March 20, 2020:  The Pandemic

   
Notice the above date. An interesting combination of numbers. Maybe our numerology expert can give us some information on their significance. Well, we are certainly right now as I write this and as you read this experiencing a fantasmagoric event which shall be forever recorded in history. We are experiencing a very frightening pandemic of the Coronavirus Covid 19.

      It started in China in probably December but the Chinese Communist Party hid its presence from the rest of the world. We did not learn of it until the very end of December, 2019. Now there were two previous Coronavirus epidemics that were not so bad. In 2001 to 2002, SARS, Severe Acute Respiratory syndrome, started also in China and did spread around the world but not to any great extent. It seemed to peter out on its own and did not harm economies of the world. Then in 2012 to 2014, MERS, Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome, started in Saudi Arabia and might have had something to do with camels. It stayed mostly in that area, though there were two cases in the US in 2014. But fortunately that one also died out. In the beginning, the hope was that this novel Coronavirus would act the same way. However, China was hit very hard especially in the province in which it started. Then we heard of cases spreading in South Korea and elsewhere in southeast Asia. Our President, Donald Trump, made a fairly early decision to shut down the US to Chinese travelers especially from this province but also in general. Our west coast particularly receives large numbers of Chinese nationals daily and the fear was that this would rapidly import the virus to our country. Indeed, Trump faced harsh criticism for doing this so early. He was called racist, xenophobic, and even Nazi, for this decision. However, he went on to make light of the risk to our country. There is no doubt he was trying to reassure and calm the American people, but he was blamed for being slow to mount an all out protective and aggressive war on this disease. The problem was complicated by the fact that for the last 30 years, much of our manufacturing has been moved to China and we depend on them for all sorts of parts, and indeed large percentages of our pharmaceuticals, and even our hygienic protective gear like face masks. Meanwhile, the virus hit Italy dramatically because they had not shut down their borders. We have continued to close our borders, but the virus is here, as it is all over the world. It is a health, economic, and worldwide disaster. At this point in time, none of us know what will happen from here.

Since one week ago today, there have been hourly changes in our status in the US. Currently everything is closed: all sports activities, schools, gym, restaurants and bars, and many many non essential businesses and services. The State of California is on a modified lockdown, with people only going out for food, or health care. Likewise New York City is locked down in the same way. In addition, there are hot spots in New Jersey, Florida, Washington State, and the Los Angeles and San Francisco area. Wisconsin is just starting the climb of cases with our first 3 deaths in the last 2 days and with about a thousand confirmed cases. This disease seems to be at least 3 times as contagious as Influenza, and it especially become lethal for our seniors and those with underlying health problems. Those are the ones who mostly die, but young people can also get sick enough to be hospitalized. Yet many young people get a relatively mild cough and cold but with fever. There is evidence that some almost don't realize they have this disease but shed the virus, a very dangerous situation. 

      Well, to try to avoid what is happening in Italy and Europe, and Iran, as well as China and southeast Asia, our economy is being closed down. The stock market has lost almost a third of its value from 3 weeks ago. And it is expected that there will be many more cases that are beginning to overwhelm our supply of ventilators and our protective health gear for the first responders and health care workers. There is huge debate about how to handle this. I feel that some good things are being done: the private sector is being called in to replace and add to the manufacturing of these health items that are in short supply. Hospital ships and even the possibility of cruise ships being moved to New York, San Francisco, LA, and maybe Miami to provide more hospital rooms. But our health care workers without enough protection are going to get sick themselves and there will be no one to staff these ships. Car companies are saying they can retool to make ventilators, but that will take some time. The Federal Reserve is doing what it can with interest rates, and Congress is slowly passing bills to provide money, to stimulate the economy and help people who are out of work. Tax day has been postponed to July 15. Prisoners who are due for release are being let out of prison because the virus is getting into the prisons. Meanwhile fear of civil unrest has made most gun shops sell out and ammunition is no where to be found. Well, I can't even  begin to log here all the effects of this virus and our government's response to try to save lives.

     Well, I guess I would like to chronicle my reaction to all this. It think it is very typical of the average person over 65 in this country. We began to hear a lot about this about 10 days ago. Still we had no confirmed cases in the Milwaukee area and no evidence that there was community spread. All cases to that time had been tied to either international travel, or to national travel to hotspots in the US. These cases were still being isolated and their contacts were still being traced and self quarantined at home. A week ago Wednesday I drove by the grocery store and the parking lot was full. There was an obvious panic buying spree going on. I joined the panic a little bit though I had stocked up a few days before. The comical portion of this whole event was that people were wheeling cartloads of toilet paper to their cars. We have never discovered what that was. Hand sanitizers, disinfectant wipes, and rubbing alcohol were to next to fly off the shelves.

