Back in Raleigh.... Catching Up on News, Life and We Have Seattle Weather... COVID-19 Thoughts... Are Your Prepared? Are Any of Us?

Watched the sun going down last night in Raleigh.

This is North Hills a shopping/dining area.

It's always beautiful in some way.

Love when the sky is that color.

Seattle was wonderful on many levels but traveling during the fears on the Coronavirus was strange as life was obviously going on yet every once in a while you see someone with a face mask or you see a news headline reminding you about it's climbing rate of infection and death and you suddenly realize how many times you run your hand along the railing by the escalator and how many times you touch your face and then you wash your hands more than you did a month ago. I'm a touchy feely person so it's a matter of changing your nature and habits and it ain't easy. 

We all have to walk this road between "fear" and "panic" and thinking calmly and rationally and hoping for the best while preparing for the worst. Yet, how do you prepare? In truth it's much like any storm scenario except with a storm you expect it will at some point pass and with this unknown that has many intangibles it's hard to know when this will pass and how many lives it will touch or destroy. We have numbers out from China but are the numbers correct and can we rely on them? It's been said it has a "high infection rate" and a "low kill rate" but is that comment based on real facts or data that was not reported properly? Time will tell as we will eventually get better data from countries around the world and here at home that can be analyzed and revised if necessary. We just don't really know for sure.

What do we know?

Let's take a scenario that would be a best case scenario. Say a teacher at your child's school or a Co-Worker suddenly becomes ill and is diagnosed with the virus and a quarantine is put into effect and you and your family needs to hunker down for the next two weeks to make sure you didn't catch the dreaded disease. Say your child's school is cancelled for a few weeks and best case scenario no one shows signs of illness. Do you have supplies in your home to stay home for two weeks and when I say supplies I mean food, medicine, diapers and such? Can you easily take off two weeks from work to babysit and hunker down with them? Yes, this is much like preparing for a storm in that you need what you need to get through that time while praying no one else was exposed or becomes ill but are you prepared to prepare? Are you aware pasta and such foods are already being sold out in some places where people have begun to shop for necessities? I'm not saying you need to run out and buy rice, pasta and tuna but what would you eat if you had to hunker down and quarantine yourself and your family for two weeks at a minimum? 

Crazy to think on but it's just one part of this problem that goes way beyond trying not to panic you may lose a loved one and worrying on the Stock Market and a possible recession as our world is so interdependent these days and companies such as Amazon are working hard to get ahead of this as it's hard to ship out what you can't get in stock; yes I was in Seattle I heard lots of stories. 

The CDC will tell you to wash your hands often and carefully, avoid crowds or people who are sick and well that isn't easy when dealing with the regular deadly flu but even more difficult to such an infectious disease where you can be infectious before you show signs. Still its a good place to start https://www.cdc.gov/ and I'm sure over the next few days everyone from the President to your Governor to your local news authorities will begin to inform you of late breaking news to the level that escalates to BEFORE THE STORM and it does in ways feel as if a Category 5 Hurricane is coming to all of our country but we aren't sure when or where it makes landfall first yet we know it's not going to be over in 24 hours after it passes on to some other place it makes landfall. We are indeed one human nation... one world...  linked in a Global Economy to every other country and unless you are a "Prepper" who has a cabin in the country in Wyoming somewhere we will all eventually have to deal with this tragic chapter of our lives. I was hoping the 2020s would be like the Roaring 20s but so far they don't seem that fun. Time will tell.... you can ignore the VIRUS and watch the debates and talk politics but even politics will be impacted as everyone points fingers and blames the other party. 

So stay calm, think on what you need to buy or have on hand and much like before a hurricane I will tell you that if you take medicine on a regular basis you may want to go get some extra meds because it's possible at some point down the road for a multitude of reasons it may be hard for you to get what you need in a timely fashion.  

https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/02/26/greece-reports-first-coronavirus-case.html?fbclid=IwAR2RLlbutlqQBnTiYOwoEPlQc-YKuwzzRKqWYkOoP3NZUuUy2R2OsAufJWQ

Yes, we shut the border to people from China but now it's all over Korea and what was in Italy has now spread to Greece; I know because my brother sent me the link to the first case in Thessaloniki earlier in the day. Apparently South America looks good, though I'm afraid that is only a matter of time. Cases have been reported in Rockland County in NY close to where my daughter lives, it's a very interconnected world my family lives in and well as I told a friend recently you look at NYC and realize that most people commute there from New Jersey or parts of New England, Upstate NY and sometimes Pennsylvania. Most people in DC commute in from Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and many travel frequently back and forth across the country to their home districts. We are in an election cycle and I watched the candidates in New Hampshire walking up and down the lines of people waiting to vote, shaking hands... giving hugs and I wondered how long will that continue. Oh and there's the huge rallies for Trump and Bernie, not to mention the Town Halls by Pete, Amy and Warren. I suppose Bloomberg is a bit safer as he mostly puts commercials on air and doesn't do the big rallies. So many thoughts go through my head. And I know so many thoughts go through your head as well. 

Are you more concerned about going to the Mall and getting sick or are you more concerned on who touches your packages from Amazon and the UPS drivers?  Or are you seriously not worried and not going to worry on it until it really hits your work place or local market place? I'd imagine the people who prepare early for the Hurricane Season are already making lists or stocking their basket with peanut butter, tuna fish and pasta. I'd imagine those who never prepare until it's almost there aren't doing anything just yet and making fun of others who are in panic mode. Hey, we all deal with things differently whether it's a Category 5 Hurricane down near Cuba that looks as if it's making a Bee Line for Miami or on going news stories about this case or that case that was just discovered in New York City or close to Boston or the next county over. 

I'm not going to kid you I'm concerned. Making lists in my head, thinking.... praying my loved ones are safe, praying it just goes away magically though I may be a dreamer I'm not waiting for the Vaccine Fairy to show up and sprinkle Vaccine Dust over all of us with her magical wand and then we will go back to complaining about the elections and debates and life will just go on.

Ironically I'm back in Raleigh, but it looks like Seattle still. My daughter in New York told me she'd be afraid to travel right now (she's not afraid of much) and I told her I went to Seattle fast while I could because I was well aware things could change fast and hopefully I'm fine. I'll let you know in about ten days :( but so far I haven't heard anything about anyone on Alaska Air being sick or where I was in Seattle or Vancouver. Yes, crazy times we live in currently. I'll pray something breaks in our favor and this disappears as fast as it appeared but in truth as they said it's not a matter of if it will spread across America but when it spreads. So put your "supplies thinking cap on" for a start and start making sure your priorities are checked off that list.

96 Days til the beginning of the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season. Let's hope the only thing blowing in the wind is African Dust.

Stay well, stay calm and be prepared.

Much love,

Besos BobbiStorm

@bobbistorm on Twitter and Instagram