In the U.S. we now have 310,000 reported cases and 8,400 deaths from the virus. On March 25th, there were 64,000 cases and 900 people had died. That is exactly 2 weeks ago. Lake Havasu had our first death from the virus today. Such sad statistics, and so hard to comprehend. They keep telling everyone to stay home, to flatten the curve, spreading out the infections so that hospitals can handle everyone who needs care. Unfortunately, our curve is not flat at all. Everyone, please just do your part and stay home!
A couple of days ago, Arizona's Governor Doug Ducey held a town hall meeting, where he discussed what he is doing for our state. At that point, he was still considering hair salons, nail salons and tattoo shops as essential businesses in Arizona. Apparently, he has taken a lot of criticism for that, so as of 5:00 tonight, all of those businesses will have to close.
Golf courses are still considered essential, which I also think is crazy. They have taken a lot of measures to keep golfers from touching coolers, water jugs, ball washers, flags, etc. But I still don't understand how they are considered essential! Most of our friends are still playing, and really enjoying their time on the course, but I bet if we asked them, they would agree that this is not an essential business.
New York, Illinois, Washington and Louisiana seem to be the hardest hit states at this point. We aren't hearing as much about California any more, although they are still under stay at home orders, as is 3/4 of the U.S. New York is definitely the epicenter of the outbreak. They have set up make-shift tent hospitals in Central Park, and the U.S.S Comfort military medical facility now sits in the harbor outside of Manhattan to help with the over crowded hospitals. The images coming out of New York are heart breaking.
They have officially closed the channel to boats here in Havasu, but visitors still keep flocking to our little town. All of the rental houses and vacation homes are full every weekend, with music playing and gatherings in the streets. We've started just avoiding people all together because if we yell "Hi", they all walk over to us and start talking, and we have to back away and explain that we aren't doing that. It's awkward to say the least, especially because we all should be keeping our distance and it shouldn't be an issue.
We watch a lot of bloggers from other countries, and they get it. The streets are completely empty and people are taking this virus very seriously. Here, things have definitely slowed down during the week, but the weekends still feel like life as usual. Our mayor did put out an official recommendation for all visitors to stay home, to keep their germs away from Lake Havasu City, and to take the virus seriously, but so far that's not happening yet. They are talking about completely closing the lake to try and keep visitors away. After seeing the explosion of the virus in New Orleans after Mardi gras, it has definitely become more real.
We're hiking less than we were because of allergy season. The pollen is intense and keeping us at home as I am trying to keep my lungs clear. So we have now set up a stationary bike and a make-shift aerobics studio to help us get the wiggles out. Anything to get us out of our chairs and moving around a little bit!
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