Dispatch from Coronaville: Keep them Open

 I heard a stat the other day that 1 in 10 Ohio restaurants will end up closing permanently due to the Coronavirus lockdown. I don't want these three to be among them. If you are one of those people who feels safe with ordering takeout or delivery, please put these places on your list.

Mr. Hero on Livingston Avenue: This is a local franchise so there is more than one and though I'm sure your business will be valued at any of them, the one on Livingston is special to me. It's owned by the parents of one my 8th grade students. I'd been meaning to visit their fast food joint for years but never got around to it. I decided now, in these perilous times, that I couldn't put it off anymore. I went through their drive-thru and my student's mother (I think) took my order, and her dad gave me my food at the window.  The Patels are good people. Their older daughter has been in our school since kindergarten and their younger daughter is Ezra first grade classmate. I really want to see them survive and thrive in this difficult time. So if you live out east (or don't mind the drive) pay them a visit!

Mezze: Mezze has been my favorite Mediterranean place for many years. When we lived in New Albany it was just a five minute drive away, but even now I'll drive back there for their delicious Mezze bowls with the majudara/house rice mix, gyro meat, with all the toppings (feta, banana peppers, kalamata olives, cucumbers, pickles, tomatoes, lettuce) topped with tzatziki sauce. Yum. I have no personal connection to the owners. My plea is selfish. I just want to still be able to get my Mezze bowl when this is all over.

Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream. I know these days every city has luxe ice cream shop with inventive flavors, but in my personal opinion Jeni Britton Bauer did first and best. I have yet to order from Jeni's since the lockdown but she's next on my list. Jeni's Brambleberry Crisp ice cream is my favorite thing to eat in the whole world, and Elijah will choose Jeni's Salted Caramel over anything else. And the good news is if you are Nashville, Los Angeles, DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte  or a half dozen other cities, there's a Jeni's near you! Putting in the links for this blog I started drooling over the new flavors she's got out: Sweet Cream Biscuits and Peach Jam, Blueberry and Lemon Parfait, Raspberry Rose Jelly Donut, Pineapple Upsidedown Cake .I want to try them all.

We can debate all we want about how to reopen the country. But in the meantime, let's just be sure keep these local businesses open.

The Numbers: The increase in the number of cases continues to slow. The number of cases increased 14% to 633,267, a good 200,000 less than I predicted. Likewise the number of deaths increased 28% to a total of 28,278. Looking back at Sunday's blog I see I made a mistake in my prediction. I recorded the number of additional deaths as my prediction rather than the total which should have been 29,084. I was off by about 800. Even as the rate of increase of cases slackens the death rate remains higher. Based on a constant increase (which of course has never been the case) I would expect 721,924 cases by Saturday night, and 35,258 total deaths.

The States:
Florida: The number of cases rose 11% to 22,081, 0.1% of the population. The number of deaths rose 28% to 591, a rate of 2.7%. Florida's rate of increase of death actually increased over the past four days. That is a first, I believe. Florida also crept back  up to 8th in the nation for number of cases and moved from 11th to 9th in the nation for number of deaths. It hasn't been a great four days for Florida.
Ohio: The number of cases rose 18% to 7,791,  0.07% of the population. The number of deaths rose 43% to 361, a rate of 4.6%. Same story as Florida except worse. The percent of increase of deaths has risen dramatically over the past four days. Ohio still remains 17th in the nation for number of cases.
Nebraska: The number of cases rose 13.5% to 931, 0.05% of the population. The number of deaths rose 16.7% to 21, a rate of 2.3% Nebraska is looking pretty good. Of the three it's the only one whose rate of increase of deaths slowed over the past four days. I also need to make a correction. Nebraska is 44th in the nation when you include the five U.S. territories and the District of Columbia (which the New York Times--the source of my data--does), 41st out the 50 states. They did move down one since Sunday so this also is an improvement.