Quarantine Done!

Today was the last day of my quarantine. I would have thought there would be something different proclaiming the end of my quarantine; but it just said it was Day 14 of my 14 day quarantine. Oh, well. This morning DT and I switched parking spot; I will be leaving tomorrow morning about 5:30 for my sunrise walk.

Same old, same old.

I expected them to at least say I was done; but there was nothing different.

I am ready to get up tomorrow for my sunrise walk! I got up today at the same time I need to get up tomorrow to get ready for my walk; an hour before sunrise.

Fifty-nine minutes before sunrise.

Seventeen minutes before sunrise; about 16 minutes after the time I should be leaving the house.

I watched the Native Hawaiian Student Services at UH Mānoa's The Bookshelf Series live video "Mo'olelo & Microbes" with Dr. Kiana Frank. It was really cool! I wish there were classes like that when I was in college. She links Hawaiian mo'olelo & dance with science. At the end she taught a hula that tells the story of how the nutrients from the deep ocean water get carried to the upper surfaces and redistributed by whales. She explained all of the parts of the hula, then had the participants follow along as she danced. During the Q&A portion I asked how a person who is not a student could attend her classes; she has them all recorded and on Facebook Live! Winner! May be this stay at home thing here on O'ahu isn't quite as bad as I thought it would be. (She also has an Instagram page and You Tube channel.)

One of the class videos.

The Humpback Whale Dance.

I also read the article "Coronavirus Cases Are Still Growing in Many U. S. States" on FiveThirtyEight.com; they are a data-driven blog about statistics as it pertains to politics, sports, science & health, economics, and culture. This article looked at whether the nation has reached the peak of COVID-19 infections. They have analyzed the rates of infection by each state and have categorized the states by whether infections have not yet peaked in the state (18 + DC), appear to have peaked in the week ending 04/15 (6), peaked in the week ending 04/08 (20 including us), and states that peaked in the week ending 04/01 (6). Their conclusion is, "the United States desperately needs to work on techniques in addition to social distancing to fight the spread, including better testing, case-tracking, quarantining of sick individuals, and better sanitation and hygiene. Social distancing has likely been very helpful to slow the spread and, in many states, even reverse it. But if it’s the only tool we’re employing — and it’s a costly tool to wield — it may only be enough to allow us to fight the coronavirus to a draw."

I also read the article referenced by FiveThirtyEight.com about the additional techniques. There are, "Five elements, five weapons: social distancing, contact tracing, testing, isolation, and treatment. After Wuhan began using these weapons simultaneously, the transmission rate dropped again, to the point where any single case led to less than one more. Once that happens, an epidemic dies." So far in Hawai'i we have only really implemented the first two, social distancing & contact tracing. Our testing is well below that needed to reduce the R value below 1, but there are plans in the works to increase the testing rate. I have not heard anything about isolating people who test positive in a separate medically-supervised facility or providing aggressive treatment to those people. 

I also watched the video, "How a shortage of sand could delay coronavirus vaccine." It's about 10 minutes long and worth the time so that when you hear someone say, "we're going to have a vaccine and we're going to fast-track it like you've never seen" you will understand when its not available on the timeline you heard earlier.


The rest of my day was boring. I spent it doing paperwork.

Here's what the calendar looks like for the end of April.


There were 5 new cases of COVID-19 reported today bringing the total known cases up to 618. Today some other businesses are allowed to open as long as they are able to ensure physical distancing and they enforce the mask directive.