus is an enemy and we have to shift into a war mode to tackle it. Here is Chris describing how terrible it was to get hit by COVID-19.   Wash your hands often correctly, wipe down doorknobs, screens, cover your cough, stay attentive to your news.  In the Houston area, the owner of a new hotel in the Texas Medical Center has purchased two germ-fighting cleaning robots from a San Antonio-based company that is used in battling COVID-19.  Interesting video from WNKY.   We first have to slow this thing down.  Then defeat it.  And if we slow it down, places look pretty empty (2mins25, Eyewitness News ABC7NY).  Let's crack the international circuit (5mins50, Inside Edition).

 

 

One more thing...  This report on happy-looking college students from Inside Edition was released March 11, ten days before that 40% figure noted above hit the airwaves, and if one needs a bigger slap in the face, the national stats have gotten more acute, check this out, it involves a younger crowd, of various studies--and each day, we get lots of new news--people aged between 18-49 made up 26% of all hospitalized patients.  And, that is from just 1 state, NY, a very crowded place.