The Age Of Corona Virus Anxiety

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The Age Of Corona Virus Anxiety

     Tom and I had been planning on traveling this coming Thursday from Columbus, Ohio to Wickenburg, Arizona to attend the quinceañera of the niece of our son-in-law, Miguel.

Miguel with our daughter Claire.

   We were quite looking forward to the trip and the event, as we'd attended the quinceañera -  the traditional Mexican "coming out" party celebrating a girl's 15th birthday - of another of Miguel's relatives in Wickenburg two years ago (see post from 5/26/2018, "La Quinceañera").

...and it was wonderful.
         But because of the coronavirus and the latest Center for Disease Control directives to people in our age group on avoiding contacting and/or spreading the disease,  I spent the better part of this past Saturday cancelling our trip, which process consisted of:
     - a couple of hours spent on the phone on hold waiting to get through to the airline whose representatives were evidently being stampeded by customers like me wanting to cancel their flights;
      - cancelling our hotel room;
     - cancelling our rental car reservation; 
     - calling my daughter and son-in-law to tell them we'd cancelled out trip;
     - contacting  the parents of La Quinceañera (as the birthday girl is also called) to give our last-minute regrets.
      But even as I went through the motions of cancelling our trip, in truth I kept second guessing myself as to whether calling off the trip was really necessary.  After all, as of Saturday there were two cases of coronavirus in Arizona, none in Wickenburg, a tiny town in the middle of the desert,

...and no cases in Ohio.
       But the CDC was calling nationwide for the elderly and those with underlying health issues not only to avoid traveling, but to stay home altogether - no movies, no restaurants, no church, no crowds, go out once - at night, when the store will be more empty - and stock on two-weeks' worth of food and then stay home. And by elderly was meant anyone over 60 years old.
      But surely that directive wasn't meant for Tom and me? I kept thinking while I bided my time on hold on the American Airlines customer service line. Sure, I'm 68 years old and Tom is 69,

...but we're healthy, we're active, we're globetrotters, I still teach piano (and plan to 'til I drop), the gym is my second home, and Tom is still involved in Boy Scouts and other community activities and can be found outside year round, either digging up the garden, shoveling the snow, or working away on some outdoor project or another.
       Surely we're not elderly.
      Elderly is my 99-and three-quarters-years old mom and her friends whom I visit every day over in the Sunrise Senior Living Community. 

      And, by the way, am I not supposed to visit my mother every day  in her dementia unit to make sure she's happy, well cared for, not lonely and has everything she needs?
       And even if Tom and I are (gasp) elderly, do we really need to stay home now, before there are even any confirmed coronavirus cases in our state? Should we not at least wait until the virus shows up before we start quarantining ourselves? And for how long must we stay inside our house? (I mean, the Spanish Flu, lasted for two years).
     Meanwhile the World Health Organization says that most of the world is probably going to contract the coronavirus but that people in my demographic are at the greatest risk of dying from it; the Center for Disease Control wants people my age to stay home;

 ...my daughter who lives in Los Angeles is urging Tom and me to quarantine ourselves starting right now;

...my daughter who's a nurse in Chicago suggests we could probably wait at least until the coronavirus arrives in Ohio;

...my son's girlfriend, grad student in Health Care Administration at Ohio State, has conjectured that the coronavirus invasion of Ohio might hit us like a tidal wave next week when all the Ohio State Students return to school after having been off and traveling around the country for their spring break;

...and Donald Trump says don't worry, it'll all go away.

    So Tom and I have been going out shopping over the past few days and we've been stocking up on a few provisions,

...and necessities.

       We decided that starting next week - when the Ohio State students return to Columbus and mayhaps bring with them the coronavirus, which will doubtless make a beeline for Tom and me and our contemporaries - we will start quarantining - or semi-quarantining - ourselves, leaving the house as seldom as possible. But we will enjoy this week as our last week to be out and about among our fellow human beings. Unless the coronavirus arrives early.
        Still, it all seems so surreal.
       Epilogue: It was announced today that the first three cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Ohio, in Cleveland, which is 140 miles from Columbus.
        It just got real.

Reference     
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/06/health/coronavirus-older-people-social-distancing/index.html

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/global-pandemic-harvard-public/2020/02/15/id/954244/