Is this all there is?

These were the news articles I was reading when covid was first discovered in the United States.

Following a rapid spread from its origin in Wuhan, China, the first case of the 2019 novel coronavirus, which causes a disease known as covid-19, is confirmed in a man from Washington State on January 20, 2020. 

The virus, which would spark a pandemic, was first reported in China on December 31, 2019. Halfway across the world, on January 19, a man who had returned home to Snohomish County, Washington near Seattle on January 15, after traveling to Wuhan, checked into an urgent care clinic after seeing reports about the outbreak

In the following months, the Seattle area became the epicenter of an early U.S. outbreak. 39 residents of Life center, a nursing home in Kirkland, died from complications from the virus in one four-week span. In some cases, people who died from COVID-19 in January 2020, but didn’t know it at the time, had their death certificate amended to show they died from the virus.

According to the CDC, 14 U.S. coronavirus cases were noted by public health agencies between January 21 and February 23, 2020; all patients had traveled to China. The first non-travel case was confirmed in California on February 26, and the first United States was reported on February 29.

As the virus quickly marched across the country, businesses, schools and social gatherings were largely shut down, while, by May unemployment rates soared reached their highest levels since the Great Depression.

Spreading to almost every country, more than 662 million people have contracted the virus worldwide, and 6.7 million have died from it. The first U.S vaccinations for covid-19 were administered on December 14, 2020. By early 2023, 101 million cases and more than 1 million deaths from the virus had been in the U.S. alone. 

My brain awoke slowly. My body was still asleep, but the sound of "Mother Fucker", began to ooze out of the side of my brain slithering onto my pillow like hot lava flowing down the side of the mattress until I heard it "Plop" on the bedroom floor. Knowing I was waking up "Son of a Bitch", flew out of my mouth, it hit the wall and smashed into a million-floating tiny 'sons of bitches', scattering throughout the room.

It was Sunday March 29, the 14 days of living in the pages of a Stephen King Novel called Pandemic, or maybe we all were transported back to old episodes of The Twilight Zone. Yes, it was here, not just in my room but in my house and it was spreading globally throughout the world. WTF! The US death toll just hit 2,000.

How life could change in the blink of an eye, Hell the whole world will change if they ever can get a handle on this horrible Virus. I wonder if people will still consume and buy all the stuff, they realize now they don't need when this is over. Hell, most of America just go from one pair of PJs to the next, walking aimlessly into one room at a time, over and over again, hungrily looking out the window for any signs of life. It makes me sad to think about how many older people are stuck home alone in their empty houses, wanting desperately to hug their families.

Thank God we can still go outside practicing our six-feet social distancing. I walk Bella every day; the sky seems bluer now, the air crisper and cleaner. Most cars have been off the road. Was this Mother Earth saying, "You clean up this planet, or I will"?

I was used to a somewhat maintained routine by now. As my feet touched the floor the ground was still a little shaky. Mother Earth had tilted slightly off her axis, probably trying to shake this nasty covid-19 virus off her fragile skin, scattered patches of eczema were consuming her body, one hot spot at a time.

I was fully awake now and made my way into the kitchen to start a pot of Dark French Roast Starbucks coffee. My black and white shi-poo puppy, Bella, trotting be hide me.

As I opened the freezer door to get out the whole coffee beans, I noticed the contents of the freezer were getting low. "Crap", time to make another shopping list for my daughter Lisa or her husband, Joe. They had been a godsend for John and I who had been sheltered in place these last 14 days. They'd do our shopping and place the bags on our front porch, "God", I miss spending time with them and of course, Joanna, my incredible granddaughter too.

Boy, Lisa scored for us a few days ago, TOILET PAPER! Who in America ever thought the US would be consumed with hoarding toilet paper to wipe their asses with; but sadly, it had come to that.

I took the beans out of the freezer and began to grind them, the coffee was brewing so I made my way out the back garage door to retrieve John's morning doomsday paper, it was lying on the driveway. How many deaths would there be tomorrow or next month?

Taking my coffee and Bella in tow I sat on the patio and thought about my day waiting for my husband John to awake. I knew I would make my morning phone calls to Mom, Susie, Carole and my friend Kathy who is recovering from breast cancer.

I thought about cleaning the house again, but "Why"? I could make another pot of chili, spaghetti sauce, beef lentil soup or chili Verde for burritos, but "Why"? Now there was always time to do it tomorrow! We had enough stored safely in the garage freezer. I heard some in are family are manic baking. Me, I just stay in the kitchen and cook. I usually have dinner pre-prepared by 10 AM. I keep my headphones on listening for signs that any state in the US has hit the downward curve. The news is bleak for the United States, but Italy has people recovering in large number...there is hope!