Massachusetts & Covid-19

In the interest of self-quarantining, self-isolating and social distancing – and all the craziness this damn coronavirus requires – I send you this report from Massachusetts.

I admit I was caught flat-footed about this epidemic/pandemic two weeks ago due to a meeting and probably because I wasn’t paying much attention to Covid-19.  

After the meeting, I went to Shaw’s, the local grocer.  It was mobbed.  The entire town – population about 13,000 – was in a shark-like frenzy, snapping up whatever it could, from paper towels to toilet paper to cleaning supplies, especially sanitizing hand wipes.  It’s nearly out of eggs, and there was a substantial run on meat and pasta.

Up until yesterday, it was the same at every store – no toilet paper or paper towels and damn few cleaning supplies, even at Costco.  I was surprised to discover the local Target was out of printer paper.  So I went to Wal-Mart, where I found two boxes – totaling 10,000 sheets – for $60.00.  

There was a bright spot, however.  Wegman’s, another grocer, was selling paper towels and toilet paper on Friday.  To be sure, they put limits on how much customers could buy.  I snatched up one of each.

1984 or Ray Bradbury?

What’s worrisome is how much behavior has changed.  Several people wear surgical masks.  Where they once acknowledged one another with a friendly greeting, now it’s about avoidance in the aisles.  They scoot away, like sand crabs on a beach.

The state’s public K – 12 schools are closed until at least May 4 but, as I see it, the kids won’t see the inside of a classroom until late August or early September.  There’s some attempt at digital schooling but it’s limited to homework assignments sent via email.  There’s no such thing as video conferencing a class but word now is that's about to change.  I fear that high school graduation for many, including my sons, will be delayed by a year, maybe longer.

At least the liquor stores are open.  They’re deemed an “essential business” by the state’s government.  Although I'm suspicious about that.  I think state officials want us so drunk we won’t notice what they’re doing.

On Saturday, I noticed a blinking sign outside a town’s fire and police department.  It blinked, “Why are you out?” followed by “Go home.”

How is one supposed to take that message, especially if they work at a grocery store?  Or they own a liquor store?  Or, like a local baker, are holding onto to dear life to survive this crisis?

Will the fire and police department put them on their payroll or fund their businesses?

I'm also noticing civil disobedience.

A high school athletic field near me was closed in the middle of last week.  The week prior, it was filled with high school kids, parents and others as a place to stay in shape.  Then, it was shut down.  On Thursday and Friday, sunny days with temperatures in the 60s, a few people returned – despite the town’s order.  

Better yet, while driving on a house-lined street last Thursday, I saw a man, appearing to be in his 60s, sitting on a lawn chair in his driveway sipping a martini.  He was doing the same on Friday.  It seemed to be his way of telling the establishment to shove it. 

Those of us wishing to take a walk are likely to become Leonard Mead in Ray Bradbury’s “The Pedestrian.”  The police will arrest us because all we want to do is live.

Our Obsession with Tom Brady

If there’s one story I’m tired of reading, it’s Tom Brady, quarterback extraordinaire.  If the drama about his future wasn’t bad enough, Patriot fans were worse.

They were addicted to this story, obsessing over every word and every report, whether it was from ESPN, a newspaper, or some other source that seemed to have the goods on the man and his coach, Bill Belichick.

The question that’s answered only speculatively – why would a six-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback – a league record – who appears to be in an excellent partnership with his coach, leave for a team in the basement?

As the father of two sullen teenage boys, I can tell you the last thing they want is advice.  Like a lot of kids, they see their old man as not just antiquated but extinct.

  

They only need their emancipation so they can show that every idea I provided, every lesson I taught and every philosophy I said will make them successful is wrong if not wholly false.

Brady’s relationship with Coach Belichick is likely the longest one he’s had since growing up with his father.  After 20 years – about the same amount of time kids are home full-time – it’s time to unshackle the chains.

Of course, that doesn’t mean the move to Bruce Arians, Tampa Bay’s head coach, will be seamless.  His new quarterback comes with a few demons, the largest being Coach Belichick, who, unlike his former protégé, has more Super Bowl victories than he does.  Eight to Tom’s six.

Will Tom be as good a student of Arians’ game as he was of Belichick’s?  Will he call an audible when given a direct order?  Will he fight Arians over who’s best-suited to lead the team?  In solving their quarterback problems, did Tampa Bay do the one thing the Chinese fret over – create another problem?  Arians should be concerned.

Then there’s the question of why a relatively healthy man, about to be 43, continues to put his physical well-being at risk?  Seriously, what is there left to do?  His immortality is assured.

Like a lot of married men, he’s got a career wife.  The word is she’s worth nearly $500 million, making Tom’s NFL multimillion-dollar earnings look like pennies.  This is a man not so much competing for another Super Bowl ring as a man fighting for his dignity.  

In a day and age when we obsess over washing our hands and create new and deceiving Orwellian terms like “social distancing,” the fact that we obsess over questions about Tom Brady, the Patriots, and Bill Belichick reminds me that our lives are empty.

Feeling Safe?

The late great comedian George Carlin was right:  If we don’t expose ourselves to viruses, we weaken our immune systems, and that’ll put us into early graves.  Or maybe it’ll just kill off wealth, the stock market, the 21st-century economy and, possibly, our freedom.

Given the threat in the atmosphere today – a Chinese-born disease that’s infected more than 200,000 around the globe (and keeps rising) and killed more than 9,000 (and growing) but also seen more than 85,000 (and rising) recover from it – Carlin’s got a point.

Once President Trump and the country’s governors declared a “state of emergency,” they inflamed panic, unleashing a jittery public on grocery stores and pharmacies, seeing products no one never imagined being in such high demand – sanitizing hand wipes, hydrogen peroxide, toilet paper and paper towels – sell out in hours, if not minutes.

Schools are closed, and the government shut down many businesses – some of them, like bars and restaurants, the most vulnerable to any economic disruption – all in the name of safety.  I wonder how “safe” the unemployed are feeling.  Those on the lower end of the pay scale – restaurant, bar and daycare workers – are the “safest.”

Joining the panic are large companies, like Apple, that closed all its stores outside of China for two weeks while other firms told staff to work from home.  Meanwhile, churches and other houses of worship told their congregations to dial up the Good Lord from home.

And now comes a new, vile and deceiving Orwellian term – “social distancing,” although according to Merriam-Webster it’s been around since 2003.  Still, you can’t be social yet be distant.  At least if you operate in the real world, not that false party at Facebook.

And word is coming forth that gun sales are increasing – big time! – because Americans are scared.  

The biggest insult being pawned on us mere citizens, taxpayers if you prefer, and the unemployed, are the dates schools and some businesses, like gyms, are expected to reopen.  They’re arbitrary, but they’ll convince far too many that the disease that once threatened their lives is contained.

In other words, the only thing government, businesses, school, and religious leaders have done is provide us with a false sense of security.  Or should I say, lied?

By late April or early May, we’ll see many more infected with some strain of the coronavirus, and tragically, many more deaths, perhaps a few due to gunshot wounds, I predict.  All because the one message the government needed to deliver was unsaid – take responsibility and be careful.

Feeling safe?