The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Virus threat hits home quickly
A woman paced in front of the pharmacy desk several times. I watched her while I waited in line. Finally, she approached the desk out of turn and asked the technician, “Do you have any masks?”
The dark haired woman had a huge dark spot on her ivory forehead, which I stared at until I realized that it was Ash Wednesday, Feb. 26.
“No, we’re out of them,” the pharmacy technician said politely.
She left the area after their conversation ended. She returned a few minutes later.
“Do you know when you’re going to get more?” she asked with a more serious tone.
“No, I don’t know. We’re expecting another shipment; I just don’t know when,” the technician said calmly.
The lady sighed and marched off.
It occured to me that she was thinking proactively about coronavirus, or COVID-19, the respiratory illness that has been spreading from person to person throughout the world. The first person was diagnosed in the U.S. on Jan. 21, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
I could sense the Ash Wednesday observer’s haste and dissatisfaction. I wondered if I should have also been in pursuit of a face mask. Was I behind since the store was already out of them?
I had heard about the reports about the coronavirus entering the country a month prior, but this was my first time taking the pandemic seriously. We’ve had so many global illnesses to “worry” about in the past, like Zika, swine flu and mad cow disease that I found it most practical not to worry about them at all.
My friends working in the medical field reassured me that masks might not be as helpful as everyone believed. For one, people have not been buying the correct n95 masks. Also, touching and adjusting the masks with our potentially dirty hands could potentially do more harm than good.
I read the reports that said frequent hand-washing with soap was enough to kill the virus, so I stopped worrying about coronavirus again. I put in my mental file with SARS and the West Nile virus, other illnesses that I didn’t pay much attention to.
While my concern for the virus was decreasing, others worried more around the globe.
Within weeks, the virus, which started in China, made its way to Danbury and then Bridgeport. Days later, the rest of the NBA season was canceled, head of the Port Authority Rick Cotton, actor Tom Hanks and his wife were diagnosed with the virus.
And just like that, I found myself in a staff meeting at the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, where we agreed to cancel four in-person events that I had been planning for the last month as part of our member appreciation week, “March Member Madness.” We decided to have a series of events online. Visit newhavenarts.org for more information.
Unlike the other diseases, I was personally affected by the threat of coronavirus. However, the effect has been very mild in comparison with others in my community — the artists that have lost gigs and others that have lost money-making opportunities, the restaurants that have lost customers, the children who depended on the meals they receive in their schools that have been closed indefinitely.
I’m hoping that things don’t get as bad here as they have been in Italy where 15,000 cases have been reported.
But for now, I’m staying in the house as much as possible and washing my hands frequently.