This is the last day of March, 2020. In this month we have seen the rise and fall of temperature across our country, earthquakes, (10,900 worldwide ranging from a 2+ to one 7+), tornadoes in unexpected and unusual places and, most alarming, the virus that has shut down the world. Who would have thought this would be such a strange month? A tragic month.
As I look out my window I see the greening of the lawn, leaves popping out on trees and I hear the sounds of birds singing, people on the pathway behind my house and every indication that life is normal, but it isn’t! Will it ever be normal again? Many people are asking that same question while the so-called threat looms large like that of Charlie Brown’s friend that is always dirty. And somehow we are made to feel dirty. But are we?
Stories about the virus abound. Sad stories of people dying. Sweet and encouraging stories of doctors and nurses leaving their families to go to New York City to help with the outbreak there. Beautiful stories of our hospital ships being sent to and arriving on the east and west coast. And, there are stories that this isn’t a real situation but one made up by certain members of the government to orchestra crowd control.
What is truth? Will we ever know truth?
Today I heard that one of the national cable TV stations had been found to be using film footage of bodies being piled high in refrigerator trucks in New York City only to have it revealed that footage actually came out of Italy where the virus is a very real and virulent devastation that has killed many.
Why Italy?
According to what I have read Italy sold out to China years ago. Most of Italy’s factories – the ones that produce the things we so love like Prada, CC, Gucci and many other fashion brands that we enjoy parading around in – were sold to China. Then the unthinkable happened. Instead of employing Italian citizens as had been hoped, China moved people to northern Italy in droves. The last count I heard was that there were over 30,000 legal Chinese in Italy and untold numbers of illegals. They work in the factories and they go home – to China – for the Chinese new year to celebrate with their families. This year, 2020, the Chinese new year was January 25 and thousands of Chinese flew on direct flights to and from Wuhan, China, where the virus initiated, back to their homes in Italy unsuspecting that they were carrying a silent killer with them.
Many of Italy’s people are elderly. I don’t know why that is – maybe it’s the wine! I don’t know. But we’ve all heard enough horror stories about the virus to know it is extremely dangerous for the elderly, especially if they have any compromising diseases. Suddenly Italy is under attack and her citizens are dying in droves from a virus they hadn’t even known existed until they were completely inundated with it. As of this writing, Italy has had 105,792 diagnosed Corona Virus (CoVid 19) cases with 12,428 deaths, in a population of 60.48 million.
Here in the United States, the areas that have been the hardest hit to date are both coast areas. New York City, with a population of 18+ million now has a full blown epidemic on her hands. Almost 76,000 cases of the virus have been diagnosed at this moment with 1,550 deaths. Make-shift hospitals are being established all over the city including the tent hospitals of Samaritan’s Purse now functioning in Central Park as well as in Italy.
On the West Coast, it seems Washington state has been the hardest hit, with 4,896 confirmed cases and 195 deaths. The first case was diagnosed on January 21, four days prior to the Chinese new year. A great number of the deaths came in a nursing home where it seems it was first noticed to this degree as their residents succumbed to it. Since then isolation has been ongoing and it seems, but I’m not sure, that many changes have been implemented to stave off the onslaught of the disease.
On January 29, USA Today announced that the White House was considering stopping flights to and from China much to the chagrin of all the news channels, with accusations of racism. Sometimes it is very difficult to do what you think is best for those whom you love the most because of the interference of others who always think they know more!
Today, on the eve of April 1, April Fools Day, we all sit in our homes with extremely clean hands and disinfectant spray at every door, wondering what will happen next. We have been told the lock down or ‘stay in place’ order has been extended to April 30 with a “we’ll see” at the end of that statement. I have to wonder how long this will last. It certainly has effected my business (insurance agent) and that of my sister who lives with me (medical massage therapist), just as it has effected that of multitudes of others.
America is spinning, ever so slowly. Spinning. Spinning. Spinning. Where will the needle stop? Will it be on ‘get out of jail’ or will it be ‘resume life as normal’ or will it be something devastating? I don’t know the answer to that but I, like so many, am trying to walk out Isaiah 26:20 “Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by.” I wonder, does the next verse, verse 21, have anything to do with this virus? “…the earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer.”
Wash your hands and be well.
Blessings from Oklahoma City.
Heartland Heartbeat 