Coronavirus plusses and minusses

Two plusses:

1.  I’ve been writing a lot. Look at how much I’ve been posting lately, for one thing.  This is probably a result of not going out, except for once a week, and having lots of time to spend.  Writing gives me structure.  I’m almost back, more or less, to the schedule I had before my spinal surgery three years ago, when I spent most mornings writing, so, ironically, it feels like a return to normalcy.  Also, it also keeps me sane, even as I’m writing mostly about the coronavirus and its impact.  It’s like writing about the coronavirus gives me some control, if not over or of it then of how I think of and deal with it. 

2.  With nothing going on and everyone – well, almost everyone – following the stay-at-home rules, I have no reason to feel so sad or guilty about not going out.  I like, crave, going out and being in community, keeping up with concerts, performances and whatnot, but, to be honest, it’s hard and tiring.  It’s easier, really, to stay home and, yes, lie down for a few hours in the afternoon or shortly after dinner and watch Netflix or whatever.  Now I don’t feel guilty about doing so.  I do wonder, however and with some concern, about how I’ll feel once the stay-at-home rules are lifted and there is once again a steady schedule of events for me to attend. 

   This is a good segue to a minus.

   I’ve been wondering about something: On the one hand, we keep hearing that the COVID-19 cases around the U.S haven’t peaked yet, that the worse is yet to come.  On the other hand, the stay-at-home orders are scheduled, for the most part, to be lifted at the end of the month, as if the coronavirus will suddenly, as Trump has predicted, go away. 

   But – wait – at least in Los Angeles County where I am, the stay-at-home edict has been extended to May 15. I find this oddly a relief – not just because it’s an excuse for me to stay home and lie down but more so because it just makes sense. 

   Then again, what will happen when the novelty of this camping out at home wears off, when the honeymoon, with the excitement over Zoom meetings, YouTube concerts and the like, is over, and folks get really restless (as if they aren’t already)?  What happens when this isn’t an all-in-this-together social experiment and is just a health and economic disaster?