Fear and what we are going through....

[BigDrop]

Tonight I have spent more than three hours on the phone with friends I have all known for 30 or more years.  South Florida on the Atlantic coast, the Gulf coast, outside of Las Vegas, south of Portland, Maine, Vancouver BC and Los Angeles county.  I live outside of Washington, D. C.

All are scared.  All are staying home.  No one is going out except when absolutely necessary.  A couple who have a home on the beach in Naples told of no one in sight-for the entire hour we talked.  The Nevada friend hasn’t left her home in almost two weeks.  Neither has the Maine friend.  LA  has closed the beaches and nature trails whileVancouver’s Stanley park is empty.  Earlier today while pumping gas I noted that three others at nearby pumps had rubber gloves on.  Nobody wants to touch what someone else has.  Certainly not a gas pump.  

Picking up a prescription tonight I noted that the clerk also had gloves on.  And two others nearby had masks.

Meanwhile deaths in the United States have doubled in the last two or three days.  While Italy topped 1,000 on Thursday and Japan (!) just had it’s biggest one day total yet.  And here we are two to three weeks away from the peak in New York, perhaps a month or more elsewhere in the U. S.

And 25% or so of Americans believe this is no worse than the flu and a number on here joke about it.  Many Trump supporters seem to think this is a ploy of the Left which only reinforces the fear of most everyone else that they won’t stay home, that innocents may suffer because of Trump.

I only know that several of my friends who I go back to the ‘80’s with are scared.

And we sit home with our fingers crossed.  And disinfectant nearby.  My stash: