People Need to Heed the Warnings

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   I'm not going to lie or sugar coat things...I am worried and also a bit confused.  Why are so many people not taking this Covid-19 virus seriously?  I live in Washington state where people are literally dying every day now from it.  I do blame the mainstream media in part because so many of them are pushing the false narrative that this is just like the flu and so is the death rate...it is not!  

   I am a bit of a news buff and I have been carefully following this thing and getting my information from actual epidemiologist, the more non biased international news sites, and first person accounts of people who have had it, had relatives that have had it or have left China to protect themselves from getting it.  The people who actually lived there are reporting on how many more infectious people and deaths there are than the media is reporting.  I have also been watching how the media will report on the "possibility" of closing schools and training their teachers to do online teaching "just in case it ever comes to that", only to see them close the entire district the next day and start the online only teaching.  Yes, that happened in the Seattle area in the same area my nephews go to school.  The whole "be prepared to work from home" thing...Microsoft, Facebook, and many other businesses are starting that too.  At least my brother will be working at home and can help his boys with their schoolwork right?

   This whole "it won't affect me so why stock up" just bugs the &%$@ out of me.  Even if you yourself don't get sick, you could still be exposed at some point to someone who is and have to self quarentine for 14 days.  Or, maybe one of your neighbors gets ill or has to self quarentine since they have been exposed to someone.  Wouldn't it be nice to take some groceries or a meal over to them in disposible containers and leave it outside their door and let them know it is there for them since they will most likely be stressed out?  

   Another thing that really is irritating is that some people, especially those who are below the age of 40, seem to think this is just a hyped up media thing.  What they are failing to realize is that even if they might get through this just fine with out catching it or with minimal symptoms, their elderly relatives or relatives with underlying health conditions may not.  I can think of at least 7 family members who will most likely NOT make it if they get this due to underlying health conditions combined with their age.  Jeff is also 60 years old so that puts him in a category for having more complications if he gets it and I have a compromised immune system so yes, I am concerned.

   So yes, I have been watching this thing since it first came to the attention of the public in January in China and tracking it's progress across the world.  I've been learning all I can about the gentic make up of this and the mutations that are occurring.  I've done what I can to have us stocked up and I did it little by little before the panic buying started here in the United States because I could see what was coming our way.  The last piece of the stock up list, the ton of wood pellets to heat our home, will be coming home with my husband in a few hours when he gets off of work.  We have about 2 or 3 more weeks here in our part of Washington before things start to spread more quickly across the state. At least I hope we have that much time.  Our colleges within about 30 miles from us (and where we shop) have Spring Break coming up soon which means students will be traveling all over the place and other students, who are away at school in other areas, are starting to come home.  We also have the state basketball tournaments, with large crowds from all over the state, going on this week and into next week.  Jazz Festival just finished and that brought the closing of some schools to sanitize them after students from one of the schools on the west side, who do have cases in their community and even in their school, came over for that.  We live in a global society, where people travel all the time so it would be foolish to think it cannot or will not make it to your part of the world and community.

   Now to pray that Jeff can get approved for total knee replacement surgery (they are going to try that route with the insurance company since he has so much arthritis in his knee in addition to the torn meniscus) and have that within the next 2 weeks before things get really bad over here.  If he can't get it done for a month or so, we will just have to put it off until later because I fear that the doctors and hospitals are going to have their hands full and I don't want him or I exposed to this virus if we can help it.  We have our oldest grandson Bradley's birthday party on Saturday and Jeff has a dentist appointment on Monday...after that I think I am going to just stay home for the next few weeks for the most part and limit my exposure to other people.  Luckily Jeff's work shift also limits the number of people he comes into contact with.  

   I do pray that whomever reads this post will think about not only how to prepare for themselves and their family, but how they may be able to help others.  That has been my goal in this situation.  And please, don't go crazy and buy a bunch of stuff you will never use.  Buy what you do use on a regular basis so that you will not be wasting your money.  Be blessed and I pray you all can avoid this nasty virus.