I have been working on a website all day, taking care of the ducklings (they are getting big fast)…and suddenly I am noticing that things are shifting with regards to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This weekend I wrote a journal entry about the way it feels to be among the few that is still at home – doctor’s orders – because I am high risk. To be clear … my daughter and I haven’t gone anywhere except to remove my central line since February 29th.
Then it shifted.
Today I read that we are at 40,000 new cases a day. We are headed toward 100,000 new cases a day according to Fauci. I learned that the virus has mutated to be more contagious – not more deadly, but still. And, I learned that we are testing 500K patients a day, where we need to be testing 5 Million a day to suppress this virus…….It’s not enough. We are in trouble.
Are people not taking this seriously? I have to ask because I hear of people going on vacation, yet I get notices that we aren’t supposed to be leaving the county let alone the state given the rate of spread where we live…and if at all possible we are still supposed to be staying at home. I have teeth that need to be fixed and essential medical treatment that my docs won’t let me get yet because of this virus. Yet people are going to the beach?
And people without masks still? I am fighting to reduce every risk factor that I have for this disease and my family is sacrificing in ways that I don’t talk about publicly because it’s private – but given that lives like mine are at stake, I don’t understand why able bodied people would mess around with this pandemic.
Perhaps I will share my journal entry as it conveys my feelings better than this off the cuff commentary. I’ll consider it. It’s a reflection on the normalization of deviance as it relates to this pandemic. Hint – the normalization of deviance led to the Challenger Disaster, and – like the Challenger – it doesn’t usually end well.