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The COVID news has gotten to be overwhelming.

“The United States shattered its daily record for coronavirus infections on Thursday, reporting more than 77,000 new cases; as the number of deaths in a 24-hour period rose.” Reuters News

“Florida on Thursday broke its single-day death record for the second time this week. It was one of 10 states to reach a record for deaths in a single day this week.” NY Times “The hardest-hit areas in Texas and Arizona are running out of places to store bodies as their morgues fill up and are bringing in coolers and refrigerated trailers.” Reuters News

Plus Far Too Close to Home: “Kansas City Metro area records highest single-day increase in COnVID-19 deaths.” KC Star

“The White House press secretary says ‘science should not stand in the way’ of reopening schools.
However, "no other country has decided to try and send children back to school with the virus continuing to surge, and relatively little is still known about the role children play in transmitting the illness.” NY Times

"There remains firm resistance in many circles, including from some Republican leaders who view mask requirements as a threat to personal liberty. Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, who announced this week that he was suspending all local mask mandates, filed a lawsuit on Thursday challenging the authority of leaders in Atlanta to require masks inside their city’s limits. And in Oklahoma, Gov. Kevin Stitt said this week that he remained opposed to a mask order.” NY Times.

Kansas has a mask mandate, but counties can adopt different rules — either more strict or effectively relaxing the mandate. Politicians across that state, mostly conservative Republicans, have criticized the Democratic governor, saying the use of masks should be a choice.” As a result, 90 out of 105 Kansas counties have decided to NOT abide by the governor’s mask mandate. Meanwhile, Missouri as a state has no mask mandates. Missouri Governor said, “ ones (who) don’t want to wear a mask should have every right not to wear one if they don’t feel like they want to wear one.” Expect COVID cases to rise & watch for the aftermath of the State Fair.

IMHO, everything going on in the USA lately seems either dangerous or crazy. Obviously, not currently staying at home is not “safe”. Trump comment: "We heard people saying maybe we should not do anything [about the coronavirus]. Ride it like a cowboy. Ride that sucker right through." Predictions now are that if the current president continues in that direction, there will be 5 Million American deaths.

Thus, our stay-at-home isolation continues. The goal is to be able to look back on this photo diary 30 or more years from now & be able to say “We survived all that.”

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I shot some wildlife images that I liked today. I was going to post one, but then, I decided that I really didn't want to add any of those along with today's news. An escape away from reality seemed to be more appropriate at this time because reality seems unreal.