Utility billing cycles don’t always mesh with weekly visits to the post office, and so I had to go into town again today.
In the past week, politicians have begun their campaigns for the June 2 primary. Big signs have cropped up on fences, and in the empty space in front of the union halls at the junction of the Griego (south) bridge road and the road to Los Alamos.
I’ve already hung up one politician’s phone call. An advertisement on the radio was giving instructions on applying for an absentee ballot. That was rather confusing because Friday I got a notice from New Mexico Secretary of State informing me it was sending absentee ballots to all registered voters.
I was relieved. My local poll doesn’t get a lot of people, so it would have been possible to keep some distance from others. If that were closed, I don’t know what would have been the alternative. I always see lots of activity on election day in the public library parking lot, but that’s closed right now.
When Wisconsin held its primary on April 7, officials kept tract of people who came down with coronavirus after. By April 27, forty people who had participated had positive tests for the infection. [1]
My mail included two fliers from candidates. One was a routine listing of qualifications. The other was emblazoned "Corona Virus Lessons learned." The other side said "if the coronavirus taught us anything, it’s that science matters and our leaders must put the wellbeing of the PEOPLE above their own or those of special interest groups!"
Another item in my mail box was a statement from my bank. I saw the IRS deposited $1,200 in my account on April 15. The bank issued the statement of April 24. I have no idea why it took eleven days for me to receive it. I doubt the post office was the culprit.
In addition to the bank statement, I got a envelop from the IRS containing a letter from The White House telling me my "Economic Impact Payment Has Arrived." Trump’s signature was blurred from the printer. The reverse was in Spanish.
Trump has been pushing states to lift their restrictions on businesses, even though the Centeres for Disease Control believed the national death rate would increase from 2,000 to 3,000 by June 1. The number of new cases discovered a day would increase ten-fold in the month, from 25,000 to 225,000. [2]
Our governor allowed some business to open last week.
I noticed even fewer people were wearing masks in the post office and two hardware stores I visited. In one, a clerk was mingling with customers, and none were taking precautions.
When I checked Wikipedia a few moments ago, I see the number of coronavirus cases in Rio Arriba county has nearly doubled since I last looked. The number has gone from 14 to 24.
The history showed one or two cases were reported sporadically in March and April. Four cases were reported on May 1, and four more on May 2. [3]
We have entered a more dangerous time.
Sources:
1. Kate Riga. "A Jump In Wisconsin’s Election-Related COVID Cases Brings Total To 40." Talking Points Memo website. 27 April 2020.
2. Josh Kovensky. "New Gov’t Document: COVID Deaths Projected To Increase To 3,000 Per Day By June 1." Talking Points Memo website. 4 May 2020. The numbers come from an internal report that was leaked to The New York Times. "White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere pushed back against the document, saying that it had not ‘been presented to the Coronavirus Task Force or gone through interagency vetting. This data is not reflective of any of the modeling done by the task force or data that the task force has analyzed’."
3. Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in New Mexico." Updated through 2 May 2020.
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