Into the Pandemic - On the Home Front

The past couple of days have brought many fast-moving events and announcements as we seem to be heading into the first pandemic that I've been around to witness.

Stock markets around the world have plummeted with likely more to come.  Major sports events have been postponed or cancelled.  People are being advised not to travel but ARE being advised to wash hands frequently and watch for symptoms.  Confirmed cases around the world are growing.  But more on that in another post.

Here at home, I've been getting over a winter cold and am now just in the final stages of recovery.  A few more days of hacking should see the end of that.  Just in time to start watching for symptoms of COVID-19.  It's too bad that my immune system doesn't just have a general viral immunity after being exposed to the cold virus and my earlier flu vaccine.  

We had plans to travel to the Grand Canyon for some hiking with our grandsons in a week or so.  That's not happening, given the current situation.  Our son and his family were headed to Disney World in Florida but it closed just hours before they were scheduled to travel.  Otherwise, here at home, life pretty much continues as usual.  No cases have been identified in this part of the province so far and while people are concerned and watchful, it doesn't seem as though anyone is in much of a panic.

I've been doing some reading, aside from watching the political aspects of this situation.  There is certainly lots of information available.

Worldometer has the most recent statistics on almost every aspect of the disease.  

Medium.com has an extensive article which partly attempts to look into the future as the pandemic progresses.

Another site, COVID-19Canada.com has similar information.

And, across the pond, the Guardian has some reassuring news in an article.  Nine reasons, specifically.  It will be interesting to see how those play out.

Although I've not seen it myself, stories abound of people buying large amounts of toilet paper and hand sanitizer.  Not sure about the TP purchases.  This virus doesn't cause intestinal distress, so I'm not sure what people think they're gonna do with all that TP.

So, for now, we wait and see, carry on with life.