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Year Four, Day 271: Pandemic Times, Day 20 - "Stay Home, Stay Safe", Day 8: Life Before




Hi Friends:

I just went back and read my posts from the beginning of this pandemic. The World Health Organization declared it a pandemic 20 days

Our world has changed practically overnight. I found a timeline for the progression of the corona virus since it was discovered in Wuhan, China:

It began on New Year's Day 2020:

"Jan. 1 — Officials close the Huanan seafood market, suspected to be the source of the mystery disease, as some of the patients presenting with the pneumonia-like illness were dealers or vendors at the market."

Then one week later:
Jan. 7 — China identifies new coronavirus as cause of the outbreak. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause varying levels of disease, from common colds to severe fatal diseases. Usually found in animals, some can infect humans and transmit between humans. Both SARS and MERS are caused by a coronavirus."

https://www.devex.com/news/covid-19-a-timeline-of-the-coronavirus-outbreak-96396

I was not too concerned about the corona virus at first. It sounded like just another flu. I watched the news and felt a growing concern as the virus spread. Then it arrived in the United States, the first case in Washington, my home state.

As I talked with my family and friends, we were concerned for the people in China. We prayed. But the virus was "over there". When cases outside China were reported, we looked for the connections - had they returned from a trip to China?

But then more people came down with the virus, some with no connection to China.

Still, we lived our lives as normal.

I started blogging about the virus the day after the WHO declared covid-19 a pandemic.

That was 20 days ago.

Let that sink in.

20 days ago I posted:

"The novel coronavirus, the first known to cause a pandemic, has infected more than 118,000 people and killed more than 4,000 in 114 countries, numbers expected only to rise. The WHO is "deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity and the alarming levels of inactivity," Ghebreyesus said. "In the past 2 weeks, the number of cases of COVID-19 outside China has increased 13-fold, and the number of countries has tripled."
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/03/deeply-concerned-who-declares-covid-19-pandemic


Today,  there are 864,690 total confirmed cases globally with 43,233 fatalities.
864,690−118,000 = 746,690. 43,333-4,000=9,333.

That is an increase of 746,690 cases and 9,333 deaths in 20 days.

Good Lord. How did we get to this point?

President Trump held another press conference today. It seems the worst is yet to come:

"This could be a hell of a bad two weeks. This is going to be a very bad two, and maybe three weeks. This is going to be three weeks like we've never seen before," Trump said at a White House press conference Tuesday. White House officials are projecting between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths in the U.S. with coronavirus fatalities peaking over the next two weeks."
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/31/trump-says-the-coronavirus-surge-is-coming-its-going-to-be-a-very-very-painful-two-weeks.html

Dr Fauci said that if people were diligent about social distancing and hand washing, the numbers might not be that high. But if we had done nothing, our country could have seen deaths in the millions.

We are in for a hell of a ride.

I can hardly remember what life was like before.

Before 20 days ago.

I am needing to go deeper in this time of social isolation. Not just pass the time with mindless activities like television, eating and naps.

 I think deep prayer is needed. And more mindful activities. And more restful sleep at night.

On that note -

Be well. Be safe.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Love,

Zita


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