chapter 553

April 15, 2020

Virtual Life

the new normal

We celebrated a virtual family get together Easter on Zoom this year. It's a free app and in popular use. We weren't expert in using it but we got the job done. It was a typical fam event with chaos miscommunication and all around buffoonery. I thought the 40 minute duration was just about right and would kind of like future events to fit into this mold. I chose to play a King Kong video segment from youtube pointing my cell phone at the smart tv. Thought it would entertain the kids but in retrospect it was kind of symbolic of the Covid Crisis. There is a scary monster among us that is ravaging ravaging New York City and we are having quite a difficult time coping with it. Eight hundred deaths a day at the plateau now but seemingly somewhat in control and past peak impact.

We had a limited small Easter dinner at Colleen's house with her sister and one house renter. Perhaps we could have done without that but it's OK to have limited contact. Certainly as time proceeds we and society will be getting back into the swing gradually on a limited basis. We shared this scene from my deck with her kids as they sent their pictures. I wear a mask on occasion at the super market where the majority does likewise. Hopefully it protects their workers who are exposed to some frontline risk. It is questionable (but we just got an executive order in NY requiring masks). According to Doctor Radio it seems just about everyone has IT with varying degrees of symptoms. That Sirius XM channel 121 is terrific by the way. Dr Fauci and numerous experts talk corona virus all day.

Colleen got permission to tele commute from home laptop doing her Ellis Hospital case coding review. Hopefully this will be a long lasting practice as her duties lately have been primarily from the computer at work.

Grandson interaction has been curtailed. This last nature walk was mid March just as the WHO declared the Pandemic and the country began severely shutting down. Here he mimics me by Ballston Creek.

We catch our Granddaughter via cell phone, Facetime and photo exchange on occasion. She is SO busy, loving the Easter paint colors this time. Great shot Christie.

It was a nice sunny Spring day moderate temps and I felt like a motorcycle ride. So I went down to the Covid-19 drive thru Testing site at the University of Albany. It was a large controlled effort that I shot from a 100 yards away with telephoto. Spooky. All sorts of cops, DEC Rangers, National Guard. Everyone in masks, Do not roll window down. The nurse holding sign, "Do you have an appointment." Like being in the middle of a plague or some radioactive nuclear meltdown.

Where the virtual world meets the real world. I joke around (and you have to to maintain sanity) but In New York City 800 covid casualties were dying per day. Some of these burials were done at the Bronx's  Hart Island Potters Field last week where hospital morgue bodies were unclaimed by any (poor) family members.

What 800 deaths/coffins would look like per day. I measured roughly what one days NYC deaths would look like if laid out in a single layer. In actuality they are stacking them three deep two wide but I wanted a visual to represent the magnitude. AND the near 800 level has been going on for nearly a week. Presumably the rate will begin to decline. Nevertheless the last month's NYC toll of 10,000 exceeds the U.S. soldier casualties during the worst year of the Vietnam War (some 6000 during 1969).

Even my deer are virtual. Have been having fun with my Ring wireless cam set between my and Colleen's house. I've seen the deer tracks so many times but very seldom see the deer. The first night after cam installation I had a fox. Also got raccoon, hawk, and a few unknowns. This family of 4 seem to be regulars.

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