Thursday, July 23, 2020

COVID hits home

I AM DONE dealing with people who think COVID-19 is a big hoax, masks are useless and the whole thing is a political conspiracy. Done. DONE. A very good professor friend once said, "Never argue with a person who knows they are wrong." Right.

It especially hits home when somebody you know gets it. I have a friend who was diagnosed yesterday. He's in the medical field. He got it from a patient he treated. The person didn't know he had COVID.

He is fatigued and he lost his sense of smell. He'll be fine. But he can't work for two weeks - he's self-employed - and his wife now has to quarantine for two weeks, so she can't go to work.

I have a guitar student whose 92-year-old mother is in a nursing home. She fell the other day and they didn't find her for a long time. This guy just wants to go see his mom. But the nursing home is in lockdown and not allowing visitors. There are grandparents unable to see their grandchildren.

A man I used to know in Quincy many years ago recently caught COVID and spent the last week of his life on a ventilator, alone.

It's caused a lot of anxiety for Sheryl, who is a Type 1 Diabetic and would likely be fighting for her life if she gets it. She is already at the top of her anxiety scale and back on medication.

We get lots of people in the store we don't know, and they have to wear masks, but still - do they have COVID and not know it? How safe is it? We have warnings posted about Sheryl's auto-immunen disorder, people just ignore them. The woman who came in the other day and said, "I choose not to wear a mask" didn't help one bit. You can make whatever choice you want, but we'll help you once you move back over to the door or just ask you to leave, thank you.

If you are going to be virulently anti-mask, just call for the information you need. Don't put other people at risk because you think someone will relent just to get your business. We won't. This IS life or death for so many people.

There is so much unknown about all this. You can have it and not know it. Or you can get it and die, no matter your age. One of the silliest arguments around is that people don't know if  COVID is causing all these deaths. Yes, immune-compromised people have other things to die from. But it's pretty simple - they get COVID, and they die. Not hard to figure out, Einstein.

Be safe. Be courteous. Think of others when considering you responsibility to wear a mask. Don't go to big indoor gatherings, and make sure you practice social distancing. Cori and I have a few more outdoor shows this summer but even those are risky and the more we think about it the more we are not sure about playing anywhere.

The Avenue Beat girls have it right - F2020 (warning, it's graphic. But right on the money). We are so proud they made it into Rolling Stone!!

We are so ready to be done with all of this but it can end until everyone does their part to keep everyone safe. #MaskItOrCasket

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