The curve wasn’t flattening.
Everyone knew what this meant, as experts from the beginning encouraged people to shelter in place and to self-quarantine if exposed to a contagious person. The idea was that the less people moved around and interacted with one another, the less the virus could spread. And this virus loved, more than anything else, to spread. It shed gobs of contagious material for days before a person had a hint that he was infected. One attorney from upstate New York went into New York City and gave it to at least 100 people before he knew his fate. Now New York had over 450 deaths and over 26,000 confirmed cases.
The curve was still on its upward odyssey, and she imagined it was snickering and thoroughly enjoying every moment of its escapade.
There was no national order to shelter in place, so the states were in charge of their own curve.
Some states are going to burn, she thought. There were governors who just didn’t want to “look” like China, or California- those places were weak- telling people to stop making money and going to church just because of a little flu. People died from the flu all the time! The Orange Leader even said that when people die in cars we don’t shut down the roads.
Their megalomania would be their death. They would find their state, their people, dying, crucified on the curve. Hospitals would be overrun and health care workers dying right beside the unlucky: the ones that still went to church, their faith in God’s hands; the macho men and women who refused to deny people the blessing of their handshake. The Prime Minister of the UK had it. He had refused to stop shaking hands. How many of his own countrymen had he infected? Was it worth it?
One would think that if there was a god, an omniscient protector of the faithful, that he or she would protect their flock in a show of might against a microscopic villain. Now was their test. A test of faith against a perceived evil. A test of prayer, versus science. Faith, versus soap and social distancing.
Which would win?
She had always loved science. When she learned that the sun was a huge ball of fusing hydrogen, and that the atmosphere of Venus would crush a human in seconds, she was hooked. She felt a connection to the world that she supposed other people felt through a preacher or a holy book. But she had been kicked out of Sunday School when she was four. They didn’t want kids asking so many questions.
So who is right? Was there a right?
Maybe the curve would answer the question. Maybe the virus would settle the question, for eternity.
Everyone knew what this meant, as experts from the beginning encouraged people to shelter in place and to self-quarantine if exposed to a contagious person. The idea was that the less people moved around and interacted with one another, the less the virus could spread. And this virus loved, more than anything else, to spread. It shed gobs of contagious material for days before a person had a hint that he was infected. One attorney from upstate New York went into New York City and gave it to at least 100 people before he knew his fate. Now New York had over 450 deaths and over 26,000 confirmed cases.
The curve was still on its upward odyssey, and she imagined it was snickering and thoroughly enjoying every moment of its escapade.
There was no national order to shelter in place, so the states were in charge of their own curve.
Some states are going to burn, she thought. There were governors who just didn’t want to “look” like China, or California- those places were weak- telling people to stop making money and going to church just because of a little flu. People died from the flu all the time! The Orange Leader even said that when people die in cars we don’t shut down the roads.
Their megalomania would be their death. They would find their state, their people, dying, crucified on the curve. Hospitals would be overrun and health care workers dying right beside the unlucky: the ones that still went to church, their faith in God’s hands; the macho men and women who refused to deny people the blessing of their handshake. The Prime Minister of the UK had it. He had refused to stop shaking hands. How many of his own countrymen had he infected? Was it worth it?
One would think that if there was a god, an omniscient protector of the faithful, that he or she would protect their flock in a show of might against a microscopic villain. Now was their test. A test of faith against a perceived evil. A test of prayer, versus science. Faith, versus soap and social distancing.
Which would win?
She had always loved science. When she learned that the sun was a huge ball of fusing hydrogen, and that the atmosphere of Venus would crush a human in seconds, she was hooked. She felt a connection to the world that she supposed other people felt through a preacher or a holy book. But she had been kicked out of Sunday School when she was four. They didn’t want kids asking so many questions.
So who is right? Was there a right?
Maybe the curve would answer the question. Maybe the virus would settle the question, for eternity.
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