As we pass 40,000 American deaths from this plague (while South Korea has barely 200 and is coming out of the tunnel), I can't even keep track of families dear to us who've lost revered elders just in the last week - including my wife's family most of all. It shows no sign of being over anytime soon. There is a lot to digest here, but if you're chomping at the bit to resume your "normal" life and chafing that your local and state government is telling you to please stay the hell home, please do a couple of things first:
- check in with any of your doctor or health practitioner friends and see how they think things are going (if you can find them - they're pretty damn busy)
- read the obituary pages of your local newspaper
- think about the mass numbers of people who are asymptomatic carriers, consider that you might be one, and ask yourself whose grandparents or revered elders you are willing to sacrifice today, or for that matter which of your invisibly immunocompromised friends.
And then please accept my heartfelt gratitude when you decide to stay home. This is really up to us, and you and I truly don't know anything about where this virus is and whose lives we risk by our actions. Americans have been asked to do hard things at many points in our history. You do not need to storm the beaches at Normandy, or hold a bridge against the Taliban, or throw yourself towards the entrenched cannons at Fredericksburg. You simply need to stay conscious of your potential lethality to your fellow humans, and act accordingly. The only way we get through this is by helping each other get through this. I promise you I'll do my part. Please join me, safely, from the safety of your own home.
All of us depend on each of us.