Day 20

What’s going on: Data is suggesting that 20% of the people infected with COVID-19 require hospitalization. This is the number that is causing surge demand at hospitals in the hot spot. Currently, New York is in the surge. Governor Andrew Cuomo is doing daily press conferences explaining the issues and solutions for New York. President Trump and his task force are also doing daily press briefings. There seems to be great disagreement on what is actually happening. Governor Cuomo and other governors are asking for extra ventilators and PPE (personal protective equipment), we are hearing from medical professionals on the front lines that they lack the quantity of equipment they need to handle the surge in demand. However, President Trump claims there are no shortages. We can’t seem to agree on what the facts are. I’m not sure how we overcome this failure to be on the same page. Meanwhile, known cases in Iowa continue to increase but stay relatively low. Our ER doctor friends report that hospitals in Iowa are not overwhelmed.

What’s happening at home: The kids have become big fans of monkey bread. We made it for the second time today. The girls helped me this time. I pulled the kids away from electronics this afternoon to do a fun experiment that included building foil boats and seeing how much weight they can hold. Will outdid his sisters. Charlie couldn’t seem to come up with any design that worked and she named her last design the “sloppy jalopy.” What she lacks in engineering skills she makes up for in humor. We ordered Mexican (including margaritas!) for dinner. Scott and the kids played flag football outside after dinner while I got the kitchen back in order.