The coronavirus is all over the news. There is no way to avoid it. The articles are about the number who have it, the number who have died, the number who have recovered. They are about possible cures, and about vaccines in the works. Currently there is a lot of excitement about a combination of drugs that appears to have the effect of reducing the length of time one has Covid-19, and may save lives. There is not enough evidence yet to prove the claims, yet many are touting this drug combo as a cure and people are buying the drugs where they can.
The drugs are hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. Hydroxychloroquine is a malaria drug and azithromycin is an antibiotic. I don't understand how an antibiotic would be effective against a virus, but neither can I figure the malaria connection. Apparently these drugs have been used in China and France especially, so the news of their effectiveness comes from those countries.
Also flooding the news is the lack of safety equipment for healthcare workers. Story after story points out the dangers these workers face every day. Administrators are forcing nurses to wear one mask all day, and in some cases don't allow masks to be used at all. Many doctors and nurses have died from the infection. They are more likely to die than the rest of us because they are exposed frequently, and more frequent exposures lead to deadlier cases of the disease.
More states are shutting down every day. In Nevada the prohibition against going outside (except out of necessity) is voluntary right now. There is not much to go outside for, frankly, with all entertainment closed, restaurants only offering drive-through and delivery options, and all non-essential businesses closed. I can't get a pedicure. That may not seem a big deal, and it isn't really, but unfortunately for me I can't get to my toes. My legs don't bend enough. This could get tricky.
At this point there are more than one million confirmed cases worldwide and over 50 thousand deaths. The curves keep heading upward in the U.S. Predictions are, honestly, hard for me to imagine. The models predict some kind of peak somewhere between April 15 and 30, the last I heard. Of course peak does not mean it's over, just that the number of cases won't keep rising exponentially.
I am fortunate. I have a regular income. I'm safe, relatively safe. Many are facing job losses - over 6 million filed for unemployment this week. There are some job openings, including delivery services, tech companies (video games are selling like crazy), manufacturing of safety equipment. My grandson lost his job and filed for unemployment. He tends to live on little generally but I doubt unemployment will pay all the bills. I heard today of a person who lost his job and asked for time to delay his mortgage payments for three months. It was granted but with the provision that he pay all three months when the time is up. That's just crazy.
I check the numbers too frequently. A high school student developed an algorithm to gather the stats and present them in a dashboard. I look at that thing all the time. Right now there are 1,022,152 cases worldwide. 245,066 in the US. Every country in the world is infected.
And there are still people out there denying the seriousness of the virus. Today I read a post by one who said she was glad she didn't pay attention to the mainstream news. She watches a channel that features an antivaxx announcer who is known for distorting the facts. And she pointed out, based on his show, that there is a difference between people dying with covid-19 and those dying from covid-19. Does it matter, really? She thinks it does.
One more thing we see now: everyone is now urged to wear cloth masks when they go outside. I have two masks so far. I have been too lazy to make more, but I will! I do need to get my energy level up. Thing is, the virus can stay in the air for three hours, maybe longer. So we don't know if someone just walked by and left us a gift.
Is Starbucks going to hang on? I hope so. It is a little bright spot when I go there. Cheery voices responding to mine at the drive-through. It takes so little! Really. But there are, of course, fewer and fewer customers. Which is good, but still. I want them to stay open for our occasional needs.
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