The Rest of the World

Liz took a turn for the worse yesterday. She has been coughing all week, a bit more, it seems, that last week, which was frustrating, as it has been six or seven weeks since she first had flu symptoms. But yesterday afternoon, she felt weak, tired, and achy. And her temperature started creeping up. In the late afternoon, she had a low grade fever. After dinner, and after taking Tylenol, her temperature was a bit higher, still.

I suggested she contact her doctor. She emailed, I think. This morning, she got a virtual appointment, and talked to her doctor about the cough, the other symptoms, like headache and wheezing, and ended up with three prescriptions, two of them for antibiotics. So she is, again, being treated for a bacterial infection.

I went to the drive through to get her medicine. It worked out fine. I generally don't like drive throughs. I don't like the car idling all that time. But I don't want to risk infection with the pandemic coronavirus while Liz is sick with something else, so I drove through, and washed my hands thoroughly as soon as I got home.

Liz started her new medicines. She had tried to avoid work today, but ended up in a virtual meeting that lasted more than an hour. She seemed tired by the time it was over. She's sleeping now, two hours later. At the end of the meeting, she texted, or maybe recorded some notes on phone. Then she read for a few minutes. Then she lay down and pulled the blanket up to her chin. She was asleep in just a couple of minutes, and I have tried not to disturb her.

I expect that other illnesses are carrying on at their usual rates while everyone worries over the coronavirus. That is part of the reason for the fear of overwhelming the health care system. We don't operate at a low occupancy rate most of the time, so we can't count on every hospital bed being available for coronavirus patients. And other patients, like Liz, are at increased risk of severe disease and complications if they are exposed to the virus. That is why I am extra careful about washing and avoiding touching anything outside the house. I want Liz to get better.

The United States now has more coronavirus cases than any other country. Granted, we do have one of the larger populations, but China has more people. China took rapid action, and seems to have contained its first outbreak. China is now worried about the virus coming back from foreign sources, like the United States. I am worried that too many people in the United States aren't taking coronavirus seriously enough, and that infections will continue to spread, and eventually, most of us will be exposed. It may not matter how carefully I wash my hands every day if no one else does. Or someone else doesn't.