Family Fridays #14

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Family Fridays

Wow! Another Friday. Is it me or are they coming faster and faster? I hope all of you and yours are safe and well. Here’s how things are going in Alabama as of Thursday evening, June 25, 2020. Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have increased in the past week from 27,796 to 33,206. That’s 5,410 more people. There are now 896 people who have died, which is an increase of 95 people from June 19. Over the last 24 hours alone, the state has seen a record increase with over 1,100 new cases. Hospitalizations also continue to rise and 82% of ICU beds across the state are full. Several states are now requiring residents and travelers from highly infectious states like Alabama, be quarantined for two weeks. We’re still under an amended “Safer at Home” order, but that expires next Friday, and right now no one knows what Governor Ivey will do. I’m guessing she’ll extend the order, but we’ll see. I’m happy to say that more people seem to be wearing masks. My husband and I had to run several errands over the last couple of days, and there were definitely more people wearing face coverings than not. I’m so relieved to see this, especially as I have to finally go to the doctor’s next week as I’m almost out of my medication. It seems like people are finally waking up in my neck of the woods, which is more than I can say for these lovely folks in Palm Beach County, Florida who have some issues with the new mandatory mask mandate set forth by their Board of Commissioners as there’s a spike in cases there:

Oh my. Here’s the rest of the testimony of the first woman. She appears to be alluding to Pizzagate, among other far-right conspiracy theories. pic.twitter.com/J10IB3AXTY

— John Aravosis 🇺🇸🇬🇷🏳️‍🌈 (@aravosis) June 24, 2020

I’ll give you a moment to recover from watching that. A new study shows that if everyone wore a mask, 30,000 lives would be saved between now and October. But when we have political leaders from Mr. Trump on down, who are being intentionally negligent, it’s doubtful that will happen. Tragically, the United States has become a cautionary tale.

For this week’s positivity I’d like to share this 2014 music video from Playing For Change which has been seeking to inspire and bring people together through music, since 2005. I hope this version of Bobby McFerrin’s Don’t Worry Be Happy brings a smile to your face and sets your feet to tappin’.

How are all of you this last Friday in June?