Surviving the COVID-19 Pandemic (Number 6)

Numbers Continue to Grow!

Both in the U.S. and worldwide the number of cases of the coronavirus continue to grow. Following these statistics is both fascinating and scary as hell.

Click on image to enlarge & Esc to return

According to the Pew Research Center, most American lives are being affected. It doesn't take much to notice and it is surprising how many seem to feel that it isn't necessary to take any extraordinary precautions. Of course, there are daily reports of folks realizing that they do need more respect for the situation. As these numbers increase just about everywhere, it does not require an advanced intellect to feel the impact. 

We feel very lucky that we have not heard of any personal connection to anyone having the COVID-19 virus. But the way the numbers are increasing daily, none of us will escape being connected to it.

While We Are Waiting

Some of the interesting things that people seem to be doing while hunkered down is to relive past travels. Having had the good fortune to have visited a number of places around the world the exercise is fun and wonderfully distracting. 

Cities Visited

Today I made a couple of lists of places that I have visited (probably I've left some out):

Amsterdam Anchorage Agra Athens Atlanta Baltimore Barcelona Barranquilla Boston Brussels Budapest Calgary Cartagena Chicago Cologne Colon Copenhagen

Cuzco Delhi Detroit Donegal Dublin Florence Havana Kathmandu Lima Lisbon London Marseille Miami Montreal Naples Nassau New York

Nice Nuremberg Panama City Paris Philadelphia Pittsburgh Quebec San Diego San Francisco San Jose San Juan Toronto Valletta Vancouver Venice Vienna Washington

Countries Visited

Austria Bahamas Belgium Canada Colombia Costa Rica Cuba Denmark England

Finland France Germany Greece Hungary India Ireland Italy Malta

Mexico Nepal Netherlands Panama Peru Portugal Puerto Rico Spain

Parting Shot

While reliving past travels was fun, here are some more numbers.

Click on table to enlarge, click on Esc to return to page

Surviving the COVID-19 Pandemic (Number 5)

More Than a Month!

We’ve been hunkered down for a month. A month!

No matter what our president might be saying, a look at the trending statistics along with the realization that there is no antidote for COVID-19, indicate that this siege will continue for a much longer time. So, we are “locked down.” Sequestered. Isolated. Social distancing to “flatten the curve.”

There are all kinds of questions about this situation. How could a pandemic of this proportion have snuck up on us in this age of knowledge and awareness? Where did it come from? Who is at fault? What are we going to do? Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Along with distracting ourselves from the serious enormity of the situation, it seems a good idea to learn as much as we can about it. 

Future Strategy 

Sometime in the future we will be drawn into a larger discussion about public strategy to prevent this from happening again. The only way that we will be able to participate and contribute to that discussion will be to educate ourselves. We must inform ourselves from source to solution. One purpose of this blog is to share some of what I discover in my effort to learn.

What About That Damn Pangolin? 

Pangolins are weird, scaly little creatures that are sort of mini anteaters. They eat bugs. They also emit a skunk-like odor as a defense. Cute?

This pangolin is the first and only pangolin in the world
that is born by artificial fertilization. He is very very cute.

Scientists haven’t found evidence that the new coronavirus jumped from pangolins to people, but they do host very similar viruses.

Read more about Pangolins:

• “Pangolins:What are They and Why are They Linked to COVID-19?” by Nina Pullano
  Inverse, March 27, 2020
• “Significanceof Pangolin Viruses in Human Pandemic Remains Murky” by James Gorman
  NY Times, March 26

Did This Pandemic Actually Sneak Up On Us?

Not really. Listen to what Bill Gates had to say five years ago in this TED Talk:

During the Clinton administration, epidemic threats were elevated to official elements of U.S. national security and an expert in the field was appointed to the National Security Council.

In 1994, science journalist Laurie Garrett's bestselling book, The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance (Farrar Straus and Giroux) continued the warning.

Garrett had been a Fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health during the 1992-3 academic year.

I expect that the ignored history of warnings will continue to surface during the time ahead. 

On a more entertaining note, I leave you with another book title due to be published in April.

