COVID-19

Fandango’s Provocative Question #62

Fandango18 Comments

FPQWelcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.

By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

Over the past few weeks, each of us has had to make some sacrifices due to the global coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic. Many of us have had to make adjustments to how we go about our daily lives. My provocative question this week is simply this:

What activities have you cut from your life since this pandemic started that you DON’T really miss?

If you choose to participate, write a post with your response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments. But remember to check to confirm that your pingback or your link shows up in the comments.

SoCS — I Need Some Welcome News

Fandango22 Comments

3E76617D-7297-4862-9514-B49BDDD0E47CI don’t know about you, but I’d welcome some welcome news. All I read, all I hear, and all I see is bad news. And just when I think it can’t get any worse, it does.

Last month my wife and I moved from San Francisco to a suburb about 35 miles east of the city so that we could be geographically closer to our son and his wife who are welcoming a baby boy into the world in late May. But we’ve only seen them once since we moved here. With this whole COVID-19 situation, we are having to resort to video chats to see them.

We have a lovely welcome mat, much like the one pictured at the top of this post, outside of our front door. But I’ll be damned if anyone is welcome to step into my house these days. I won’t even open my door for someone who knocks or rings the doorbell. It’s just too risky. So I talk to them through the door or use my video doorbell to tell them to go away.

I used to welcome going to the mailbox and retrieving the mail, but I just read an article with some very unwelcome news. The article stated that experts are saying coronavirus could be transferred through mail delivery by sick employees. Postal workers, the article continued, are complaining that the USPS isn’t doing much to keep them or their customers safe.

A number of mail carriers said they have been pressured to stay on their routes despite showing symptoms of COVID-19. Others said that they’ve been given little or no hand sanitizer even though they have limited opportunities to wash their hands on their routes.

Medical providers are running short of personal protective equipment (PPE), hospitals are running short of respirators, and many experts are predicting that the demand for acute care hospital beds will far exceed the supply. The death toll due to this virus is increasing exponentially in many cities and states and the response from Donald Trump and the federal government has been woefully inadequate.

And I still haven’t found any goddam toilet paper in any of the local grocery stores or pharmacies. I did see this little quip that I thought was kind of funny, but in an unwelcome way.491983F3-D44A-477A-95A7-92518AF39400I need some welcome news. Do any of you have any welcome news you can share with me? Please!

Written for today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt from Linda G. Hill. Linda has asked us to use the word “welcome” any way we’d like. I’m sorry to have used the word in a way I don’t particularly like and in a very unwelcome way.

Damn You, Coronavirus!

Fandango35 Comments

As a septuagenarian, which makes me a member of a high risk group, I have been very diligent when it comes to dealing with the threat of the coronavirus pandemic. I wash my hands for 20 seconds throughout the day. I avoid going anywhere where large crowds may congregate. I give fist bumps rather than hand shakes when I meet and greet other people. I maintain a proper degree of “social distance” between myself and others.

So imagine my shock and dismay today when I walked into my local Safeway and saw this:8FEF7C83-D063-4D85-8CE7-2C7046E02853Yes, that’s right. Not a single pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be found. Not even my beloved Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream!

Okay, a run on toilet paper is one thing. Price gouging on hand sanitizers is another thing. A shortage of face masks, sure. But a run on Ben & Jerry’s ice cream? WTF?

That’s the straw that broke the camel’s back. I’m going to call Mike Pence and tattle on you, COVID-19. You’ll be sorry.