I’m still trying to figure out my feelings about the
coronavirus. Should I be concerned, worried, or frightened? The media reports
usually preface “coronavirus” with “deadly.” This is a flu, and all flus are
deadly. The death rate for this is still under 3 percent, but the hard number of
those who have died of coronavirus is higher than that for SARS.
It would be useful if we had a Richter scale for this. For
example, if the Spanish Flu of 1918, which killed 50 million people, was a 9,
and SARS, let’s say, was a 4 or a 5, what do we give this new one? Too simple, I guess.
Then there is the name. “Coronavirus” isn’t specific enough.
We don’t use animals anymore, The swine flu was a death sentence for pigs. A
geographic name causes travel and commerce issues and even racial profiling –
and can also be wrong. The Spanish Flu did not start in Spain. So now they have
neutral designations, and for this one, it’s COVID-19.
In this country, it's already starting. What do I mean by "it"? I heard that some ride-hailing
drivers here are starting to avoid picking up Asians. But it goes beyond that. I
myself was shopping in a big-box store and suddenly had to sneeze. I covered my
nose and mouth, but when I looked up, I found a woman glaring at me. Some checkout
clerks in that store had masks on. In China, many are wearing masks, and those
who don’t are socially unacceptable. The masks keep sneezes in and other
people’s cooties out. The door is wide open to blame, as in, you gave this to
me, or you’re going to give it to me.
There are people who were just in the wrong place at the
wrong time, and have been trapped on
cruise ships or military bases because they might be carrying the disease. For
those cleared to return to their lives,
how many party invitations will they be getting for a while?
Hopefully, science will answer the technical questions.
Genetic researchers are zeroing in on what is common to all viruses and doesn’t
mutate, which could lead to an all-inclusive vaccine someday. But in the
meantime, we have to sort out the information in front of us that we accept and
our own feelings about it, then decide how we will interact with others before COVID-19
becomes a “thing” here. It just might.
1 comment:
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