[Stephen Gerringer]

Aloberhoulser writes:

Offices and cubicles with desks sit empty and hospitals aren’t filled to capacity.

So much has changed in just a month. Hospitals in Arizona are nearing capacity, as they are in multiple jurisdictions in Texas and Florida, and elsewhere (my nephew, a nurse, tells me his hospital is getting slammed, working extended overtime shifts as multiple co-workers have been infected).

Offices and cubicles are no longer empty – so in the building where my wife works, the department across the hall from her office has a cluster of infected employees – and we have just learned one of her co-workers in her office is sick with a serious case of Covid. Des’ job is IT, which means greater exposure as she often has to interact with employees and their equipment at their workstation; as a result, we have both been approved to be tested – right as our county is in the midst of a surge and our hospitals are near capacity, a result of widespread local noncompliance with guidelines as our community was opening up in late May and early June.

Disconcerting, yes, as I have multiple underlying conditions (though we are starting to lose young healthy people as well, with the first deaths of individuals under age 50 reported just last week). Even though I hope for the best, the virus does not really care how positive my thinking is or what’s in my heart, is I am addressing matters I have been putting off in case the worst occurs.

I’m not sure “a collective catharsis” is what’s required – but I do believe that what is happening is a collective death-and-rebirth experience (the metaphorical significance underscored by half a million deaths worldwide so far). Curious what will emerge the other side of that . . .