Life in the Time of Coronavirus, 7/27/20

Five Months of Quarantine
There is a philosophy that says that if you can stick with anything for 90 days, you can change your life.  We're way past that, and we have truy formed our routine.  We mostly stay at home, enjoying everything about this lovely place where we live. We clean, cook, exercise, relax, love our dogs, play games, talk and reminisce about all of the wonderful things that we have experienced in our lives. We talk about our parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and those who have passed. We have so many blessings to be thankful for. Our lives have been richly blessed, and we are thankful each and every day for this.

Weekly, we take a drive to check in on our local society, before we visit the grocery store.  We see the beaches packed. Only about 50% of those walking around are wearing masks. It gives a false sense of security from the unseen virus.

Resurgence
We are having a huge resurgence of the virus in California, despite having great experts doing their best to protect and guide us.  I believe this is because of a number of factors: people not abiding by safe social distance and masks, visitors coming from other places and not abiding by safe practices, many let their guard down and acting like these are pre-virus days, and then there is simple complacency, because many people still do not believe that there is a virus.  Some even think that losing small percentages of our population is acceptable, which I do not agree with.

Our Governor is all over this, every day, and it makes me angry that people blame him for both failing to support us and criticize him for, "making them wear masks and be outdoors". It is his responsibility to invoke measures that help to save lives, in spite of the freedoms that we think that we deserve.

It is my firm belief that most of the States, including California, will have to lock down every 1-2 months until there is a vaccine that works and is safe, which is looking like Spring or Summer 2021, to vaccinate all who will be willing to do so.

Things that I Think About and Questions That I Have
There are so many questions and things that we ponder, when it comes to this virus and disease and how it is changing the World. It scares me to think about it, as we already have had so many issues.

Here are some of my questions:

• When we have vaccine candidates, how will we be able to tell which one is the best one for us?
• Will there be enough of the vaccine? Will people be fighting for it or shunning it?
• Who will be prioritized and how for the vaccine? 
• What will the residual effects of this virus be? Will they be genetic?
• How will we be allowed into other states and countries?  Will there be a stamp on our Passports to show that we have been vaccinated?
• How will children go back to school?  I think that distance learning is an answer for many, but that means that someone has to be home with their children, and many have to work.  I think rotating the students through in smaller groups, safely distanced and sanitized between classes may be worth a try.  All would have to have masks and maybe shortened class times. But then we have to have a solution for the parents who are working.  It's complex.
• We are generating tons and tons of additional garbage with disposable masks, PPE, gowns, rubber gloves, plastic silverware, plastic and styrofoam containers, other plastic and disposable paper products. How are we dealing with this? Where is all of this extra waste going?
• Once things open up again, I think it will be difficult to trust that things are okay.  There will always be the fear that another outbreak will happen.  Can we ever truly be safe again?
• The World is no longer our Oyster.  We are World travelers, and love to explore everything.  Now we discuss the future, and how we may not be able to travel anywhere for the foreseeable future, which makes me extremely sad.

So Tired of this Virus

I'm so tired of it, as I know you are too.  I pray every day that it is over and we are done with it, but I know we still have months to endure. We have to stay strong, keep helping each other, keeping the faith and holding fast. Until next time, I wish you good health and peace. Here is a sunset for you.

#staystrong, #itwillgetbetter, #holdfast