COVID-19, An account, March 20, 2020

They are going to close the borders of Canada and Mexico. The world is going to be very different when all of this is over. There are estimates that 50% of Californians will be infected with the Corona Virus. Italy's death toll is growing everyday.  I've heard that some countries are saying that they can't handle the number of dead, and are resorting to cremation for all the victims of the virus. This all seems so surreal.  Never in a million years, did I ever picture anything like this happening.

Listening to our leadership, I was reminded of Edgar Allen Poe's story: "The masque of the Red Death". When a plague came to his kingdom, the king gathered his favorite subjects and traveled to a castle far away where they could lock themselves in and be safe. Unfortunately, diseases have no borders and are seldom "locked out".  I feel like some people think they are above the rabble and they will be able to hide from this virus.  It's out there. You may escape it but what about your loved ones? Gather up all your friends, but it only takes one of them to infect the whole group of you. They say with COVID-19, you could actually be contagious before you have obvious symptoms. So how do you know who has it? Good luck with that.

Meanwhile, a Senator, Senator Burr of North Carolina, upon hearing about the intensity of this illness, instead of going out and spreading the news that the country needed to prepare, ran out and sold a bunch of his stocks: 1.7 million dollars' worth.  He, as well as our illustrious leader continued to report that we all had nothing to really worry about.  President Trump said "I think that's a problem that's going to go away," After it was learned that maybe this thing may be worse than reported, the stock market fell disastrously; and go ol' Senator Burr is sitting pretty on all his cash while the rest of the country is out of work and struggling to pay their mortgage, rent, bills, food. People close to retirement are wondering if all their hard earned money that they invested over the years in retirement plans or 401Ks will be gone, and then what? Burr's not even the only one who's guilty of this. There were more. What pond scum! (I'm being nice.) There are those who have called on Mr. Burr to resign. Resign? He should go to jail! They sent Martha Stewart to jail. Why is he exempt?
Oh well, you can't take it with you, right Mr. Burr?

To make matters worse, President Trump continues to call it the "Chinese" virus, even though multiple people have told him that it's offensive. He's still making comments like "Because it's from CHINa!  I'm sure Chinese people would be totally okay with it." Um, no. They aren't. In fact there are Asian people all over being discriminated against, as if it's their fault.  Here's a dollar, Mr. President, go buy a clue.
Every day I listen to new reports describing the illness, counting the people who are in the ICU, or are dead. What a horrible thing, it alienates, isolates and inflicts pain both physical and mental. We're all separated from those we love and need in this crisis,
Worse yet, There's no end in sight.