So, Did We Have Coronavirus Before Coronavirus Was Cool?

Just got a message from Abby's pediatrician that when the antibody test for Covid-19 is available, she'd like Abby to come in and get tested for the presence of the antibody.

You see, Abby in December came down with a flu-like illness that threw her for a complete loop lasting almost 2 weeks. It was diagnosed as an upper respiratory infection, and was not influenza as the influenza test at the time came back negative. Apparently her high fever, cough, and shortness of breath are consistent with a case of coronavirus.

Leah got hit with it as well and was sick, but not as badly as Abby, and both Tash and I also popped fevers, coughs, and were feeling lousy then as well.

Since Abby goes to a pretty international school, and, get this, she has and sits together with a friend who had actually traveled to Wuhan to visit family. Her friend came back from that trip with quite a cough in December, all before this had made the news.

I'd say the chances are pretty fair to middling that we've already been exposed and had this thing.

Be interesting to see what an antibody test will show.

Not An April Fools Day Post - Chilean Commie Catches Comeuppance

It turns out Commies don't like to actually live under Communism (unless, of course they're among the nomenklatura).

Who knew?

Babalú Blog: COVID-19 strands Chilean leftist and Castro regime supporter in socialist Cuba, pleads for help to escape

From Cuba, Chilean actress Carolina Cox called on her government to get her off the island where she has been stranded after flights out were canceled due to the spreading of COVID-19 all over the island.

“This is a center for infections, foreigners are constantly coming and going, there’s a plague of rats, this is a closed-down hotel,” complained the actress in a video posted on social media.

. . .

“It’s super distressing being in a country where there’s shortages of soap, toilet paper, our accounts are blocked because of the blocks on Cuba, connecting to the internet is very difficult, our credit cards don’t work [,,,] There’s people who need medicine, among us are kids, elderly, families,” she explained.

The actress, who has been an activist promoting the protests against the government of Sebastian Piñera [of Chile] these past months and has declared herself a support of leftist regimes int he region, finished her message with a demand that her government do something about getting her back to Chile.

I hear Chile, in response to her demand, offered her a helicopter ride . . . . .

Success: Smoked Brisket For Dinner

Total Cook Time: 10 hours, 4 minutes, including an annoying stall that required the use of the Texas Crutch (ye olde aluminum foil) to get through. Thence, 1 hour to rest.

After the rest, some slices were made and served and it came out great.

Pronounced perfectly tender, flavorful with excellent but not overwhelming smokiness, and served with some asparagus, and mac & cheese.

Did not require any BBQ sauce but it could be added if desired.

Now, I may need to make some social-distancing-approved meat-packs for some friends and neighbors.

Working From Home, So Might As Well Getting My Smoking On For Dinner

Since I'm working from home, I might as well do some food smoking since I can be here to give it the attention that it requires.

This one will require quite a bit of attention. Luckily, I can see the smoker from my home office.

Today's smoking item: Brisket. Or as they called it in Texas - BBQ.

I got a nice packer brisket from Costco yesterday and seasoned it last night with my homemade brisket rub.

It then sat out this morning for a couple hours to come up to temperature before having it ready to be placed in the smoker.

I then got the fire built and placed some locally sourced apple and hickory wood in the smoker.

And she's off and the cook has begun. We will see how this goes.

Stupid Criminals - Coronavirus Edition: It's A Miracle He Didn't Get His Butt Kicked For Doing That

The Detroit Free Press: Michigan man charged with touching carts, claiming he has coronavirus

A Michigan man was arrested after grabbing shopping carts at a grocery store and claiming he had the coronavirus.

Jonathan David-Asher Miracle, 26, also kissed the window of a police car Friday, the Genesee County prosecutor's office said.

Miracle was charged with malicious destruction of police property and falsely threatening people with a harmful substance.

It really is a miracle no one straightened Mr. Miracle out with a steel pipe or administered a dosage of high-velocity trans-cortical plumbum therapy after that threatening display of stupidity.

Governor Half-Whit Gets Some Things Right

One might even hope if she keeps this up that she'll be right half the time.

To be fair, while I've highlighted her many recent major screw-ups and lies, it's only fair I praise her when she makes good decisions.

Finally she has made some worthy of praise:

The Detroit News: Whitmer relaxes medical practice rules to provide help to fight virus

This is the right call to make. Letting doctors who are licensed in any US state practice here only makes sense, as does expanding what nurses, PAs and other medical professionals can do will only help.

Allowing drug manufacturers and wholesalers to ship from out of state right to the hospitals and distributors in Michigan rather than through some Michigan regulatory required intermediary, is also the right thing to do here. I will add this should have not even been an issue nor require emergency powers to fix in the first place and should not be reinstated after this emergency passes. Good call.

Next up, another good decision, yet again raising a question as to why this could not have been fixed before an emergency existed:

WXYZ7: Gov. Whitmer signs order allowing pharmacists to dispense emergency refills of prescriptions

Governor Whitmer signed an executive order Wednesday easing restrictions on pharmacists and increasing access to prescriptions for Michiganders.

Executive Order 2020-25 will allow pharmacists to dispense emergency refills of prescriptions for up to 60 days’ worth of supply for patients and require insurers to cover these emergency refills during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Again this is both the right call, and never should have been restricted in the first place.

Two right calls in a row governor. Keep it up and your TDS down and you may do all right.

Governor Half-Whit: That Anti-Trump Claim I Made? It's False, So I Never Said It.

Compare and Contrast:

March 27: Whitmer: Feds told vendors not to send medical supplies to Michigan

Whitmer said Friday on WWJ 950AM. "What I've gotten back is that vendors with whom we had contracts are now being told not to send stuff here to Michigan. It's really concerning."

