Zannej be careful, Louisiana is the new hotspot.
Yeah, it's particularly bad for a few reasons.
1. The training of medical staff in terms of preventing the spread of germs is not that great, standards are low for qualifying to work in healthcare, standards for cleaning in hospitals is low.
2. The quality of medical care here sucks. The medical personnel aren't as competent here. People often have to go out-of-state for competent treatment. My father had to go to Houston about once a week for several months for treatments that weren't available here.
3. There are fewer hospitals & clinics & much of the area is rural. A lot of the places shut down under the previous governor who totally borked the state. Even GOPers hate that jerk.
4. Many people aren't taking it seriously & think they can either pray for protection or that it's just a hoax & that everyone is getting worked up over nothing. They are in denial & seem to think they don't need to wash their hands or take any precautions. They are ignoring the mandates & still going out to places.
5. We don't have any testing kits in the state & you need to have a fever to be tested (even though people can be sick with it and not have fevers).
6. People can't afford to go to the doctor & the ones who work at places like McDonalds & Walmart can't get time off to go even if they could afford it. Most of the work here is part-time so employees don't get benefits. They work the employees full time for 11 weeks then part time on the 12th week to reset the clock so they technically don't qualify as full-time.
I will say that Walmart has been having people cleaning constantly, has disinfectant wipes & a hand-washing station near the carts so they are trying.
I'm a GenXer and don't like being around people so I've been social isolating since before it was required.
Did the census on my phone this morning so they'd stop harassing me.
Got the first notice a couple weeks ago and seems a week later a second one saying if I didn't fill it out they'd come knocking at my door. ....yeah, right.
Maybe they would have brought a complimentary mask and some hand sanitizer for me.
They hung a bag that said Census2020 on my gate. I don't know who in the household took the paperwork inside or what happened to it, but I haven't heard anything from them.
Decided to patronize a local business to help keep it open after hearing an employee lament about business being bad. They were out of the beef stew so my brother got me some boudin balls with cheese. Big mistake. I haven't had them in years & have actively avoided the types of spices & onions and such in them. My digestive system couldn't handle it. Turned my back end into a faucet for a few hours and gave me severe nausea. I'm still slightly nauseous but feeling better.
Local hardware store is still open so if we need supplies anytime soon we can get them. My friend was asking me what he'll need to move his toilet over. I came up with a list of things based on what I recall of his plumbing. Not sure if he has 3" or 4" stuff. He's got some cast iron piping he'll need to cut out. He's going to tie in the shower later on so he'll need to plumb it with that in mind. No roof leaks since he got the metal roofing on, which is great. We had some nasty rain & flooding. The river is high up pretty high right now.
Daris, as annoying as waiting is, medical professionals are the ones getting hit the hardest by the virus. I've heard of multiple doctors/nurses in their 30s dying from it. A few of my friends are nurses & they report that people have been stealing masks & they are being told to re-use equipment because they don't have enough.
