World War II. 9/11. The Great Recession. These periods were so huge that they had a global impact on the world with lasting affects. You may be a spring chicken or an old dog but life doesn't care which of those you are and will sometimes toss you into a battle you wanted no part of. We are currently at war. The enemy isn't from another country. Planes aren't dropping bombs. The foe we face is one we're still unearthing information on. Sure, we know what the enemy is but when the enemy is one that you can't see, that gives the opposition a serious leg up on you. The enemy has hit us hard in two very vital areas: health and financial security. I'm of course talking about what everyone and I do mean everyone, is talking about COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus.
I'm not going to go into the details of what the coronavirus is as pretty much everyone on the planet already knows at this point. The virus is spreading rapidly across the world with China and Italy having some of the highest death counts and just recently, Italy's death toll surpassed China's. To put it bluntly, the situation is really freaking bad and it will get worse.
The importance of keeping social distance going cannot be overstated. I know how much it can suck to be confined to your home. This is coming a dude whose life is at home. I've never been big on nights out. A nice night at home gaming, reading or binge watching has always been more preferable than just about any activity that requires me have to leave the house. However, when it was strongly recommended that we not go anywhere due to the coronavirus being so viral, even I began to feel trapped. No matter how much you love a place, there's only so much of it you can stand before cabin fever sets in. Sure, we can still go for walks, runs, jogs or whichever you prefer. But those that go clubbing, to raves and all that stuff that involves large crowds of people in close proximity? That is donso until further notice, or a good chunk of it is anyway.
Some businesses have given closure dates til sometime in April perhaps because they honestly believe that this will have blown over by then or they wish to relieve public outcry. Others have said that by July or August this will all die down. Maybe it is because we've never seen a pandemic like this in our lifetime, but if people actually think we'll be better in a few weeks or when the summer rolls around this will all blow over, then clearly they are not grasping the severity of the situation we're in.
This isn't the first time the world has dealt with something of this magnitude. Yes, there have been pandemics in the past, many in fact. But none of them, not even the 2009 Swine Flu Pandemic, come close to the global crisis from 100 years ago; the 1918 Flu Pandemic, also known as the Spanish Flu.
If you've read more than one article on the coronavirus, you may have heard this outbreak mentioned. The abridged version of it goes like this. The 1918 Pandemic was responsible for killing more WWI soldiers than the actual war that spanned four years. Estimates of 500 million people (a third of the world's population at the time) were infected. Deaths were estimated to be 50 million globally and in the United States alone, more than half a million people died. That high death toll was largely due to the public being lied to to keep moral high during war time, thus believing the virus was gone, celebrating prematurely via parades, which lead to a second and third wave of the virus, more deadly than the first. When it was all said and done, the 1918 Flu Pandemic killed more Americans than WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
I know people want this to be over. They desperately want to resume their old lives. But if we don't learn from the 1918 Pandemic, we will make the very same mistakes people did 100 years back. Schools and businesses were closed to keep the virus from spreading back then and it is the same now. Leaders have made these tough calls to keep more people from dying, a decision that has hurt many of us financially.
I am one of the many people affected by the closing of restaurants. True, take out and door dash is still open but the staff for doing just that is extremely low. As a result, I have not been to work in four days straight as of this writing and I suspect it will be much longer.
Like I said earlier, we are at war and war often requires sacrifice. You may not be in a trench, clutching a rifle, but you're still involved and you've got a part to play. For many of us, that is being on lockdown, not leaving our homes and unless it is absolutely necessary. I think that is much more preferable to those that are on the front lines. Doctors, nurses, those that work in grocery stores and have essential jobs are constantly placing themselves at risk. Anyone working in the medical field has it particularly rough with hospitals across the globe being overrun with usual patients and those that have the coronavirus. I'm willing to bet more than a few of them wish they could be stuck at home like a lot of us are, but you gotta commend them for working in some insanely chaotic environments.
Through all of this madness, you've still got a life to live even if you're trapped in your home. Those books you've let pile up? Start reading them. That backlog of games? Start tearing into it. That messy office you've always meant to tidy but you "never had he time"? Dot it. DOOM Eternal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out yesterday. If you're planning to buy those games or you already pre-ordered them, play them, enjoy them and don't let COVID-19 ruin it for you. The countless memes that have popped up since this pandemic kicked off? Keep looking and laughing at them. We could all use some good laughs right now and last I checked, laughter was some really good medicine.
Before coronavirus mass lockdowns kicked in, I was thinking about how I had been neglecting this blog. I worked a lot of hours at my job and when I was wished for some more free time, I got it, just not the way I wanted to get that free time. Now that I have so much time on my hands, I intend to use it. I've had some ideas for content that I've been thinking about putting into post. People that work from home via YouTube and such are probably working double time to pump out content since a lot of folks aren't going anywhere. If I can make people laugh, or take their minds off COVID-19 for even a little bit, then I'll take that as a win.
So if you feel like it, stick around. Even in the midst of a crisis, we're gonna have fun here.
Source 1: History of 1918 Flu Pandemic
Source 2: Spanish Flu Historical Documentary
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