Of solitaire, sleep and coronavirus

I’ve become addicted to solitaire. I am not proud of it. I take my tablet several times a day and play for 15 or 20 minutes. It’s usually when The New York Times is telling me bad news about the coronavirus or I am reading the Op-Ed page. I also use it to put me to sleep at night, two or three rounds of a mindless game and I’m out.

This COVID-19 crisis makes me nervous: the stock market crashing, that there won’t be a vaccine for at least a year, the number of people who have it and how many have died (more than were killed in the Vietnam war). The governors who want to open up their states to get back to “normal,” which is just inviting a second wave of the virus.

Other than my weekly trips to the grocery store and gardening, I’m housebound. I wake up at 8 or 8:30. Considering we go to sleep at 11 or even 10:30, that’s a lot of sleep. I know some folks who binge watch television well into the wee hours and sleep into the afternoon, but not us. My husband is an early riser, probably due to his 20 years in the Marine Corps. I, on the other hand, made my living as an actress which, if I was doing stage work, caused me very late nights. I peaked at 8 p.m., got out around 11 and went for a drink. That all stopped when I was cast in television and movies as the call times were often 5 a.m. But I digress.

These governors who have unlocked the beaches, bars, restaurants, hair salons and malls should see a rise in coronavirus deaths in a month to six weeks. Then will they close down businesses and beaches or just put up with the extra deaths in the name of the economy? It’s nice to know we are all expendable as long as commerce is good.

And young boys and girls are getting this virus and dying from it, so it’s not just an old person’s disease.

I don’t understand people who won’t wear masks. You’re not only protecting yourself, but also other individuals as well. Evidently one can have this coronavirus and not be aware, not be sick. So if you have it you can pass it on, if not for wearing a mask. When I see people on TV complaining that the government is rescinding their rights, it’s hard not to wish the virus on them and see how their attitudes might change.

Unlike solitaire, we all in this together. We rely on each other. Anything that prolongs the process is self-defeating and wrong.