It’s been some really quiet days here\nfor us; we live a fairly cloistered life anyway but all the virus hullaballoo\nhas ratcheted that a bit tighter. We normally go out to eat twice a week and\nhave not done so in over a week now. And we were going to the movies two or\nthree times a month and that has stopped. I can\u2019t say we normally go many other\nplaces other than the grocery store \u2013 maybe Home Depot or Home Goods if we need\nsomething; the grocery store remains the sole \u201cneed\u201d, at least immediately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We went to the grocery store yesterday\nand much of the panic hoard-buying has finally passed, presumably because those\nselfish enough to hoard-buy now have a year\u2019s supply of the products and have\nno need to go hoard some more. People were kind, respectful of space, and\nsmiling a lot. The store was still busier than I have ever seen it on a Tuesday\nmorning, but not crazy busy \u2013 it\u2019s just that the volume was up maybe 25% or so.\nNo carriages heaped to the point of overflow, no pushing, no grabbing; just\npeople buying what was available. Meat was limited but maybe because it was quite\nearly in the morning. Bread was also in short supply along with paper goods.\nBut overall supplies were better than I expected. And I think, I hope, that as\nthe panic begins to die down, supplies will again return to normal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What was different was the trip home;\ncarry everything in and wash our hands. Then Teri wiped each individual item\nwith a disinfectant cloth before putting it away. And while she did that, I\nstripped my clothes off to go into the washer and took a shower. And then she\ndid the same. Overkill? Probably. There are only 33 patients in this state of\nover a million and only one of those is hospitalized. Granted, there are surely\nmore that have it don\u2019t know it yet, but how many? One hundred? Five hundred? I\nstill the odds are slim against me running into a stray coronavirus germ while\ngrocery shopping. But why not take the precautions? It didn\u2019t cost me a thing\nexpect a little time, of which I have plenty now!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I will need to hit the hardware store at some point, as well as the paint store, so I can get back to my home projects. I also need to go get my new hearing aids and get shown how to use, clean, charge, etc. (Very excited to get them!) But overall, the biggest impact is not going out to eat. I am fine with getting takeout, but Teri is still leery about it, seeing it as just another exposure risk. We still have our grandkids over \u2013 they were here today \u2013 and try to keep their life as normal and routine as possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So life goes on, in an altered state\nso to speak. Traffic is down tremendously; our street is as quiet as it used to\nbe on a Sunday before everyone got \u201cquickest route to avoid traffic back-up\nGPS\u201d which routes them down our road to beat local back-ups. With the high\nschool closed and the town offices located on the school property also closed,\nand no beach traffic yet, the volume of cars has to be down 500% or more for\nus. The highway too; going to pick up the kids there were decided fewer cars.\nAnd I saw an article today on the web that clearly shows air pollution is\nalready down in much of the world. Amazing!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it remains unsettling; Teri has asthma and is over sixty so she is worried, as am I. Her condition is well under control with daily meds and she can chug out a six- or eight-mile hike right along side me. But it is worrisome. My problem is I no longer know who to believe. I have almost zero trust in the news media; the \u201cfacts\u201d surrounding this virus are often misstated, data is skewed, people (so-called experts) get on the various news shows mainly just to be there and rarely offer much worthwhile. And so much of it is presented in such a manner so as to indict, blame, or accuse people for a political agenda that it taints any genuine facts that may be presented as part of it. And they spend far too much time hypothesizing and playing out endless scenarios that within a short time, you begin to lose sight of what\u2019s real and what\u2019s hypothetical. And many people these days have short attention spans; the world and the internet come to us at the speed of light; Tweets, Coubs, texts, and so forth \u2013 any video longer than a minute or two is quickly skipped and passed by. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lack of trust in your news sources is\na horrible thing, of course. I\u2019ve written of it often and it has only gotten\nworse lately. They dredge up these people who preach the doom and gloom of what\nwill happen if we don\u2019t do this or that. Recall, as I have written several\ntimes, their profound love of exaggeration and hyperbole. A storm used just be\na storm, unless it was a hurricane or tornado and then, it was called\n\u201churricane\u201d or \u201ctornado\u201d. The other exception was a northeaster \u2013 or nor\u2019easter\n\u2013 here in New England, but that name only to help people understand the nature\nof the storm and what to expect. Now they are billed as \u201cstorm of the century\u201d\nor \u201cbomb cyclones\u201d. Full moons are no longer full moons, they are a red wolf,\nwheat harvest, hunter with a hat full moon. Hyperbole. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the data just doesn\u2019t seem to\nsupport how they are hyping this virus; WHO and CDC data for all the\nflus\/viruses that have come our way for hundreds of years show that. We have,\nalmost, shut down the world; slowed it, stifled it, handcuffed it, and\nsequestered it. Closed schools \u2013 for weeks or maybe even months \u2013 and the\nimpact of that on their education remains to be seen. We\u2019ve closed bars and\nrestaurants, which will put a lot of small places out of business. The stock\nmarket has dropped daily, losing value at an alarming rate. And I remain\nconfused why. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The science reports from medical\norganizations and universities all seem to indicate that while this is surely a\nvirulent virus, it is not the voracious eradicator of earth as the media is\npainting it. It is more contagious than some, less than many others. It is more\ncontagious than MERS, the annual flu, and Ebola, but less contagious than the\nmumps, rubella, or the measles, ending up about the same as the SARS virus in\n2002-2003. