I feel a
little silly telling you all that happened to me from 7Am to noon today, but isolation
makes one aware of little things. It began with the weigh-in and I’m hovering
around 91 kg. good.
Read the
news on Apple on my cell phone and saw the story of the Skagit Valley Chorale. For those of you who don’t have a clue where
Skagit Valley is, it is a farming and fishing and timber community, very rural
about 75 miles north of Seattle. The LA times reported the story of a group of
singers (121) of which 60 showed up to practice on March 10. The Average age was
67: youngest 31 and oldest 83. They
distanced and no one felt sick. They brought their own sheet music. Three days later the epidemic hit. ¾ of the
members tested positive. This an object lesson to the President that going to
Church on Easter or celebrating Passover with a seder is a bad idea. So far only 2 of the 60 in Skagit have died. That’s
a 3.3 % rate of death. If, for a moment, one considers what that means to a
country of over 300 million, it equates
to 9 million dead approximately. Message:
stay at home!! Please!!
At 8:30 I
went to get my baguette, coffee and the newspaper and to go to the Pharmacist.
Got my bread and walked into the pharmacy wondering how good the French
National Health system really is. I had
three nearly empty prescription bottles from a pharmacy in Seattle, 5000 miles
away. I asked Cedric, the pharmacist, if
he could refilled my prescriptions.
Without hesitation he said, “Yes, you need them for your health!” I had my whole health history record on my
cell phone to show him, but he only asked my name and my French address. I asked for 90-day supply and he gave me 15
days. I asked if I could get another refill if I needed it. Again without
hesitation,” Yes”. I asked if I could buy a mask and he told me they are only
for Medical personnel. He added, “go home and stay at home.”
When I got
home, I got a WhatsApp call from Belfast.
My old Irish friend from UW psychiatry days sent me a wonderful U-tube
of an Italian opera singing on his balcony to the whole street. When he finished
the street clapped including the policeman on his motorcycle. c I was feeling
tears. Singing has a soul cleansing quality.
My friend
said, “I sent a book of poems in the mail.” While I was holding the phone, I
went out and checked my PO Box and there it was, 8 days later in my hand.
BTW to
Americans get a WhatsApp account. It is the preferred communication in the
rest of there world. Only Americans are still stuck on Cell Phones through one
of our monopolies. I use Cell, text,
email and WhatsApp. The latter is preferred.
In passing,
it was 78 last Wednesday and today it is snowing. The vintners were all worried that we would
get a cold snap and kill all the buds on the vines. Cheer up , it could be
worse so I cheered up and…
Finally, I
read Bob Kagan in the NYT from the Brookings Institute article about confluence
of epidemics, economic collapse and International conflict. The changes brought
on by the influenza epidemic of 1918-20 followed by 1929 debacle on Wall Street
followed by drought in the middle west changed our country forever. I think we are going through that now with COVID19
and the economic collapse which has led to Mr Trump’s withdrawal from World Humanitarian
leadership. Chinese plane loads of masks
and PPE to all the worlds’ needy has taken all the moral high ground. Insisting
on tough sanctions on Iran and branding the global problem as Wuhan virus is
doing international relations long term harm.
The world after this will be a different place.
