It’s not often that you get to watch as the world economy slowly winds down as we all try to limit both exposure and transmission/retransmission of the Novel Corona Virus-19 (CV). What appears to have begun in China back in late 2019 is now, thanks to air travel, a global pandemic.
Here in the U.S., I look on as the rest of the world takes this very seriously while the President and his administration continue misleading the public about the breadth of the problem, the status of proper testing supplies (which they refused from the W.H.O. and others) and the future availability of a vaccine. I’m very generous when I use the word “mislead” because lie could just as easily be substituted.
I don’t want to rant about something that I can’t change, I can only do my part to help over come this natural disaster and to help those who I can help. We’re trying very hard to keep some semblance of a normal routine as well.
At a time when people are at a near panic, mobbing stores and buying up toilet paper (?) and salsa (?) we’ve maintained our normal shopping routine and in the unlikely event of a true shortage as opposed to a shortage caused by panic buying, we have plenty of staples that would get us through for quite a while and, a well-stocked wine cellar.
So, what else can we do? I’ve heard from my friends here as well as from friends around the world who are experiencing the same drama in their lives. Shortages, working from home, travel bans (the Camino de Santiago is abandoned) and the literal closing of borders as well as true medical crises. Here are a couple ideas that we plan to do.
- Do our part in limiting both our exposure and the exposure threat that we pose by responsibly limiting our travel and presence in public.
- Continue business as usual using readably available technology. Business can continue.
- Support the local businesses that remain open. Many restaurants are open, but it must be take-away of delivery. If you would normally go out on a Friday for dinner, go pick up your pizza or Thai and eat at home. But, continue to support those businesses. Their employees need to be paid so they can pay their bills too. When the consumer is hit by a cash flow crunch, then financially we’ll get sideways real fast.
- Help our family and neighbors however we can. In our townhouse community, we check with neighbors to see if they need anything from the store. No point is 16 households being exposed. If you have older neighbors or family, check on them too. Not only for food and essentials but also as a mental health check. Maybe the travel limitations have left them feeling isolated.
- Finally, don’t panic. We’ve seen difficult times before, this will make us stronger, maybe even better.
Everyone looks forward to the pandemic abating or ending completely. We can’t let down our guard though because I expect that CV will return next fall, history shows that it probably will reappear. So, we need to recover and prepare and hope for a vaccine sooner rather than later.
From my home office, I hope to continue observing how we all handle ourselves. I look forward to sharing my observations from the 3rd floor. Hopefully I’ll be pleasantly surprised and not sadly shocked.