Covid 19 - Response

Sheltering in Place - COVID 19 

I never really considered death. Then, as the governor was describing sheltering in place, he gave as the reason, “flattening the curve.” OK, as an engineering student at Lehigh University in the 60’s, I understood how important it is to flatten the curve. Every course was graded on “THE CURVE” by the sadistic professors and grad students that took delight in creating hourly exams with a median score of 39%. By flattening the curve, my 15% could possibly be a “C”. 

In this pandemic however, the governor did not stop there. He went on to describe why this was important. If the curve was not flattened, Intensive Care Unit resources could be overwhelmed. As a healthy and active person, an ICU resource was not something I planned on overwhelming. Pandemic or not.  But as the governor explained, young healthy folks enjoying the Colorado lifestyle would probably not be stressing the ICUs. Experience from other countries was indicating that active healthy people from infants to 60 years olds were only experiencing mild or no symptoms at all from the Coronavirus. BUT, he hastened to add, for those over 60, it’s like “RUSSIAN ROULETTE.”

Full stop. What??? Russian Roulette. I’m familiar enough with probability calculations to stay away from life or death gambling, especially if it involves putting a single bullet in a six shooter and spinning the cylinder. I have never understood the fascination with this party game. If there are six players it is guaranteed that there will be brains on the wall. Spin the cylinder, pull the trigger, pass the pistol. This is really a very stupid game. Do you win if you blow your brains out or do you lose and everyone else wins? I’ve often thought it is really just a test of bravery for the mathematically challenged. Is the player smart or stupid to spin, pull, … and maybe pass on the pistol?

Was this just an ill considered simile or is my demographic in a spin, pull, ...OBLIVION … pandemic game of chance? I never gave two thoughts to oblivion? Death has always been far away and assigned to other people who are not as careful, smart, or fortunate. According to the Governor though, it is now right at the doorstep for me and he’s got lots of retirement and assisted living doorsteps to prove it. 

Russian Roulette though is a game of chance. Facebook is telling me that everyone is going to get it. That’s not chance. That’s certainty. The Governor is shutting things down, closing schools, closing barbershops, closing restaurants. But fortunately not gun shops so we can still buy a revolver. Shelter at home he says, or otherwise, for me it’s RUSSIAN ROULETTE.  

OK, so I Stay At Home to flatten the curve. ICU admissions are indeed pushed out over a longer period. Wait.... Am I not playing Russian Roulette or am I just not playing it now. Flattening the curve, if everyone is going to get it, just means spin, wait, wait, wait, pull….. OBLIVION.

As the Stay at Home drags on, we all get masks, and the conventional Facebook wisdom morphs to “Open up. They’ll die sooner or later anyway.” 

But it seems possible to me I can avoid oblivion by not picking up the revolver. A vaccine takes the Russian Roulette revolver away. I’ll wait with minor modifications to Stay at Home. Like stay out of restaurants, stay in the car, stay out of bars, stay in a mask, stay out of stores, stay in Zoom, and stay outdoors.  

Now I can go back to ignoring death again.