The End of October, by Lawrence Wright
Knopf, April 2020

"[A] multifaceted thriller . . . Wright pulls few punches and imbues even walk-on characters with enough humanity that their fate will matter to readers. This timely literary page-turner shows Wright is on a par with the best writers in the genre." – Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Where Cases are Rising Fastest

Surviving the COVID-19 Pandemic (04)

Finding Diversion

Finding diversion is essential in today’s claustrophobic existence.

I’m disappointed when I hear of people across the country that are ignoring the need to isolate the COVID-19 pathogen and move around as if it didn’t exist. I can understand their “so what” attitude. Homo sapiens are social animals. We share common strengths and vulnerabilities that we have learned to manage. We survive because we work together with a social order that allows us to overcome the weaknesses. We survive as a society because the majority dominates the deviant behavior of individuals (see Darwin Awards).

Many of us are sacrificing with the goal of surviving the COVID-19 pandemic. We are social distancing but still working together. We have a unified objective, and that is to amuse ourselves while we isolate this threat to our health. We are reading, watching tv, communicating, and dreaming.

Dream Therapy

I woke up this morning after dreaming that I was on some sort of an

“adventure travel” experience like the kind that O.A.T. (Overseas Adventure Travel) does. Like most dreams, as we awake all details disappear. I do recall having to wear formal attire for dinner – probably the influence of watching too many British TV shows.

Virtual Travel

The O.A.T. catalog of excursions is a delight to see. They spend a lot of money producing and shipping those catalogs to a huge number of recipients. It is junk mail of the highest order. 

They are selling dreams that are a sharp contrast to our hunkered down existence these days. Wouldn’t it be awesome to be enjoying that dream travel adventure today in a world without a coronavirus?

I Love TV

Please don't tell my kids. 

TV shows are very good diversions. Although binge watching is a difficult concept for some of us, juggling the plots and characters of a handful of series and films is not. Last night we watched “Doc Martin” and “The Hour” on Acorn TV.

We stream from a number of resources. I had signed up for the free trial of Acorn through YouTubeTV because I like how we can access so much on demand with a reasonably easy interface. That Acorn free trial was for 2 weeks followed by a subscription fee of $6/mo. However, when I couldn’t find season 3 of “Jack Taylor” from that access portal, I began to look around. To my delight I found that Acorn TV had a better offer through Amazon Prime – a full month trial period, and a subscription fee of $4.99/mo. Wish I could understand Jack Taylor's brogue, but there's nothing like saving a buck!

Challenges

Now is not the time to let down our guard. These challenges are what keep our minds active and functioning at a high level.

Surviving the COVID-19 Pandemic (03)

A Beautiful Day  

Today, sort of a respite from the enormity of being hunkered down. It’s beautiful out! The sun is shining. There’s a breeze. And the landscape maintenance crew is mowing, trimming, blowing, and making a general nuisance of themselves.

It Gets Personal

My brother and sister-in-law stopped a few days ago on their drive back from wintering in south. They probably should have returned sooner, but one can understand their reluctance to travel to where it is still winter and the coronavirus is spreading out of control. Of course, we welcomed them with opened arms and advised them that they could remain with us for as long as they felt wanted. There was nothing that we could do to convince them that holding back might be a good idea. The urge to be at home during stressful times is quite strong.

Just Wanna Go Home

I remember that we were in Europe at the time of the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center. Our first response was that we belonged at home. Now I wish that there might be some place where we might go to be safe. If there is such a place, how would we get there? Travel is dangerous. It means enclosing yourself with strangers who may not know that they are carrying deadly pathogens. I guess that we will stay put and continue to avoid anything that might be moving, breathing, and especially talking politics.

Testing

After my brother left, both of us felt that we should be tested as soon as possible. Fortunately, neither of us has had symptoms and, because of that, we don’t qualify for testing. Anyway, there aren’t enough coronavirus tests around and results are still taking over a week to be known.

