Book published "Living in the time of Corona Virus"

Mes amie,

                By posting regular reports of life during two years of Corona, I was able to compile a book about the subject. It is now available at Amazon.com

                Thanks, as always, for the support from y'all.

                JXM

          Available Now, July 2022

        (at Amazon.com in hard copy or kindle version)

       “Living in the time of Corona Virus”

                                -Joseph Xavier Martin

         371 pages- available in hard copy and Kindle form at Amazon.com

Preface

In early  March of 2020, we were visiting San Diego, enjoying the attractions and experiences of that beautiful city. We were watching the news one evening when an announcer filed a report on a Princess Cruise ship that was laying at anchor off of San Francisco.

On board the vessel, several passengers had sickened and died from an unknown illness. Many others were sickened and in need of medical care. Port authorities were reluctant to allow the vessel to dock, fearing the spread of the unknown contagion. After several rounds of negotiations, the ship was allowed to dock. Men in special contagion suits carried the dead off to delegated morgue facilities, to try and determine the source of the deadly plague. The remaining passengers were all escorted onto buses and flown to several military bases for a two-week quarantine.

It was the beginnings for us and all America of a phenomena that was to become known as the Corona Virus. The unknown viral monster, over a period of two years, would claim one million American victims and sicken many more millions. It would also sweep across the world, from its inception in Wuhan, China, and kill many more millions. During the pandemic, the stories of personal heroism are many. Medical personnel stepped up, front and center, and treated the afflicted in hospitals that soon over flowed with the sick and dying. Their heroic efforts cost many of them their lives.

As America became aware of the viral threat, I started researching the internet for the onset of similar pandemics. The last viral onslaught was the “Spanish Flu” of 1918-1920. It was a world-wide plague that killed many millions before it subsided. In the course of my research, I came across reams of statistics, the who, what and where of a nasty virus that left a trail of death and destruction across the world, one that it was not prepared for it. Treatment of viral illnesses didn’t even become a reality until the 1940’s. But, I found little narrative. I wondered how people had reacted to the plague? How had they coped with the sweeping illness? How had medical authorities dealt with the plague?

I thought then, that perhaps several decades from now, with the onset of yet another viral epidemic, people might be interested in how we had coped with the pandemic monster in our time. What were our reactions? How had our medical professionals dealt with the treatment and cure of sick people on such a large scale? 

In March, of 2020, I started writing what I labeled “Corona Reports.” It is a series of articles, that I wrote every few weeks, detailing what I knew of the pandemic surge, how people were reacting to it and what damage the viral monster wreaked during its spread. I included world-wide reactions, medical opinions formed at the time and how both our government and our populace reacted to the pandemic.

In the course of my reports there are conflicting opinions and actions that we all felt during the two-year siege. At many times all of us were just plain confused as to how we should deal with the illness. So too were our governmental professionals. In the course of all of this ordeal, one principle emerged that helped us get through the experience, “Take one day at a time.”

Slowly, through trial and error, a vaccine was developed that would fight off the scourge. Its development and application, to an entire population of 350 million Americans, is a story in itself. It was a massive effort that would eventually cost the American government and its taxpayers some $6 trillion in the fight and ensuing economic recovery. Hopefully, our experience will help those who come after us, fight off the next viral monster to sweep the world and nation.

All of us have family and friends who succumbed to the plague. Our deepest sympathy to those who lost someone. The virus changed all of us forever.

                                 -30-

                    Joseph Xavier Martin