Thursday, March 12, 2020

Are You A Bad Person If You Get Coronavirus? -- March 12, 2020

Tom Hanks was apologetic. Will he ever be hired again by Hollywood? He's been tagged. Even if he survives the next three weeks, he will forever be known as the actor that got coronavirus. The guy that lived in an airport for an entire movie. The guy that survived that island.

Apparently it's even worse for his life partner. That individual apparently has flu symptoms. Resting comfortably at home.

But I digress. Back to the question at hand: are you a bad  person if you get coronavirus. It's not like practicing (practicing? really? we need practice?) unsafe sex. But you must have disobeyed all the recommendations:
  • don't leave your home
  • wash your hands every thirty seconds
  • wash them for twenty seconds (for the NYT editorial board, that's singing the "alphabet" song once through to the end)
  • don't touch your face
  • don't shake hands (even fist taps should be questioned)
  • don't travel to Australia
So, once labeled with coronavirus, are you tagged for life? Does it go on your resume? Are you banned from ever working again? Should it be placed on your tombstone or would that embarrass your family? Will cremation kill the virus?

Or is it the new red badge of courage?

Social media photos are now no longer tagged with names; they are tagged with "coronavirus" status.

Anyway, I'm heading out. I'm going to walk over to the Lego store across the street. If you don't see any more blogging, I did not die of an infectious disease. I was hit by a bus.

4 comments:

  1. A while since I chimed in. It's good to see people getting on board with this new reality. I honestly have been feeling like an absolute crazy person trying to convince friends and family for the past three weeks to reasonably prepare for this. It's a bit like standing on a nice sunny beach knowing a hurricane is a week away. "You're crazy." "Have you looked at the satellite pictures?" "No." "Have you listened to meteorologists warnings?" "No. It's sunny stop being crazy.

    I left New York earlier this week as most of the offices are closed through at least the end of the month (I guarantee that will be extended). Moved in with my in-laws in CO to ride this out. They're still talking about going to concerts, attending a huge church, buying a new house (this week) without having their current sold, and laughing at me for buying extra food. I might lose it. People are not getting it.

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    1. Yup, just like seasonal flu -- 100,000 new cases of seasonal flu in the US yesterday along with a 150 new deaths due to seasonal flu. This is really quite fascinating. The US will look like France in August when everyone takes a month off from work to go on vacation. I'm most interested in the end point. I assume as long as one new case is being reported in the US, the quarantine will have to be extended another three weeks. So, I'm looking for late November before this is over.

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    2. I think if one goes back to swine flu, which was much, much more deadly than coronavirus, the swine flu pandemic (was it ever classified as a pandemic) last about ten months. So, with the increased concern about this virus, a full year of quarantine is certainly not to minimized.

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    3. I did not see this when I posted my first note but New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said this could be a six-month crisis -- let's see ... March, April, May, June, July, August -- six months -- so November wasn't that far off.

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