Fourteenth Entry

click to enlarge

Tuesday, March 31st, 2020

The virus is spreading to more vulnerable places than NYC, and suddenly everyone is expecting and demanding government action. What happened to the great hatred and distrust of the government?

New York’s governor asked (almost begged) for healthcare workers to come to NY from anywhere – from everywhere. How will they be kept safe without PPE? – a term everyone now knows. NYC only has a week’s worth of protective gear left.

“Food insecure” and “deep recession” are today’s phrases in the morning news. So many people are suffering in so many ways—mostly the sick and those caring for them. The hungry, the trapped, and the scared all have their own suffering.

Prisons have become the cruise ships for spreading infection to the poor. This pandemic is beginning to leave marks—even on those who are healthy. One mark is the cancellation of events that can be etched deeply into youthful memories: graduations, proms, and weddings. Gatherings of all sorts are evaporating.

“Other side of the peak” is a phrase I heard for the first time today. Between 100,000 to 240,000 people are projected to die in the US from the virus. The number of people that die in the US each year is fairly steady, increasing slightly as the population ages. The number of people who died in 2020 may barely be a blip on the long-term chart of deaths; the erratic stock market will probably display a more visible variation. Nevertheless, there are a lot of dead people, and most of them left families and loved ones behind. Additional refrigerator trucks will arrive this week. There is an overflow of dead bodies.

3-minute Audio
Springtime, flowering trees, six feet apart.