Quarantine Diary #4 3/16/2020

Comments

These have been my thoughts,

Submitted by Mary Beth on March 16, 2020 - 7:50pm

These have been my thoughts, trying to process all this info, and sift thru the hype to find the most probable facts. A hard thing to do, for all of us. My take, at the moment, and the past few days: if we can keep the number of exposures down, we will lower the potential onslaught of high numbers of seriously ill folks, many of whom will need ventilator support. There are only so many vents. If you read between some lines, Italy is having to make some very tough choices - as in who gets our last ventilator? Colds, fevers, aches - no problem. Deal with it. Wash your hands. And lots of people do not know how, or do not do, proper hand-washing. And for the unlucky ones who become really ill, as in with pneumonia, it does become a big deal. So, how can we help decrease the chances of multiple cases impacting the hospitals, at the same span of time? California has reached out to retired RN's to come and work. Licensing may potentially be waved, if they retired in good standing. Which really makes sense, since most that are retired, are seniors....(??) Ventilators won't run themselves. You need Drs, RTs, RNs, pharmacists, XRay techs, radiologists, lab techs... This is the potential medical tsunami that could happen. Our hygiene is better than ever, but so is our close access to our fellow mortals. Cars and planes and ships - oh my! Lots of viruses can be spread before the carrier knows they are sick. It simply makes sense to decrease exposure to others, and others to you. At least until we get a handle on what we are dealing with. We truly have no idea how many people are sick or about to get sick. Or how many will get very sick or how many going to die. Our poor are at great risk, no matter what is done. Close quarters, less access to decent food and clean clothes, etc. It is most definitely our job to help out. This whole scenario could become massively impossible. So, caution seems an easy step. At least the lesser of evils. Hopefully, we will all shrug our shoulders in a few months, and wonder what all the hoopla was about. That could mean that the CDC was wrong (probably not)....or that we all worked together to stay apart - and looked after those impacted by closed schools, lost wages and no insurance. What do we do, when our empirical data is not there? It is strongly suggested that the numbers are much greater than being reported. Government control?? Scary, but can't we all see this administration behind such a move? Testing not available - when China and South Korea and most every other country, seems capable of this. Another government ploy? Definitely, the government closed the barn door after the horses were out. We could protest. We CAN still vote, though how that is being impacted, is anyone's guess. I am relying on information from other countries. And their interventions, quarantines, etc, are matching with our CDC and WHO. We can disagree and be non-compliant, and potentially pay a high price for our independent thinking. Our liberties, or our lives? A bit dramatic, but... I look at all these actions as being the best way to take care of each other. It's got major flaws. No plan is perfect. But 'no plan' is what got us into this mess. In terms of the universities, the students can stay in the dorms, whose dorms ARE their homes.....addressing a comment on Slate.com... and staff is there to carry on, but with less students and therefore less exposure) Jennifer (a retired RN)

I tried to split this up into

Submitted by Mary Beth on March 16, 2020 - 7:53pm

I tried to split this up into paragraphs - the big block of writing is definitely an issue at our end. Len will eventually work on this. In the meantime, I appreciate a person who spent her life working with fragile and ill people - bringing her perspective about being possibly overcautious.

Lee Lee's POV

Submitted by Kay on March 16, 2020 - 8:06pm

I understand Lee Lee's concern about us becoming mindless order followers, BUT there are times of emergencies when such behavior is necessary. Anyone who has read the mathematical explanation of "exponential" multiplication of infected people and "flattening the curve" should be convinced to take precautions. The people who have explained those rationales are medical personnel and scientists, and not just the ones employed by the government. If in the end it seems like this was all an over-reaction; it may, in fact, be proof that following the advice was the right thing to do. I say this from a position of privilege as a retired person with a (for now) reliable income. As an older American, it makes sense to me to take every possible precaution. I am grateful that it is possible for me to do so, but I am aware that it is a hardship for many others to do so.

Len and I felt as if Trump

Submitted by Mary Beth on March 16, 2020 - 9:00pm

Len and I felt as if Trump WASN'T taking this seriously, so it was easier for us to be damn serious. Which is the logical thinking of people who protested the Vietnam war. One never gets far from their early distrust of people who say "Trust me, I know what you need." I think I may have to watch Five Easy Pieces again soon. Oh Jack ...

Why can't there be a simple answer?

Submitted by Leonard on March 18, 2020 - 8:50am

Probably because the virus is very dangerous, and it's going to take hard work by talented people to find a way through this. There is a line by H.L. Mencken, "To every complex problem, there is a simple answer. And it is wrong?" I am with Lee Lee in not trusting authority, but I think that the landscape of late is different. Something I've noticed is that many people have stopped trusting smart people. I am not saying Trump is dumb, but I am saying that he gave people who didn't do well in school free rein to speak their mind and have their answers stand on an equal footing with experts. That's where you get short, simple answers to problems such as poverty, sexuality, crime and now illness. Many (not all) of these answers come out of bigotry and not facts and analysis. What they share is that they are easy to understand, and they don't threaten the world-view of the people holding them. Silver cream and copper bracelets sound like a nice, fast answer to coronavirus, but what we really need is the courage to make educated judgements about who to trust, and then follow them.