Covid-19 Virus and us discussions

This blog has lain dormant for several years as life intervened and took up my time. 

However, I am now in a new phase and I have thought a lot about the changes around us regarding how the world has become so different since I last wrote entries in this blog.  In fact, so much was bubbling up in my consciousness that I felt compelled to renew my conversations with you out there, whomever you might be. 

We are now in the fourth – and – I hope, final year of the Trump Presidency.  It has been an experience far worse than I ever thought possible. From President Trumps’ inaugural address invoking American carnage and himself as the savior, the Women’s March the next day, the initial travel ban, and the firing of Sally Yates – we thought nothing could be worse.

After all we had made it through the Russian meddling, Wikileaks, tell all videos and absolute pandering to the far right; we thought we had seen it all.

But, as Slate recently discussed – the corono virus caretaking has been the worst sort of carnage itself and it has all been at Trumps’ bidding; the United States has not only been ill-prepared to address the pandemic, even when confronted with advance notice, it has taken ineffective actions and made inadequate preparations. Now the White House has moved into promoting feel good stories, applauding the well-armed advocates of intimidation for opening up and denouncing the very Governors who are following the guidelines established by the Covid-19 Task force. These well publicized suggestions, which advised opening businesses back up strategically and slowly only after there has been a two-week buffer period demonstrating a downturn in new infections were scientifically established by a panel of experts on contagious disease.

From the first notices back in January till now, I personally can see little that has been done correctly in the handling of this pandemic.  The very nature of a pandemic means that it is a happening of extra ordinary circumstances and requires comprehensive measures to keep it as limited as possible.  None of this has happened in this instance.  We, as a country, have not tracked the outbreak nor stepped in front of its path.  We did not adequately quarantine, test travelers to our shores nor define contacts – the first step in public health options for containing infectious diseases.  None of the safety net measures, such as stockpiles of emergency equipment, masks and medications were on hand for rapid distributions to outbreak centers.  No one was prepared for the virulence of this virus and how it attacked multiple body organs and systems; that I do not fault the administration for, but they should have been prepared for a lesser illness and they could not even address those needs.  So now, in about eight short weeks, we have suffered more than 68 thousand deaths and counted more than 1.1 million infections in the US alone, and seen the unemployment figures rise to 30 million people – real people who have lost real jobs abruptly. How will they survive and care for their loved ones? The stock market has tanked and dropped billions from elderly adults’ retirement accounts; how will they survive in the future when these funds do not return?

College students are graduating into an uncertain world with new parameters. Current students do not know what kind of academia they will return to – yet our government wants to compel workers who are ill to return to jobs in contaminated meat packing plants and Republican governors threaten to deny benefits to those who say they fear returning.  What kind of a world is being created here as Senate Leader Mitch McConnell cheerfully muses about making blue states declare bankruptcy and deny pension benefits to retirees and union members?  I am curious to hear what is happening in the real world, away from TV cameras and news stories.

So - How are you weathering the stay at home guidelines? Are you able to work from home and have a seamless transfer of job duties or has your job shut down because it can only be done face to face in close contact with customers or clients? Do you find yourself bouncing between job duties, teaching chores and child care?  Do you find yourself trying to cook a dinner from the remnants found in your freezer and food pantry because you fear a trip to the grocery store?

Have you or your family become afflicted by this virulent virus?  Have you lost an elderly grandparent who resided in a nursing home? Maybe your state did not shut down at all; would you have felt safer if it did? Are you in a state such as Georgia and Florida, opening up in some places and closed in others?  Or is all okay in your world?

Have you tried to obtain one of those small business loans from the government without success; or have you tried to reach your local unemployment office but given up?  Do you feel that it is right for big companies to get billions of taxpayer dollars, yet red tape ties your application up?

There is so much more that I want to say, but I know that I cannot say it all at once – such as what abut protective equipment for nurses, doctors and first responders, or adequate numbers of ventilators, or widespread testing – yes I know, so much to have questions for with few answers.

I’ll try to get to each of these soon, but first let’s get this new post out there and let me hear back from you.