Coronavirus caused a national emergency and some hoarding

On Friday, March 13, the nation was declared in a National Emergency due to the Coronavirus which has been named a pandemic because it is affecting and killing people all over the globe.

I am in the high risk group so I am extremely careful about where I go and what I do.  I have been called a germaphobe for some years now. Because my immune system is not the best, I carry my home-made sanitizer, alcohol and water in a spray bottle. I use it liberally and all the time. I don't have OCD, but I am careful.

At a restaurant today, I read the menu and gave my order, then sprayed my hands. After my meal, I handed my card to the waiter. When he returned with it, I put it away and sprayed my hands again. Overkill? Maybe, but I don't want to take a chance on getting sick.

When I get into my car I spray my steering wheel, gear shift and keys as well as my hands. At home I wash my hands carefully and for twenty seconds or longer.

At home in the coming week, I will isolate myself. I have food and what I need in my freezer, my pantry and refrigerator, so I hope there will be no need to go out.

The local community college where I just began teaching a weekly writing course is now closed. My local librarian at Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC called to let me know that all events that were planned for March have been cancelled and that includes an afternoon writing class on dialogue set for March 26. I will soon be contacting those who have registered and sent their fees. We will postpone the class or cancel, depending on the instructor and those who planned to attend.

When I first heard about the panic and how people were buying loads of toilet paper and paper towels, I could not understand. But, today my niece reminded me that many of those mothers were planning for four or five people home all day every day as businesses closed and schools closed. And no one can say how long this will last. Some were shopping for parents or elderly grandparents who must stay home to protect themselves.

I worry about my older brother who was just hospitalized with severe respiratory illness and heart failure. I worry about my dear cousin who lives in an assisted living facility down in south Georgia. She is in her nineties and has heart problems. I wonder what precautions are being taken there.

Some say there is no need to be concerned. They go about their business paying no attention to warnings to use sanitizer, practice social distances, wash their hands, etc. Even if someone is young and is not likely to die from this virus, he can spread the disease to others, to someone like me who is not young and doesn't have their immune system. The secret to stopping a disease such as COVID-19 is keeping it from spreading. But young people are still gathering at bars, drinking and dancing, and how many are spreading this virus that might seem to only be a cold?

This is a time when we should all think about ourselves, but we must also think about our neighbors, our friends and even strangers. No matter how divided we are on politics and other matters, this is the time for everyone to work together to stop the spread of this dangerous disease. 

A friend told me about someone, who is older, and has found that two of her fifteen clients were exposed to a person with the virus. These two clients were in her office just days ago and did not know at the time they had been exposed. Now she will quarantine herself and pray that she doesn't come down with it and that she has not passed it on to others.

It seems that often this virus has been spread at church, especially in church choirs. My sister and brother-in-law sing in their church choir and were happy to hear that the church has suspended services for this Sunday. I know I would not attend church at this time because it is impossible to keep the social distance needed to protect yourself.

This reminds me of a family story.
Back in the 1920s, many of my aunts and uncles moved from north Florida to Tampa, St. Petersburg and surrounding area. That part of Florida was booming. My uncle Charley was a young man who was trying to earn a good living so he could get married and start his family. He made his way down to Palmetto, Florida where his sister, Oleo (Oley)and her husband, had begun a business. They hired Charley to work in their butcher shop.

No one was prepared for what was coming. Charley became ill and was diagnosed with smallpox, a deadly disease with no cure. It has been eradicated today with the smallpox vaccination which I remember having when I was in first grade.

Thousands of people died from smallpox. Charley was quarantined, and with no home of his own, he lived in a barn and his sister brought his food to him there. The good news was that Charley survived. But Oleo and Willie's butcher shop did not. Because Charley worked there and had smallpox, health authorities closed the store. No one was allowed inside, not even the owners. The meat spoiled and everything Oleo and Willie owned was lost.

That was only one of the many challenges that faced Oleo in her life. But those stories are for another time.  

I hope you, my readers and friends, will be safe and unharmed from this virus. Don't panic, but do be careful and come back here next week. Tell me what is on your mind in the comment section below.