In the Beginning...
Today, they shut the transit down.
I've been trying to assimilate the new normal of self-isolation for the past nine days.
Not well.
I don't do well without a routine.
Or with sudden change.
Yeah...so this isn't going easy for me at all.
To understand all this...you have to go back to its beginning. Or when we heard about it anyway...because by the time it really came on the radar here it had been ravishing Wuhan (China) and Hubei for most of a month.
February 2nd 2020
I started following the new virus.
Only 8 cases had reached our shores. Most, of which, were people who had recently traveled to China. No deaths here at this point.
Americans took a very lax...it is somebody else's problem..not ours.
And went about their lives.
The US still had 8 cases...and no idea what was about to come.
As a self-proclaimed "Bug Nut"" I find new virii fascinating. I did my dissertation on HIV...and lived through The Hong Kong Flu...Swine Flu...Ebola...and H1N1.
When I started tracking "The Wuhan Flu" as it was first called, it certainly wasn't because I thought it was the next pandemic...although it had earmarks from the beginning. Easily transmitted and a mortality rate at the time of maybe 2%.
A Corona Virus like the common cold with receptors that did not attach to your upper airway...but instead sought out the lower lungs.
A bad combination.
And Novel (new) so there was no vaccine. no cure, and we had no natural antibodies built up to fight it.
Neither did anyone else.
The US cases rose to 11.
People who noticed were roundly put in their place.
We ONLY had 11 cases.
And no one was dead
(yet)
Once again...we ignored it and went about our lives.
Except...one of the cases in Illinois was a man...who had not traveled to Wuhan. He has gotten it from his wife who had just returned.
Our first case of human to human transmission.
And the hairs raised a little on the nape of my neck.
Another giveaway was the way the cases worldwide were rising ever so slowly...the numbers staying clustered together...and rising.
By February 15, 2020 it became evident that this was
Not going to go away and infections were popping up quickly all over the globe.
Still US cases were few and mostly tied to the Hubei/Wuhan area.
Dismissed as
"Not Our Problem"
This would change soon.
On February 18th, 2020, our handful of positive cases had jumped to 26.
By the end of the month it was 70.
But what caught my attention the most was how the European and Asian cases had exploded.
Although WHO and The CDC had not breathed the word yet...it looked very much like we had our next pandemic unfolding.
At home a number of our elected officials, shock jocks and Fox News were telling people this was just like a cold or flu and nothing to be concerned about.
A Democrat Hoax to try to discredit President Trump.
Ignore it and go about your lives...was their rallying cry.
(...how I wish they had been right...I wouldn't be typing this or in self-isolation right now...there would be no New Normal...stretching infinitely before me at this point...)
But I digress.
On March 8th, 2020 our cases started to explode
We now had 547 confirmed cases and many deaths.
And no matter how WHO or CDC were dragging their feet...one glance at The John Hopkins Site, splotched with crimson circles now, told you everything you needed to know.
I started mentioning to friends that this was really serious and the next pandemic.
The virus (by now) had been renamed Covid-19
Soon after, WHO and The CDC would release their statements to that effect.
By March 11, 2020 the US cases topped 1000.
The Worldwide cases had topped 100,000...deaths were rocketing toward 5,000 and the proverbial genie was out of the bottle.
Healthcare centers in the hardest hit areas around the World were overwhelmed. Italians trying to warn the rest of us. Not enough ventilators...so many deaths...doctors and nurses getting the virus...some of them dying...
They have the 2nd ranking healthcare system in the world...and this had overwhelmed it...causing Doctors to triage and treat those who stood the best chance of survival...and those who didn't were gurney'd out into hallways to die.
(...and if our hospitals get overwhelmed by patients...we will have to as well...)
By March 13th, 2020...only two days later, we had topped 2000.
And the World Count was well on its way to 200,000.
Over 5000 people were dead.
By March 18 , 2020...less than a week later the World Count broke
200,000
The John Hopkins Map was looking like a bad case of the measles.
Even Trump and Fox News couldn't downplay or deny this was happening anymore.
Staunchly their supporters still stood by
"...this is a hoax..."
"It's just like a bad cold or the flu."
But it was getting harder and harder to deny, as even some in their numbers had been sickened or died by this new virus.
It only kills the elderly or infirm was proven misinformation too, as many 30-50 year olds were also being hospitalized and intubated.
Some of them were dying.
Harder hit cities were mandating curfews...utilizing the National Guard...issuing Shelter-in-Place orders.
Many states including my own (Indiana) were closing schools, restaurants, bars, gyms, libraries, events, sports and forbidding gatherings of more than 250, 100, 50, then 10.
(...Germany was the most stringent country with a 2 person only ban...)
As of March 20th, 2020
The US cases are teetering toward 20,000 and the Worldwide count is still under 300,000 but getting closer.
With no sign of abatement.
Now, we wait.
