Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Covid 19




The words immobilized.  Or maybe just so many of them coming up that I don’t really know where to start?  Writing is usually very therapeutic for me.  But the last few days have left me speechless.  Paralyzed.  Frightened.  Anxious.  In 2002, my daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.  I vividly remember the deep fear and sense of helplessness that I felt during that time.  Nothing else mattered but her health.  We adapted.  Things got better.  And she is doing very well today.  The last few days have brought me back to those days almost 18 years ago.  Overwhelmed by the same fear and feeling so very helpless.  Trying to surrender to the uncertainty that we are facing even if it is so very unsettling.  On one hand, I am concerned about how Covid-19 will affect me and my family if we become infected.  On the other hand, I am terrified about the burden on our health care system.  We could survive the virus but die from another curable ailment a few months later because of a collapsed health care system.  Are we doing enough, soon enough, to flatten the curve?  The repercussions on the economy are inevitable at this point.  Denying this fact by allowing non-essential offices to remain open only contributes to spreading the virus.   They keep telling us not to panic, but look at how that worked out for other countries that are a few weeks ahead of us in this pandemic.  Maybe we’re not panicking enough?!  Everything but non-essential services should be cancelled and closed immediately. Actually, they should have been cancelled and closed last week.  What does that look like?  Basically, it looks like Christmas day.  A few places open to purchase food, pharmacies, gas stations and obviously prisons and hospitals.  Everyone isolates themselves from others except when absolutely necessary.  We’re all in this together.  Life as we know it is going to be very different for a while now.  My hope is that when things return back to a certain normal that all of our friends and family are still around to see it.  Isn’t that what we should all be aiming for?