Do we really have to take this pandemic seriously?

"Il y a eu dans le monde autant de pestes que de guerres. Et pourtant pestes et guerres trouvent les gens toujours aussi dépourvus.... Quand une guerre éclate, les gens disent : << Ça ne durera pas, c'est trop bête. >> Et sans doute une guerre est certainement trop bête, mais cela ne l'empêche pas de durer. La bêtise insiste toujours, on s'en apercevrait si l'on ne pensait pas toujours à soi. Nos concitoyens à cet égard étaient comme tout le monde, ils pensaient à eux-mêmes, autrement dit ils étaient humanistes : ils ne croyaient pas aux fléaux. Le fléau n'est pas à la mesure de l'homme, on se dit donc que le fléau est irréel, c'est un mauvais rêve qui va passer. Mais il ne passe pas toujours et, de mauvais rêve en mauvais rêve, ce sont les hommes qui passent, et les humanistes en premier lieu, parce qu'ils n'ont pas pris leurs précautions. Nos concitoyens n'étaient pas plus coupables que d'autres, ils oubliaient d'être modestes, voilà tout, et ils pensaient que tout était encore possible pour eux, ce qui supposait que les fléaux étaient impossibles. Ils continuaient de faire des affaires, ils préparaient des voyages et ils avaient des opinions. Comment auraient-ils pensé à la peste qui supprime l'avenir, les déplacements et les discussions? Ils se croyaient libres et personne ne sera jamais libre tant qu'il y aura des fléaux."

— Albert Camus, La Peste, pp. 41-42. Éditions Gallimard, 1947, 

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Laundry in the time of coronavirus

I went to the laundromat this evening, and halfway through one of my loads the machine stopped working. I thought maybe the electronics were faulty because it seemed stuck on "16 minutes" for half an hour. But the attendant called the owner, who explained that no it was the drain. He opened the machine, pulled out my clothes dripping wet, and moved them to another machine which he set going with a key. Oh, and put an Out of Order sign on the first machine. All in all a pretty normal story — I mean, not the malfunction, but the response.

When it was all set he asked me, "Are you well equipped?" I thought maybe he meant was that all I needed, so I explained that my other load had finished just fine. Then he asked, "At home, are you well equipped with food and other things?"

Oh.

"Yes, sir, I am. Thank you for asking."

Times are a little different right now, I guess.


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My cough is back

Back in the spring of 2017 I had a chronic cough that seemed to last forever. I didn't really understand what caused it, although it seemed linked to some kind of post-nasal drip. It lasted so much longer than any cold ought to have that I blamed it on allergies ... except that it followed me wherever I went. Finally on one of my trips for work that spring I promised a co-worker that I would see a doctor as soon as I got home. She warned me she would follow up with me closely because she took promises "very seriously"; so I did go, and my doctor treated me for allergies. After a while the cough went away. I thought I had written about it here, but the only references I can find are this poem (which I added fairly recently and back-dated) and this one.

Well, it's back. I started this post On January 19, and that weekend was when I first noticed it. It hasn't gone away since. I've tried treating it the way I did three years with at best limited success: a month and a half later, it still hasn't gone away. Of course last time it lasted a lot longer than that.

Should I go to the doctor? Maybe. I probably won't.