Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

You are right about all that, for sure.

 

Obviously their study is much more complex than what was written in this story, which looks to not get the intent of it at all. But one thing I have hoped for, definitely not counted on by any means, is that this thing does fizzle out some how like SARS did for the most part. It seems like a pipe dream, but still.

 

It happens. We can hope.

 

My teaching partner went on a cruise in mid February when cruise ships were turning into plague ships. She said there were steps in place to keep people safe and came back ok. Still think she was crazy to have gone, but was no worse for wear. Perhaps cruises will actually clean their ships but like mentioned they have a bad history of keeping boats clean. However, a second wave of coronavirus on cruise ships would likely mean the death of the industry, maybe safety measures will be taken seriously. Who knows. You do you, no judgement (seriously not judging). But my family will probably not be cruising for a while (if ever).

 

I got to thinking about the "Open Everything Up!" crowd and the "We Can't Do Anything About Climate Change!" crowd, because it's basically the same people.

In both cases, it seems to go no deeper than, "This is a hard problem which might force us to do some things differently, so fuck it - let's just throw our hands in the air, deem the problem too difficult to solve, and go back to ignoring the trouble."

 

One thing to watch will be borders. WaPo had a story today about how while Europe is opening up some, don't expect to go on holiday there anytime soon. Some countries are forming regional travel bubbles--think Austria and Germany--but most are going to be hesitant to let people come in from the outside without a 14-day self quarantine. Obviously, that would be a killer for someone like myself who wanted to spend nine days in France.

I'm wondering if Canada will have the same thing going. I was thinking I might be able to drive up to Montreal and QC in the fall at some point, since it's not terribly far away. Montreal is about an 11 hour drive from where I am. But if the border is closed or you have to SQ if you're coming from the U.S., that idea is dead in the water.

 

Oh, I haven't planned anything yet, and I'm being careful and watchful and wanting to see how things go. But I wouldn't rule it out yet, either.

I'm just trying not to be overly afraid is all. And certainly in the more distant future, I simply can't envision my life without ever going on a cruise again. As I said, though, that's also speaking as someone who loves cruising.

 

Some weak-assed Americans can't stand going a couple of months without a fucking haircut to keep other Americans from dying. We are most selfish people on this planet. American exceptionalism is a lie.

 

I understand. I do. But the thing is, I can't think of any public places, or places used extensively by crowds of people, that have ever been kept as clean as they should be.

So, considering that I've never been any worse for the wear over the course of the seven lengthy (all lasting between 11 and 22 days) cruises I've gone on in the past few years (including one to South America and Antarctica that I was on in late January), I'd consider any better cleanliness than usual to be an upgrade. And considering that most of the ships look nicer and are better maintained than a lot of people's houses, that's not usually too bad.

At some point, people are just going to weigh things out, and decide what they want to do, in everything.