Whitmer didn't say who has told vendors to stop sending medical supplies to the state, but strongly implied the order came from President Donald Trump's administration.

Today: The Detroit Free Press: Michigan death toll ticks up as Whitmer says more aid needed

Whitmer also sought to clarify Sunday that she did not claim Trump was punishing Michigan by telling vendors to redirect needed coronavirus supplies away from the state.

Who ya gonna believe? Governor Half-Whit or your lying eyes?

She got called on her false claim, and instead of admitting she was wrong did the standard Dem tactic of claiming she never said it.

Governor Half-Whit: What? You Expect ME To Walk and Chew Gum At The Same Time?

Governor Whitmer first castigated Trump and the feds for not providing emergency aid to Michigan.

Thence it was kindly pointed out to her that she had yet to make the required request for such aid. She then finally did so.

Fox2News: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer submits disaster declaration request to Pres. Trump

When asked why she didn't do so prior to castigaitng the feds for failign to respond to an unmade request, she answered:

Whitmer announced the disaster declaration request a day after the Detroit Free Press reported FEMA said she had yet to request one for the state. A major disaster declaration increases funding from the federal government and brings other federal assistance from FEMA.

Whitmer explained that she waited to request the major disaster declaration because she wanted to make sure the request was done right. She also said Michigan's request was done based on what other states have received, which she said was not enough for those states to fight the virus.

"We wrote ours in a way that learned from other states," Whitmer said.

In other words, she had to copy the work of others to do it effectively. But wait, there's more:

The second reason for the delay in request, Whitmer said, is that her administration said it was more important Michigan residents stop communicating the disease.

"We know that our actions to get people in Michigan to stop communication of this disease amongst each other is the highest priority and that's where we spent our energy. The best thing we can do is mitigate spread through interaction and that's why we spent all our energies in that part first," Whitmer said.

In other words our Governor has admitted she is unable to delegate and multitask. Are you really telling me that the executive branch of our state under Gov. Whitmer is unable to issue a Stay Home order and apply for federal disaster relief funds at the same time?

Much better for her to play gotcha games and attack Trump rather than effectively do things on behalf of the people of her state. Gets her better press and the adoration of the Twitterati.

I'd say she's trying out for the attack dog Vice President slot on Biden's (or whoever the Dems get around to replacing him) team (as Biden was for Obama). But, she's brought a new twist on it - attacking Trump and then going poor me, "I'm just a woman governor asking nicely for help" when she gets called on it.

Remember how she claimed she had no aspirations other than being governor of Michigan - don't expect that promise to last.

Governor Half-Whit Backs Down On Threatening Physicians And Pharmacists

The Governor's Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Bureau, which was threatening license action against any doctor or pharmacist who prescribed hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with disciplinary action has now backed down.

They've issued a correspondence walking back that threat and claiming they meant it just for enforcement action against anyone with the intent to stockpile the drugs.

After all, who ya gonna believe? Their clarification or your lyin' eyes?

This walks back and tries to memory-hole the first and main part of their threat which was threatening action against anyone "Prescribing hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine without further proof of efficacy for treating COVID-19".

They have now dropped that threat and now state that

"LARA appreciates the essential role of our prescribers and dispensers and recognizes their ability to make proper clinical decisions including following responsible prescribing and dispensing practices to combat drug hoarding and prevent unnecessary shortages."

Nice of them to cease that stupid and counterproductive threat.

Methinks the outrage brought on by the Detroit News article had something to do with it. That, and with Whitmer being touted as Biden's possible VP, it's likely someone told her going full Trump-Derangement Syndrome at the cost of possible lives lost wasn't a good look. It's already bad enough that she was claiming the Feds weren't providing disaster relief when she had overlooked doing the disaster declaration until two days ago.

Benefit Of Working From Home - Smoked Ribs For Dinner

Since I was working from home today anyways, I decided to multitask.

Might as well prepare dinner while doing the work.

So I put together my special rub from its component spices and got things together.

I used locally sourced wood as usual, apple this time.

Started up the smoker and put the ribs on:

Get the smoker started and back to work. Just come back on occasion to add more wood and water to the mix.

4 hours on the smoker and the ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender.

Tasted great, and I'm well on my way to getting my quarantine 15.

After dinner, a nice long walk with the dog, and after I finish my taxes, the week will come to an end.

Michigan's Gov: What's The Point Of Government Power If You Can't Be Arbitrary With It?

Gov. Whitmer's shutdown order was open to lots of interpretation as to what's both an essential service and what is considered an outdoor recreational activity exempt from the shut down. Some of her decisions as to what should or should not be shut down are becoming rather head-scratching as to the whys and wherefores.

One would think that golf, a game that can easily be played with the players maintaining a six foot distance from each other, would be a no-brainer to be kept open. Especially as golf is rather big in Michigan and good for the economy to have some activity, and its good for people to get outside and enjoy themselves a bit in these tense times, right?

Not so much:

The Detroit Free Press: Whitmer: No golf, can returns; laundromats OK in shutdown

Gotta love arbitrary and nonsensical closing orders.

Maybe she just doesn't like golf.

Personally I think golf is a waste of a perfectly good rifle range, but I don't begrudge others their recreational activities of choice.

On top of that, she has threatened any physician who dares prescribe Plaquenil (hydroxychloroquine) and a Z-Pak (azithromycin) to treat Coronavirus with action against their license and telling pharmacists not to fill such prescriptions.

The Detroit News: Opinion: Michigan’s doctors fight coronavirus, and governor's office

Another arbitrary denial, likely resulting from untreated TDS. Since Plaquenil and Z-Pak seem like a promising treatment, its a darn shame our governor has taken them off the table for people in this state. The governor is improperly substituting her judgment over that of medical professionals for no reason other than politics and people will suffer for it.