Social Distancing

In some ways, we live in a society where social distancing is already the norm, and the only reason we don't effectively practice it is because there are so damned many of us. It's hard not to contract diseases when we're packed together like the proverbial rats. As the Covid-19 virus spreads across the globe, we all need to back off, change plans, and reexamine our activities in hopes that the exponential growth curve levels off. Questions remain. In coming years, will there now be a Covid-19 season on top of the flu season? I'm sure they're frantically working on a vaccine.

Keep in mind, this is the perspective of a confirmed introvert. I'm quite happy doing things by myself. Ironically, my job can't be done through the ether, so I'm currently looking at some time off. We won't have kids back at camp until mid-April, and even that is subject to change. In the meantime, there are other tasks to be done. I have a pet field guide project to finish, and I'm excited to get a chance to wrap that up, although I don't yet know if I'll be able to work from home. I'm less excited to do most of the other things that happen at camps when there are no kids, because t usually ends up being deep cleaning, trail maintenance, pulling weeds, and other less mentally stimulating tasks. My other option is to use my nearly 300 hours of accrued vacation time. So, I won't personally suffer much in the way of financial consequences.

Or will I? Jeanine relies on gatherings of people to do her job. People are no longer gathering as they used to, and she has already had a number of parties and other gatherings cancel on her. Beyond my selfish little bubble, I realize that this pandemic is going to be devastating for many, if not from getting sick, then from financial woes. Every day, another musician friend posts on Facebook that a show or tour has been canceled. The Current 93 shows in Brooklyn next month have now been postponed until March, 2021 (historical note: the last time I had tickets for a Current 93 show in New York, it was September, 2001, so there is a precedent for disasters scuttling their plans, as one might expect from a band once dubbed, "apocalyptic folk").

If nothing else, this pandemic has made me aware of how often I touch my face. I'm also acutely aware of the fact that I'm now in the age range where the consequences of getting sick are much worse.

I'm thankful for my stockpiled hoard of entertainment possibilities. Speaking of hoarding, I think that the panicked overbuying necessities (like toilet paper) is akin to looting during a disaster. This is where the "me first" mentality so encouraged by the capitalists and eaten up by low-information, low-empathy citizens shoots society in the foot. I get that some people look at hoarding and re-selling at a profit as a way to keep ahead of their bills, which starkly reveals that a huge number of us are teetering on the edge of insolvency, but that just proves my point that we live in a broken system.

More to come.

For now, here is a link to a new blog from a friend, started as a response to our current crisis.