     That was the first sign to me that we were in big trouble, much worse than just a normal flu season. It was being emphasized so strongly that we oldies were so much more at risk for lethal complications. No one knew entirely why, but statistics seemed to prove this. And Italy being one of the oldest countries in the world, citizen age wise, had death rate running very high, maybe 8 to 10 per cent.

     One night last week, I lay awake thinking about what I would do if one of us got sick. I have somewhat of a special case. My husband is mild to moderately demented  and would not be able to take care of me if I got the disease. I am having trouble explaining to him how we need to keep the outside out of the house and not contaminate surfaces in the house with things that have come from outside. I will say that he is washing his hands more than usual. If he got the disease, first of all he is at high risk for complications and severe disease because he is 83 years old, and has moderate renal failure in addition to the dementia. How would I take care of him without getting the disease myself. I began to run through some things I could do in my mind: use separate bathrooms, separate bedrooms, keep our areas apart, continue to wipe down all surfaces even more than I am now. I would be totally isolated in my efforts with no family in the area and no one to turn to. All of these thoughts kept me from sleeping.

     In addition, coincident with this, perhaps because of me being on my feet more and running more errands to try to get ready for this event, I developed worse left sided back pain with radiation of an
intense ache into my lateral left thigh and upper left calf. Clearly I had a pinched nerve in my back. I went to see my internist who agreed with me and gave me a Medrol dosepack. Great! Now I was on an immunosuppressive dose of prednisolone while a lethal disease is beginning to run rampant. At my Spirit Mind body group a week ago Thursday, I didn't hang around afterwards and on Friday at my water aerobics class I participated well away from others in the water and refused to play Canasta. After all, playing cards for 3 hours passing these cards from person to person without touching our faces, seemed very unhealthy to me. The next day, Saturday, I decided we would self quarantine except for having to go out to get groceries, or gas. I also have had to go out to get a prescription for gabapentin for my back when the Medrol Dosepak gone, my pain began to come back. When I go out for these necessary trips, I wear an N95 mask I have saved since my retirement 11 years ago, and I wear plastic gloves. Of course, being a physician, I understand sterile precautions and so I try to wipe down the inside of the car and door handles, and leave the packages that I can sit in the cold garage for 24 hours so  that any virus particles on the paper bags can disappear. I handle the plastic bags and plastic wrap with care and dispose of it with care and wash my hands all the time. When I come into the house I wipe off  the doorknobs and take off my coat and put that one aside for 2 to 3 day and use a different coat to go outside the house the next time. I immediately wash my hands then.

    When I have to go to the bank, I just drive through. I use some alcohol in my car and cotton balls to wipe down the air tube carrier and to wipe down my ID after if I have to put that in the air tube container. If I use my credit card in a store I wipe it down with alcohol afterwards. It really becomes exceedingly anxiety producing to remember the order in which to do all this. I have no idea if I am exercising over kill for this virus or not, but I know that we just cannot get this bug. I could not handle it emotionally within our little household. Suddenly I know how a pathological germophobe feels.

     Our sons and their families are also going through some sort of hell. My younger son has a 2 year old and his wife is 5 months pregnant and very nervous about all this. They live in California, which is a hot spot. They are practicing all these safe practices as well and my son is reading all about whatever new info comes out. Sometimes this might be a little encouraging but mostly it just adds to the fears. My oldest son is of course Chief of General Surgery at a midwestern University Hospital and is in the thick of things. He predicted last week that all elective surgery would be curtailed to preserve ventilators, hospital beds, and supplies and indeed that has happened.  This will mean a great reduction in income, and he will likely have to go into the trenches to care for the sick.  His wife teaches pharmacy and though the school is closed, she may be called in to deal with pharmaceuticals in the hospital. Their two boys at 13 and 10 are home alone and dealing with that. I worry about all of them.

     No one can predict in any reliable fashion how long this will go on. It is true that our country is behind others in the onset of this spread here. That is because we closed our borders early. But we are having logarithmic increases in the infected and in deaths now. On an optomistic side, most agree with how the President is handling this and government in combination with the private sector are stepping up to help out. All of our experts and our President and Vice President are thinking outside the box to try to think of thousands of ways to help contain the virus and its spread, help the economy, and to help all those who have been sidelined at home and have no income coming in due to that fact. We are seeing thousands of little acts of kindness and ways to help people. Since many churches are closing, one priest held drive through confession in the parking lot. Everything is being done electronically and more and more ideas are coming forth to supply more electronic help. We have a new neighborhood hotline on our phones and people are volunteering to make runs to some of the few drive through restaurants to pick up food  for anyone in the neighborhood to help support those restaurants. Perhaps we can maintain some degree of perspective and also hope that this will be over soon.

     I plan to start posting every day or so describing our life under these circumstances. If nothing else I think it will have historic interest for readers who find my work many years later. That probably will be one little old lady like me who is interested in genealogical work and wants to know what her ancestors' lives were like during this historic time.