COVID-19 Will Touch Your Life
Be remembered for the right reasons
Opinions on public reaction to the COVID-19 strain of coronavirus are widely varied. Some believe this is no big deal, while others are convinced that this is the next Black Plague. Regardless of which side you come down on (I’m currently somewhere in the middle), this is bound to affect us all to some degree.
I was bummed when the NBA suspended their season. The NHL followed suit, and Major League Baseball ended Spring Training and pushed back Opening Day. Then the NCAA canceled all postseason basketball tournaments. While I completely get why (and support it after really thinking it over), it was still hard for me to wrap my head around it. Still, though. That’s entertainment, so life goes on. I still have to go to work, right? Well…
Yes. I still have to go to work, but boy have things changed in the span of a couple of days. I work for an organization that requires people to operate in fairly close quarters. My building has community restrooms, break rooms, and a fairly sizable cubical farm. I sit through 10 meetings a week in smallish rooms packed with dozens of people.
Our leadership decided that we need a Team A and a Team B completely separate from each other, so half of us were told to stay in place and the other half was sent to an alternate worksite — ostensibly to limit exposure.
The thinking goes like this: “If someone gets exposed to COVID-19, then they can only compromise half of our staff if they are limited to operation in one of two locations.”
Whether you chalk such measures up to unnecessary mass hysteria or prudent protection measures, the one thing you can be sure of is that this virus will affect you at some point. If you’re a major sports fan, it already has. If you’re not, then watch for the changes around you that alter your typical day.
Schools are closing around the country, restaurants are closing in some places, there are international travel bans in place (with more likely on the way) — there is even talk of certain cities in the U.S. being off-limits for travel to-and-from. My job has already blown up our normal operations, and the U.S. is still relatively early in the process of dealing with COVID-19. Many other places of occupation are likely to follow suit in the coming days.
Here are a few suggestions I have for dealing with both the virus and the changes it brings:
- Understand that people have a right to be afraid. We simply don’t know exactly what we are dealing with yet, and the details seem to evolve hour-by-hour. Be patient with folks who are grappling with this thing, as some of them may actually have compromised immune systems you don’t know about that could affect their ability to fight the virus if they catch it. Even if you think they are stupid and overreacting, you don’t really know what issues are informing their feelings.
- Pay attention to and obey warnings and restrictions by duly elected or appointed officials. We cannot allow this thing to break down our society. Anyone who has watched The Walking Dead can attest to the inherent danger of humans taking matters into their own hands. Yes, it’s just a TV show, but we all know people who look for any excuse to go off the chain and do things that are unthinkable. There are already reports of fights at stores over scarce items.
- If you have an abundance of scarcely available resources (apparently, toilet paper qualifies these days) and your neighbor has a need, share. Taking care of each other should be the baseline of decency in our society. No matter how bad (or not) this gets, we are all in it together. Be the reason someone else has hope during this uncertain time.
- Wash your hands. Like, often. We are not in a place where HAZMAT suits are necessary (yet, anyway), but at least protect yourself and others by exercising basic hygiene.
Be a decent human being. Please. Just because we don’t know exactly how bad this is going to get, that doesn’t mean we should make it worse with our behavior, attitudes, or words. Once we turn the corner on this and life goes back to normal, people will remember how each of us handled this thing.
Let’s make sure they remember us for the right reasons.
