There isn’t a soul left on the planet who doesn’t know about this pandemic. Well, maybe those aboriginal tribes that are completely cut off, they’re probably not panicking about COVID-19, but the rest of us are painfully aware something’s amiss. We just seem to be in varying stages of exposure and/or acceptance.

I was poking around Twitter yesterday when I came across a tweet by @tranquileyes30 surveying isolation levels.

How isolated is everyone right now?

  1. Living normal
  2. Being cautious, but still going out
  3. Going out as needed, mostly staying home, still seeing friends and family
  4. Very limited, only going out when unavoidable and very careful contact with people
  5. Full lockdown

I scanned the first twenty replies or so to get a quick overview. There were two 1s – first responders in the hospitals. There was also a 3 – somebody who just couldn’t make the leap to breaking off contact – and one 5. But most of the replies fell solidly in the 4s – people home with their kids, people whose jobs were shut down, people plain old invested in this whole social distancing concept, that sort of thing.

I’m a 4. Because I’m awesome I also require my teens to be 4s, a torture I’m sure will come up during their midlife crisis therapy sessions but hey, they needed material, it’s not like I dressed them alike when they were little or anything. My 4 status has been a fairly unpopular stance seeing as they both know classmates who’ve met for lunch or gone to the movies, but around here we don’t play.

Here’s what I know.

A.  I believe this is building to something that’s really, really not good and we want to slow that train.

B.  In support of point A, take a minute to watch this: http://www.openculture.com/2020/03/quarantined-italians-send-a-message-to-themselves.html

C.  When all else failed and my kids were tore up about being secluded like this I played my ace in the hole, as in sorry you’re missing the hot outing, kiddos, but I’m one of those folks who really cannot get this virus. I have scarring in my lungs. This isn’t hugely impactful day to day now that I’ve cleaned up my diet and improved my stamina, but it means I have worse symptoms and take at least four times as long to recover from anything respiratory. This makes Coronavirus a major no-no for me.

I’ve been working hard on not being Judgy McJudgester or anything but have you seen these obnoxious kids on spring break? These college spring breakers in Miami, Florida literally went on the record with such winners as:

  • “If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, I’m not gonna let it stop me from partying. We’re just out here having a good time. Whatever happens, happens.”
  • “It’s really messing up with my spring break. What is there to do here other than go to the bars or the beach? And they’re closing all of it. I think they’re blowing it way out of proportion.”
  • “We’re just trying to roll with it. We’re just living for the moment. We’re just going to do what happens, when it happens, when stuff closes. We’re going to do it when it closes.”
  • “What they’re doing is bad. We need a refund. This virus ain’t that serious.”

Somewhere Darwin just shrugged and said Told ya.

source: CBS News, Thousands flock to Florida beaches, ignoring Coronavirus concerns by Sophie Lewis

source: The Hill, Video of spring breakers saying coronavirus won’t ‘stop me from partying’ sparks viral condemnation by Aris Folley