884 positives in Umbria. Up 10%. 21 deceased.
86,498 positives in Italy. Up 7.3%. 9,134 deceased.
Now over 100,000 positive cases in the US.
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Really good article in the March edition of the Atlantic. “How the Pandemic Will End”
Quote from the article that I thought summed up the American attitude that will lead it down a dangerous path:
“Aspects of America’s identity may need rethinking after COVID-19. Many of the country’s values have seemed to work against it during the pandemic. Its individualism, exceptionalism, and tendency to equate doing whatever you want with an act of resistance meant that when it came time to save lives and stay indoors, some people flocked to bars and clubs. Having internalized years of anti-terrorism messaging following 9/11, Americans resolved to not live in fear. But SARS-CoV-2 has no interest in their terror, only their cells.”
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On a lighter note:
Dinner last night was….pizza!! I had a feeling calling early would be a good idea. I’m guessing there are not a lot of people to bring the pies. We called in our order at 6:10. We were told to expect it about 8:30. It was good pizza. Not the absolute best but very good. Nice chewy crust with a good char. Good toppings. I always go vegetarian with pizza. They had a good many choices for me.
Yesterday I started walking up and down our stairs. It is a good workout. My knee didn’t complain too much. Luther did 15 times. I only did 5. I want to start slow. I don’t want to hurt myself. Our neighbors are doing their 86 stairs 10 or 15 times. Free stairmasters!
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Saturday
It is a beautiful day. Temperatures have come back up some. I am just back from my turn to go grocery shopping. I had my mask, and good thing because EVERYONE was wearing one. I would’ve felt naked. And they give out plastic gloves. There was no line!! I walked right in. Only concerning thing is that people weren’t being very good about the 6 feet distance thing. Hardest thing was to get the plastic bags for the vegetables open while wearing plastic gloves! I got my groceries. Stripped off the gloves, my hands were soaked with sweat. And took off the mask…so hot!
When I got home, I washed all the items I had bought. And washed my keys, phone, wallet, credit card and then my hands. OK call me overdoing it…but I feel better that I can touch all the things I bought without worry.
Here is another poor locked down inmate of Umbertide. I took the whole building first so you could see how tall it is. And then a close up.
Sometimes it is good to go back to good memories. For me, my blog is a journal of sorts. In it I save all my adventures good and bad. Among them are a LOT of trip reports. So today I went back and re-read some of them. I re-lived them. For a time, I was released from this house. Able to be other places…someday we will travel again…
Speaking of this, we have some trips planned. One in Early June I’m pretty sure will need to be canceled. One in July/August to Germany. This one most likely will need to be cancelled. But I’m willing to wait to see how it goes between now and then.
We also had planned to welcome some visitors. Luthers brother, Mike and his family were planning to come. I was very excited. I’m guessing it will have to be postponed. Other old friends, Vicki and Tommy were coming in May. Of course that trip is postponed too. Very sad as I look forward to visitors. But it will get better. And I’ll see them all soon.
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As always folks, stay home, stay safe. We’ll get through this! Andrà tutto bene!
Hi Nancy,
Thank you for your informative blog. We were supposed to fly back to Italy yesterday as we purchased a small house in November 6km from Umbertide. We were fortunate to be there over Christmas and New Year. We live here in Florida and being diligent on how often we go out to the grocery Store. They send out via cell phone twice a day AMBER ALERTS for people to only go out if necessary. Take care and keep climbing the stairs 😍
Linda
I really enjoy your “day in the life” postings, even in these times of crisis, maybe even more so. Thank you for keeping them coming. Here in the Chesapeake Bay region we are also mostly locked down but we can still walk around the neighborhood and go out for groceries and meds. Many restaurants are serving take out. It’s funny, we have a large, loud, fun-loving Italian family that moved in down the street. They have a large yard and are still having big family gatherings-and I Don think all of them live in that house even given its relatively large size. They do seem to have a good time together. I need to meet them sometime to practice my Italian. Some day…
Deaths in US as of today, Saturday March 28 , stands at 1704. 1.4%.
That’s a HUGE difference from Italy.