Coronavirus April 13

Like everybody else, the pandemic is "top of mind" 24 x 7 for me. I'm writing to help myself not internalize all of it. You can find other posts in the series at https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/tag/coronavirus.html

We work up to strong wind, heavy rain, and a tornado watch today. It’s probably the most exciting thing that will happen all week.

I’ve started listening to the audiobook for American Dirt on my evening walk. I don’t want to give away any major plot points as it’s a hot book (Oprah liked it), but something I heard this evening in chapter 4 or 5 hit close to home.

In the book they were talking about the beginnings of a return to normalcy in Acapulco, after almost a year of drug violence had left many dead, killed the tourist trade, and left the residents cowering in their homes, afraid to venture out for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.

Nope, can’t imagine why that stuck a chord at all.

Anyway, in the book our heroine discusses the simple joy of a birthday dinner out with her husband and son, something they had not done since “last summer” due to all the drug violence in town. The new El Jefe had established control of the town, driven out the rival gangs, and a relative peace was settling over Acapulco.

I couldn’t help but think of the parallels to life today. We are all sheltering-in-place, partly to avoid spreading the disease, but mostly to avoid being the innocent bystander in some strangers cough of virus laden droplets. An unfortunate side effect of us staying in to stay alive is that business activity has dropped dramatically, and tourism is non-existent. Much like the characters in the book wondering if it’s safe to go out again, and if the tourists that drive their economy will return, we (or I am anyway) are wondering just how safe it will be to return to normal in May, if the government really pushes that story. I mean, have you seen Trump’s committee?

Our government operates more like the mafia than a democratically elected institution. Jared, Ivanka, and some old white guy Trump cronies are going to tell us when it’s safe to return to work. There is not a single public health official in the group, although I suspect Trump will try to sell Jared as an expert since he has read a couple of books.

It won’t be safe. Covid-19 will rebound harder and faster than the cheerleader that dumped you in 10th grade and had a new boyfriend the next day. Only that rebound didn’t kill you. This one might.