Today followed a similar pattern to previous days. I did some work on my novel Star, read a little and we went for a long walk.
I played my Sun Recordings of Elvis while I worked. Hot stuff.
Talking to neighbours we heard of another death and someone who has been on a ventilator for three weeks. Yet mostly, life goes on around us. It is still a strange hiatus. There are no monks with carts and bells calling on us to bring out the dead so they can bury them in the lime pit.
But the virus is out there and unchecked it would kill millions and overwhelm the NHS. It is sobering to see the mass graves in Central Park and elsewhere.
Today I was in a discussion on line with friends who see it as no worse than the flu; who still cannot see what all the fuss is about. They think it’s propaganda and someone is making money out of it.
I’m a biologist. I don’t think that. This virus kills. It may only kill 1% but it kills. Worse than that it puts up to 10% of people in critical care. I don’t want to be on a ventilator!
Of course, the transmission is going to be greatest in cities where social distancing is harder.
So we are keeping isolated. I’ll let others take the risk.
I’m just hoping that all this damping down of activity will have a positive lasting impact on CO2 levels and Global Warming. We’ll see. There’s always good comes out of these things.
We are very lucky to live out here in the countryside. The weather was warm and sunny so we set out with a packed lunch for a long walk, hardly passing anybody. It is so good to be out in the green countryside. We sat and ate our sandwiches overlooking the hedges, trees and fields with the sound of birdsong and buzz of insects. Idyllic.
We felt a bit guilty though. Somewhere there were people fighting for their lives on ventilators and nurses and carers dealing with the dying.