The Plague Continues

Captain's Log

Stardate 73797.2

The plague continues. Scientists have been unable to find a cure. The best results of a global effort have only produced mild to moderately effective treatments. A small but very loud group of citizens no longer accepts quarantine. Regional governments are caving to their demands, and the plague will spread. Data shows that warmer temperatures do not stop the virus. I anticipate a spike in cases toward the middle of May followed by more quarantines. This will likely prove to be a cycle as governments seem to be gearing up to periodically flood the healthcare system with patients in order to more easily manage the deaths. It will be a cycle of quarantines and reopenings until herd immunity is achieved.

A promising treatment, hydroxychloroquine with zinc, has been rejected by the political elite in favor of a less-promising treatment, Remdesivir. Hydroxycholoquine is an older, cheaper and more easily available drug. Remdesivir is new and expensive. Remdesivir has had a clinical trial. Hydroxychloroquine plus zinc has not. Profit seems to be the driving force.

Fortunately, the fatality rate still hovers above 0%, but I expect that to change over time. In my country about 60,000 people have died. A random sampling of citizens indicates that 10% or more of the population is infected. The computer projects 500,000 to 600,000 people will die in my country alone if a cure is not found.

End Log

Stimulus 4

So far, the government has been willing to throw money at everything but the people who need it. Big corporations who don't need money? Bulldozers full of cash. Small businesses instead of the employees who need it? Send more cash.

It seems everyone but the people who need it are getting bailouts. $1,200? That's crumbs in the real world. Stimulus 4 was supposed to be for the people. Democrats want to bail out Democrat-controlled states that have been fiscally irresponsible with their tax revenues. That's pure politics. They need to go bankrupt. In a bankruptcy the states would not go broke. They would have to restructure to pay everything off. An outsider would run their finances. They would be forced into responsible government. You see why Democrats are screaming. Their form of government would be exposed for what it is, and people in blue states would look at red states and wonder why they're not bankrupt. The danger would be high that the people would vote Republican in order to have a responsible government that works.

So what about the $2,000/month for 6 to 12 months? We'll know more around Monday. The Senate will return from its vacation then. The House was supposed to return then also but has decided to extend their vacation out of fear of the virus. Instead of money for the people, Republicans have floated some scheme to give it to businesses instead. Why in all these bailouts can the government not see that people are the ones who work in businesses? Because they're using the stimulus money to pay companies back for their campaign contributions and pay off their wealthy business friends. I mean aside from that.

Book Stuff
The novella is finished. I've begun going through Book 2 to make sure it's compatible with the changes in the novella. The plan is to release them at the same time or not far apart.


What if we could track everything happening on Earth in real time? And — even better — what if all of that data was readily accessible? Microsoft wants to build a planetary computer.

Doctors report people in their 30s and 40s are having strokes.

North Carolina governor blames Christians for the spread of Coronavirus[sic] despite the abscence of scientific evidence.

China is trying to become a global superpower.

Have a great weekend.