Liveblogging the plague
Mar. 13th, 2020 06:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabotabby I vacillate wildly between abject terror and—that other thing. It's neither relief nor hope, but rather a belief in a set of steps that need to be taken to reorganize our world in a way that is sustainable and just.
I woke up with a panic attack. The school closure thing hit me really hard.* I don't know if they're going to let us back in three weeks, to be honest.
Then I saw the picture of Bolsonaro in the hospital and I thought, well, he can't commit genocide against Indigenous peoples or burn down the Amazon right now, which is a good thing for said Indigenous people and those of us who enjoy breathing.**
And then I thought, what if my cats get sick(er)? Can I ensure that I have an adequate supply of Cocoa's kidney food? What if there's an emergency? Will the vets all be closed?
Even if younger, healthy people are mostly safe, there are many people in my life who are neither young nor healthy.
I always fantasize about having unstructured time off where I can just rest. I guess I'm getting it now. But that only works in contrast to the rest of the world proceeding as normal.
When this is over, am I even going to emerge into a world that requires my skillset?
I mean. I have anxiety. It's protected me up until last night, because I was so worried about other things that this whole thing registered as an Over There Problem. But it's finally hit me where I live in a very real way.
* This is the first thing the provincial government has done right and was absolutely the correct call. But I have serious doubts about their motivations for doing it, and their capacity to navigate a real crisis, because they are utter incompetents.
** Apparently the photo is from another time he was in the hospital. But he is being monitored for it. Regardless, he's probably too busy to do a genocide right now.
I woke up with a panic attack. The school closure thing hit me really hard.* I don't know if they're going to let us back in three weeks, to be honest.
Then I saw the picture of Bolsonaro in the hospital and I thought, well, he can't commit genocide against Indigenous peoples or burn down the Amazon right now, which is a good thing for said Indigenous people and those of us who enjoy breathing.**
And then I thought, what if my cats get sick(er)? Can I ensure that I have an adequate supply of Cocoa's kidney food? What if there's an emergency? Will the vets all be closed?
Even if younger, healthy people are mostly safe, there are many people in my life who are neither young nor healthy.
I always fantasize about having unstructured time off where I can just rest. I guess I'm getting it now. But that only works in contrast to the rest of the world proceeding as normal.
When this is over, am I even going to emerge into a world that requires my skillset?
I mean. I have anxiety. It's protected me up until last night, because I was so worried about other things that this whole thing registered as an Over There Problem. But it's finally hit me where I live in a very real way.
* This is the first thing the provincial government has done right and was absolutely the correct call. But I have serious doubts about their motivations for doing it, and their capacity to navigate a real crisis, because they are utter incompetents.
** Apparently the photo is from another time he was in the hospital. But he is being monitored for it. Regardless, he's probably too busy to do a genocide right now.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-14 12:54 am (UTC)This said, we don't have the demographics or the smokers that Italy has. And the shutdowns, while scary, are what kept things containable in Taiwan and Singapore. So I have some confidence that it won't hit us as badly.
But—and here is the scary thing. We share a border with the US, and there's a ton of back-and-forth travel and trade. The vast majority of the Canadian population lives near the border.
And the US is not going to be able to contain it. They haven't. They don't have a healthcare system, they don't have anyone competent in charge, they're pulling Iran-level coverups of how bad it is, and it's not like viruses respect national borders. So even if we are really sensible—and I do think that the measures we're taking are good ones—we have that in the mix.
My best friend is a doctor in Seattle. Admittedly, she's a psychiatrist, but she works with an elderly, medically frail, housing-insecure population. She hasn't been writing much because she's obviously ridiculously busy, but what she's said has just been awful. So I'm worried for her (fortunately she's not in a high-risk group) but I'm also thinking of populations where this can just explode.
Like we have a broken shelter system. The city has finally agreed to quarantine homeless people in hotel rooms, which they could have done all along and should be doing now, because the shelters and the streets are already disease vectors for everything else.
Teal deer: Europe has a much more intact social safety net than North America, and even though Canada is in better shape than the US, Ontario, where I live, has been in ongoing crises that could potentially make things really bad.
