His Royal Redness

I personally don't think you can really ever go wrong with a bright red bird, especially one framed by the last of the cherry blossoms.  The sun had briefly dipped behind a cloud, leaving a much softer light to shoot by, and the cardinal raised his crest slightly - snap, snap.  

I don't know about the rest of you, but I find the days kind of blending into one another right now.  The initial horror of the sickness and death has become more of a dull ache, if that makes sense.  I wake up each day knowing the numbers will be in the thousands for my state and my neighbor, NY.  That so many people will lose someone they love today. But I try to also remember that every time a NJ hospital releases someone after Covid 19, they play the Beatles song Here Comes The Sun.  

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun, doo-doo-doo-doo, here comes the sun
And I say it's all right


Today was our weekly grocery shopping day so Hubs donned his mask and braved the stores.  It seems that paper products are now being stocked again - I guess all who were hoarding finally ran out of room!  We are getting just what we need each week.  


It looks like our region of the country is going to remain under stay-at-home orders until 15 May.  Not surprised, and not displeased.  Here in NJ we are just barely starting to plateau and letting up on restrictions right now would likely be catastrophic.  

A huge story has broken about a large long term care/rehab facility in our little town.  The virus has gotten loose in their population and killed both staff and residents.  Authorities intervened this weekend when they received reports of upwards of 14 bodies being stored in the building's morgue (which is meant to hold about 4).  Anyway, now all eyes are on this place, as they well should be.  We have always known that it wasn't a particularly good facility but some of the facts coming out now are really horrific.  I feel so sad for the families who haven't been able to get answers or even talk to their loved ones.  

As always, I will record the daily stats below.  On the first day I started recording (22 March) we had just a tick over 1,900 cases.  We are now on our way to 100,000.  

Stay home.  Stay safe.  Be kind.

xo
Debbi

Covid19 stats
Positive cases in NJ as of 1 PM today - 75,317
Deaths in NJ -  3,518
Positive cases in Sussex County - 578 -  43 deaths