1.  Okay, guys, this weekly covid-life post is stretching on and on.

2.  If my math is right we’ve been at our new version of reality for about 133 days now.

3.  I’m sure I’ll break at some point. Then again I can be pretty stubborn.

4.  I guess that means 40 things, Week Sixty-Five isn’t out of the question.

5.  But let’s stick to now.

6.  Let’s see, what’s in our corona news these days…

7.  Trump managed to drum up a semi-decent persona for this week’s news conference. It almost makes me believe he’s grasped the seriousness of our situation. Almost.

8.  I’m sure the next 48 hours will set me straight.

9.  It has to drive his advisors crazy. The few times they’ve managed to force him into behaving semi-presidential he ends up ruining it.

10.  Who’s got “retweet white nationalist” on their 2020 bingo card?

11.  Several chains announced they’d be instituting a mask requirement for their stores. Walmart, Lowe’s, Target, and Walgreens are among them.

12.  Of course this was closely followed by an announcement from a Lowe’s spokesman stating they would not make their employees enforce the mask policy in their stores.

13.  So close and yet so far.

14.  I’d be pissed but it turns out they’re concerned some asshole might attack employees over the request. Reasonable folks might think that’s ridiculous but reasonable folks have left the building.

15.  Case in point:

16.  Phone cameras have exposed America’s underbelly and it is GROSS.

17.  Districts everywhere are making decisions about the start of the 2020-2021 school year.

18.  Some land firmly in the “we’re nowhere near ready, let’s do nine weeks of remote learning” camp.

19.  Others fall in the “let’s make it as safe as possible with a hybrid plan” camp.

20.  Then there’s this gem:

21.  Yeah, because the last thing we need is science dictating how to keep our kids healthy.

22.  Don’t get me wrong, I understand the pivotal role schools play in our system.

23.  Breakfast and lunch programs, welfare checks, addressing the complex needs of different learning abilities – teachers and staff do far more than reading groups. I see that.

24.  I also see how little that will matter to a kid who ends up hospitalized or with lifelong complications because “it’s time to open up”.

25.  I figure feeling responsible for bringing covid into a house with an immunocompromised parent could cause its own kind of damage, too.

26.  The concern of some governors has been positively overwhelming:

27.  Sounds like we’re acceptable collateral damage to him.

28.  Back and forth, yes or no – good thing I’m not in charge of making school district decisions.

29.  Except in ours parents can opt for remote learning if they feel its unsafe to send kids to school. So I guess I kind of am.

30.  Heavy is the head that wears the crown and all that jazz.

31.  Good news, though, because apparently our “president” can repeat back five.whole.words.

32.

33.  Because nothing says “I’ve got this under control” like bragging how you aced a test they give grandpa to see if he should still be driving.

34.   Sweet Jesus save us all.

35.  We’re moving on through July and people are still in the streets demanding equity.

36.  One by one organizations seem to realize this movement has deep roots.

37.  Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben’s, Mrs. Butterworth’s, and Cream of Wheat have all announced the beginning of rebranding these products.

38.  The Washington Redskins name will finally rest in peace.

39.  Confederate statues have been taken down or relocated.

40.  And then there was this glorious sight yesterday: