Coronavirus

I have officially changed my stance on coronavirus. It is indeed a huge deal.

Not personally for us, almost certainly.  Kevin and I are 49 and 50, respectively. Our children are 20 and under.  If we get it, we'll almost certainly have mild cases.

BUT Italy is an example of how quickly this thing spreads.  They are at the point where they don't have enough medical support for the very ill.  It is hitting the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions. Some of those people are going to die because they don't have the medical infrastructure to take care of all these people.  And Italy had a decent medical system.

So yeah...

Very sad.

Ohio is shutting down in a lot of ways.  Schools are closed for 3 weeks. Colleges are closed for two weeks at least -- or to put it more accurately, everything is changing to online learning.

I keep expecting the base where Kevin and I work to announce that everyone should start telecommuting if possible.

It is truly a surreal situation.  Grocery stores are wiped out of toilet paper, of all things.  Kevin got to Sam's before they ran out and we got two giant packs.  For us, that's just par for the course. We have 11 people in the house. No, we are not hoarding :-).

For us, this is just a bump in the road.  Many people will suffer far more. Kevin's paycheck won't stop coming and if it did, we have emergency funds.  Some people don't.

The government is having to make hard decisions.  But I think they are right that we need to quarantine and try to slow this thing down.  Because again, if the hospitals get overloaded with cases, lots of people will die when in an ordinary situation, they would live.

Part of the challenge of our current day is that we have the medical capability to help a lot of people so it isn't a question of having the technology, but having the availability.  When the bubonic plague swept through the world back in the Middle Ages, people just died in droves.  Medical care was nearly nonexistent and a lot of what was done was actually counter productive.

Now we CAN save people if we have the machines and the medical personnel. But when lots and lots and lots of people are sick...

For us, this just means staying home a lot the next 3 weeks and I'm fine with that. Or I should say, staying home a lot for as long as it takes.  We are used to being home and feel very comfortable with it.  I am a stay at home mom so I can take care of our kids as usual. For single income and single parent homes, this could be really tough.

So I am praying for wisdom for our leaders and God's hand of compassion on our world.

Yep, its a big deal.