美國新冠疫情日記06/25

         Coronavirus Politics

This morning the Houston weather was covered with the sounds of thunderstorms and heavy rain.  The City issued a flood warning awareness for flooding water for this bayou city. Flooding is not unusual here.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said yesterday that the state is facing a massive outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and that some new local restrictions may be needed to protect hospital space for new patients.

Abbott, who reopened the state in May wants all hospitals to have enough beds for COVID-19 patients.

Harvard professor Ashish Jha said we’ve all been hearing about states with spiking cases, especially AZ TX FL and NC, but there are five other states where the data is also very concerning. They also have rising case counts, rising test positivity and rising hospitalization.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner is asking all citizens to take the proper precautions. He said it is important now that we take things very seriously.

We all hope the new vaccine will come out soon. That will be the only thing that we all depend on to control the pandemic. Texas surpassed 100,000 cases yesterday with 6,200 new infections.

Today is Dragon Boat Festival day. Chinese around the world observed the holiday to commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan and to eat the tradtional rice-pudding.

My daughter, Dr. Margaret Lee, brought us some of it. We are very proud our cultural heritage.

          疫情攻防戰

今晨德州休斯敦風雨交加，市政府發出警告要市長嚴防洪水，對這個飽受水患的城市而言，大雨後成災已是司空見慣。

由于新冠病毒確診人數之激增，州長艾伯特已經再度重申，如果沒有必要還是希望大家留在家中，他說要我們關閉商業活動是最後的一項選擇，這位共和黨籍的州長爲響應川普總統之號召，是最先開放商業的大州，但是他和在德州休斯敦市執政的民主黨人意見不盡相同，特納市長已經宣佈在所有公共場所，必須戴口罩，赫裏斯郡也有同樣之要求。

哈佛公衛專家佳爾博士極力主張全國都要實施戴口罩，遵從社交距離，避免社群活動是最基本的防護要求，他預言，目前全國在全面重啓之商業活動，已經形成疫情再度擴散的極度危險。

德州目前確診人數已超過十萬人，設有世界最大的醫療中心病床已近滿員，前景令人堪慮。

執政者主張全面開放，醫衛專家卻主張謹慎防止擴散，對于疫苗之發現至今尚未明朗，疾病管制署專家福祺預期將會在明年初，當全世界之疫情尚在蔓延之時，大家都在渴望疫苖早日成功了。

今天是端午節，吃粽子賽龍舟來記念愛國詩人屈原，我們在此向海內外同胞表達每逢佳節倍思親之情懷，昨晚女兒元瑜送來了粽子，我們都珍惜這份對故國文化之傳承，疫情嚴峻，希望大家保重。

2020年6月25日于休斯敦 隴西勤莊