About Cocoa, yeah, that sounds scary. :( Do you think you could stock those supplies? I'm rooting for her to stay healthy during all this. So many hugs to both of you. And I get what you're saying about her being your world, I agree.
I'm going to do another run to my vet. I have the needles and saline bags are $30, so I can buy one and keep it in the fridge just in case she needs it. Though she finally did eat and drink on her own today, so I think it might just have been that she didn't like her wet food today for some reason.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-14 04:34 pm (UTC)Our shelter system is broken too and it was depressing and hilarious that SUDDENLY the government and charities were stepping up to give them shelter. It's just so transparent that there's money and space for this, it's just that people dgaf until the "general public" is at risk.
You're right about Italian demographics and the shut downs. Italy took forever to start shutting things down, which doesn't seem to have helped.
Ugh yes I totally forgot about the border you share with the US. I have no idea how they're managing to handle things so badly, they're basically the richest country so it's inexcusable. The weirdest thing to me was the debate about whether testing should be free, I just ???? I'm under the impression that many of the politicians who are against that kind of thing get voted for by lots of elderly people, so why they'd want to get their own voters killed, I'll never know.
Have you considered building a border wall?
I'm so sorry about your friend :( I hope she stays safe and gets through this well.
I'm glad you managed to get those things! And thank you for remembering this, we'll also look into this just in case.
*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2020-03-14 09:46 pm (UTC)I was listening to a podcast today where they had on a guy who did safe injection site work. And he was basically like, "oh, now we're concerned about epidemics?"
Ugh yes I totally forgot about the border you share with the US. I have no idea how they're managing to handle things so badly, they're basically the richest country so it's inexcusable. The weirdest thing to me was the debate about whether testing should be free, I just ???? I'm under the impression that many of the politicians who are against that kind of thing get voted for by lots of elderly people, so why they'd want to get their own voters killed, I'll never know.
They're a virus bomb waiting to explode. They're not getting good information and their government is deliberately letting them die. They refused testing kits! And yeah, this may cause a mass die-off of the Republican-voting population, in which case I'd be all critical support for conrad virus, except that it's also going to kill people who don't deserve it.
Have you considered building a border wall?
I know our government, and Mexico's, is talking about closing the border, which a) irony! and b) should have been done as soon as it came out that Trump refused free testing kits because he thought it would bring down his re-election chances.
I'm glad you managed to get those things! And thank you for remembering this, we'll also look into this just in case.
Struck out on the fluids and needles (long and not very interesting story); I'll give it another go at the other vet's on Monday. In the meantime I think it was just that particular can again because I opened up a new can and she ate a decent bit of that.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-14 11:30 pm (UTC)He's got a really good point!
They refused testing kits!
WHAT. I thought they had a new vote and they agreed this time? American politics is too confusing and weird to me.
in which case I'd be all critical support for conrad virus, except that it's also going to kill people who don't deserve it.
Same. I feel really sorry for people who didn't vote for these assholes and are vulnerable through no fault of their own.
If Canada and Mexico close their borders with the US, I can't wait for Trump's reaction. It might be hilarious and beautiful, and a true silver lining.
I think Monday's fine and that's a good call. I'm glad it was probably just that can! Is it shedding season there? That could be a factor too, mine have weird days like that sometimes during shedding season even with 500 different anti-hairball products. Understandable, really, I don't know about you but I wouldn't have much of an appetite if I felt itchy and kept accidentally eating my own hair.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-14 11:38 pm (UTC)I think they finally agreed, but they refused the first round, leading to a fatal delay in containing this.
If Canada and Mexico close their borders with the US, I can't wait for Trump's reaction. It might be hilarious and beautiful, and a true silver lining.
Same. The current Mexican government seems pretty sensible, so they might. I am truly worried about asymptomatic carriers on Spring Break.
I think Monday's fine and that's a good call. I'm glad it was probably just that can! Is it shedding season there? That could be a factor too, mine have weird days like that sometimes during shedding season even with 500 different anti-hairball products. Understandable, really, I don't know about you but I wouldn't have much of an appetite if I felt itchy and kept accidentally eating my own hair.
I think it was actually that particular can of food. Sometimes they get a can that they don't like. Sabot didn't want to eat it either, though also sometimes she mirrors whatever Cocoa does.