The Dog Days Of A Pandemic Summer
My father has been reporting the new COVID case counts and deaths over the past several months in a daily email to various friends and families.
It is not uplifting and it definitely causes me a certain amount of anxiety, but to ignore it would be selfish.
And I am not that.
So for those that think this pandemic is still not a big deal, I know I am not going to change your point of view and chances are you have already moved on to the next Medium.com story in your feed.
But for those that do understand the grave situation we continue to face in the U.S., I am sure you are just as sick to your stomach as I am when I look at the staggering numbers that are surging again…
…from just one state (Michigan)
…for just one day
…as our administration keeps telling us that this will just magically disappear
…while they are apparently more concerned about ripping apart the White House Rose Garden for the First Lady’s convention speech this week
…and the Western half of the country is battling massive wild fires, mostly due to climate change causing widespread irreparable damage to our fragile ecosystem
…and no, I have no idea what Hillary would have done had she been elected and it doesn’t really matter so stop comparing the apple lady who accepted the loss to the orange dude who it seems will not accept a loss in November if that is what #wethepeople decide.
What does matter?
Read my father’s summary and count your lucky stars that you are not one of these stats…YET!
…and no, I am wishing illness or death on anyone.
But still, here was what greeted me this Sunday morning in my father’s email…
“953 cases and 11 deaths due to the virus, but even more bad news since there are still “glitches”according to state health officials which will result in “higher counts” in the coming days.
Including probables we’re up to 106,044 cases and 6,655 deaths. The death rate is still 6.7% and the infection rate is 4%. We’ve had 14 outbreaks at schools and districts in the last two weeks. There are 646 hospitalized and 173 on ventilators as of Thursday.
Nevertheless,business groups are urging the Governor to open gyms, theaters and bowling alleys and any other currently closed businesses who are also,asking for tax deferrals.”
Anyone that thinks this is fake news, seriously, just go away.
I had to go to Target in Boulder on Friday and make a few returns to The Container Store today, both for a few of my home organizing clients and, dare I say, what a shit show! Crowded, no one following the directional signs/arrows to navigate around the store, long register lines with no social distancing and just overall chaos.
Listen, I get that people are scared about how they are going to survive financially. And as a mother with now two adult children, I cannot imagine how parents with school aged children are coping with the decision whether to send their kids back to school in person or figure out home school/POD learning options in communities that don’t feel that the potential risk for exposure is great enough to continue virtual classrooms.
But I know if I had to face that decision, it would be simple…gap year/years for us all. Translation…I would have bought a small RV and circled the U.S. with them, giving them some real life history, political and social action lessons.
And I definitely would have promoted my business all over that vehicle, stopping wherever to purge and declutter as well as pack and unpack any and every home that wanted my services from sea to shining sea.
I suppose I would have needed to discuss this plan with their father (my ex-husband) but fortunately I don’t need to worry about them living in their respective young adult homes living their young adult lives.
Well, that’s not true.
Even at their current ages…23 and 26…I will worry about them.
It’s what parents do.
And, trust me, I am worrying about them each and every day like never before.
And I worry about if they are going to have kids…my potential grandchildren. Chances are, they probably won’t and I don’t blame them. Plagues, wildfires, droughts, protests, oppressive heat, murder hornets, double hurricanes…it’s too much.
So to those that have selfishly gone on with their lives because they didn’t want to wear a mask and practice safe social distancing, I may never experience being a grandparent, not to mention be able to see my kids again because some people couldn’t manage to care enough about our entire country’s collective health and well being.
Please…be kind…be compassionate…be safe…and if you believe our current administration has failed, be the change and VOTE!
