Too close to home

When the "stay at home" protocols began more than a month ago there were shortages at the local supermarket and many empty shelves.  Toilet paper, of course, but also paper towels, milk, bread, eggs, sugar, and flour were not to be had, at least not at my local store.  But as of last week everything is available as far as I could tell.  Flour was in short supply in the first few weeks but now there is plenty to go around, all-purpose flour in particular.  I don't think I've ever seen bread flour at the local store, I'll have to shop  elsewhere when I run out but that won't be for a while.  How is Mr. Beagles fixed for yeast?  I've read that some stores are running low but yeast is the kind of thing that you can get yourself, plucking it out of the very air you breathe.  And this would be a good time to start brewing your own beer, don't you think?

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Last week I learned that my niece tested positive for Covid-19.  Her symptoms were mild, but since she is a nurse she thought a test would be a good idea, and it was.  No big change to her lifestyle; stay at home like everyone else, stay hydrated, and go crazy with the sanitizers.  She should be back at work in a week.

This whole testing business has me a bit confused.  We're supposed to be self-isolating and unless you have severe symptoms (and you'll know when you have them) they'll send you home to recuperate.  The tests aren't that accurate from what I've read; too many false negatives and false positives to convince me of their efficacy.

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I'm going to put my tinfoil hat on my head and say there is something fishy about this pandemic, almost like it's a pretext for something else and the data and statistics are being massaged. It's not clear if the deaths are by Covid-19 or with Covid-19; each nation, state, county or governing body seems to have a different method of keeping a tally.  In the US the news seems to be a lot worse than the reality.  Yes, we seem to have the most deaths from Covid-19 but we are only fifth or sixth if you count the deaths per 100,000 people.  Belgium has a real problem, and I don't know why.  Can a virus be selectively contagious?  The truth of the matter is elusive and if there is a better source of information than Johns Hopkins University I'd like to know what it is.

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It could be worse, though.  No locusts and we're not downwind of the radioactive smoke from the wildfires in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.  Not yet.

Per the president's recommendation I think I'll go snort some Pine-Sol.  Not as effective as bleach or Lysol but it smells better, not unlike the sylvan glades of Beaglesonia.