"Netflix has been asked to limit services for fear of breaking the internet"
- News report yesterday afternoon
"I will follow you into the dark”
- Ben Gibbard
I dreamed last night that I was infected with the Corona Virus. It made sense. I have been doing shifts at my hospital these last two weeks so my risk of exposure was greater than average. I do not think my dream was unique. The sense of existential dread is quite palpable with most people these days.
Cognitive dissonance is what fuels the anxiety many feel. I know intellectually that the likelihood of my acquiring the virus and perishing from it is very low. Yet, at the same time, I want to avoid the infection if at all possible. As a result, there is a constant sense of worry. It is low level, like a stew simmering on low heat on the stove. I am not incapacitated by it, but I don’t like it. So, we remain at our home, peering out the windows and wondering what’s next.
Our fearless leader has also changed. He seems to no longer feel the threat of the pandemic is a hoax that will just go away with a tweet. His tone, for him at least, is more somber. He appears to have found his footing to a degree and the federal response appears to be headed in a more helpful direction. To that end, I am glad.
“I knew it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic”
- Donald Trump
We are on a “war-time footing" according to the government and need to be prepared for the sacrifices to come. Yet what those sacrifices may be are still unknown. The Treasury Secretary has reported we need to be prepared for an unemployment rate of 20%. That is a staggering figure. Consider as a perspective, at the height of the Great Depression the unemployment rate was 25%. What will that be like now?
I have a good understanding of what it is like when you have no hospital beds for the care of patients. As an OB/Gyn the majority of my work is on a Labor and Delivery Unit. These units are like ICU’s for women at the time of birth. They only have so many beds. A L&D requires uniquely trained nurses and operating room staff to function. If too many women are coming in at the same time to a unit, then the facility is overwhelmed. I have delivered more than a few babies in a hallway because there is no room at the inn. It is far from ideal, and can be dangerous. So the idea of slowing the spread of the virus so not to overwhelm the system makes good sense and will save lives.
However, despite efforts to limit the spread, you are beginning to see push back on social media and the news. When you shut down an entire economy people will get hurt. There are health effects of a lockdown that also place people at risk. How long can you do it before the seeds of revolt bear fruit?
There is a famous graphic novel called “The Watchmen”. In the fantasy story there is the threat of global annihilation from nuclear war. The world appears doomed when one of the characters deliberately causes an alien invasion to attack New York. It was a brutal choice. Several million people die, but the world bands together to fight the invasion, nuclear war is prevented, they prevail, and billions of lives are saved.
I am by no means suggesting this is the solution. That would be horrible. But, you can see the metaphor the story proposes.
“We don’t trade lives Captain”
-The Vision
You are now seeing on reputable news sites discussions of the risks of prolonged isolation versus accepting the infection as part of life now. Once the social distance ban is lifted, what then?
A health care scientist from Stanford University argues that The U.S. is just now catching up to the rest of the world with it’s response. Once that is complete, we have testing readily available, and health care systems in place then we have to release people from isolation. Life needs to restart. Then, with testing, isolate people as needed but keep the economy and the world turning.
Another equally reputable scientist from Harvard argues this approach is too aggressive and more people will die from it. He argues for continuing prolonged social isolation for many months perhaps until a vaccine is developed. Is this reasonable? Which approach makes sense?
No one knows. So, the stew continues to simmer.
Like everyone else we will remain in our home and looking out the windows. We are ok and I remain hopeful. Humans are a remarkably resilient lot. There is enough toilet paper and I am spending the time learning how to cook from the master , Colleen. Everything else is on hold.
I wonder what is on Netflix tonight?
“As we grow in the spiritual life, our life will become increasingly centered. Only a few things will really matter. Because of the coronavirus outbreak, I see a lot of people right now thinking this way. There’s a sense that we’re all in this together—every continent, country, class, religion, race, age, or gender. We’re all subject to this crisis. Suffering has an ability to pull you into oneness. “
-Father Richard Rohr
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