Pandemic 2020: Fear is contagious
Another long workday. My schedule: get up, go to work by 8/8:30, go for a walk around 11 or 12, work more, have lunch, and then work again. For some reason I run out of energy by 4/4:30, so I take a break and play games on my iPad. Sometimes I go back to work after 6:00 pm. Tonight, I had a call with our India team from 9:30-10:30 pm.
At least all of this work is distracting, which keeps my anxiety in check. The dazzling sun and blue sky also help. For a moment, you can almost forget about the crisis happening around us.
The news is always bad, so I try to limit my exposure. I know Italy had a record number of infections today—and has passed China in COVID-related deaths. I know New York is bad. California is trying to get everyone to stay indoors for a while. People are worried about food shortages. Health professionals are worried about equipment shortages. Trump said the states need to figure it out, because the federal government can’t fix all the problems. At least he appears to be taking this seriously now. He retweets posts from the CDC—people who know what they’re doing!
Unfortunately, a lot of people are still not taking this seriously—playing soccer at Greenlake in Seattle, etc. There are rumors of a real lockdown coming for Washington state, and it would be for this reason: people who don’t understand what social distancing is, who are putting all of us at risk.
In a “virtual happy hour” today with my team, one person told us that they had been to the gun shop to buy a handgun. Everyone on the call didn’t know quite what to say, although someone asked if they had any experience with firearms (it was unclear). This person said the gun shop was busy. Fear is contagious; people are preparing for the worst.
At least all of this work is distracting, which keeps my anxiety in check. The dazzling sun and blue sky also help. For a moment, you can almost forget about the crisis happening around us.
The news is always bad, so I try to limit my exposure. I know Italy had a record number of infections today—and has passed China in COVID-related deaths. I know New York is bad. California is trying to get everyone to stay indoors for a while. People are worried about food shortages. Health professionals are worried about equipment shortages. Trump said the states need to figure it out, because the federal government can’t fix all the problems. At least he appears to be taking this seriously now. He retweets posts from the CDC—people who know what they’re doing!
Unfortunately, a lot of people are still not taking this seriously—playing soccer at Greenlake in Seattle, etc. There are rumors of a real lockdown coming for Washington state, and it would be for this reason: people who don’t understand what social distancing is, who are putting all of us at risk.
In a “virtual happy hour” today with my team, one person told us that they had been to the gun shop to buy a handgun. Everyone on the call didn’t know quite what to say, although someone asked if they had any experience with firearms (it was unclear). This person said the gun shop was busy. Fear is contagious; people are preparing for the worst.
Labels: covid-19
