And The Storm Rages On

Interesting thing about life, there are days when everything is calm and peaceful and then there are those days when all the storms of heaven and earth are seemingly raging about our heads. When those days come how do we respond? I believe the latest population total for the USA is 335 million. I would venture that as many people living in the US today would be a good representation of the many ways we could possibly respond. The big question though is, “are they the right responses?”

Over the last several months many of us have been following the latest storm to befall us, the Covid 19 Virus, otherwise known as the Coronavirus. We first heard about it when China announced they were quarantining an entire city of 11 million people in Wuhan, China. Wuhan is a city in Hebei province. Hebei is also the province where Beijing, the capital of China is located. It is also the province where a few years ago Karen and I spent half a summer teaching English.

We have watched various countries and leaders taking a myriad of measures to contain the virus and protect the citizens of their country. But, like many storms the efforts of man has had very little luck in controlling the storm. Meanwhile, we have read in the news and watched on TV how the terrified people have responded to this new storm.

Some people have followed the dictum of “every man for themselves.” Others have raced into the storm to help others while most have run the other way. Scientists have scrambled to their labs and microscopes trying to find a cure. Doctors, nurses and hospitals have scrambled to prepare their facilities to absorb the onslaught of patients they expect to inundate their facilities. During this time in the US over 9,000 medical workers have contracted Covid 19 while 27 have died.

Cruise lines, airlines, resorts and restaurants have decreased the amount of personnel working, closed facilities, decreased the number of flights or number of cruises offered often by as much as 90%. Countries have closed ports and borders. The world has been holding it’s breath.

This past March I returned from Colorado after spending five weeks visiting my parents and taking care of my father after heart surgery. On Tuesday, the 10th of March I flew back to South Carolina leaving on a flight at 7:30 am. At Noon on the same day the Governor of Colorado announced a State of Emergency for the state and closing many businesses. Of course, I was oblivious to this fact. I did notice when I was at the airport in Colorado Springs prior to flying out it was unusually quiet. The plane I flew out on had 90 seats, yet it was only 2/3rds full. Very unusual for a puddle jumper, especially one going to a large airport like Houston where my connecting flight was. Now, Houston was busy, just not as busy as expected for a major hub. My plane parked at gate 8 of Concourse A. Concourse A had 92 gates which meant I had to walk pass 84 gates. I needed to make my way to Concourse B to my connecting flight which was coincidentally also at gate 8. Walking the length of Concourse A led me to the central terminal and the tram that would take me to Concourse B. Only three people occupied the same car I did which is very odd for such a large airport. We all stood several feet from each other. At the time I attributed this unusual situation to the natural reaction of strangers.