The Challenge

An interesting challenge for our leaders is to accurately report on the spread of the coronavirus. With limited testing capacity, we only know of individual cases when someone reports their symptoms, a test is performed, and finally when test results are known. How many people are carrying the pathogen without know they have it? How many wait to see if the symptoms that they have match the profile that is know for the virus? How long does it take for a test to be available to them? Then, after testing positive, how long does it take to research and find others who are possibly infected? And, are they being tested? Or, are they simply asked to quarantine themselves?

Isolating the coronavirus is a complicated and challenging problem. It is, however, our only defense. It will take a while even if we are able to “flatten the curve.”

Tracking Map

Another Excursion

I had to go out again today. I went to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. There’s a drive through pick up window at the pharmacy that has many potentially dangerous points of contact. I deemed it safer to enter the building. There’s an automatic door – I touched nothing on the way in, or out. Inside, there was no other people between the pharmacist’s counter and the entryway. A clear path! 

Then, there on the counter was that little box where the pharmacist would ask me to sign the waver about being counseled for a drug that I’ve been taking for years. My brain froze because who knows how many filthy, disgusting folks had touched that electronic pen prior to my arrival. When it came time for that part of the transaction, I asked when it had been cleaned last. They handed me a disinfectant wipe and I cleaned up. 

I was home and back to safety in less than 15 minutes.

Surviving the COVID-19 Pandemic (02)

An Outing!

Today I drove over to the garden store for a quick visit to purchase some weed ‘n feed and grass seed for the yard. Our Home Owners Association, which is controlled by our community's developer, only seems interested in maintaining the front yards in the neighborhood. The motivation is to keep up the façade along the street only – this makes the community look better to potential buyers. It does not provide the full yard maintenance that homeowners expect from their monthly HOA assessment. Eventually the developer will turn over management of the HOA to actual homeowners and the yard maintenance contract will have a different philosophy.

Anyway, it felt good to sneak out.

I wonder if the neighbors who might have seen me driving away from our secluded safety are suspicious that I may have compromised the integrity of our communal isolation. I suspect that the compromise was no greater than a trip to the supermarket. I can attest that I saw fewer in the garden shop today than I had seen nearly a week ago in the supermarket. Although the supermarket staff was wiping down their shopping carts with sanitizer, the garden shop did not provide any sanitizer. So, I did not use a cart.

I did not witness any coughing, sneezing or wheezing on either excursion.

Leadership

The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, provides a far better synopsis of conditions, strategies and plans than does the President. I do not, however, wish to be back in New York State.

This is somewhat refreshing since New York is currently the epicenter of the coronavirus in the United States (although we might expect the competition to gain on them). Our elected officials continue to set a horrible example of leadership. They seem callous to the plight of the average citizen who has to sequester themselves in order to isolate a pathogen for which there is not a pharmaceutical intervention for.

There is no secret weapon to defeat COVID-19 – no inoculation, no pill, no inhaler, no salve. The number of cases continues to increase. This is not because the small amount of testing that has been done is stopping it. Testing, even inadequate testing, is revealing everyday how the coronavirus is spreading, has already spread, and continues to spread. It must be concluded that more testing will reveal significantly more cases. Still, many are walking around as if they have immunity. A huge percentage of the population seems to have a cavalier attitude about the threat of this pandemic and are living in denial. This is not a defense – it is an offense. I just heard about a doctor up in New York State that is refusing to wear any protective gear in the hospital where he works. This is absurd!

Be Proactive

While socially distancing ourselves, it is nice to find distractions. However, we should also be taking this opportunity to learn about the worldwide health threat from this pandemic, and any future pandemic. How do pathogens such as a coronavirus occur? How does it spread? What can we do to defend against it? 

Each day, we should learn a little – not just read or listen to political pundits, hearsay, and innuendo – we should be actually searching out and finding knowledge. We should not be passive participants in our own defense. We need to understand what is going. What our responsibilities are. Afterwards, it is a good idea to take a break and find diversion.

This is heavyweight stuff and the worldwide challenge is significant. It is fairly certain that none of us will be the superhero that comes along to save the world. I very much doubt that such a hero exists. Discover, analyze, and learn something, and then relax – tomorrow, start over.

Where to begin?

Decades ago, as a college student majoring in Geography, I had studied the spread of the influenza epidemic in 1918. It was long ago, however, so I ordered a book.

