Stay at home, Stay safe

By now, all of us world-wide are familiar with this phrase, or something similar. The world has been watching as first China was hit with this killer disease, then Italy, all of Europe, the Middle East, the US, Canada, Mexico, and ultimately, the entire world sans Antarctica. The Arctic and the Arctic Region have been hit with cases in Iceland, as have Alaska (which, while it is counted in the US count, it is considered part of the Arctic Region), Canada; the Northwest Territories, excluding Nunavut, the Yukon, and Labrador, Denmark, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and 23 Oblasts in Russia. Antarctica is the only continent that has zero cases of COVID-19.

In many countries, the stay at home order was strictly enforced, after the virus went berserk. Italy is the most well-known of these countries, with deaths numbering in the thousands, and still rising. Spain is right on it's heels.

The US is, per capita, doing better than most, if you can call a death cycle of any kind better. According to the numbers from the CDC yesterday, the US has a death rate of .32 (roughly) percent, give or take. The confirmed number of cases was 713,171, the number of deaths, 33,597. I'm not a math whiz, so if there's someone out there who loves numbers, please correct me if I'm wrong, I will take no offense. Basically, what I'm saying is statistically we are doing better than most.

That said, there's the stay at home/stay safe orders. Forgive me, but the boneheads that decided that they are too healthy, or who believe their immune system is too good to catch this monster...well, they're boneheads. This thing doesn't care who you are, where you're from, what your health status is, or how old you are. If you are not following CDC guidelines, State/County orders to stay put, then you are in it's sites.

When the order was first put out here in SE Texas, I raised an eyebrow. I felt that maybe it was a bit of over-kill, then one day, Mouse had a cough and said, "ow." Yeah, my skepticism disappeared. It's bad enough my husband has an essential job, but to exacerbate the chances by going out to the grocery store with her just was not worth the risk. Since infancy, she has had stage 3 lung disease, and in the last five years has had bronchitis and pneumonia, as have I. Both she and I are in the high risk category. Thankfully it was just something swallowed wrong.

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking with my husband about a lot of things, the virus was part of the conversation. I told him that as a general rule, I'm not afraid of anything, but this...this scared me. Not because I have a lack of faith, because God does not give His children a spirit of fear, but because of what could happen if Mouse contracted it.

If, for whatever reason, it hit our household, there would be no sleep for this mama. I would be checking temperatures, jumping at every cough or sneeze, and suiting up in hazmat gear to tend to whoever is sick. I'm not saying I'm not vulnerable to it, and that I couldn't get it, because that isn't lost on me. I'm just working with the husband/daughter scenario. We have discussed how isolation would be handled for any of the three of us here, and are prepared to do just that if necessary, but Mouse getting this scares me to my core.

Why? Because she's special needs...has Down Syndrome, and the reasoning skills of maybe an eight year old. If she were to contract it, most likely she would have to be hospitalized. By herself. Read that again. By. Herself. No parents. No visitors. Just worn out hospital staff who are just as susceptible to it, have most likely had little sleep, and probably seen too many of this kind of scenario to last a lifetime. They would do their best to comfort, and pray with their patients, but how many of us would pray for them? Do we?

For the patients that are hospitalized, isolation is a must. Anyone who enters the room has to wash up and suit up. The only part of the human body the patient sees is the person's eyes. For someone like Mouse, it would be a frightening situation. I could not be there, neither could her Dad or her Sister, and she would be there until she tested negative twice for the virus. That's the best case scenario. Of course, we know what the other one is.

So, I'm sharing this for a reason. For those of you out there who defy the stay at home orders, or the quarantine orders, and wander out, remember this...while you may not contract and exhibit the symptoms of COVID-19, someone who has to be out, whether it's to get food or medicine, or someone who is deemed essential, might. While you might not have any symptoms, and just be a carrier, you could infect your parents, grandparents, children,or someone whom you dearly love. You could infect someone who carries it to their family and friends, unintentionally.

People, as a person who practices being a hermit on a regular basis, I find the lack of compassion horrific. I realize my being an introvert and staying at home is easy for me, but for my husband, who is an extrovert, and always is moving unless he's sleeping; who, by virtue of vacation, will be joining me and Mouse in the stay at home endeavor, it will be a challenge. I know there are people like him who choose to ignore the stay at home declarations. Let me challenge you, and quote a famous advertising line. Just. Do. It. Seriously. Think beyond yourself and your circumstances. Be responsible, and courteous, and aware that someone you love could be infected...and remember what I said about the hospitalization.

Thousands have died lonely deaths in the hospital because of this while their families deal with no contact whatsoever with their loved ones. For the ones who have been hospitalized and recovered, I will guarantee you they, and their loved ones, will never take one moment for granted again. The ones who have lost loved ones, will mourn over the time lost, the overwhelming sadness and grief of not being there for them.

Please, listen to the orders. Stay at home until the orders are lifted and we are clear of this virus.

Be safe. Wash your hands. Stay at home.

God bless you all.