Day 49 of the California Quarantine
At the dentist in the midst of a pandemic…
8:45 - 9:30 - The dog starts barking so I go downstairs and let her out. Cheese for her. I drink my 16-oz Hydroflask of lemon-flavored water and listen to The Daily.
9:30 - 10:30 - Shower and dress for my dental appointment. I grab my coffee and leave. Not hungry today.
10:45-11:45 - I like my dentist both for her competency and as a person, which is why it was heartbreaking to hear her say that her business was “decimated.” She was dressed in full PPE running the front desk, AND performing duel roles as both a dental assistant and herself. I was there for a teeth cleaning and as she got into it, she shared her political views with me concerning the pandemic. I liked hearing her opinion.
My dentist said the entire Corona virus was a “farce.” She noted that California has had approximately 2600 deaths - each year the flu kills about 7000 Californians - out of a population of 39 million AND we can’t be sure that those deaths are actually related to Covid-19 because hospitals receive $13,000 in ???federal/state??? funding for every patient designated as a Covid-19 death. Additionally, hospitals receive $39,000 in ???federal/state??? funding every time a patient is put on a ventilator, which, she says, is the wrong way to treat the virus anyway. Three people she knows recently lost loved ones due to other health issues, but they were still designated as a Covid-19 patient. Doctors who note this information on social media, who say Covid-19 is not as bad as the media is portraying it, are pulled down from social media sites within a hour.
My dentist thought that people in power, i.e., Governor Newsom, are using the pandemic as a way to inject socialism/communism into our country and exert control over our lives through fear. A few facts she cited that I was not aware of:
Governor Newsom hired 10,000 health care workers to implement a “contact-and-trace” program. If it is determined that a Californian has Covid -19, but is unable to shelter-in-place, say, because he shares a residence with several family members and there is just one bathroom in the home, than the Covid-19 infectee will be traced and removed from his home.
According to my dentist, Governor Newsom entered into a “billion-dollar” contract with a Chinese auto manufacturer for PPE and masks. She said whenever Gov. Newsom is asked about the details of the contract, he won’t respond or provide them; he just gets mad.
Inmates/prisoners are being released so they don’t get Covid-19. Some of her patients are cops and they told her when they arrest someone for a misdemeanor, they take them to jail, where they are cited and released with no bail, even though they broke the law! She said her police patients are arresting and releasing the same offenders over and over again.
My dentist told me that she organized around 400 people to protest a couple of days ago and that the public response was favorable - people were honking their horns in support and several cops gave them a thumbs up. I hadn’t realized it was her who had spearheaded the protest. L., who witnessed the event, told me that people were throwing water balloons at the protesters.
My dentist does not think she can rebuild her business and is thinking of moving to Idaho. She has 6 children - 2 are home from college and the other 4 are trying to attend their Christian private school via virtual learning. It is difficult for all of them.
She is so capable and has scaled Himalayan mountains, ran in numerous marathons, and pulled teeth, pro bono, on Indian reservations. Not to mention, she has 6 kids. And now, she might lose everything she has worked so hard for. I felt immense sadness for her. My gums are receding and I need caps on four teeth as a temporary fix - I made an appointment for next Tuesday to get that handled before she moves to Idaho.
11:45-1:00 - I grade more extra credit essays and finish yesterday’s blog.
1:00-3:00 - I log onto email for my state job and go down the rabbit hole of missing projects. The training binders and monthly performance evaluations for my two trainees were missing, even though I submitted everything months ago for L. and last month for V. After an hour search, I found the scanned training binder for L. and evaluations for both of them, which I had saved in my work’s “Sent” email. The physical binder for V. is sitting on my Supervisor’s desk awaiting signature.
A transcribed interview went missing after the audio file was submitted on 4/23/20 - this wasn’t found for two days. It was located around 3:00 today.
I see that I have some other work projects that need to be handled next week. Great.
3:00-4:00 - I pull down all of the tape from L.’s bathroom while she teaches an art class online. Then, I pick up the debris and straighten everything. The end result is good, but there is some primer on the ceiling that won’t come off. The ceiling needs to be painted. Everything else looks great! L. says she likes the color.
4:00-4:30 - When I come back down, there is an email from my former trainee asking for help on an interview summary so I respond then log off for the day.
4:30-5:30 - I make a spinach salad with tomatoes, red peppers, carrots, celery, boiled eggs, EVOO, and sea salt. I eat most of it but don’t have much of an appetite. I read Leaving the Witness, listen to Vox Worldly, then take a 30-minute nap.
6:00-10:00 - I grade extra credit essays and listen to Market Place and The Political Gabfest. I send an email blast to my Intro to American Politics students reminding them that double assignments are due on 5/11/20 and 5/18/20 is the last day for Monday classes. There is a problem with my duel enrollment [high school] students on the other campus where I teach - 9 of them were unable to access the video via the link on Canvas. I pour a glass of champagne.
I can see that the rest of the class cut and paste the link to Google Chrome, watched the video, and then took the quiz - most of them scored 10 out of 10. But the 9 students in question immediately gave up because they just didn’t want to do the assignment. They didn’t want to watch the video OR take the video quiz. I extend the due date for the video quiz to Tuesday and respond to each student individually, instructing them to cut and paste the link into Google Chrome and watch the video.
I FINISH the extra credit assignments and post grades. Just in time for the next round of papers that will be flooding in on 5/11/20 from my International Relations students.
10:00-11:00 - I finish my blog post and call it. L. went to Chipotle and bought chips and guac for me earlier today. I go upstairs to eat my chips and watch McMillions with L. When will we learn how Uncle Jerry stole the game pieces?!