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From a mortality rate, I will not go back to ancient history: the bubonic plague and some of those viruses that killed millions (the plague killed 30% – 50% of Europe\u2019s population). But in 1918-1919 the Spanish Flu killed 40-50 million people. More recently the Hong Kong Flu killed a million people between 1968-1970; and the Swine Flu killed 200,000 people in 2009-2010. It is, of course, far too soon to know what the final tally will be for this virus \u2013 the number sits at 8,800 right now and grows significantly every day. But it is not looking like it will have an impact similar to the Hong Kong Flu. And let me tell you \u2013 I lived through that flu and there was only minimal reporting on it and at that, only at 6PM and 11PM. There was no internet to announce every death as it occurred; there was Twitter to instantly share photos of people buying toilet paper in China, triggering the same behavior on the other side of the globe. Schools didn\u2019t skip a beat, everyone lived life like normal, and the biggest reaction that flu received was some jokes by Johnny Carson that if you caught it, you\u2019d sneeze your \u201cachoo\u201d as \u201cah-so\u201d with a Chinese accent and a karate chop. And that was it. The markets didn\u2019t crash and the bars kept serving. Right or wrong, that is what happened. People didn\u2019t panic \u2013 not because they didn\u2019t know to but because they weren\u2019t told to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I hope I am wrong and they are right, and that, despite the data I have read, it is really something this world has never seen and if we don\u2019t do what we doing, half the world would die. Because otherwise, they\u2019ve disrupted everyone\u2019s life, and destroyed many others\u2019 lives, out of a contrived and irrational panic, which could have been avoided by teaching everyone how to wash their hands and why that is so important. As the world has always done. This reaction is unprecedented and maybe I\u2019m just a dinosaur, but this another example of the \u201cstorm of the century\u201d (we\u2019ve had several already in the first 20 years of this century) only instead of a storm, it is the \u201cvirus of the century\u201d. Certainly more than a cold and certainly more impactful to a small number of our population, but it is not the virus to end all; although our reaction surely is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So again \u2013 why? I am truly puzzled by\nit feeling very much like the odd man out, not getting the joke\u2026the Emperor\u2019s\nNew Clothes\u201d comes to mind. Conspiracy theories abound, generational\ndifferences scribe lines of demarcation, and politics have trenches dug on both\nsides with hate and detest filtering, hazing, and blocking rational thought.\nBut that still isn\u2019t enough to explain this. Is it that, given the instant and\nimmediate reactions that cascade down on someone making an error or misstep,\nperhaps that our leaders are gun shy? That they don\u2019t want to be \u201cthat guy\u201d who\ndidn\u2019t close the schools or didn\u2019t shut down the borders? I honestly have no\nidea! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Edit: I went to bed after writing this\nlast night and mulled it over as I lay there and this thought popped into my\nhead \u2013 ratings. I suppose the explanation for the behavior of the news media could\nbe ratings. That sensationalism drives viewing behavior and viewers equal revenue.\nI hate to be that pessimistic to believe that they would stir up such panic\njust for money, but we are talking about over one billion dollars here \u2013 that is\na lot of motivation to ignore a fact, extrapolate, and stretch the truth. And\nsure enough, this morning on one of the major news services the \u201creporter\u201d was\ninterviewing a former head of the CDC and asked him about the possibility of us\nseeing one million deaths from this virus and the doctor stated \u201cno, we won\u2019t\nsee that\u201d. And that answer actually upset the \u201creporter\u201d who continued his line\nof question with things like: \u201care you saying that there is NO possible scenario\nresulting in one million Americans dying rom this virus?\u201d to which the doctor\nkept saying \u201cno\u201d until he finally said \u201cI suppose there might be a outlying model\nwhere that could be possible if we all closed our eyes and did absolutely nothing\n\u2013 which of course, we wouldn\u2019t, and aren\u2019t, doing\u201d. He was desperately trying\nto get the doctor to state that was possible for one million to die. Interviewees\nare led in questioning, not allowed to speak their mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I do know that China is rapidly\nputting it behind them, with no new cases reported there today. Grasp that \u2013 a\nland mass as large as the USA but with one billion more people, most of whom\nare concentrated in huge cities. Two months ago, to the day I believe, they had\njust begun to recognize the virus with 278 known cases. One month later, a\nmonth ago, they had 75,000 cases. And today, a month later \u2013 81,000 cases but\nNO new cases \u2013 remarkable! Their mortality rate remains in the 3.6% range as it\nhas throughout, so worse than the annual flu. But so far, only 0.005% of their\npopulation were affected by the virus. Out of the 1,386,000,000 people living\nthere, 81,137 people caught the virus; overwhelmingly most of whom lived in the\nepicenter where the virus originated\u2026.I believe that comes out to approx. 0.005%\nof their population. Around 3,100 people died out of the 81,000 affected.,\nwhich is 0.0002% of their people. Yet the world is in a full-blown panic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is also a school of thought that\nthis is a retaliation by China against the West for all the tariffs and restrictions\nimposed upon them during the recent trade war. Supporters of this conspiracy\ntheory point out that both Russia and North Korea have almost no infection because\nthey were warned ahead of time by China. And the losses within China were\nmerely tallied up as collateral damage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So ultimately, I am playing it safe and keeping a low profile; it represents a minimal change to our lifestyle; as I said mostly just the dining out part. And with the nicer weather coming, we\u2019d be out in the woods a lot anyway, so nothing will change there. But I surely have one heckuva\u2019 sore neck from all the head shaking I\u2019ve been doing dear reader. And there is no doubt we\u2019ll get through this, but what of the next one? We\u2019ve set the precedence, changed the rules, raised the bar so to speak. How will the next world leaders react to the next pandemic? That should prove to be truly interesting. And the economic damage that has already resulted, with much more to come, is devastating; the only folks making any real money off of this are the news media. Odd. Stay tuned and wash those hands!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s been some really quiet days here for us; we live a fairly cloistered life anyway but all the virus hullaballoo has ratcheted that a bit tighter. We normally go out to eat twice a week and have not done so in over a week now. And we were going to the movies two or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"\n