Froggy Bottom Cafe/Lounge (Covid-19 & Daylight Saving Time Edition)

This is sort of a continuation from the last Midweek Cafe & Lounge:

My usual vibe is to keep these light, and have some music and whatnot. Back when Neon Vincent was still a regular, we had some really cool beverage recipes. Probably wouldn’t hurt about now, given that the past week.

As with the previous cafe/lounge, I want to give you all something a bit more informative in hopes that it at least adds to some straight talk and keeps things in perspective as we come to grips with what is potentially a serious pandemic: Coronavirus COVID-19. First, I want you all to bookmark this map hosted by Johns Hopkins. It appears to be about the most up-to-date map of the number of cases per country, and also keeps record of deaths and recoveries. I also recommended last time this link from the Axios website – Coronavirus: The Big Picture. Axios is useful for its brief capsule summaries for those of us who may be on the go. The Axios global map is okay, but seems to be a little behind the other map. Finally, if you go to the Guardian, you will find daily live blogs of the progress of COVID-19 that provide a global perspective (including what is happening in the US).

At the end of the day, I think it is crucial that we have straight talk about what’s going on, rather than the sort of faux happy talk that 45 wants to spin or the bizarre conspiracy theories spread by folks on social media or even by otherwise supposedly responsible politicians (looking at you, Tom Cotton). Straight talk may not be necessarily pleasant, but it will keep you informed and hopefully safe. That’s what matters.

And yeah, we now get to deal with Daylight Saving Time. Set your clocks one hour ahead. Be careful if you are driving. We all know the drill by now.

Cheers.

Author: Don Durito

Left of center and lover of photography, music, pop culture, and life. Favorite quote - "There are no innocents. There are, however, different degrees of responsibility" (Lisbeth Salander, from Stieg Larsson's original Millennium Trilogy).

13 thoughts on “Froggy Bottom Cafe/Lounge (Covid-19 & Daylight Saving Time Edition)”

  2. My usual catch phrase is “no worries.” Lately though that has changed to “some worries.” So it goes. I’ll post info as I find it. Feel free to post as well. Shopping is starting to become a bit more of a challenge.

  3. Covid-19 is apparently the most daunting virus in a half century, according to a panel of experts (including epidemiologists). Impression I get from this article is that the US healthcare system, which is fragmented, and our social fabric (which has been fraying for a while) don’t help matters – a coordinated response requires cooperation, good will, and some ability to have testing and treatment procedures carried out with some uniformity. Good luck with that. Some demographics will fare better than others (socioeconomic status obviously), and some areas around the US will be affected differently. Regardless, we’ll have to prepare for some disruptions to our everyday lives.

    https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/07/harvard-forum-experts-warn-most-daunting-virus-in-50-years/

  10. Coronavirus news continues to spook the equities and commodities markets. Stocks in Australia and East Asia have plummeted as of this writing. The Dow Jones Futures are looking at an 1100 point drop. Crude oil cratered – WTI is at $28.50 or so, and Brent is still around $32 and change. Behavior from bonds is just downright odd. My guess is that central banks will try to do what they can to stimulate various economies (although with some, like EU already in negative prime rate territory, their efforts are likely to be very limited). Depending on the scope of this pandemic, we are likely to see at least a brief global recession, and potentially a prolonged recession. There is no positive way to spin any of this.

  11. By the way, if you would like me to keep doing this for a while, please let me know. I know the latest Kesha video would be far more comforting, but I know that this pandemic is of critical importance, and since the CDC and the Trump regime seem incapable of being straight with us about the scope of the situation in the US, maybe I can at least offer some media literacy – maybe not assurance, but at least a realistic appraisal of where things stand. Let me know. Please.

  12. One thing to keep in mind as we get our heads around the scope of the Covid-19 outbreak in the US: Very few people relative to the population have actually been tested. I would not be surprised if the actual number of people who are or have been infected is considerably higher. I saw a thread on Twitter earlier where some mention of people in the San Diego area around late January and early February experienced what was described as a “weird cold.” In some cases it got misdiagnosed as bronchitis, meaning people were given antibiotics for what was probably a serious viral infection – meaning antibiotics wouldn’t work. Also consistent with the theory that Covid-19 has been circulating in the US since at least January is that among those hit by the “weird cold”, older people were hit harder. Maybe we’ll get a clearer picture soon.

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