People Stopped Petting My Dog!

OWN VOICE ARTICLE.  Trotsky** is looking lonely.

He’s my American Lab, a human trapped in black fur, and he likes meeting and greeting people. Of late, however,people have stopped petting my dog! Which is a mixed blessing. For me, it helps because while dogs can’t catch CV-19, it could be passed on via their fur. So, by not petting him, we’re keeping each other safe. On the other hand, he doesn’t understand what he did wrong. People used to be so friendly.

While we ?patiently? await our government developing the health care and societal responses which worked in Asia (< worth listening to), there are a few things we can do:

What Can We Do?

1. Weed that garden
2. All those home repairs you deferred…
3. Update your Will and/or Living Trust
4. Learn a new language
5. Start your Home Exercise Program
6. Not to mention all those books, or…
7. Binge-watching the shows everyone tells you should have watched.
8. Playing those games your kids always enjoyed.

How Bad Is it?

If you want to keep up with the disease, here’s the most authoritative site I’ve found: https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus

However the graphics and presentation are better here: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

and also this, which has an interactive map, along with the numbers: https://ncov2019.live/map

Is There Hope?

In a word: YES. There is good news coming, after we get past the next couple of months of bad news. Because our leaders didn’t lead and we delayed our response by two months, we’re going to see a massive spike in cases and mortality for a while. But then it should trend more accurately. In the meantime, there are plenty of companies and countries working on test kits, vaccines, and even cures. Here’s the Japanese attempt at a cure: https://www.livescience.com/flu-drug-could-treat-coronavirus.html

Here’s a survey of several different attempts: https://www.mdlinx.com/radiology/top-medical-news/article/index.cfm/?publish_dt=03-17-2020&rowNum=7621393&_rw=true&utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ajm_49664&

And a potential cure months away from confirmation, and then months more to test and produce in volume, but a necessary start, if true: https://www.erasmusmagazine.nl/en/2020/03/14/unique-discovery-in-erasmus-mc-antibody-against-corona/

And since this column is supposed to be about infrastructure, you might be concerned about your water…   Per the AWWA: “Coronaviruses are susceptible to the same disinfection conditions in community and healthcare settings as other viruses, so current disinfection conditions in wastewater treatment facilities are expected to be sufficient.” Then watch out for this: your local public works department delaying capital projects and major repairs if we customers can’t pay our bills and/or employees are increasingly absent, because they don’t have much in the way of cash reserves. I’m not saying we’re in trouble yet, but it’s worth watching as the months of isolation stretch on.

Stay tuned for the “Virtual Meeting” infrastructures expected to be put in place for MWSD, MCC, and other local government agencies.

Finally, a thought on what makes us a Civilization: ** Why that name? Not my political leaning, but my son gets to name the dogs. He named the first one Chip, because he had a chip in his ear. This one is very lanky and athletic (unlike Newfoundland Labs), with a great trot. And my son was reading a Russian history book, and Voila!