Coronavirus daily update: Wednesday, Sept. 30

The squeeze

We had long periods of silence and exasperated breaths as we made the newspaper today. Last night was awful, a virtual assault on decency that made our country look like goddam Wrestlemania.

Is that what people want? Do they want Wrestlemania?

Most disturbing was President Trump’s shout-out to the Proud Boys, which was absolutely reprehensible.

And then! Gov. Cooper announced Phase 3 of North Carolina’s reopening beginning Friday at 5 p.m. This will allow bars to open and serve patrons at their outdoor spaces, also outdoor amusement parks and some other entertainment facilities.

People are already starting to get creative with it. Suffice it to say, your favorite bar will be open on Friday night, one way or another.

But! The numbers don’t point us in this direction at all. Things are, in a word, shitty — bad numbers up, good numbers down, 7-day averages all shot to hell.

And so: Some of us are starting to feel a little more anxiety than usual — like above and beyond coronavirus and injustice and economic stagnation and all the rest.

Now, how about some math?

The numbers

• We’ve got 1,495 new cases in North Carolina today, making our grand total of molecular positive diagnoses 205,703. And we’ve got 3,532 deaths (+62, 1.72 percent).
  • Positive test rate jumps to 6.5 percent.
• Guilford County drops 85 new ones for 8,734, with 171 deaths (+0, 1.96 percent), and 5,170 recoveries (+59, 59.2 percent)
  • Of the remaining 3,393 cases, 680 are hospitalized (20.04 percent).
  • Also: Guilford County Schools has a coronavirus dashboard which will come in handy when the kids go back.
• Forsyth County has 30 new cases, 7,097 total. We have 6,515 recoveries (+23, 91.8 percent) and 103 deaths (+0, 1.45 percent).
  • 479 active cases

A diversion

This is perfect. This movie encapsulates the vibe of our time with my own inexplicable desire to go rollerskating (trust me when I say no one around here is interested). I give you the 1990 indie film Prayer of the Rollerboys, starring Corey Haim and Rosanna Arquette. It’s got white supremacists, corporate villains, street gangs on rollerskates! I forgot all about this one.

Program notes

• For tonight’s featured image, we’ve got “Bullfight in a Divided Ring,” by Goya‚ aka Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, 1815 or so. Taken from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s public-domain collection. And hey: The Met is now open on Fifth Avenue in NYC, if you’re in town.
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