A day off

Yes, I took the day off yesterday. Apologies for no advance warning, but I fully intended to post last night after eating Easter dinner, and then I didn’t. But man, you should have seen the leg of lamb. I coated it with a paste of muddled garlic, kosher salt and rosemary, and then roasted the crap out of it until it imbued the perfect blush on the innermost cuts.

The chocolate soufflé did not fare as well.

Anyway, I’m back, and don’t get too used to my absence. I’m here writing today even though it’s my birthday — my 50th, a big one — and I’m going to need plenty of time this evening to sit in the dark and feel sorry for myself.

I am accepting donations to Triad City Beat in lieu of gifts this year. Thanks!

Now, let’s look at some news.

Some news

  • The governor’s new rules for retail and long-term care go into effect at 5 p.m. today. Most places have already started practicing.
  • Cone Health will be using the Wesley Long Hospital and the old Women’s Hospital in Greensboro for COVID-19 patients, to “meet the anticipated increase in volume of infected patients in the days and weeks ahead,” according to a press release. From a press release: Women’s Hospital opens April 15, Wesley Long on April 20.
  • The NC Attorney General’s office is getting hundreds of reports of coronavirus-related scams, so they set up a snitch line. Call 1-877-5-NO-SCAM to report any shady operators.
  • Try not to read to much into the early-morning tornado watch and wicked waves of thunderstorm. About 240,000 households lost electricity, but by this evening almost all are back online.
  • There’s a movement afoot to “reopen” the state for business and such ahead in the next couple weeks. Cooper said that were we to lift restrictions now, it would be “catastrophic.” We’re in place until at least the end of April. (Probably longer)

The numbers

  • I’ve been watching toe global COVID-19 cases run on this ticker for almost four weeks now. When I started my watch, the count stood below a quarter million. We might pass 2 million before I finish making this post.
  • Guilford County had four cases on March 20. Today it claims 135, with 10 deaths — the second-most in north Carolina.
  • Forsyth started with eight cases that day. Today it has 119. Four people have died.
  • That’s a span of 24 days, and those cases are just the ones we’ve discovered, among people who are actively showing symptoms and meet other criteria.
  • We’re on pace to start adding 300 new cases in NC a day — we should cross the 5,000 mark tomorrow.
  • We’re faring pretty well, as a state — relatively speaking — and hitting good marks. But these next couple of weeks are going to suck.

A diversion

Sure, everybody’s watching “Ozark,” but how many of you remember Jason Bateman’s first great TV role? “It’s Your Move,” a sort-of spin-off of “Silver Spoons” that had an inexplicably brief 1984-85 run for such brilliant television. It’s got everything. Bateman played a scheming teenager smarter than all the adults, in the vein of Danny Partridge, with his own version of Reuben Kincaid as an adult ally/foil. Believe me when I say that without “It’s Your Move,” there would be no Ferris Bueller. There was a lost episode, too, which I remember because this was my absolute favorite show, and it ended quickly and with nary a word, like TV shows used to. Bateman, who was 14 or so at the time — the same age I was — is amazing in this. He’s pretty good in “Ozark,” too.
Here’s the pilot from 1984.

Program notes

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