Dallas County Reports 1,000 New Cases for 5th Straight Day: Let’s scrape some hope out of these tired headlines. There were only nine deaths, and the majority were elderly individuals in assisted living facilities — all terrible and saddening, but none of the freaky deaths we’ve seen of 20-somethings with no underlying conditions that seem to fly in the face of all the accumulated knowledge we have about this bastard virus. The total new case count is also down around 11 percent since Monday’s high, so there’s that. Takeaway: Don’t take off your mask.
Donate Blood, Get Free Antibody Test: I have mixed feelings about this one. There should be free antibody testing, period. There should also be free every kind of COVID-19 testing for everyone. If we had ubiquitous testing and available N95s for every person in Texas, then we’d be living our lives near close to normal while waiting on a vaccine. But that’s not how the greatest state in the greatest country in the world decided to deal with this thing. That said, giving blood is important and there is currently a desperate shortage of supply, so you should donate. So, win-win. I guess.
TEA: Returning Students Must Wear Masks: One of my trauma-responses to COVID-19 and quarantine is that I haven’t yet been able to bring myself to even think about how the hell school is going to work this fall. I’m seeing rumblings about an optional return for students, with an online component or something. It all sounds completely insane and idiotic to reopen campuses, especially considering what we are starting to understand about indoor transmission. This teacher on Facebook pretty much covers my concerns. That said, the TEA wants students over 10 to wear masks. I seem to have missed the report about how students under 9 are immune to the disease, but, like I said, suffering from a little denial over here.
State Fair Canceled, But Red River Showdown Presses On: Officials from UT and OU still want to hold the annual game in the Cotton Bowl, for now. My idea: turn the crowd into a Black Lives Matter protest and the fans will be magically immune from the virus. (I kid! I am still convinced that the protests didn’t cause the recent surge in Texas, though they may have been responsible for some unconfirmed transmission, and that outdoor sporting events are not the worst spreading offenders but are still not worth holding given the consequences of potential transmission and the fact that their goal is not to press for vital reform of our social-political order, but rather to merely provide some time-honored entertainment.)
Murder Victim Made Porn With Killer, Wife: I expect 14,000 words from Skip Hollandsworth on this one by November.
