Spring Break on Corona(virus): Party or Stay Home?
I know. Yet another terrible joke linking terrible beer with a terrible pandemic.
But, like so many families on the brink of spring break, you are probably trying to decide exactly where to drink your ale, on a beach or on your couch. In my last post I mentioned the irony of human nature: how humans ignore what we know and then go off the deep end and wipe the shelves clean of toilet paper (but not canned food?) in fear of what we don’t.
Not that we shouldn’t be worried about the coronavirus (COVID-19). We should. But we need to take a deep breath (metaphorical and, yes, real…) and simply follow advice from people well-versed in health and science, as in those who work in public health and medicine, and with the WHO, the CDC and the NIH (but not the NBA, they are taking a hiatus). Or at the very least, listen to astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson. He was interviewed last Friday by The Late Show’s Stephen Colbert, and when asked for his point-of-view regarding the coronavirus he stated:
We’re in the middle of a massive experiment worldwide…People, listen to scientists. In this case referring to medical professionals. …And are you washing your hands…and are you taking these precautions…these are warnings offered by scientists…for our own good.
And if not for our own good, for the good of those around us. The elderly woman in line in front of us at the grocery store. The infant on oxygen at a music concert (yes, we sat behind her and her mother). And anyone else we can’t be sure of, but might be at high risk if he or she becomes infected with coronavirus. In short, don’t be a potential vector, Victor. This virus is deadly.
A few days ago, I would have bet that if our family flew to see the grandparents over spring break, we would not have carried the coronavirus to them. But we can’t be sure. The idea that we could make our elderly family members sick just didn’t seem possible, and it still doesn’t, because we would never do anything like that intentionally. But this highly virulent, brand-spanking new-to-humans strain of coronavirus, doesn’t care what we want or what we think or how healthy we believe we are. This brand of corona only cares about finding new hosts where it can go hog wild.
So my family cancelled our trip. We are staying home.
Go ahead, please. Let COVID-19 ruin your spring break by ruining its shot at becoming the remake of “Girls Gone Wild”. Don’t let coronavirus get to party. There are people out there who believe the cancelling of March Madness, vacations and the NBA season are an overreaction. And if COVID-19 doesn’t spread as predicted (we can hope) the same people will say, “See, what was all the fuss for?” Well, maybe our preemptive efforts made the difference.
We need to try.
Stay home this spring break. Play Parcheesi. Or Avengers Monopoly. Have a table tennis tournament or go outside if conditions allow. Get some fresh, unrecycled air.
Just stay away from people and embrace your inner (or not-so-inner) introvert.
This too shall pass. How easily or with how much difficulty is up to us.
This is a great article written by a physician in Europe. It sounds like he’s hammering on millennials but his words are for all of us:
