#FlattenTheCurve!
Math+Life #23, April 1, 2020
Our panic is bubbling,
Slower but erupting,
The bubbles will rise towards the sun,
Stretching tall and lean,
Exponentially swirling into the sun,
No vision of the light,
Just watching cotton candy clouds stick,
Till breath goes away,
And pops at the climax,
Popping bubbles and dark times.
Pop,
One hundred thousand more cases,
Pop,
One thousand more dead,
Pop,
No rooms left for those at risk,
Pop,
We don’t know what to do anymore.
This is the top of the mountain,
Where the air is smothered,
Where the prey is scarce,
Where the light is gone,
We’ll stumble down eventually,
But we’ll be lost by then,
Our hearts will ache by then.
This remains a possibility,
A fear that hides in the dark,
For now while we have time,
We ignore it,
Kill the dark with lightness.
Another way is present,
Subtle yet glowing,
It holds the bubbles back,
They won’t pop like firecrackers,
They will stream slow and steady,
Tracing a slight curve,
Not harsh towards the sun,
A little bump in our course,
The bubbles will pop, yes,
But they won’t be as sharp,
They won’t be as bitter,
Maybe less cases,
Maybe less death,
Maybe more space,
Maybe more time,
The bubbles with stretch longer,
Longer than some want to wait,
It’s a way we can take,
The dark days will last longer,
But won’t be as dark if we fly above the clouds,
We can find this path,
Have more patience,
Listen to those,
Stay hidden and away for now,
If we #FlattenTheCurve,
We’ll come down eventually.
Math Connect
The recent pandemic of Covid19 has caused panic to a lot of people. In search of a solution, epidemiologists have recommended the strategy of “flattening the curve”, using social distancing. If we continue in our daily lives without social distancing, the cases will rise exponentially to the point where our health care is unable to support it. Alternatively, if we follow the course of a lockdown, people will get infected slowly, thereby giving hospitals enough room, equipment, and time to help the sick. The rise of cases will be flatter.
