Just Do It

Monday night, during an interview with CNN, Anthony Fauci posed the following question, “How many deaths and how much suffering are you willing to accept to get back to what you want to be some form of normality, sooner rather than later?”

 

Ask yourself that question with a twist, “How many deaths of people I know and how much suffering of people I know am I willing to accept to get back to some form of normality, sooner rather than later?” Are you willing to risk the death of your siblings, your spouse, your partner, your parents, your children, your neighbors? How about your own death? People of all ages are dying, so if you don’t consider yourself “old” you can still die. Yes, even children and babies are dying. Now, increasing numbers of childrend are hospitalized with serious complications. Are you willing to kill your children? Your neighbor’s children? Think you are ok, because you don’t have any underlying conditions? Well, healthy people with no underlying conditions are dying. Right now, name the people in your life, people you are close to, that you’re willing to have die.

 

What I’ve noticed is that if people haven’t been directly affected they’re pretty cavalier about the risks. This is a human tendency; if we’re honest, most of us only care about things that directly affect us, we don’t care about strangers, or people who are different from us.

 

Now is the time to care about people other than yourself. I understand this is hard. I understand people are out of work. My income has dropped. I’m not denying there has been suffering as a result of stay at home orders. But ask yourself, is it worse to lose income, or is it worse to die? Especially for those of you who are desperate to have your nails done, or get a haircut, or have a facial. Is your vanity really more important than people’s lives?

 

Wear a mask, keep your distance, wash your hands.

It’s Not About You

It’s Thursday, day I’m not sure what of “Healthy at Home” here in Kentucky. The governor is talking about a phased re-opening of the state. He keeps emphasizing that it will be a new normal, we will not go back to the way we used to do things. Physical distancing will continue, mask wearing is suggested, but not required. However, businesses can refuse to let people in if they are not wearing a mask. Additionally, there are many requirements businesses have to fulfill before re-opening and he emphasizes not opening your business if you don’t feel comfortable doing so.

 

To be honest, the thought of going into a retail establishment when they open at the end of May scares me even if I’m wearing a mask. While the majority of people in Kentucky are being sensible, there are those who are not; people who refuse to wear a mask, because it infringes on their right to be free; people who refuse to self-quarantine when they have tested positive for COVID-19 because no one can force them to stay inside; people who insist on having parties because they’re friends are “safe.”

 

Some of this reminds of when I was the project manager for a research project focusing on HIV prevention in teen parents. Over and over I heard, “I only sleep with people who are clean.” “I wouldn’t have sex with the kind of person who was HIV positive.” Here’s the thing, anyone can have HIV, it doesn’t discriminate and it makes good sense to take precautions, because you can’t tell by looking at someone whether they’re HIV positive. The same is true of COVID-19, anyone can have it and more and more studies show the majority of people who have it may never show any symptoms. So, the person you think is “safe” may have just passed the virus to you, or you may have passed it to them.

 

As you’re thinking about flouting the guidelines, because you want to be with friends, ask yourself this question, “Who am I willing to have die, because I want to do what I want to do?” Pick a family member, pick a friend, pick a co-worker. Who would you like to infect? Who you would like to die? Let me be blunt. If you insist on having people over to your house, if you insist on gathering in groups, if you think your own rights supercede those of others, you are a narcissist and, the truth is there is probably no hope for you. What makes a society work is when we care more for each other than for ourselves. Let’s work to make that a reality.

What’s your number?

Hello Thursday, the fifth Thursday in quarantine time. Last night, while Governor Beshear was giving his daily briefing, a group of protestors outside the building made noises and chanted. He didn’t get flustered, he didn’t attack, he simply noted they were out there, indicated they had a right to protest and noted that we all need to pull together to get through this. He is the epitome of grace under fire; a steadfast, comforting presence in these uncertain times, and I’m grateful for his leadership.

 

Some of the people protesting indicated they thought it was more important to have businesses open than to worry about the health of people; that it’s okay if people die, because they would die anyway. While it is true we will all die, that is not the issue. The issue is if we just allow the virus to run rampant, so many people will get sick and die at the same time our health care system will be overwhelmed, which will cause many more people to die than would die otherwise. Already the morgue and mortuary systems are being overwhelmed by bodies. Gruesome stories are coming out of hospitals overwhelmed by sick patients.

 

Think about this, the 1918 influenza pandemic (sometimes incorrectly called the Spanish flu) killed 50 million people worldwide between 1918 and 1922. 675,000 died in the United States alone. The novel corona virus is more contagious than the influenza virus and appears to be more deadly. As of this writing more than 2,100,000 people worldwide have been infected with novel corona virus in just 4 1/2 months and 136,900 people have died. In the United States as of this morning there are more than 644,000 known cases and 28,500 deaths since the beginning of March. We know these numbers are low, because there are not enough tests available and only the sickest people are being tested.

 

This virus is affecting people everywhere, urban and rural areas. The latest clusters are in North and South Dakota, linked to meat processing plants where workers are in close proximity and lack adequate protection. Those of you who want the country opened up immediately ask yourself how many people are you willing to have die? What is your number? How will you feel when your spouse dies? Your children? Your siblings? Your parents? Will you then say, “Well, people die anyway.” What will the economy look like after mass deaths? Where will you get your cheap meat after the low wage workers who process factory farmed meat die off en masse? Where will you get your produce after low wage farm workers die off en masse? Where will you get your health care after health care workers die off en masse? Where will you put your surviving parents after all the low wage nursing home aides have died off en masse?

 

What number of dead is acceptable to you? That’s the question you have to ask yourself. How many people do you want to die? How many so you can go to the gym? How many so you can shop at Hobby Lobby? How many so you can go to a Nascar event? How many so you can go to a concert? How many people are you willing to kill off so you can stop being inconvenienced? What if one of those people is you? Are you okay dying so your neighbor can play golf? Ask yourself how many deaths are acceptable.

Gratitude

Hello Tuesday, the fifth Tuesday in quarantine time. Today I want to take time for gratitude. There are so many people doing wonderful things right now. I’m grateful for Governor Andy Beshear who is leading Kentucky with grace, compassion, transparency, and scientific knowledge. I am grateful for Mayor Linda Gorton, who is leading Lexington with grace, compassion, transparency. I am grateful for our mail carrier who shows up every day. I’m grateful he’s wearing gloves and a mask to protect himself. I am grateful for all of the doctors, nurses, technicians, and all health care personnel working on the front lines of this pandemic.

 

I am grateful for my wife braving the grocery store. I am grateful for our neighborhood and our wonderful neighbors. I am grateful for the trees blooming, the birds singing. I am grateful for Gertie the groundhog who lives in a burrow atop a drainage ditch in Addison Park. We chat every day when I walk the dog. I am grateful for being alive, for the ability to write, for breathing easily, for my health, my mental faculties. I am grateful for the clean water coming out of my taps, grateful for electricity, heat and air conditioning. I am grateful for the man who mows our lawn. I am grateful for our housekeeper, especially now that she is staying healthy at home and we are cleaning the house!

 

I am grateful for zoom and for the way it lets me stay in touch with friends and allows me to continue working. I am grateful for cooking, for good TV, for engaging novels, for good non-fiction. I am grateful for this day.

 

What are you grateful for today?

How Many?

Hello Monday, the fifth Monday in quarantine time. It’s hard to believe that in Kentucky we’ve been “healthy at home” since mid March. By all accounts, physical distancing is helping to flatten the curve in Kentucky.

 

While most people seem to be heeding the call, there are some who insist on defying common sense. A few churches are still holding in person services, thereby endangering the lives of the congregrants and endangering the lives of everyone with whom they come in contact. On Easter Sunday a church in Maryville, KY held service and a local TV station interveiwed two women who had driven from New Jersey to attend the service. So, it’s clear lack of common sense isn’t restricted to one state. They indicated they had been on their way to Tennessee, but stopped in Kentucky because of the Easter service.

 

Yesterday, we went to Kroger. I stayed in the car while Soni went in. She wore a mask and gloves and didn’t bring our reusable bags so she wouldn’t risk passing on anything. Kroger is limiting the number of people in the store at any one time and the way into the store is tightly controlled. Clerks were out front spraying baskets with disinfectant before handing them over to customers. I counted the people going in to the store and whether they were wearing masks. This trip happened after the CDC guidance that you should wear a face covering in public. Well, about 95% of the people entering the store were not wearing face coverings and about 99% were not wearing gloves. Several were talking on their cell phones.

 

Our governor has also said we should only shop for essential items. I was interested in what people considered essentail, so I paid attention to what was in people’s bags–it’s easy to see through the plastic Kroger bags. One woman came out with six six-packs of beer. I saw a man with a gallon of milk and four 2 liter bottles of Mountain Dew. One man came out with eight loaves of white bread and a case of diet coke. I saw a woman with a prescription bag and some hairspray. I saw a woman with five boxes of hair dye. I saw a woman with two six-packs of beer, a bag of potato chips and a bag of pretzels. I’m not juding people’s choices, I’m just fascinated by how people react to crisis.

 

The thing is, people’s attention span is short and it’s hard to stay in crisis mode for long. I’ve talked to a lot of people lately who are done with physical distancing and I’ve seen more and more comments on Facebook that we should just open things up and let whoever is going to get sick, get sick. I understand people are tired of this, and I understand the financial burden on people, but real flesh and blood people are getting sick and dying. So far in the United States about 20,000 people have died. The most positive estimates show that even with excellent physical distancing, about 80,000 people will die in the United States. That means 60,000 more people will still die. One of them might be your sibling, your parent, your child, your friend, your significant other. One of them might be you. If we don’t practice physical distancing, or end it too soon, the estimates of deaths varies from 140,000 to 2,000,000. How many people are you willing to have die so you can stop being inconvenienced?

 

Do you part. Stay healthy at home. The death you prevent could be your own.