A few days ago, I decided to do gratitude posts on FB. I was good the first two days. Day 3 I got a little snarky as I posted about "doing the right thing" in regards to Covid. The Covid cases in Allegheny County have been on the rise. For a while, we had daily counts between 50 and 100. After July 4, we saw a spike for a few weeks, and then cases were back below 100. Unfortunately, other than one "low" day this week, where "only" 288 cases were reported, we have had between 500 and 620 daily cases. Fortunately, only a few people have died this week. But of course, any death is too many.
I started to keep track of cases, deaths, and hospitalizations on 6/12/20. On that day, since 3/12, Allegheny County had had 2,034 cases, 352 people had been hospitalized, and 172 people had died. On 11/19/20, the county has seen a total of 22,042 cases, 1,724 people have been hospitalized, and 465 people have died from Covid since 3/12. In just over 8 months, we have had 10x the cases, just under 5x the hospitalizations, and just under 3x the deaths. And we have increased testing by about 6.5 percent. So if you look at it that way, things seem less bleak. I do worry with all these cases that in another few weeks, more people are going to end up going to the hospital and dying.
My kid's school, for the third time since school started, has gone back to online learning. Apparently, 3 people tested positive this week. Previously, we had 2 siblings, then a few weeks later, another student, then a few weeks after that, a football coach. Some think these latest are teachers. I have no idea, but I do know that my kid has yet to be (knowingly) exposed to Covid while at school; she has not had to quarantine like many others. So this tells me that masks and physical distancing work, she has been lucky, or, more likely, a combination. But she is bummed out to once again be stuck at home, as I am I for her.
Next week I was planning to go to a stout fest with a few friends. But our county health director has ordered a stay-at-home advisory; it is recommended we leave only for food and essentials and that we should not socialize with others. One might argue that beer is a food, but I can't really justify hanging out with friends, especially since you cannot mask and drink at the same time. Sigh.
So I feel melancholy.
And today marks 6 weeks since my dad died. I think about him throughout the day; it is tough looking at pictures. But I am doing okay. However, since then, he has gotten some bills. One bill in particular irks me--it is from the skilled nursing facility he was in for about 10 days each in July and August. I had POA for my dad from the middle of September until he died on 10/8 (it ends upon death). Had they sent me that bill before he died, not several days after, I could have paid it from his checking account. But one day before my dad died, we used most of what little money he had left in his checking account to help pay for his funeral. My younger brother had promised to bury my dad, and if there was a bill to be paid, I would have used it for that instead. I can no longer write a check from his account; and there is so little in there, that there is no need to probate it. It will just go to the funeral home once I close the account. Those people and the ambulance service might be out of luck. I am hoping the skilled nursing place where my dad lived for not even a month until he died will not charge him for the not even 2 days in October that he was there before he spent his final 6.5 days at the hospital. After all, his official cause of death is blunt force trauma to the head as a result of a fall that happened under the home's watch. One morning, he was placed in a wheelchair at the nursing station so they could keep an eye on him. A few hours later, he stood up, fell, hit his head, no one was there to stop him, and he was sent to the hospital. He never recovered. His cancer did not help.
So, yeah, I am feeling a little blue. Tired of Covid. Worried about it. Missing seeing people on regular basis. Frustrated with Trump not conceding. Annoyed with all the crazies out there who keep blathering on about the election being rigged or fraudulent and many of those same people who keep on yelling, Live your life, don't tell me what to do, it's just the flu.
Despite all that, I am still going to head to Facebook now and come up with Day 4 of gratitude. There is almost always something to be grateful for.
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