Surviving Corona

Hello again, well I somehow don’t think you need a primer from me on what I’m talking about with that post title. Yeah, good chance if you’re alive and not an infant, you’ve heard about the Coronavirus sweeping the world. A lot of people are in full on panic mode (group #1), while another large group is less concerned, albeit annoyed by the doings of group #1 in cleaning out grocery stores of basics like food and toilet paper.

Andrea and I are fortunate, in the group of those in reasonable good health, and we’re not in that danger zone in the age department. Still, we’re reeling from the changes and dealing with the shortages of things like groceries like the rest of you are. Normally, this kind of activity happens for us when a hurricane threatens our area, often during the height of hurricane season (June 1 – November 30). But, the feel and the scenes I’ve been seeing at the grocery stores are pretty much the same thing as what I’d see from a hurricane. Now, we so far don’t have to worry about power outages, and there’s no severe weather, but of course we’ve got plenty enough to worry about anyway.

One thing I’ve seen during those hurried hurricane prep activities, and I’ve seen hints of it in the Corona preparations, is the community forming. It’s obviously not the way you’d ever want a community to come together, and it’s far from idyllic, but just the other day in line at the grocery store with the hordes of people, I struck up several conversations with complete strangers. We had no idea each other existed before then, but yet there we were, sharing our collective concern, and even a little bit of dark humor at this situation before us.

Yes, there are people seriously at risk should they catch this virus. Yes, it appears that a lot of the cases are mild. But I’m not telling you anything you haven’t already heard, am I? Aside from the extra hygiene precautions, I’m approaching this with the attitude I’ve seen during decades of living through hurricanes in the New Orleans area: look out for yourself, and others around you. In the depths of the suffering during Hurricane Katrina, people still made efforts to reach out, help those who needed it, assist people clearing out their houses, etc.

I use Katrina as a reference since I think it’s more or less familiar to many, even those who live away from the New Orleans area. The exact needs are different this time, but the sentiment remains. We will make it through this, but only if we stick together.