Day 100…

It’s actually only day 42, but certainly feel like day 100.

I’m just going to say it, sometimes I think Americans are stupid. Not all Americans, but more then I would care to admit.

Watching TV, I see large groups of protesters, probably 80% didn’t have masks and did not practice social distancing. What injustice were they protesting? They wanted their state to reopen, and go back to our comfortable past. A woman tilted her head down showing her grey roots and said she need to have her beauty salon, reopened. I completely understand, wishing things were… as-they-were, six months ago, but the reality is, this is no longer the world we live in. Like it or not, we have a new reality.

I really want to make this point because I think the news and politicians seem to gloss over this, and I think it is a very important fact. Perhaps I have it wrong, and I hope I do.

Everyone is talking about the curve. “Flattening the curve” is a term that I dont think I ever heard of, until Covid 19. I’m using New York as my example in this post. We watched the count and curve rise and the country was basically shut down. This was done with the hope that people would social isolate and stop the rampant spread of the pandemic. People were scared, myself included. I remember thinking I need to go see my Mom. She is, super high risk, and it would probably be the last time I see her alive. What a terrible thing to think, but I made the 2 hour drive anyway and that was the last time I had face-to-face human contact other then talking to neighbors.

The disease still spread and their are still new cases, the guidelines changed almost daily. Avoid groups of more than 25, no 15, no 10… 5 Have contact with healthy family members only. They you need to go out a mask is unnecessary…A mask is not a bad idea when outside… A mask is recommended…A mask is mandatory when in public.

The curve continued to rise and then started to level off. Finally were were making some progress and the curve started going down. Americans start to rumble that it’s over we conquered the virus and we can now reopen the country. The demonstrations started and pressure is on to restart the country.

This is where I think the point is lost. When the curve started downward, it doesn’t mean we’ve eliminated the virus. It means that the measures we put in place are working! It does not in any way mean the virus is gone away. Though incredibly difficult efforts and decisions, we just made it a lot harder to spread the virus We are doing it right. We are flattening the curve, not eliminating it.

To think that the pandemic is over and we can just open the country to the pre-covid era, is a irresponsible pipe dream.

I keep thinking we are headed into teh second wave and that we are doomed to repeat history. Is this what happened 100 years ago with that Influenza Pandemic of 1918 (aka The Spanish Flu). Did people think it was over and create a second wave that so much more deadly than the first? Are we no smarter that we were 100 years ago? The 1918 pandemic last for almost 2 years according to Wikipedia.

If I survive, I’m anxious to see how history records this blip of our lives and how quickly people will forget that it ever happened.

#FlattenTheCurve #Quarantine #socialIsolation