Daffodils

I love daffodils. I do. I cannot help myself. It's not just the color or the graceful way they unfurl from their paperish cocoons. It's not the scent or the shape or anything prosaic. It's the whole package. 

Whether you call them daffydills or laffodils, it doesn't much matter. They are just happy. You just cannot be sad if daffodils are smiling, can you? 

And I'm calling this episode Daffodils because if I called it More Depressing News About COVID-19 you wouldn't read it. At this point, neither would I. 

Meanwhile...

In case anyone doesn't know, my crummy day job is in the travel industry, specifically, corporate travel. Yes, I was there for 9/11. I was at my desk for the great Icelandic Volcano Cloud.  And I was even there for the recent Boeing debacle. 

This is different. 

How to spread a pandemic: DFW on Saturday
(Austin Boschen/AP)

A friend's daughter is in Australia on a fellowship studying bioengineering and thought she would come home before the travel ban was put in place. Her supervising professor strongly urged her to rethink that plan, explaining that if she got COVID-19, her options in Australia were far better organized than in the US. Then she saw pictures of Dallas Fort Worth Airport...she is staying in Australia. 

Another friend confirmed that, arriving from London at O'Hare on Sunday, they did nothing but ask how he felt. No temperature check, not even a question about whether he'd been to China or Italy. He knew a group on his flight had just come from Italy. There was no separation between passengers who "didn't feel well" and the rest of the crowd. He described it as "like landing in Mogadishu during the war, only Mogadishu was better organized."

People, this is a real pandemic. People don't have to die off in droves for this to be labeled as such. People only need to get sick. Yes, some do die, but the spread is what makes it a pandemic, not the death toll. This is about science, not opinion.

When the guy in charge announces he knows more about viruses than the scientists, and that he has a hunch it's all gonna blow over by April, you should be asking yourself some pretty serious questions about whether or not this guy is fit to lead this nation, keeping in mind he is the same guy who pushed out the pandemic response team. The people now running this show are not qualified in the field. They are amateurs and they have amply demonstrated their communal lack of understanding by not having adequate isolation plans in place for incoming passengers. How do you manage to excuse the excessive amount of bull-oney coming outta the White House being passed off as fact, when even the CDC 's Dr. Fauci is trying to spin it into some semblance of truth? You can't. There's gonna be a vaccine any day now? In your dreams. This is not Star Trek...there is no medical tricorder that's gonna give you the magic formula AND all the hypothetical test data after a few beeps and bleeps. Vaccines take time to develop, to test, and produce. Of course, if you think you can buy a scientist from Germany...

Where exactly does that leave We, the People?

Unemployed for a lot of us. Millions of "hospitality" workers are losing their jobs. These are not people with trust funds or a year's salary in the bank as back up. These are the hourly people: the food service workers across the boards, the hotel housekeepers, the airport shop clerks, all those invisible people who make our world run smoothly. They may get unemployment,  but will that keep a roof overhead, food on the table, or medicine in the cabinet? There will be hard choices to make in offices where hours are cut, salaries are cut, and unpaid leaves will be offered in hopes of a call back to work when the crisis is over. Did you happen to consider what happens to those people when they can no longer afford to keep that roof overhead? It's all well and good to say, "Hunker down and ride this out," but what if your hunker zone disappears? 

I guarantee there will be a sharp rise in homelessness. There will be increased domestic and child abuse. Poverty and hunger are real and they are about to get even more real. 

The arts will take a huge beating as well. Shuttered little theaters mean actors aren't paid and neither are musicians. Closed bars and music clubs means those performers get nothing at all. Artists and artisans cannot sell their work, and income streams dry up. Many do not even qualify for unemployment. What happens to them?

We are at a tragic crossroad in our nation. We have hard decisions to make, and we cannot make them based solely on our personal existence. Looking at the BIG picture is not an option; it is a necessity. Those of us who can help must. Banding together to help others survive is the most important act we can do. There are dozens of small things that add up to keep hope alive. Here are a scant few:

• Find someplace that is making lunches for kids who qualified for free lunch programs. Those kids may not be eating without those meals. Support them with cash, or, if you're healthy, with your gloved hands.
• Buy staples and donate to food shelves. Every city will need additional free food supplies.
• Get take out from restaurants that are still cooking. That will help keep some food service workers employed
• Buy gift cards for local enterprises, restaurants, and events. That revenue helps to keep them afloat. 
• If you have tickets to canceled local events, don't request a refund; donate the money to the arts organization instead. 

Enough little things add up. You may be quarantined or self-isolating, but that's no reason to do nothing.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Domino effects eventually affect everyone.

Help slow the domino effect,

be proactive.