It seems like the coronavirus is everywhere.
There are just 1,300-plus cases in the United States, but the number is multiplying by the day, and it’s finally starting to affect people and things you know about.
Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, have the coronavirus. The NBA, the NHL, and probably the MLB are suspending their activities. The Ellen Show and other programs usually filmed with live audiences are asking people not to show up. Grocery stores are emptying their shelves. There’s a ban on travel from Europe.
None of this is cause for panic, but the coronavirus has distributed widespread changes across the cultural landscape just in the past 24 hours. From entertainment to sports, industries across the U.S. are being affected, and it’s time for President Trump to treat COVID-19 as more than “the common Flu.” Still, when he finally crafted a plan to deal with the situation, he badly botched the roll-out.
What’s the average person to make of this? To begin with, do take the situation seriously. Conferences and meetings that are being canceled and businesses that are sending workers home are exercising precaution, not faintheartedness. It will get worse before it gets better, and now is a good time to remember to spend a full 20 seconds washing your hands, not just for your own sake, but for the sake of those more susceptible to the virus. Though it may be easy to dismiss the coronavirus as a “bad flu,” it might end up affecting more than you’d expect.
Now is a time to be safe, be smart, and don’t immediately believe what you’re told. The coronavirus pandemic may fade out soon, and we should hope it will, but that doesn’t mean that in the meantime, it won’t have to change the way we go about our days. For the sake of the most vulnerable in our society, we should readily accept that.
