Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

Just catching up on your saga. I hope by now you're somewhere over an ocean, on your way to Hong Kong. There was a time when many here at sj would have pooled together and paid for a hotel near the airport, so you didn't have to sleep in the terminal. Hell, there was a time when I had a zillion Marriott points I'd have gladly given you. I'm just glad to see someone is employing fact checkers! What a strange, strange world this has become, in so many ways.

 

Thanks, I appreciate that. We're scheduled to take off in an hour -- still a fair few people in line having their documents gone over with a fine-toothed comb. I appear to be one of the few people flying without a face shield. That might have been a concern at one point, but there's about three dozen people lining up for a flight on an Airbus A350 so social distancing shouldn't be much of an issue.

 

Harvard's campus will not open for fall semester for the 1st time in 384 years

 

Pregnant fiancee and I declined an invitation to my bosses' birthday bash Saturday (their birthdays are same week). We have locked down in anticipation of driving cross-country to see family and make it legal after a couple delays. Today, boss says their entire family is sick. Co-worker asks if it's COVID. Response is, "No. Runny noses and sore throats." We both inform that that could be COVID and they should get tested. She responds that the oldest kid has had it for a few days and is starting to feel better, the rest of them are just getting, she's pretty sure it's just colds.

WTF is wrong with people?

 

My nephew has it. Freshman at Oklahoma. My brother says he's not bad and getting better.

 

Remember when smug Trumpists were snickering and mocking NYC for its Trumpandemic death toll?
If September is like August, in which 20K of the 30K deaths were in states with GOP governors, Trumpist states' share of the cumulative death count will be right in line with their share of the US population: 45%.
As for case counts, the Trumpists and their mask-rejecting klan have already surpassed states with Democratic governors. They made up ground pretty quickly.

 

We need an update, @TrooperBari.

 

Would love a first-hand account of that awesome plane and unique environment!

 

Hoping for the best.​

 

And I would love to give you one... but I was fast asleep for about three quarters of the 13-hour flight. Anyone who wanted their own row could have it. Unlike the AA flight from Narita to DFW, though, they weren't offering double entrees and snack boxes. A small price to pay for bringing this ridiculous saga to a close, perhaps.

I'm in the Hong Kong airport now. We touched down at 6:15 a.m. local time, and four hours later I've finally got my quarantine orders (hotel stays mandatory for travelers from the US, Hong Kong residence or no) and taken my deep saliva test. I have to stay in the 'holding area' -- a series of individual desks and chairs scattered throughout one of the terminals -- until those results come back, and if they're negative I have to go straight to the hotel. I'm told the wait could be up to 12 hours due to today being unusually busy with flights; our flight was mostly empty, but apparently there were other flights that brought a large number of prospective domestic helpers from Indonesia and the Philippines. No electrical outlets in sight and my phone is already out of juice, so I might end up busting out the work laptop just to keep from being stuck with my own thoughts for several hours.