07/12/2020-07/18/2020
The week began with some of the hottest days on record for San Antonio (at least in the last seven years), though that may have been some of the only light that Texans see for the time being as the numbers of cases and deaths throughout Texas continue rising, as more hospitals begin to say they are at or close to capacity, and freezer trucks have to be brought in as a way to handle all the dead bodies from the hospitals that are overwhelmed, not to mention the fact that Military medics are being brought in.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg says that San Antonio is ‘nowhere near a sustained decline’ as earlier in the week he reported about only 10% capacity left in San Antonio hospitals., not to mention the nearly 10,000 Texans still in hospitals due to the coronavirus. It makes me wonder about if Texas Governor Greg Abbott feels any regret for touting the Texas-sized hospital capacity only two weeks ago.
Despite last weeks big brouhaha about the GOP convention in Houston which was eventually cancelled due to Coronavirus and the at capacity Houston hospitals, experts now have their sights set on another Texas event that looks to bring in thousands of people; NASCAR’s Texas Motor City Speedway. Oh good god…
This is in addition to the fact that Bexar County officials found themselves defending an in-person horse auction happening next week in Freeman Coliseum, citing an exception for “equestrian events.”
Two prominent people in Texas criticized Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s handling of the Coronavirus response in Texas. First was Austin’s Mayor Steve Adler who criticized Abbott's mixed mask message, making the distinction that while Abbott was has always touted wearing a mask, he didn’t make a statewide mandate until the cases began getting out of control. San Antonio Spurs coach Greg Popovich pointed out how Texas leaders have no strategy for combating the COVID-19 because the Governor ““goes back and forth based on whether he has to satisfy [President] Trump or listen to the numbers.”
This week, Erika Paradise and I had an epiphany about folks who don't want to wear a mask. We came to the realization that there is no sense in arguing w/ those who don't want to wear masks because if those folks are already not listening to the experts and other people in the top of their field, there's no chance in hell they would listen to two artists who like to paint and write poetry.
This week has found my nightly screen watching habits switch over to enjoying a few black and white Humphrey Bogart movies.
Earlier in the week I published a letter on medium about the 2020 Election and Donald Trump that I also sent to some family members, and… it do not go over well.
Erika Paradise and myself were thrilled to have an extended conversation w/ my brother and his girlfriend via video chat that lasted a good three and a half hours on Saturday night.
While the rest of the nation continues grappling with the realities of a pandemic school year, including the Trump Administration’s push for children to go back to school, several school districts, including San Antonio and Houston decided to delay having kids physically attend school.
Texas Governor Abbott made the wise decision to extend stay at home learning to schools this week, to give them more time to make plans for in person learning, essentially saying Texas schools could hold their first 8 weeks of classes online.
Granted, San Antonio parents see no good options in terms of their kids going back to school.
On the bright side, it appears as though San Antonio coronavirus hospitalizations might be leveling off, but that might be because the death toll keeps on rising. So, really depends on if you’re a glass half full or glass half empty kinda person in this case.
On the not so awesome news, Texas joins the likes of Florida, California, and New York in achieving a grim milestone of having 300,000 confirmed coronavirus cases.
In some other not so positive news, San Antonio officials discovered an an accidental backlog of coronavirus cases that had yet to be reported until Thursday. Whoopsies!