I’m blogging from one of the above. At the moment, which may be fleeting, California, with 12 % of the US population, leads most other states in reversing the coronavirus resurgence. Its method? Slice and dice. Vis-a-vis Covid rules, each of its 58 counties is monitored and regulated separately, so acquiescence is quickly rewarded and insouciance quickly punished.

From most to fewest restrictions, the colors are Purple, Red, Orange, and Yellow. The level assigned is based on two criteria: daily new cases per 100,000 people and percent of positive tests. Obviously, minimal testing would help with the second criterion, so a certain percent of county residents must be tested each week in order to qualify.

This standard is strict. Santa Cruz County, with 2,771 total cases and 25 deaths in a population of just over 270,000, was Purple for a long while because it did not have enough testing, and even now is Red. A falling county must comply with new restrictions immediately, while a rising county must maintain for 14 days before adopting looser restrictions, and no category allows back-to-normal living.

No Green.

San Francisco County, pretty much comprised of one city, leads in the Bay Area, having been moved to Yellow five days ago. I remember that SF opened outdoor venues like its zoo when it was Red and indoor museums at Orange. I think Yellow may take some indoor dining up to 50% occupancy, from 25%.

Our younger son is in California for the nonce, so all four of us went to the Zoo SF last weekend, with only outdoor displays open, timed tickets and masks required, and water fountains limited to bottle-filling. Sadly, the boardwalk through the lemur exhibit was closed; too narrow? We saw the lemurs from below, including a ringtail; was it Maki, kidnapped only the week before, and found by a 5-year-old boy whose family received lifetime zoo membership?

Returning to the topic: I’ve voted by mail since I moved West, and this year it’s even easier, plus we have vote tracking. I signed up, and received text messages when my sample ballot was mailed, when my real ballot was mailed, when my completed ballot arrived at the post office, and when my completed ballot arrived at the County office. We have pre-checking of course, so I also received assurances that my vote will be counted. If there had been irregularities in my ballot, I would have been given a chance to verify my identity.

I feel pretty safe here, but I sort of wish I could fall asleep and wake up when the election is over. Though that might be eternal sleep. My nightmares involve declaration of a national emergency, which would give the President emergency powers, including that of suspending the election. If he were given to irony, I would almost expect him to declare one over the Covid resurgence.

Then there’s the possibility of having our election decided by the Supreme Court, or the House of Representatives in one-vote-per-state mode. Meanwhile, I have a phone appointment on November 3rd to try to switch my health insurance out of the exchange, in advance of its likely abolishment by the Supreme Court in a week or two.

So many paths to my needing to move to another country! Choosing a destination is hard now that US passport holders are so widely unwelcome, whether from states Red or Blue, badly run or otherwise.