RONALD B. PICKETT - CORONA VIRUS UPDATE - EARLY STAGE

Ronald B. Pickett
Ron Pickett is a retired naval aviator. During his 26 years of service, he was the Commanding Officer of a Squadron and of the Human Resource Management Center, London, England.
Ron received a bachelor's degree in Engineering Science and master's degrees in Leadership and Human Resource Development and Counselling. He has taken postgraduate courses in communication, interviewing, and industrial and organizational psychology.
Ron has had over 90 articles published in more than 18 periodicals. He has written five books, I Got Away With It – Perfect Crimes; Discovering Roots; Getting Published in Journals, Magazines and Other Periodicals A How to Book; Empaths, Sixty Odd Short Stories; and is the Editor of Soul Balm, by his grandfather, Paul Pickett, all of which are available on Amazon.com, CreateSpace.com and Kindle. Ron has assisted several people in getting their books published.

​CORONAVIRUS UPDATE - Early stage

​Someone stole the tip box at the Starbucks. Now we are being asked to donate to replace those tips. Did the thief need it more than the baristas? I heard about it on Nextdoor.
There is controversy between the board at our homeowner’s association and one of the homeowners. This is not the first incident. Three emails update me. There must be more time to write because of the quarantine.
Outside my window, shimmering in the backlighting from the sun, a tiny spider is moving on its web looking for even smaller prey. It is oblivious to the virus. The virus is oblivious to the spider – it is much, much smaller than the spider’s prey.
 
I hear the echo from the tv in the other room; we are on the same channel.
News about Covid-19.
What causes the delay?
I calculated it is only .02 seconds away for the sound.
Don’t the WiFi and Cable and satellite move at the speed of light? Where are the delays getting into the system, I have time to worry about those issues, thanks to shelter in place?
So many people walk past my window – some I’ve never seen before. I should meet them – but maintain social distance. I’ve never liked shaking hands and despised hugging – I love it now, the new rules.
My hermit inner self is in heaven. This can go on for me.
We sneak out. We plan our outings for maximum joy. We take our sandwiches from Arby’s drive through to the park – it’s our new normal date night. We plan for a trip to buy groceries like it was a world tour.
I look up the numbers on-line. Can I see a flattening of the curve? Not yet, but I know it is hidden somewhere in the data I have access to, or maybe they aren’t releasing all of the numbers, like the Chinese.
There are rumors – urns at Wuhan – great significance, we went to Wuhan.
Malaria meds work! I’ve taken them on trips to dangerous places on holidays and in VN – there were greater dangers there. People die from aquarium cleaner or rubbing alcohol.
I get emails from my doctor, my gym, my local theatre, Panera, Bevmo – think I’ll take them up on the free pick-up on the sidewalk offer, my church, everyone wants to tell me what they are doing and what I must do.
 
The US has overtaken China in number of cases. New Orleans, Chicago and Detroit are trying to surpass New York, I doubt that they can do it. Sports have been cancelled – wonder if I can get some kind of bet on that spider I saw.
 
Results of tests are now available in 15 minutes!  Some of them have accurate results; I almost wish I had some symptoms so I could get one.
It’s named for a beer brand, well not really – sales of Cerveza Corona have fallen precipitously. Last time we were officially out, three weeks ago, I jokingly ordered a Corona from the bar tender, we laughed. He filed for Unemployment on Wednesday.
I’m wasting time, I’ve got to do more.
Motivate, motivate, motivate. Is this a waste of time?
I spend time on-line. It’s comforting, it’s terrifying, my Wi-Fi becomes intermittent; that is really terrifying. 
I’m walking for exercise again. Trying to preserve my feet from the ravages of old age and a previous  injury. 
I have named my walking routes – today I did Via Rancho Parkway,
Yesterday we did Kay-2 – that’s with Blacks Hill, Kay-1 skips Blacks hill.
The fourth route is Long-Steep, I’m saving it for tomorrow.
Round trip to Target 6500 steps! Includes shopping.
I take a shower every other day now . I skipped one day but couldn’t smell myself.
 
Alert! Alert! Loss of sense of smell and taste are symptoms! I can smell other things. False alert.
I gained three pounds one day - my scale is no longer my friend can a handful of chips be to blame?  I have a target, a range of acceptable weight - fat? this isn’t within my acceptable range.
It took three days of starvation to get rid of it – just not fair.
When this is over, and it will be over, I’ll look back on the things I didn’t do.
I look out the window again, I wonder whether the spider will catch his breakfast before he becomes someone else’s meal - a difficult way to move up the food chain.
 
Corona Virus Update – late stage.
Boring.