Dispatches From the Corona virus Days #1

Arrival: It finally reached Michigan this week, the dreaded corona virus recently dubbed "Covid-19." Predictably because we're Americans, people have either reacted with extreme panic or as if it "t'aint no big deal." Meanwhile, the reported cases continue to mount and the eventual deaths loom buzzard-like just out of our collective periphery.

Wiping for the Apocalypse: Much like the rest of the Western world, hectic runs on toilet paper have resulted in empty shelves in grocery stories and big box retailers all over the state. There haven't been any reports of fights breaking out over it yet, but there are a few profiteers already selling it online for inflated prices. Whether or not this will become a prosecutable crime is impossible to know at this point. But apparently whenever the End Times come, people really think they're going to need to wipe themselves. It does cause one to wonder what these people were doing before...

Hollywood Lied to Us: Perhaps that's a bit harsh; maybe Hollywood is just ignorant of the everyday realities of everyday people. Whatever the case, all those epidemic and disaster movies that told us everybody would start stealing and physically assaulting each other might have been correct in the worst case scenario sense, but...

Storm the Libraries!: The truth is, when people freak out about an impending terrible situation, they run to their library. I work for two (three, if you want to be technical) so I know whereof I speak. Apparently people feel the need to stock up on things to read, watch and listen to when they're quarantined. But since most people incorrectly believe nobody goes to libraries anymore, movies don't reflect that particular reality. Ironically, library borrowing accounts for a lot of the movie watching.

Speaking of Movies: Walk into any grocery or retail store right now and it feels as if one is entering a slow-motion sequence filled with stunned people with hollowed eyes and screaming children wearing surgical masks being pushed in grocery carts. Empty shelves where toilet paper and water once filled them. Items that would normally still be on the shelves are gone. Thermometers. Over-the-counter allergy medications. Rubber gloves. Isopropryl alcohol. Yet somehow there's plenty of beer and wine to be found.

Misplaced Libertarian Activism: Every workplace has at least one person admonishing the rest of us for being scared, as if that isn't an appropriate reaction to sickness, resource scarcity, lack of appropriate medications, and death. Various straw-man commentaries using the flu's higher death rate are used, completely ignoring or ignorant of the fact that Covid-19 is the new kid on the block. There is no herd immunity, no vaccine as of yet and humanity has literally never encountered it before. The potential for disaster is greater because it moves faster than the flu and has less easily recognized symptoms.  None of this kept some idiot at the laundromat from intentionally coughing with his mouth uncovered until he was threatened with having the police called. It also didn't stop someone on Facebook from boasting that he went and saw a movie and didn't catch a virus. How he knows that considering its incubation period is anybody's guess.

Closures: Governor Gretchen Whitmer has ordered the closure of all Michigan schools by Monday, March 16th. Many libraries have already closed or are planning to do so on the day the schools do. AMC the movie company sent out an email saying they are only allowing 50% seating capacity in their theaters. One of my employers has closed. The other has not yet but will remain in operation but closed to the public.

Losing Friends: People on Facebook are reporting the loss of friends over disagreements about how the virus has been (mis)handled by the Trump administration. I am not immune, as a lost two Thursday, both sisters and both vehement Trump supporters. Despite this, I was always rather fond of them and felt we had a pretty good former co-worker connection. Clearly I was wrong as  were many others.

End of Dispatch. More to Come.