Old people. Seniors. The elderly. People with underlying medical conditions. The most vulnerable to the coronavirus.
Special early shopping hours for those 60 and older.
OMG! All those messages are aimed at ... ME!
I am 71. I am diabetic. My wife and friends, maybe even my internist, would say I am a hypochondriac. My eventual tombstone should read, “I told you I was sick” (an old joke but still apropos).
With the onset of an early allergy season I periodically cough. Into my elbow but otherwise non distinguishable from coronavirus hacking. Trust me on that.
As baby boomers born between 1946-1964, my generation started rewriting preconceived limitations on aging and what we could do. Fifty became the new 30. Sixty the new 40. Seventy the new 50?
To be sure, some baby boomers are not in the best of health, either because they inherited lousy genes or because they failed to maintain lifestyles that would not compromise their health. Or both.
Because I retired at 60, I have a 10 year head start on how to successfully stay at home without going stir crazy. I am not as distressed as the vast majority who find the four walls of their abodes closing in on them. Naturally, some of my away from home diversions and activities have been curtailed by the quarantine in place directive. But walks, alone or with Gilda who retired a year ago, are still possible. We glory in the springtime sunshine and air.
The next two weeks, medical experts advise, will be critical in containing the coronavirus, or in its spread. Donald Trump is betting the former, as he wants “the country opened” again by Easter, April 12. Prolonged closure of businesses will destroy Trump’s reelection argument based on economic strength during his tenure. So he is eager to wager on the resiliency of the public’s health to resist coronavirus.
Trump went bankrupt trying to run casinos, an almost impossible outcome given that gambling odds are stacked in favor of the house. Now he is tossing the dice in concurrence with conservative policymakers and Fox News commentators who tell him the cure of closing down the economy is worse than the illness that could kill millions if unchecked. On the other hand, healthcare professionals are divided on the best course of action to take (
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/0
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/0
Only time will tell which option is the correct one. It is also interesting to consider Trump’s decision when looking at the electoral map. COVID-19 is spread more easily in densely populated areas. These happen to be largely in states Democrats won in 2016 and likely would carry in November. These states are among the main economic engines of our country, states such as New York, Massachusetts, California, Illinois, and New Jersey. No, I am not suggesting Trump is trying to kill off voters from those states. But he may be willing to risk the lives of voters from states he probably will not win in order to secure an improving national economy and stock market.
Of course, Trump may lack the power or authority to reopen the whole country. Each state’s governor may have the final say within their respective borders, much as they have in the last three months.
So we will wait until Easter to find out if fear of the coronavirus will rise from our depths of despair or if we will be engulfed in a plague of biblical proportion.
