Friday, March 13 - The Adjustment Process

Day 49. In Greece, they lit the Olympic flame at a special ceremony for the 2020 Summer Olympics. It will travel the world as is tradition until it arrives in Tokyo. Japan has spent billions of dollars and about a decade preparing for the Olympics. Instead of a crowd of 12,000, only 100 people were allowed to attend. The first stage of grief is denial. You may have heard people saying, "it's just the flu," or "the flu kills more people," or something like that. Everyone's heard it from someone. Even the talking heads on TV brought out experts who said it. My denial was short-lived, one day we just stopped going outside, along with the rest of China.

A man from Henan flew back from Italy to Beijing. He took six flights around the world, and then two trains from Beijing back home to Henan, where he rode the subway home. When asked where he came from, he hid his travel history to Italy, until he ended up in the hospital two days ago. If he had been honest, they would have quarantined him for 14 days in Beijing. Because of his lie, his building has been locked down. They are tracking down forty-three people who had close contact with him are already in quarantine. The man they call the poison king is looking at seven years in jail when he recovers for endangering public life. The second stage of grief is anger. You've probably had family members, or friends, in real life or on social media ask you to stop talking about COVID-19, stop sharing news. Maybe it's you that's gotten angry. I like to say if you have a problem with the facts, the problem is not with the facts, it's you. I’ve felt angry, at the obtuseness of a world that lives in cognitive dissonance, deaf and dumb to the groaning of our melting ice caps and the burning forests and the acidic seas. Maybe my rage boiled up like a volcano and I wished for those who wouldn’t change to just leave the earth to us, those who would save it.

Some places are increasing their measures in hopes of slowing down the spread of COVID-19. Saudi Arabia requires a negative health test to enter. Romania, Mongolia, Russia are all using strict border immigration controls. We see a correlation between travel restrictions and the level of infections (despite what the WHO and public health workers in the West have said). Staggering work times to reduce public transit congestion is effective in China and South Korea and can be considered in other places. Ireland is bringing about mass self-isolation, school closures, calling it a partial shut down. Irish people say the partial preemptive shut down gives them confidence because it's proactive; they're not waiting until it's too late to do anything. Italy had a big day. It was the most significant daily rise in new infections. All catholic churches in Rome are closed. All public gatherings are canceled. The Milan stock market had the biggest ever single day crash. Their health department is trying to organize a single European unit to coordinate the supply of life-saving medical equipment. They have some good news, though. In the 10 towns where the first quarantine was enforced, there are no new infections today. The minister says, "this is the way to beat the virus." In Madrid, 100 COVID-19 patients are gathered in one hospital, but outside they have 1063 new infections. Medics are struggling. They believe they are only a week behind Italy and want to be acting to get ahead rather than just be reacting. Workers don't have enough personal protective equipment, and front line health workers risking infection. New York City has declared a state of emergency; the military is deployed. The national guard marches on the streets of Manhattan, and Broadway is closed for a month. Disneyland shuts its doors, but they hope to open again in a month. The third stage of grief is bargaining. You know, when people try to make a deal, "If I just get eight hours of sleep every night, and take my vitamins, I'm going to be fine." This is where I’ve lived for much of my quarantine. If I could only warn my family and friends, they will be prepared. If I could only fill enough tanks or water and cylinders of gas and stock enough gas masks, I will be ready for whatever happens. The truth is, we are never ready, really, but only in acceptance can we strip fear of power.

Xiaolin is horrified by the devastation in America, "but they're a rich country," she says. "But they don't know how to save, they live beyond their means, and they tax their poor instead of the rich," I say. When 60% of America lives paycheck to paycheck, no one can afford to quarantine. Their government might help. It's startling how Bernie Sanders is trying his best to change the culture. Still, it is COVID-19 that might finally illustrate to Americans that socialized medicare for all is the only ethical and effective way to deal with a pandemic. With three weeks in the ICU costing about a million dollars, not many people have that kind of change lying around. BBC news says viruses can stay on public surfaces for 72 hours, but a meta-study of 22 studies says 9 days is a safer bet. Cherry-picked conservative numbers paint an unrealistic picture that doesn't prepare people for the reality. American experts say that the stock market decline is the fastest since, no, faster than the Great Depression of 1929. They are predicting a worldwide Great Depression akin to or worse than a century ago. The fourth stage of grief is fear and anxiety. You may have seen it in the panic shopping of those that mocked you a few weeks ago for stocking up on your long term pantry items. They're running around screaming that everything is collapsing and buying up all the toilet paper. On occasion, I’ve spiraled into grief, anxiety, and panic, for convincing a public obsessed with normalcy bias and convenience that the sky is falling feels impossible and I’ve wondered if it’s better to let people just live their lives until the virus strikes them down, for what good is all this hand wringing really worth?

