No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on April 3, 2020

A reminder that on Saturday April 4, 2020 Peter and I will be participating in the Virtual Heliosphere. I will be doing a puppet demo at 1 pm and Peter will be reading at 4 pm. These panels are being held on the Zoom platform. The ‘rooms’ will be linked on the website and opened right before the event. You can find the whole schedule <a href= http://www.heliosphereny.org/beyond-the-corona-2/> here</a>.

Today is gathering what I need for my demo and setting up our Zoom space.

It’s nice to have something to do that has a real deadline to it.

I have a number of concerns as this goes on.

My biggest concern is about people and behavior. 

We are working so hard to flatten the curve and not overwhelm the hospitals. I don’t think people understand that flattening the curve does not mean this is over but that our hospitals can now take care of the sick rather than having to figure out who has the best chance of survival. 

My fear is that people are going to take this as a sign that everything is fine and we can go out and stop physically isolating ourselves. That is the wrong way to think about it. If we do that then we will be right back where we are right now as the virus ramps up again. 

The vaccine is being worked on day and night but it is still as least six months off. 

I think Andrew Cuomo has the right idea about restarting things. People get tested and if they have the antibodies in their system then they are cleared for work again and assembling in public spaces. This will allow us to work our way to letting everyone move freely.

Once we have a working vaccine then we can be out in public.

I am concerned that there will be a small but vocal part of our world population that will not get vaccinated because they believe all those things that have been proven false so many times and they didn’t get their children vaccinated for simple diseases. 

I am concerned about how they are going to roll out the vaccine and how people are going to panic if they don’t get it immediately. It needs to start with the frontline people. Medical professionals of course but how about grocery workers and pharmacy workers? How about the mail carriers? How about the people that have been putting themselves in danger by doing their jobs which puts them in contact with lots of people? Then I think we need to inoculate teachers and students so school can start again at some point.

I am concerned right now about how a small percentage of our population are still grabbing vital items that would not be so hard to get if they played fair. Stores have imposed all kinds of restrictions on how much of what one can buy but there are still people who are trying to profit from our misery. Trying to get people to calm down and wait doesn’t seem to be working well and some people need those supplies others are hording a lot. 

I am concerned about price gouging. The cost of a gallon of milk has gone up as has the price of eggs. Some stores are just about the point of price gouging but not over the edge. Advantage is being taken of people who do not have the resources to be taken advantage of. 

I am concerned about my family and friends and their families as well. My parents are in their 80s and, while they are in great condition, if they get this virus it could very well be fatal. I know that I have diminished lung capacity due to scarring of the lung tissue. Peter has various health issues that make it so he has to be extra careful to not get it. I have friends with asthma or COPD or compromised immune systems or… the list goes on. 

I am concerned about our future and I don’t think that is overthinking it.

So be careful. Wash your hands. Keep your distance. 

We will get through this eventually.

I am grateful for people who understand what is going on and are working on being part of the solution.

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