197 positive cases in Umbria yesterday. Still growing by 20% a day, or thereabouts.

2 new cases here in Umbertide. We got notice they will be disinfecting all surfaces around town. And to keep our windows closed.
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Public Service Announcement: Good source of info sent to me by a friend who works at Johns Hopkins University. coronavirus.jhu.edu
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I feel I’ve strayed from relating my own story here, so I’m going back to that primarily. Luther and I were just saying, as we arose to another day in our house…it is just like being under house arrest but we don’t have the ankle bracelets. 😂

I think today’s post will be stream of consciousness….
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There has been a very heated debate (mostly on Facebook expat groups) about whether people are allowed to go out of their houses to walk or run for exercise. Tonight on RAI One, one of the main TV stations here, they said that people are allowed to exercise, inside or outside, as long as they do it by themselves. I’ve been worrying about my inability to exercise my recently replaced knee. I don’t feel it is good to sit around the house all day, every day without exercising it. If this thing was short lived that would be OK. But we are hearing rumors it could go through the whole summer.
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Here’s another thought. We are in an agricultural area. I’m happy to report that the farmers are working their fields and planting. These are large scale (one crop in the field) farms. This reminded me of our lost Saturday Local Produce market. Where the people who come have farms around here to sell to us, the customers. And there is bound to be food in their fields which they would be selling to us in normal times. So what are they doing with this produce? The chain has broken. How can we facilitate the movement of the local food from the farms to the consumers here (who want it) with no venue? We need to come up with a new plan to help the farmers, so they will plant new crops at the proper time dictated by the season. We want them to keep planting. We don’t want them to go out of business. We need the chain to be unbroken. It is to everyone’s advantage to keep this going. I think I will post this on our local Umbria Facebook page…maybe we can come up with some ideas.
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Hmmmm. I was looking in the mirror today. Not a good idea, in the best of times. And I realized I’m overdue for a haircut. It occurred to me, since all the hairdressers are closed indefinitely, that we are going to be – ONE shaggy nation! OMG we will look like cavemen when we emerge from our casa caves. Whenever that may be…
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I’m still following the news from the US. Most of it is heartening. People are taking this all more seriously I think, finally. Except for one report from Florida…they’ve closed all the bars and clubs. Yay! But they let the restaurants stay open half capacity….Noooooooooo. 😱 If you are trying to limit transmission of this thing then go the whole way. Half full still transmits the contagion. Bad idea. I’m sure they are hoping to keep the restaurants solvent. I totally understand that. But I’m afraid our way of life will not be the same for a long time. Our businesses and economy will take huge hits. Inevitable. But more important are the millions…and I mean millions, who will die. We all need to act now.

An finally, and I’ll shut my trap after this, but a quote from our leaders. (What are they thinking?! 🤦🏻‍♀️)
“ Over the weekend, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), a leading ally of President Trump, dismissed concerns about the coronavirus pandemic and said on Fox News that “it’s a great time to just go out, go to a local restaurant.”

Oh my god.
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Gosh, this is not a good note on which to end. So let’s talk about lunch. I made a big soup today. It will last days. It has tomatoes, carrots, onion, celery, mushrooms, cabbage, one jalapeño, mixed grains and a little pasta. Very healthy, very hearty and filling. I serve it with a drizzle of good olive oil. 🙂 Picture!

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All y’all stay safe. Wash your hands! And Anderà tutti bene!