Living in the time of Corona Journal, Sept.13 entry

Sunday, September 13, 2020

       It is opening day in the NFL. The Buffalo Bills will play the New York Jets today in Bills Stadium. The excitement in the area is palpable. The stadium is usually crowded to the rafters with 80,000 screaming fans, cheering on their team. Today, the stadium will be silent. The game will be played and televised. But, no fans are permitted due to restrictions from the Corona Virus. In times past, an edict like this might well have sparked a firestorm from angry fans. But, as disappointed as home town fans are, most seem to understand. The deadly virus is still in our midst, waiting patiently for the unwary to gather in large crowds without wearing masks. Then, it will strike with deadly force and carry away even more of us.

     The U.S. death toll from Corona infections nears 195,000. Medical experts now fear it will rise to over 400,000 before the New Year strikes. Over six million U.S citizens have become infected with the virus since last February. The skeletal representation, of old man death at New Year’s end, will have a particularly grim meaning this year. Phase three trials are back on in developing a vaccine. An unexpected and unexplained disruption stopped them for a time. People are indeed wary of any new vaccine and its effectiveness. The President and his supporters now openly flaunt their lack of mask wearing at huge rallies that were supposed to be banned. One angry Trump supporter shouted at news people that the Corona virus was a “Democratic Hoax.” I wonder how the 195,000 families who lost someone feel about that verbal atrocity? The Flu season is almost upon us. We will get our shots quickly. The combined impact of the Flu and Corona could be especially deadly this Fall.

      The Presidential election is now seven weeks away. It can’t come any too soon for most of us. All decisions on medical research are clouded and or tainted by political concerns. A Buffalo-area lad, Michael Caputo is in the limelight for allegedly skewing infection rate figures from the CDC so that they are more closely aligned with statements by the President. This even more muddies people’s faith in all things medical and certainly everything political.

      The stock market chugs along as if everything was a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Unemployment continues to rise. It is somewhere at the 15% level nationally and rising. Many fear that a good number of the jobs lost to closings from the Corona plague will never come back. We will have to reimagine and retool the economy for other uses, to get everyone back to work.

      In many respects, we will have to reimagine our entire economy. Many millions have been working from their homes, emptying the downtown areas of larger cities. With their absence, small businesses, restaurants and bars are closing in record numbers. Office space rentals are in the tank. The ripple effects from this change will go on and on. We are seeing the new way of living in schools and colleges across the nation. How will this affect the many small colleges competing for students? What of all the local business that depend on student spending? We will have to adapt to new ways of living and doing business if we are to survive. I wonder how everything got handled during the Spanish Flu era? It must have been much worse with that horrendous rate of death they experienced.

      The restaurants in the area are still open, but for only 25% of capacity. Ditto for area bars. Today’s game should test that limit beyond all bounds. We and most people still have a reluctance to “dine inside” at restaurants for fear of infection. That will certainly change, with the onset of cold weather, in a few short weeks. Today, we had breakfast at a. Panera Breads restaurant. It was crowded to the rafters with people. Are we getting braver or just more desperate?

     Most of the Arts and entertainment venues in WNY are still closed. We continue with our “long rides,” across the eight counties of WNY, as a form of entertainment. Yesterday, we drove north to the Lewiston gorge along the Niagara River. It was beautiful and idyllic in the warmth of the day. Sometimes, you almost forget about the Corona virus, and its deadly assault, sometimes.

     One day at a time. Go Bills!

                                    Joseph Xavier Martin

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