Lockdown eased - slightly

(C) Taylor Jones
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Review of numbers

Week 5 – Friday April 24
World confirmed cases: 2,709,408
US confirmed cases: 869,172
SA confirmed cases: 3,953

Week 1: Monday March 30
World confirmed cases: 735,560
US confirmed cases: 143,055
SA confirmed cases: 1,280

President Ramaphosa eases Lockdown – slightly

SA's strict national lockdown will be partially relaxed from next week Friday, 1 May.

Ramaphosa said SA would follow a risk-adjusted approach to the return of economic activity. The need to limit the spread of the coronavirus would be balanced with the need to get people back to work.
He said five different levels would determine the severity of the lockdown from May 1, with five being a hard lockdown and one being almost completely lifted. 

Summary of Levels 1 - 5

“COVID Toes”

Science and health professionals suggest coronavirus may have been present in communities long before first cases were diagnosed.
This stimulates apparently asymptomatic people in the “gen pop” to claim non-specific illnesses they suffered in September and October to have been Covid-19. (“Gen pop”: my lockdown appropriation of the prison term for “general population”)

Handy COVID Toes as clue:

Dermatologists say looking at a person’s feet may be a handy way of seeing if someone has the coronavirus.
Otherwise asymptomatic people are reporting the presence of painful purplish lesions on their toes.

“COVID toes” are “typically painful to touch and could have a hot burning sensation…. This is a manifestation that occurs early on in the disease, meaning you have this first, then you progress. Sometimes this might be your first clue that they have COVID when they don’t have any other symptoms.” For some people, “COVID toes” disappear without showing up with any other symptoms after a week or so, while others come down with serious respiratory problems.

Almost…

I almost pulled off a whole post without a stinging critique of The Donald. But… humor won out. Enjoy this video: Vote Him Away

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Lockdown has me talking to myself and to dogs.
“Jessica,” I told one dog late yesterday afternoon, “should I carry the camera?”
Jessica didn’t answer and, as I passed the study, I decided, “Nah, I’ve carried it around all day without much success….”
How wrong I was.
After 11 days with sighting nary a goldfish fin, I saw four healthy goldfish!
I dashed inside for the camera while assuming the fish would flee. Just in case, I grabbed the sack of fish food, too.
A thrill a minute: the fish were still visible!
Tossing fish food, I shot this short (unedited) video segment…

Hardly camera shy, the goldfish flitted back and forth, their bright colors flashing.
Perhaps, tomorrow when I try to cajole them out with more fish food, I’ll toss in several fish-sized water-camo colored cloaks, too.
Wearing water-camo cloaks over their gorgeous goldfish bodies and fins might disguise them from hungry kingfishers….


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