Covid-19

In 1918, the Spanish flu spread like crazy and a lot of people died. In Philadelphia, there was a huge parade scheduled, and the Mayor refused to cancel the parade in spite of the warnings. The parade went on, and about a week later 13,000 people died from the Spanish flu.

There were rumors of an infectious virus in China almost two months before China announced the outbreak. The rumors were blazing with information that needed to get the world's attention, but nobody thought it was worthwhile. The people on Fox news sat back and said it was all just a hoax, yet our leaders knew about it so why did they not start taking precautions then? Not only that, if the virus was active in China for a while before it was ever announced by China, wouldn't someone have flown back to the US or another country infected with the virus? And if that were true, wouldn't it have been detected before it was ever announced by China? Oddly enough, until the announcement took place it was never mentioned anywhere, and that strikes me as strange.

I went to Walmart today and couldn't find much of anything because the town has descended like a flock of locusts on all the stores to stock up for the virus and possible confinement. I can understand that, but what I find both amusing and stupid at the same time is all the toilet paper hoarding.. Everybody is buying up all the toilet paper. I have pictures of empty Walmart shelves that used to hold toilet paper. Who needs 500 rolls of toilet paper? From personal experience, I went to the family dollar a few days ago to purchase a few rolls to get me to the end of the month. You guessed right, they were empty as well. I heard about a man racing down the road in a pickup truck with the entire back end filled with toilet paper. I can understand stock piling water, food, medicine and necessities like that, but toilet paper? Do these people think they are going to beat the virus with toilet paper?

The time to set up necessary precautions was when the rumors came out. They were never mentioned in the media, neither on local or world news, so nobody was any the wiser. Life went on as though nothing was happening, but I still have to wonder about the people who traveled before the announcement? Perhaps that is why there are so many sick people now, it's not that it's spreading that fast and that far, it's that it was spreading before any precautions took place.

I still am trying to wrap my mind around the toilet paper.

President Trump doesn't seem to be able to get in front of this one and it makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. I saw a picture on the news last night of some type of basketball tournament, and I don't follow sports so it could have been the NBA or the NFL for all I know, but the point is the seats were all empty.

My youngest son sent me an email tonight discussing the corona virus. He reminded me of the Spanish flu as well as other pandemics and how they were often not taken seriously and more people died. I am feeling let down by our leaders for not acting sooner, which has been the case in so many virus outbreaks in the past.

A good friend of mine told me tonight that if there is no toilet paper around, that newspaper cleaned with alcohol works fine too and disinfects! Also, old, clean socks can be used with the alcohol, so if you missed getting your fifty rolls of toilet paper this weekend don't worry, just go stock up on alcohol, socks, and newspapers.

God bless each and every person who is afraid of this virus. I pray it all ends soon and for the better.