COVID 19 Anxiety

I can't help but wonder if all generations go through something traumatic and scary that has us praying for the best resolution possible.

My Great-Grandparents had the Flu Pandemic that killed 20-50 million people worldwide. My parents and Grandparents had the Asian Flu that killed two million. My parents and others my age have lived in fear with the HIV/AIDS Pandemic that took 36 million lives. Most recently the SARS epidemic in 2003 struck fear in all of us and the threat of an Ebola pandemic still can't be ruled out entirely as parts of Africa continue to deal with that.

In war time, at least traditional war, you knew your enemy. Often you had to see them to defeat them. Our ancestors fought bravely in WWI & WWII and of course the many smaller wars in various parts of the world since then. Fighting a war with a microscopic virus is a different battle altogether and very unsettling.

As of my writing this, the COVID19 virus or Coronavirus has no known cure and many parts of the world are seeing significant infections and deaths. Here in Canada we have 424 confirmed cases and there have been several deaths. World wide the numbers continue to grow.

I don't need to sit here and spout numbers. Just turn on the TV and you'll have numbers thrown at you constantly. What I set out to do by writing this and bringing my old blog back to life was to share my own personal concerns.

First and foremost the biggest concern is the health of my family and friends. My Fiancée Lee and I have been doing our best to limit our contact with others. We haven't self quarantined at this point but we are staying home as much as we can. When I go out I try to follow the guidelines on how to reduce the chances of contracting COVID19. Hand washing has never been more important and while I've always considered myself to be hygienic, I've certainly upped my hand washing frequency.

My parents are my biggest concern. They are the most vulnerable being 82 and 79 and both diabetic. To make matters worse for my father, he is also on oxygen with diminished lung function due to severe pulmonary fibrosis. And if that wasn't enough, he's been fighting stage four renal cell carcinoma since 2014.

They are essentially under self quarantine until things improve. I'm pretty sure I've convinced them to not leave the house or at the very least, not spend time with others.

This is not an easy task for my mother who, let's be honest, has a gift for the gab and a need to converse with everyone she knows. Hopefully she can fulfil that need by telephone only for the time being. Dad, well, he's a home body and is quite content for the most part although the lack of televised sports will cause some discomfort to him.

I've decided that I or Lee and I will do all of their shopping until this passes. Mom loves to shop and this will be another tough pill to swallow for her but it's for the best. My only fear is that, despite my best efforts, I might get the virus and pass it on to them. So when I do go out I will try to practice safe shopping habits by distancing myself from others, avoiding human contact physically and by limiting my trips to stores to a minimum.

It's my hope that others will do the same and together by being smart about the whole thing we can come out the other side healthy and wiser.