Originally posted March 21, 2020 on Facebook

Friends,

Just a little up date from last week’s talk. I mentioned in the talk that I saw a 10 fold increase in cases since I gave my first talk to a small audience on March 3rd. The US had 125 cases on the 3rd, and 1762 cases on the evening of March 12th. This morning, March 21st, the US has 19,931 cases, another 10 fold increase since my talk last week! Some of this is because of increased testing, but there are certainly many, many cases we don’t know about yet.

The caseload has been going up consistently by about 34% more each DAY in the US, 6000 new cases just yesterday March 20th. We NEED to get the rate of new increases to come down. Increased social distancing measures will help, but because of the long incubation time, it may take a few days or weeks to see a benefit.

Autoimmune disease: There have been recent reports, that those with autoimmune diseases (like me) are at special risk because our immune systems are already overactive, and will do extra damage to our bodies while trying to combat the SARS-2 virus. In a brief search online, I have not been able to find confirmation of this report. If you have Celiac Disease, MS, some kinds of Diabetes, or other autoimmune disease, take special care.

My state, California, has instituted a voluntary ban on non-essential outing from your house, except for:

Getting food
Care for a relative or friend
Get necessary health care
Go to an essential job

If your job is essential, you know it by now!

Going for a walk is still a good idea if you keep a safe distance (at least 6 feet) from neighbors.

Also, consider texting neighbors, or using Nextdoor or a similar site to try to find people in your area who maybe do not have social connections and may need extra assistance, like food and supply delivery. Ding dong ditch!

I also heard a good idea about buying gift cards from your favorite stores in town to support them until things get back to normal.

That’s all for now! Take care!

Don’t fear, but be smart!
Erik