Friday, March, 27 - The Edge of the Universe

Day 64. Somewhere at the edge of the universe, I'm not sure if it matters if it's the beginning or the end, but it surely isn't in the mushy center, three witches scrub, hang up to dry, and then fold away the laundry of the dead. They mend bullet holes, wash out blood, sweat, and dirt, and then fold, with care, and put away the last worn clothes of those who cross over, back to the source. I visited them for tea, and they are morose and swamped at the moment. They asked me to tell you to please stay home.

Things are going well in China, at least the Chongqing part of China that I can see, but back to school in China is having a few bumps on the road, and we are cautious. One of the first shoots to open a Senior 3 program for the graduating class, in Guizho opened a high school on March 16. On March 24, 209 students fell ill. Symptoms included fever, diarrhea, and sore body. 199 were sent to the hospital. As of March 28, 196 already recovered. 10 still in the hospital. The other 3 are not on the records in the media. Regardless, it's not been confirmed as a COVID outbreak, instead suggested it was food poisoning, but people are on edge, and I'm happy to still be teaching online classes.

As nurses in America are being told to now make their own masks in some places or wear bandanas because they have no more protective equipment, things are not going well for our health care systems in the west. I cannot understand why Canada and America still have not federalized factories for the production of billions of masks and PPE. Instead, we are relying on the compassionate help of housewives and husbands, sewing them from home, and the donations from individuals with 3D printers who are trying to print N95 masks. This is wartime, and countries need to take wartime measures.

One doctor, 68, is dying in New York. His son wrote in the paper two weeks ago that his dad was healthy but was helping COVID-19 patient to stay alive, performing high-risk of infection intubation (insert air tube down his throat in the hospital so they could breath). Still, his mask wasn't tight, and the dr got infected. He told his son that COVID-19 can be very very bad. Now his son is grieving even before his dad died. Very sad too. Of course, you can say, a loose mask is a foolish mistake, especially during intubation, but these professionals are stressed, tired, and working to exhaustion because you went on spring break, because you're not scared of the flu, because you're young and healthy.

Please stay home. Please let them take a rest.

Remember, this virus spreads through "healthy-seeming" carriers. It's easy to avoid a sneezing person, that's why we licked SARS in 8 months. But COVID-19 will spread from person to person, without showing any symptoms. Some people will never feel sick but infect dozens of other people, some of whom will die.

Everyone needs to act as if they are sick, stay home, and wear masks when outside. If you don't have masks, wear a banana. Jay Ould once hilariously said, "Bandanas are for fools," well if you don't have better gear, it's the time for fools to save the world.

Our Ayi came today. Our nervous looking security guard did not want to let her in. Even when I went down to "OK' her, he was not having it. Finally, after a few minutes, he looked at her papers, stamped by the government, clearing her medically and allowing her to work as a housekeeper. We get her past the guards and into the campus. I ask her about her time. She was very happy. No one in her village was sick. She spent 60 days with her family, her children before she left to return to Chongqing for work. This is a happy story for the ones that disease did not touch, and they will remember a special family holiday that went on for two months.

Inside, I give her blue rubber gloves to wear, and she has her own mask. Xiaolin and I put on masks, too, and I work this way for an hour or two until she is finished. Afterward, the house is sparkling clean, and I am relieved both that my slippers don't stick or squeak when I walk, and that she's gone.

I hear that cinemas in Shanghai reopened recently only to be shut down again a few days later. Foreigners, seeing signs that they are not welcome in some businesses or allowed to even return to China are feeling the brunt of the COVID-19 anger inside China. 

I edit my book through the day, stopping to drink coffee, snack, and eat some rice and garlic fried green beans with Shaolin. We are looking at layouts and proofing concepts. It's a huge relief to be doing these small tasks—even under a pressurized deadline to get to print asap. I'm happy I slept 6-7 hours last night, and I will keep it up.

We take a walk.

We teach a class, and it goes well. Xiaolin takes the lead to help me edit and proof. I've produced a beta reader audiobook for myself and a few friends to listen for problems before we print since the deadline is so pressing. Wartime measures.

My mother is well, she is taking precautions, and she is safe. The Island used Uncle Vic's letter to do a good job with containment, and the cases are limited. Isolation helps in a plague. My father is well. Ottawa, the capital of Canada, is a much harder hit. My father writes to me.

Kai, I think all over the world, they are getting exhausted. That is what uncle Vic was so mad about. The stupidity and arrogance of the spreaders kill the lives of medical people. Have a good class and a day.

Thank you for all your nagging, at least I have been comfortable for 2 weeks and not freaking out. It gave me a chance to prepare myself for this. I have not gone out the door in 26 days, except once to pick up green beans at Ming's front door. Mostly we only talk on the phone or WeChat or text.

I tell him, imagine you didn't listen to me and now you'd be mad at both of us.

He tells me, "Today, I am sorry, Uncle Albert, but I haven't done a bloody thing all day."

I tell him that this is good, but don't burn through all your pantry. He has done well so far, but if he pokes his head out in 2 more months and there's no food, this is also bad. So order some canned and dry goods with Costco and leave them in the garage to cool off. He agrees. I told him to buy a solar power generator for his phone, if not his fridge, and he thought that was too much. Now he's googling for them.

Dad asks me how the process is going. I tell him I am grateful Shaolin taught me how to be pleasant with bossy people. It's a useful skill.

President Trump is even putting 10,000 soldiers on the Canadian border, 15 km in a demilitarized zone. What does trump think, we are going to rush over to pay American health care prices?

One of Xiaolin's friends sends this message from America.

It's terrible here, much like China was 6 weeks ago. I have had to let 75% of my employees go. The government has shut down all restaurants anywhere people could gather. Now they will shut down all non-essential companies tomorrow at midnight for 2 weeks. The entire state is on lockdown until May 1. I am importing Personal Protective Equipment for the state government, so my company will stay open to accept shipments and distribute it to government agencies. Everyone is so scared, every day, more and more people get sick, and now thousands of people are dying.

Xiaolin tells me that 10000 Spanish dr.'s are sick. We have 597K official cases on record, perhaps twice or 10x as many at home or still baking their own COVID. The numbers are moving quickly now. As expected, Italy has eclipsed China today, so now we have America, Italy, and China in the top three countries. I hope Italy's slowing down in the earliest quarantine areas will spread to the rest of the country and the world, if you take your quarantine seriously, and proper precautions, you can do this. Remember, the air is poison, the floor is lava, you are an astronaut, now go.