The Big Quarantine – Friday, April 3, 2020
The Day in a Brief Look at Summer: Summer is concert season, and my first outdoor concert of the year was supposed to be the Homecoming Festival at Smale Park in early May. I bought tickets way back in November and I was, of course, quite disappointed but not surprised that the festival was canceled today. Outdoor general admission shows are about the most human contact that is socially acceptable beyond stuffed subway cars and elevators. I don’t even know if the collective human psyche will be ready to stand so close to each other by May.
Of course there’s no way right now to predict May, July, and August events, but we could see a summer without concerts or even baseball. Or maybe we’ll see concerts and baseball in a way we’re not used to. I don’t know.
I do know, 2021 is going to be the best concert year in the history of concert years. Those shows are going to JAM!!!
The Day in Personal Protective Equipment Lost in the Wild: On my walk today I saw a mask crushed into the sidewalk and then I saw I glove. I took a picture of both. But I didn’t take a picture of all the surgical gloves I saw in the Mt. Auburn part of my walk. There were 5 more, and one winter glove (which I include just so the catalog here is complete!). There are probably surgical gloves around this area all the time, but I am hyped up with Covid thoughts and felt a primal instinct to mentally note every single glove incidence.
The Day in Bench Food?: This is new. Heading up the very steep Sycamore Hill, the city has kindly and wisely installed two benches for folks to catch their breath on their walk. Sycamore is one of the most direct routes to head to Christ Hospital, Clifton and UC from downtown and the benches are well used. Today one of the benches was stocked with trail mix and garbanzos. It’s an unusual combo, but I guess this is the kindness of strangers. In fact, I might bring this combo as a hostess gift in the future just to see how it flies.
The Day in Lessons in Social Distancing: There’s a park outside my window. It’s really a lawn with a track around it and during the Confinement urban neighbors have gathered throughout the day for some outside time. For the most part, everyone is appropriately distancing. For the most part.
It is weird how my brain reacts when I see violators. I want to scream, “too close.” Of course I’ve wanted to scream that at some past co-workers of mine. Maybe I’m the one with the problem. I don’t know. Anyway, for niceness, I’m not posting the threesome I saw eating lunch practically on each other’s laps (I mean, I know I’m probably over-reacting, but they were too close to each other and I care about them and their loved ones). The park is a great spot for the neighborhood. Look at the beautiful distance between these beautiful people.
Today in Local Restaurant Support: Today and tomorrow I’m treating myself to meals out to support my restaurant people. The folks at Nation helped me out today with a Cubano sandwich and some tots. In normal times, every order of food at Nation comes with a Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie. My take-out order today had two cookies. Like a gift from heaven, I tell you.
Opening the container in my apartment, I took a solid whiff which activated splendid memories from my not too distant social past. Such bliss.* Also, I don’t usually order a side of tots with my meal. Nation’s sandwiches are plenty of food for me and my little appetite, but today I ordered “comfort” tots.
After the brief whiff-pause, I plunged straight into the box for a tot. [Just going draw this out so you can share the respect I had for the brown potato cylinder and the seconds of anticipation I experienced as my fingers grasped it until I took a bite.] That tot tasted like the civilization I’ve missed for the last four weeks. It was easily the best tot I’ve had in a very long time.
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*When all the days are the same, and nothing much is happening, I believe it is imperative to celebrate the littlest positives in a day. Look for the good. Celebrate the good.
The Day in Miniatures: It’s the Freakin’ Weekend. Do watcha like.
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Covid 19 Info
If you want to help local bars and restaurant and their workers, please check out the links below:
Pleasantry OTR and Allez Bakery: Buy a meal for a healthcare worker
Restaurant Workers Relief Program: www.leeintiative.org
This organization needs funds and donations to keep feeding furloughed restaurant workers for the Restaurant Workers Relief Program. All donations go right back to the restaurants in your city that are feeding people in need.
We need supplies: diapers, baby food, tampons, toilet paper, canned food, and shelf stable food.
We can only buy in limited amounts so we need you to help us
Please order online at @amazon @target @walmart @instacart @meijerstores or any delivery service, buy supplies through your account and ship it to the local restaurant that is giving in your city.
𝗟𝗼𝘂𝗶𝘀𝘃𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲- @610magnolia 610 W Magnolia Ave, Louisville KY 40208
𝗗𝗖 – @succotashrestaurant 915 F St NW, Washington DC, 20004
𝗟𝗼𝘀 𝗔𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀 – @chispacca 6610 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038
𝗦𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 – @salareseattle 2404 NE 65th St, Seattle, WA 98115
𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗴𝗼 – @bigstarchicago 1531 N Damen Ave, Chicago, IL 60622
𝗗𝗲𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿 – @eatwithsafta 3330 Brighton Blvd #201, Denver, CO 80216
𝗕𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗹𝘆𝗻 – @olmstednyc 659 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238
𝗕𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗹𝘆𝗻 – @gertienyc 357 Grand St, Brooklyn, NY 11211
𝗖𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶 – @mitascincy 501 Race St, Cincinnati, OH 45202
𝗔𝘁𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮 – @restauranteugeneatl 2277 Peachtree Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30309
𝗟𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻, 𝗞𝗬 – @greatbagel’s 3650 Boston Rd #108, Lexington, KY 40514
𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗢𝗿𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 – @cochon_nola 930 Tchoupitoulas St, New Orleans, LA 70130
CDC – Cases in the United States
Updated April 3, 2020
These numbers are updated regularly at noon Mondays through Fridays. Numbers close out at 4 p.m. the day before reporting.
- Total cases: 239,279 (Yesterday = 213,144)
- Total deaths: 5,443 (Yesterday = 4,513)
- Jurisdictions reporting cases: 54 (50 states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and US Virgin Islands)
* Data include both confirmed and presumptive positive cases of COVID-19 reported to CDC or tested at CDC since January 21, 2020, with the exception of testing results for persons repatriated to the United States from Wuhan, China and Japan. State and local public health departments are now testing and publicly reporting their cases. In the event of a discrepancy between CDC cases and cases reported by state and local public health officials, data reported by states should be considered the most up to date.
Nothing Ever Happens on My Street 