The Daily Dread - Tracking the spread, 11/18/20 - A Quarter-Million Dead

[calimary]

Last edited Wed Nov 18, 2020, 03:01 PM - Edit history (1)

All times Pacific, source: Johns Hopkins/NBC News

At 9:20am
Confirmed cases US - 11,461,457
Deaths US - 250,099

At 9:21am
Confirmed cases US - 11,466,551
Deaths US - 250,166

shit...

Yep. We got there. A quarter-million American dead. And the number's still climbing.

[calimary]

1. A Quarter Million Deaths. And counting.

Last edited Wed Nov 18, 2020, 08:25 PM - Edit history (1)

I just needed an extra post to try to help wrap my brain around that figure.

A QUARTER-MILLION DEATHS.

That's a quarter-million tables at Thanksgiving - with that seat empty. Maybe it was the family member who always carved the turkey. Maybe it was she who made "those" special mashed potatoes, or the green bean casserole. My husband always, every year, remembers his grandma - whose annual specialty that was. Maybe it was the teenager who groused about setting the table, but complied anyway. Yeah, it hits - and takes - the young, too. Maybe it was the family elder who always had those funny stories about what your mom or dad did at Thanksgiving when she/he was a kid, or the one who had the cat that snuck up onto the dining room table after dinner - while everybody else was in the other room watching football - and availing itself of the inside of the turkey. (Truth! We had that exact thing happen one year. Cat crawled UP INSIDE the turkey and was having a mighty nice dinner, and all we could see was its tail slowly undulating from the back of the carcass. I'm NOT making that up!)

A quarter-million tables at Thanksgiving. A quarter-million living rooms where everybody winds up in front of the TV watching whatever game it was, but one loved one is no longer there to be part of it, to hoot at the opposing quarterback, groan loudly when the other team makes a touchdown, erupt in cheers when YOUR team makes a touchdown or intercepts the ball. One loud cheer - you'll never hear again.

These aren't just numbers. They're somebody's flesh and blood. They're somebody's baby, all grown up now - maybe someone who was a long-yearned-for child of a couple who'd been trying for several years to get pregnant. Maybe someone whose voice rang out the most clearly during choir practice at church, OR someone whose voice was the clinker, never quite finding the right note, but everybody loved them anyway and embraced them in the soprano section. Or maybe it was the baritone who could hit lower notes than anybody else had ever tried to.

Maybe it was the family member who was always in charge of "those" homemade rolls. Or "that" dessert that only got made on Thanksgiving. Or "that" special gourmet stuffing. And maybe there was the traditional yearly argument over garlic-or-no-garlic, too-spicy-or-not-spicy-enough. Or the traditional family joke about "don't get okra!"

For a quarter-million families, that part of Thanksgiving that they look forward to, and laugh about, every year, is GONE.

GONE.

GONE FOREVER. Until we meet again...

There will be many multiples of a quarter-million tears shed this Thanksgiving. And multiple quarter-millions of aching hearts. Longing for the Missing One they'll never - ever - see, or hug, or laugh with, or talk/joke/gossip with, EVER again.

And it Did. NOT. Have. To. Happen.




It didn't have to happen.

[calimary]

2. Update -

At 9:20am
Confirmed cases US - 11,461,457
Deaths US - 250,099

At 9:21am
Confirmed cases US - 11,466,551
Deaths US - 250,166


At 2:01pm
Confirmed cases US - 11,545,957
Deaths US - 251,061

[calimary]

3. Update -

At 9:20am
Confirmed cases US - 11,461,457
Deaths US - 250,099

At 9:21am
Confirmed cases US - 11,466,551
Deaths US - 250,166


At 2:01pm
Confirmed cases US - 11,545,957
Deaths US - 251,061


At 4:01pm
Confirmed cases US - 11,561,965
Deaths US - 251,201

[calimary]

