More COVID Diaries

It's been about a month since I moved to Utah and wrote about the whole pandemic thing that's currently consuming the world.

Life is pretty good. I chill in my parent's basement most of the time, doing daily walks around the neighborhood and the occasional bike ride in the mostly bike-friendly city of South Jordan. I do miss the hustle and bustle of the city. I think I visibly see maybe 2.5 people on an average day out here in the suburbs, so it's lonely in a different way. I'm glad to not be in my apartment all by myself (and my dog), since I now have my mom and dad around, and my brothers pop in every week or so.

As for the state of the world, COVID still spreads unchecked in the United States. Arizona, Florida, Texas, and Georgia are particularly infected. And for whatever reason, we've started to test less, while still having many states in the 5 to 10+ percentage range for positive tests (a metric that indicates we don't have it under control).

While other countries have been able to open up a fair bit of their businesses and recreation, the US is still struggling mightily. I don't think we'll be "back to normal" until we get a vaccine, since nobody seems to be taking the precautions seriously. I've seen it first-hand. I've been to family events with 20+ people where I'm the only one wearing a mask and where everyone but me was hanging out inside. Utah isn't doing nearly enough to encourage its populace to wear masks, social distance, or reduce gathering sizes. The only thing saving Utah at the moment is that it's a sparsly populated state, so transmission rates are numerically low, (but just about average on a per capita basis).

On top of it all, the Post Office is under attack, with sorting machines being removed and delivery times increasing. Without universal mail in voting this November, people will have to literally risk their lives to exercise their human right to democratically elect their leaders. With every passing day, Trump slips further towards fascism as he attempts to keep hold of his power. It's scary shit.

So personally, things are good. Nationally, we're still pretending like we have things under control.

Again, I'm completely embarrassed to be an American. We're a world leader in stupidity, especially when it comes to COVID.

Here's hoping my next update contains a bit more good news.