One Virus at a Time

No human, to our knowledge is immune to COVID19.

This VIRUS, I will call Mr. V does not differentiate anyone from the members in the Royal Court to an Ordinary like myself.  But some of us are more vulnerable and some of us are more protected. Some of us are surrounded by the resources to fortify the protective walls around us, but some are more vulnerable due to their unfortunate physical conditions, simply their age, or their choices to smoke (per Chinese data, Smokers are at a super high risk to get severely ill if Mr. V visits you and stays with you. No data exists as of the date of this writing about Vaping, but we all know Vaping does not help your lungs at all, so I would consider it a high risk personal practice). And, some are also highly vulnerable because they refuse to accept information and take actions accordingly.

If you think you are fine because you are healthy, you may redefine the meaning of what healthy is from the perspective of Mr. V.

No level of "health" is immune, unfortunately.

To most, I am preaching to the choir. Many of my friends are in health care who 'get the concept' since we have been practicing infection control all our lives. We are experts in knowing how to manage situations requiring 'isolation" or even 'cohorting infected patients,' by executing measures such as, one nurse remaining with the infected patient the entire day carefully suited in PPE not contaminating other staff/patients. Basically, it is the hospital version of social distancing and taking measures to quarantine.

For us who have always practiced infection control, we just boosted the awareness a bit more, and we now must assume everyone is infected that we come in contact with. We are happy to head to the official recommendations to stay home or to practice social distancing, especially if we are out to go pick up toilet paper and hand sanitizer bottles. Yeh, right.

Late last night, as I was doing something on my back deck, I only heard some animals in my back woods.  (if you know where I live, you know that I really have back woods behind our home with many animals living in it. I have not met every animal resident or have any census info, so I only know some of them.)  As I sat listening to the sound made by insects, birds, and animals in the backwoods a thought came to my drained brain. None of them are immune to any predators in their food chain or life hierarchy, I mean, any day. That is their life, everyday.

As recently as just a few days ago, I have read people commenting that "everyone is getting this whole thing out of proportion!"  or "We live in a highly sophisticated society with more than adequate protection with good healthcare" or "it is simply stupid, they are just having a knee jerk reaction" or other statements minimizing the scale of the present issue by showing defiance to the global, national, state wide, regional, institutional recommendations.

If you are interested, please check the Census data of population in Louisiana, then look at the # of confirmed infection, or the # of those who are hospitalized and on ventilator support, and also the # of  deaths reported here. You would see that 1 in every 2016 residents are infected in the state of Louisiana as of today, theoretically speaking. But what I would caution is the fact, that more than half of both the infected and died are from New Orleans Parish, so northern Louisiana where I am self-isolating is quite calm. But we are very aware that a lot of people unwisely participated in Margi Gras late in Feb (where 1 million gathered to party) in New Orleans from all over the US, including many from all over Louisiana. So, initial cases appeared primarily in New Orleans area two weeks after Mardi Gras. But none of us doubted, it would just be a matter of time before significant number would show up in full force throughout the state. St. Patrick’s parade was canceled but all the bars were jam packed with people. Since last Sunday, stay home order is finally in place for the entire state, on March 22nd, after giving almost 4 weeks of free range for the virus to travel since Mardi Gras. Universities were given order to go on line on March 13th after the first cluster definitely appeared. 

Do I sound like I am blaming the fact that people went to Mardi Gras or that it was not cancelled or that they jam packed bars in New Orleans for St. Patrick's day? Blaming does not help mitigate what is going to continue to worsen for a while, so I would view it as a good lesson for the future for us all to learn from. One is that how Mr. V was given a free reign is a good reason to tighten up the social distancing. 

Lessons are learned through every situation, both positive and negative, and it is time for me to reflect and carefully consider what I am to learn from what I am seeing and experiencing.

I am hoping that my lessons that I am learning would stay with me long after our lives are back to 'simple' and 'ordinary' American life. You would have to remind me if you find me forgetting this.

1. Be grateful for the simplicity of life that consists of your precious family members, your home, your yard, your pet (if you have one), food in the pantry, running water, electricity or bathroom with toilet paper.

2. Be aware of the falseness of what you once thought is required to have a perfect life. The concept of desiring the "American Dream" may possibly be the foundation for the lack of compliance among the citizens today in the midst of the pandemic.

3. Some may laugh at religion, but I am reminded of the beauty of and the sureness of the sense of trust I have in God that I can live with daily. My freedom from the irrational fear is a precious gift that no one can take away. So, the lesson is to be confident of where your trust is placed.

4. No one may have the perfect plan to your liking, but have respect to your leaders (including the national, local, regional, institutional leadership).

5. Enjoy the moment when the birds chirp in our trees and how all the flowers would bloom without you directing them. This would help to ensure that technologies are not the only thing that should be admired in today's world. FYI I took some photos of things around my home for the first time in a long time. You can view the photos here.

6. Cooking or creating things from scratch is a great idea.

7. It is OK to say "No" to some tasks and projects.

8. Proactively thinking how things could get worse and stay one step ahead of the game in 'non-irrational fear' mode is the key to be ahead of the game.

9. Even with the 21 century technologies where everyone has the 'smart phone' and highly technical devices of all kinds in medical field, some things are more powerful that our human 'abilities' and you cannot control it. Never be so arrogant to consider our society as a "Safe and Technologically advanced society" which would protect us from everything.

10. Renew the respect for those who survived great depression and WWll. We will survive even if you are not able to dress all your children up in the perfect Easter outfits this year.

So. Mr. V has been a powerful intruder in today's society where we took granted of certain comfort and joy. But Mr. V won't leave us so easily and every one of us is given the opportunity to ponder what Mr. V can teach us. We will tackle things onward, and forward, one virus at a time.