Yvonne Abraham wrote in the Boston Globe: “The week that the coronavirus changed everything.” And it’s true.
“One after another, the touchpoints of our lives have been falling away. The subtractions came slowly at first: flights from a handful of countries, conventions, political rallies, Little League tryouts. They’ve picked up speed as the week — has it really been only a week? — wore on. We are a danger to each other, our public spaces suddenly menacing.
“Who are we without all of the things that bring us together?
“We’re about to find out, as the coronavirus pandemic separates us, leaving us alone with our trepidation and, if we’re lucky, our loved ones.”
It’s gone from my church congregation sharing hugs and handshakes (February) to expressing love from a distance with a smile, a deep nod and a Vulcan greeting (March 1) to the doors being closed (March 15). While understandable, the transition is really difficult for me.
As an information junkie, I found that I have actually watched less news about COVID-19. This is not to say I KNOW less about it. It’s that the information overwhelms me from so many various venues.
TMI
My travel agent site recommends that I talk to my health care providers, plus “checking the CDC website, understanding how travel insurance works, and keeping informed with our coronavirus updates.” Airlines, hotels, cruises, and tour companies are “relaxing their change and cancellation policies to offer travelers a peace of mind.”
Almost every one of the canceled public gatherings I might have attended provides me with statistics and disease prevention protocols. Meanwhile, there is a battle against the spread of fake coronavirus news articles and unscientific products and advice.
Vanity Fair promised “binge-worthy shows for quarantine”. Entertainment and sports news is filled with disappointed, but understanding, folks, reacting to postponements and cancellations.
There’s a whole new vocabulary. Social distancing. Flatten the curve by staying home. Stop touching your face.
I suppose I should be worried. Someone posted conditions to be concerned about. I qualify on half of them.
If you’re over 50
If you have diabetes
If you have a heart condition
If you are overweight
If you have a compromised immune system
If you are a smoker
But as Mark Evanier noted: “I am not worried about the virus. I’m worried about not doing the right things in a tricky situation… If it turns out that this thing takes a lot fewer human lives than the Worst Case projections, I hope we don’t hear people saying the reactions to it and all these cancellations were foolish and unnecessary.
“I hope they say the fatalities were kept down by swift, smart action and responsible parties erring on the side of caution. And I really hope they say that it was an act of appalling negligence that we weren’t better prepared for this and that we won’t make that mistake again.”
Violating self-quarantine
We’re not going to get through the coronavirus issue unless we think of ourselves as part of a larger community. I most worry about those creatures with the XY chromosome. If you’ve been to most men’s bathrooms in 2019 or earlier, you’ve likely seen guys who wash their hands for two seconds, rather than twenty. Or often not at all.
Worse, from the March 6 Boston Globe: “A New Hampshire man who’d recently returned from Italy and had symptoms of the novel coronavirus had been told to quarantine himself, but instead attended an event last Friday at the Engine Room in White River Junction, Vt. A few days later, he tested positive for Covid-19…” Hey, we have to be in this together.
John Oliver.
Mel and Max Brooks.
He lies, again.
Years of Austerity Weakened the Public Health Response.
My Corona ~ Kevin Brandow (Parody ~ My Sharona by The Knack).
Facebook was marking legitimate news articles about the coronavirus as spam due to a software bug. The company is fixing the posts and bringing them back.
