Canoerebel
Posts: 21100
Joined: 12/14/2002 From: Northwestern Georgia, USA Status: offline
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Before dawn, I drove 40 miles to meet a friend (a retired superior court judge) at a McDonalds in the small town of Chatsworth. The dining room was closed (statewide order now), so we got ours to go. Then we went to Fort Mountain State Park and hiked about four miles, including a craggy, steep bushwhack up the Goldmine Branch gorge. It was a lovely, mild morning. Lots of neotropical migrants are present and singing now, including Louisiana waterthrush, black-and-white warbler, black-throated-green warbler and yellow-throated warbler. Star chickweed, bloodroot, toadshade trillium and lots of other flowers in bloom. Everything lush and lovely and perfectly normal. My friend has about the same level of concern about the virus as everyone else I've come across in Georgia. He mentioned the immense death toll of WWI exacerbated by the Spanish flu pandemic and wondered how the people endured such duel cataclysms and how we'd react today. Athens/Clarke County (University of Georgia location) has issued a "shelter in home" edict until something like April 7. I think that county had six cases as of yesterday. That level of lock down isn't widespread in Georgia yet. It probably will be in the next day or two. For what it's worth, I remain optimistic about the outcome of this. Many underlying numbers continue to look encouraging (in most places). The level of response, can-do attitude, cheerfulness of the populace, and quality of healthcare are most encouraging. No doubt countries will continue ramping up production and sharing, with those that have plenty reaching out to those really struggling. All over.
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