6. Another update -

At 9:20am
Confirmed cases US - 11,461,457
Deaths US - 250,099

At 9:21am
Confirmed cases US - 11,466,551
Deaths US - 250,166


At 2:01pm
Confirmed cases US - 11,545,957
Deaths US - 251,061


At 4:01pm
Confirmed cases US - 11,561,965
Deaths US - 251,201


At 6:22pm
Confirmed cases US - 11,580,495+
Deaths US - 251,353+

[calimary]

7. And another update -

At 9:20am
Confirmed cases US - 11,461,457
Deaths US - 250,099

At 9:21am
Confirmed cases US - 11,466,551
Deaths US - 250,166


At 2:01pm
Confirmed cases US - 11,545,957
Deaths US - 251,061


At 4:01pm
Confirmed cases US - 11,561,965
Deaths US - 251,201


At 6:22pm
Confirmed cases US - 11,580,495+
Deaths US - 251,353+


At 8:08pm - thumbnails only
Confirmed cases US - 11.6 million
Deaths US - 251,353

[calimary]

8. And yet another update -

At 9:20am
Confirmed cases US - 11,461,457
Deaths US - 250,099

At 9:21am
Confirmed cases US - 11,466,551
Deaths US - 250,166


At 2:01pm
Confirmed cases US - 11,545,957
Deaths US - 251,061


At 4:01pm
Confirmed cases US - 11,561,965
Deaths US - 251,201


At 6:22pm
Confirmed cases US - 11,580,495+
Deaths US - 251,353+


At 8:08pm - thumbnails only
Confirmed cases US - 11.6 million
Deaths US - 251,353


At 8:26pm
Confirmed cases US - 11.6 million
Deaths US - 251,393

[malaise]

4. We knew this was coming

[calimary]

5. It just sucks, malaise. This is a nightmare - and we're wide awake and it isn't going away.

And it's SO SAD!

So DAMN sad.

The loss - the totally and completely UNNECESSARY loss. It DIDN'T have to happen! At least not to this extreme!

I find myself reading some of these stories about the NICU nurse who died - after two days. The sweet, happy five-year-old, who died. The-four-year old who lost both of his parents. The couples married for 40, 50, 60 years who finally had to face the "til death do us part" part, and probably hoped they'd go together, but now one is left behind, alone, after all those years. And the lost loved one was left to die alone, because no loved one was allowed to come sit with them and hold their hand while they made the jump to light speed. And I've cried! And I don't even know any of these people. Nevertheless, I'm torn up over their anguished stories, their agony and fear and loneliness and heartbreak.

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE NUMBERS IS A PERSON.

A mom. A dad. A brother, a sister. A grandpa or grandma, or favorite aunt or uncle. Or even a not-so-favorite aunt or uncle who always generates the gossipy stories the family chuckles over, in later years - "remember that year when Uncle Jerry brought the trombone over and ...? Or what happened at our house one snowy New Year's Day when I was about six, and my parents had friends over. Including this couple, the wife of whom was a fancy lady with big gorgeous diamonds and blue mascara who I found utterly beguiling. Those big diamonds had gotten her robbed more than once, and she'd started carrying a small tear gas canister in her purse. That evening, they were leaving and she did one of those "c'mon, Ben, it's late..." and swatted her husband on the fanny with her purse. The tear gas went off, and we all had to scramble and grope for our coats and evacuate the house - and then wait, outside, in the snow - while the tear gas inside vented away! Truth!

But EVERYBODY has a story from one of these holidays. EVERYBODY has one. EVERYBODY has a memory of one wild escapade or that antique chair that somebody's overweight brother-in-law sat on and broke over the Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year's holidays. And there will be one less person at the table or in the family room. One less person. If you even decide to live dangerously and risk attending this year's traditional indoor family gathering, that is. And for many, this year will add a sad story to the family recollections. Pain, suffering, separation, fear, and maybe also a funeral - to which only a few can safely come. The cost of COVID will be an irrevocable part of it from now on.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

9. The evil lies with those who deliberately promoted the idea this was a hoax or just the 'flu.

[malaise]

10. What a great post