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Wise we must be

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Susan Richards is a retired editor living in Thornton, Colo., near the family and mountains she loves. Her long-standing Pied Type blog contains some 3,800 posts dating back to 2002.

Categories Health, US16 Comments

16 thoughts on “Wise we must be”

  1. One thing that’s really starting to bother me now is I’m not hearing any plans about “reintegrating” society. Staying in is helping slow the spread, yes, but the cold, hard fact is that COVID-19 is not going to just disappear. Vaccines typically take a year. For best-case scenario, tho, due to the dire need of a vaccine, let’s say they manage to create one in 10 months. October. First, vaccines are no guarantee. Basically, they’re a gamble. If you get a vaccine, it’s no guarantee against contracting the full-blown version. A recipient’s odds increase they will not contract it, but no guarantee. If we wait until October to start going back to work, well, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to know what will happen to all economies. What’s the answer, then? For starters, work environment updates. For those businesses that just cannot function remotely (internet), then businesses can start revising physical environments. Spread apart desks. I don’t know – put sneeze guards on 3 sides of all desks? Install better air purifiers that will recycle and purify in a matter of seconds (if that’s possible). Provide the proper masks (if our eff-up of a prez would start ordering non-mask companies to mass-produce them). You know, I don’t know. That’s why I’m not the president (I wouldn’t want that job even if it paid billions). But this sitting around is a bunch of bunk. We have to start thinking about what can be done.

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    1. Our gov. was just on tv asking everyone to wear a mask (homemade or otherwise, anything to cover nose and mouth) whenever they go out for any reason. And he just repeated that those over 65 should stay home, period.

      Some people are surely thinking about how and when we’ll get back to normal but certainly the emphasis now is just to flatten the curve. No doubt a vaccine will be coming as fast as is humanly possible, but also no doubt that is months away. If good masks become widely distributed, we may gradually return to some semblance of normalcy — with everyone wearing masks. After that, who knows. We’ve never done this before.

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      1. I was digging through my “master” first aid kit (which consists primarily of bandaids, and left-over wrappings from my broken wrists) and found that I had anti-viral masks in there! I had bought them a while back to use when repainting the room I live in now. But I also had bought a different style that we ended up using (the stiff non-anti-viral kind). And that mask was fine for keeping paint out of our lungs. So I had forgotten I’d bought the better masks. Was a nice find. I have one in my car, one in my purse, and the rest available if needed (box of 10). The mask had a funk to it I didn’t like so I put a drop of Patchouli oil on it and that makes it much better. (I started doing that with the other masks as I keep them around to wear when I have to clean out a dog crate when one of the dogs has diarrhea. A mask with Patchouli makes reaching in a nasty crate that’s been painted with liquid poo much better.

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        1. I don’t have any proper masks. I tried following instructions to make no-sew one using a bandanna and a couple of rubber bands and that’s a non-starter. You end up with 12 or more layers of fabric across your nose and mouth. The guy in the video put a drop of lavender oil on his mask. Nice touch. I just wore a bandanna “outlaw style” to walk up to the mailbox and even that was hot and uncomfortable on a 70-degree day. Doesn’t really matter though. Except for today, I’ve been home inside for a month.

          My “first aid kit” consists of a bunch of Band-Aids and various forms of antibiotic creams and washes.

  2. Best laugh of yesterday: neighborhood guy in Halloween’s T-Rex Dino suit holding up sign for cars going by: “Extinction sucks. Stay home.”
    (And we all are becoming easily amused…not simple – NOOOOO not simple minded!)

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  3. In a local (online) discussion, it was brought up that if, no, When, we can begin going back to work and allowing folks to get out and mingle… this virus is known to mutate. How long and what strength of immunity will exist for those who had the initial form? What might that mean for those who managed to remain healthy through the self isolations? Will our world be on cyclic periods of social distancing – total lockdown – recoveries from now on? Or maybe, the hemispheres will show their opposite qualities with summer seasons relatively virus free, then return to the cycles as cold weather returns? We could definitely benefit from Yoda’s wisdom right now – or maybe a very cold virus Pied Piper?

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    1. I’m happier if I don’t look too hard at the long-term picture. I don’t know what to expect and I’m not sure anyone really does. But I’m confident a lot of very smart people are working very hard on this thing. I hope we can return to pre-covid19 days at some point, but there may be a new normal coming. I don’t adjust very well to “new normals.”

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  4. Bernie must be laughing his a$$ off.  Everybody is working for the government, everybody is going broke and the government is dictating who produces what and who gets the products produced.  Wait until broadcast network sponsors run out of money and then the news sources will broadcast more government propaganda than it already does.  Just like the old USSR except it will be called Democratic Socialism.

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