Hi Randy,

I got it.  I was thinking along the same lines as you.  Don't know who the premier of Quebec is these days, I grew up under Levesque and Trudeau (the father - not the idiot son).  I'm living across the border in New York near Rochester.  Borders are closed at the moment and won't be able to visit my mom.  She's going to be 89 in a couple of weeks.  My brother is keeping me apprised of her situation on a regular basis.  Was going to visit her over Easter - so much for that. Never thought I'd be living through the zombie apocalypse.

Pat

Here in Illinois ( south west suburb of Chicago) we've seen 2538 cases and 26 deaths. We have a shelter in place order but can go out to get groceries, medication, or visit a doctor. Going outside for a walk in your neighborhood is ok as long as you practice social distancing. Something not everyone is complying to because the Mayor of Chicago just closed down the lakefront because people kept congregating. 

Take care,

Lark

Randy, I am in partial agreement with you. I live in Oregon where pot is legal. When my mother was dying of cancer, when only medical was legal. we didn't have time to get her a medical card. One of my daughters knew someone with a medical card, and she got her some brownies. We would crumble up a little and put it into applesauce. She hated the taste, but it really did help her mood. 

On the other hand, I live in a building which has some federal funding. It is supposed to be a no smoking building, both tobacco and pot, also no vaping. People don't follow that. Cigarette smoke dissipates fairly quickly, but pot smoke lingers and lingers. It gets into the vents, and sometimes my apartment smells like a pot party. I happen to be allergic to marijuana. Even before I can smell it, my eyes start burning, I get a headache and my throat gets scratchy. The management knows who is smoking but can't prove it, so it continues. I am probably the only person who was in college in the 60s and 70s who has never tried marijuana. Back in the day I was curious, but had children and in those days one could be jailed for even a crumb of pot in a pocket, or being in a car where it was found. It was not worth it to risk losing my kids, so I didn't try it. Knowing now how I react, trying it would not have been a pleasant experience. 

As far as alcohol goes, preschools used to have have hand sanitizer dispensers like hospitals, until they found that some toddlers were drinking Purell and getting alcohol poisoning. There are distillers in my area who are also making hand sanitizers and mostly giving them to first respondents. I still have three small purse size bottles, but I am not going anywhere, and no one is coming to my home right now, so the stuff that is back ordered from Amazon should arrive before I run out. 

Stay home and stay alive. 

Just responding to the "roll call". As an essential service provider (not medical), I have to take a leave of absence from work, due to caretaking someone who is medically compromised. My family will persevere, just have to be frugal, and help others as we can.

This is not going to "go away", the virus is here to stay, and the only hope is that medical researchers, and scientists, sadly denigrated by the current administration, (sorry for the political, but it is necessary), can provide the population with a shot, like the flu shots available.

As viruses always mutate, this one will also. The social distancing practices should become a social norm.

The politico from Texas who suggested that he would be happy to sacrifice his elderly self to further the economy, seems to want to go back to when the cultures near the polar regions, when grandma would get too old, they would send her adrift on an ice floe,  so not another mouth to feed.

That's good information.

Always welcome.

Why does he have a gun?!

A small morsel of good news - this virus appears to mutate very slowly, making vaccines more effective.

Make that future vaccines! Since we still don’t have one. As far as mutations go we still almost everything to learn.

Yes, when we have a vaccine, the current consensus is that it will be more effective than, for example, the flu vaccine.  Because the flu virus mutates so quickly, it's a bit of a crapshoot each year as to how effective it will be for that season's most widespread mutations.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/the-coronavirus-isnt-mutating-quickly-suggesting-a-vaccine-would-offer-lasting-protection/2020/03/24/406522d6-6dfd-11ea-b148-e4ce3fbd85b5_story.html