My Life in LA County During COVID-19: March 25

Harry Keller 80By Harry Keller
Former ETCJ Science Editor
& President of SmartScience

Mar 25, 2020 at 1:39 PM: We are in a virtual bunker now. No more outdoor excursions until Sunday. We can go into the yard here in this rental cottage that has been our home for the last ten years, but that’s it. On Sunday, we will drive to our little bit of dirt in the mountains. This is the land we bought over four years ago to build a cabin in the mountains. So far, it cost us lots of money to obtain a building permit, but we have had plenty of aerobic exercise working the land. We are in fire safety one zone and must cut the weeds and trim the trees. We are building a stone wall. We have built a trail up into the mountains. Enough of the mountains.

3-D Perspective image of the Los Angeles Basin from the Landsat satellite using NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) for topography information. The vertical scale is exaggerated one and half times. (Wikipedia)

On our visits to stores, I was impressed by the store employees still on the job despite the dangers from the motley groups of shoppers potentially spraying virus everywhere. They may be happy to have jobs, but these are high-risk jobs. Get sick, and you are out of work for weeks. You might die if you cannot obtain suitable care. 

“I was impressed by the store employees still on the job despite the dangers from the motley groups of shoppers potentially spraying virus everywhere.” -HK

Our small town of 36,000 now has 17 confirmed cases of the virus. Because we still lack adequate testing, the actual number of cases is probably over 100. They certainly did not count my daughter and family who have apparently had the virus and recovered before it became widespread.

I think that I mentioned that we are fortunate in working from home — for the last 20 years. We use the car only for necessary trips and walk when we can. We cook all of our own food without using take-out or delivery. We had been going to a restaurant for lunch with our son and CEO once a week to meet and discuss our business. That has ended now because all restaurants are closed for the duration in California, except for pick-up and delivery.

Because our business involves delivering online science lessons over the Internet from a virtual server, we have been able to boost our number of clients by offering our service for free for the rest of the school year. Businesses everywhere have to hunker down, find ways to cut expenses, and plan for the coming inflection point in this crisis. I fear that many small businesses will be gone when this blows over. What will their owners and employees do next?

Spring is here, and we have some good news from the scientists. The virus does not survive well in warm, damp weather. Sounds like Spring to me! Stay safe.

One Response

  1. Harry, this is good news: “They certainly did not count my daughter and family who have apparently had the virus and recovered before it became widespread.” -Jim

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