• The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History, by John M. Barry

This is an anecdotal history that is easy to read and provides an insight into the significance of a pandemic. The great flu epidemic killed more people in 24 months than AIDs killed in 24 years. It killed more people in a year than the Black Plague killed in a century. We see how politics and the response of government contributed to the severity of the results. As a society, we must be aware of the consequences of our failure to recognize not just what can happen, but what is happening.

There are many books available. Find one that appeals to you, buy it, and read it.

Read | Watch

Here are links to some articles that you may find interesting:

Read

• “Is China Ground Zero for a Future Pandemic?” by Melinda Liu
  Smithsonian Magazine, November 2017
  "Hundreds there have already died of a new bird flu, putting world health authorities on high alert”

This article from 2½ years ago, may defend President Trumps insensitive insistence on referring to COVID-19 as the “China Virus.” Anthropologists can tell us about all sorts of cultural behaviors that are habitual and difficult to let go of. Singling people out in a derogatory manner, however, is not a solution. The purpose of this article is not to denigrate a culture as much as it is to educate us all.

Watch 

• “Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak”
  Netflix documentary series – released in January, 2020
  Read this short review
  “Pandemic: Netflix's new series about global outbreaks is eerily timed, and moved me to tears” by Brigid Delaney
  The Guardian, February 4, 2020

Read

• “Can Virus Hunters Stop the Next Pandemic Before It Happens?” by Jim Morrison
  Smithsonian Magazine, January 25, 2018
  A global project is looking to animals to map the world’s disease hotspots. Are they going about it the right way
  “ . . . some believe the rate of emerging new diseases is rising. Studies find that modern factors like climate change, ecological degradation and population pressures may make it more likely that viruses jump from animals to humans.”

Bizarre Behavior 

There are people outside of my isolated environment that are reacting in very bizarre manners. Total passivity to panic. Many of our world leaders seem totally incapable of systematic, controlled response. As individuals, we must take it upon ourselves to learn what we can and react in a calm, controlled, and intelligent way.

I also took a good walk through the neighborhood today. Time for a nap!

Surviving the COVID-19 Pandemic (01)

Hunkering Down

We’ve been social distancing for a couple of weeks now. Gradually, by degree we have progressed to “locked down” (but without actually locking doors – well, at least, not all the time as we do go out to walk about now and then). It’s not exactly isolation because so many of our neighbors are doing the same thing and we encounter each other outside. We’ve learned, however, to respect each other’s space. I tend to forget and habitually want to pat someone on the back. Mostly we stand a safe distance and chat.

Much to Do

Each day we always seem to have more to do than there is time or the physical ability to accomplish what we set out to do. Retirement may be leisure for some, but not us. We’ve always heard that leisure time provides the devil opportunities to sweep in and take over our minds and bodies. I’ve never actually seen that, but I’m sure it happens.

We’ve also heard that a leisurely approach to retirement means a shorter retirement – terminating without having achieved anything. This would be intolerable for my culture and generation within that culture. The Protestant Work Ethic has been embedded in our DNA. Without it we would be irresponsible couch potatoes.

Many of us were raised to be overachievers (I don’t exactly know what that means, but that’s what I’ve heard). Anyone who went to school with me knows that I fell way short of any such goal during academic training. Yet, I did successfully work for my self (both the best and worse boss one could have) for most of my adult life.

We may be successfully learning to survive in this coronavirus siege state, and it seems like a good idea to revive this blog and start documenting methodology. How to practice “social distancing?” Surely, I'm as expert as anyone else. Submariners can't look out of windows, but they have shipmates to hang out with. As a veteran of the U.S. Navy, I'm a great choice for a shipmate.

Also, as a curmudgeonly ol’ fart, I actually enjoy my own company – so, isolation is not as great a challenge as it might be. In fact, there are those who prefer that I stay away anyway. After all, as stated above, there is much to do.

So, where does my mind ramble off to while sequestered away from society? How do I cope with the anxiety that accompanies a pandemic? Will there be good news? How great will be the horror?

Social distancing reduces the rate of
disease transmission and can stop an outbreak