We finally get some good news from Canada. "The coronavirus pandemic is moving so fast things are changing by the hour," says Global News, but they have much to report from B.C., Alberta, and Quebec. New advice from public health officers: all public events involving more than 250 people are canceled. Avoid all nonessential travel outside the country, including the USA. Anyone coming back into Canada (including from the United States) should self isolate for 14 days. Now all they need is this to be formal like in China and Italy, where they are penalties for breaking the quarantine. Then they have a chance to halt the exponential growth of infectious disease. B.C.'s health minister, Dr. Bonnie Henry, after recovering from breaking down a few days ago during a press conference says: "What became apparent to me in the last 24 hours is the extent of the community spread in many, many, many different communities in the U.S. and I think it's only become apparent to our colleagues in the U.S. as well that this is something that has gone beyond what they actually thought they were dealing with. It's very challenging with the system they have in the U.S. to catch up." Currently, there are 158 cases in Canada, with 53 in B.C., 23 in Alberta, 1 in Saskatchewan, 1 in Manitoba 1, 1 in New Brunswick, 59 in Ontario, and 13 in Quebec. Plus 20 new cases that haven't been broken down into provinces at this time. For the first time in Canada, there are confirmed cases in children in Ontario and Alberta. Thankfully, most children don't seem to suffer badly. Still, Ontario announces a 2-week school closure, or March Break extension affecting 2 million students in Ontario. Parents are scrambling to make alternate arrangements after finding out march break will extend into April. The final stage of grief is acceptance, and it's a healthy coming to terms with all possible scenarios and where we strike out to realize our best possible outcome. This is where I want to stay, this place of cold peace that comes after a long night staring into the abyss and deciding after every scenario has played out that whatever does happen, will happen and we will be here to see it, one way or another, and that it’s ok. The world only gives us as heavy a burden as we can carry for if we’re crushed that is its own mercy.

How can we be prepared: lower your expenses, be adaptable, be ready to make do with less, be resourceful. Ask your grandparents for stories from their grandparents and take notes. People are telling me that they don't have masks, and can't buy any, so I share a few videos our aunt made where she used a baby diaper and a feminine pad and rubber elastics intertwined to make DIY masks. Everyone can use anything. If it can hold liquid in, it can keep respiratory droplets out. Quarantine, masks, all are proven to work. Do your best. A lot of people can find serious masks in hardware stores and odd places if they know where to look. Push for Trudeau to federalize a Canadian factory and produce them. It's been done before.

ICQ wants to promote the diary I'm sharing with them, so we're using "COVID-19 in Chongqing: The Invisible War" as a working title. It's not bad. We don't know how it will end, but so far, it fits.

Twitter has been interesting. I haven't heard back from Donald Trump or the Surgeon General yet but got a reply from Tazo Tea & the RZA, and 2020's first platinum meme queen Flora Fauna told me she's not ready for a Youtube channel, as much as we'd love to see her.

I've been in touch with an M.P. in Canada and a Mayor in Australia regarding an opportunity to inform public policy and give good, up to date evidence-based data they can use to protect their people. It feels good to have this chance, so I draft a letter to other influencers and policymakers making myself available for Q&A and the direction of reliable and up to date information to break through the myths and wishful thinking that seems to cloud many of their talking points now.

I am not a doctor, but I've done 100's of hours of research disseminating medial studies, watching every WHO and CDC briefing, 10 major world news networks a day and my own cabal of Ph.D.'s and G.P.'s who give me the latest advice, often a month ahead of the WHO's pronouncements.

There is no question that many public policymakers in the West do not understand what a fundamental threat this is to public health, the economy, and society.

We all need to work together to flatten the curve. If cities can enact self-quarantines on new arrivals and travel bans, support hospitals, reschedule elective surgeries, and make many beds available, this will save lives.

We put on some Johnny Cash greatest hits and bake his momma's famous pineapple pie. I hear that whistleblowing, to see if I still feel. I keep a close watch on this pie, the only thing that binds. And if I burn it, I'll cry, cry, cry. It’s too late, minus to midnight, but Xiaolin’s face, when she takes a bite, is sweeter than the sugared deep-fried fruit in the middle. It’s only later when the buttery overload has left her cramped and moaning, that I wonder how it’s going to end.