It's just weird
I
wore a mask in public for the first time, and though I felt extremely awkward, I know that I rocked it!
My wonderful, beautiful, generous sister has been hard at it making masks for so many people, pulling from her own stores, putting in hours of work at her sewing machine to do her part to help out.
Deb whipped up masks
for Bailey, Cooper and I and we got them a couple of weeks ago.
I’ve seen many people wearing masks and each time I’ve seen it, I have truly appreciated the fact that they are wearing them to protect other people they come in contact with in public.
Masks don’t help the people who are wearing them from infection. They keep droplets from the mask wearer from infecting others.
I’ve stayed home. I wash my hands. I’ve realized how often I touch my face, and I’ve worked very hard to stop that habit.
By the way, I’ve begun to play with my earlobes as a way to divert my hands from my face. I recommend it.
Anywho. I saw a post on Facebook encouraging people to go to Cheyenne to participate in a protest to go back
to work.
Laramie County has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Wyoming. Weston County has none confirmed.
Here’s the thing. I totally understand the devastating impact the quarantine and shutdown is having on the economy.
But I also totally stand behind the reality that quarantine and shutdown will be the only thing that will get us back up and running as quickly as possible.
Ironically and timely, my American History class just finished studying World War I. At the end of the war, the Spanish Flu became a global pandemic that killed between 30-50 million people worldwide and around 675,000 people in the United States.
The economy suffered tremendously and the coffin production could not keep up with demand.
That, in and of itself, is devastating.
That pandemic hit in 1918 and lasted until around 1920. Doctors recommended cleanliness and quarantine in order to slow down the spread because there became no other way to stop the spread of this novel and unknown virus.
Sound familiar?
I hope so.
Flattening the curve is real. Though I am in a high risk group due to having diabetes, my doctor and I have agreed that I am healthy and have good odds of surviving if I contact the virus.
However, who knows who I might infect if I do become a carrier who may not be as “safe” as I?!
That’s really what we all need to wrap our minds around.
We need to think about others, not ourselves.
I know that the hit to our economy is going to be hard, and I am feeling the pinch. I work two jobs on the reg, and I am grateful that my main job is still intact and paying my regular salary, but my second is being cut in half.
My daughter who is in college has been laid off of both her jobs, but is money or lives more important?
In a recent protest in Denver, a person was holding a sign asking if a few lives were worth an economic turndown...is that really a question?
I wonder if that person had a loved one at risk of dying from this crazy virus?
I’d be willing to wager a great deal of money that he or she did not.
The economy will take a hit. The government has already provided relief. We will recover.
Please look at your history and realize that we’ve been through this before and we’ve recovered in times when there were no government protections.
Please … let’s look beyond ourselves and realize that the good of the many is what we need to focus on in order to protect the good of the many.