The Plague Year

The Plague Year

Adult nonfiction
"For most people, including politicians, the threat in February
still appeared small. More than a month had passed between the first
confirmed case in the United States and the first known death. 'It's
going to disappear,' President Trump promised. 'One day, it's like a
miracle, it will disappear.'"
By now we all know it didn't.
February 2020 feels like my last month of lost innocence. It's
hard to believe that I was focussed on school, work, friends,
commuting, building a relationship with my then new cat, Tobago,
keeping up with election news, and scrambling for time to keep up with
cooking, laundry, and dishes. It was still weeks before my school
would go online and my dining job would be gone with the wind.
Do you remember when your life fell apart last year? For me it
was the middle of March--those two days between when UMaine decided to
go remote and when I took the bus home for the last time. I lost a
semester from not being tech savvy enough for the switch. (I was
surprised how many people did. I did go on to ace fall and spring
20-21.) But the most heart breaking aspect was saying goodbye to
beloved school and work friends, having no idea if I'd ever see them
again. I can clearly remember the looks on their dear faces as they
urged me to take care of myself.
Uncertain was one of the words I'd use to describe 2020 and the
start of 2021. Information changed almost daily. And everyday
decisions felt like equations with information missing. When I went
for a check up and flu shot in October my NP noticed a cyst had
started changing color and recommended getting it biopsied. Only we
were either into or about to go into a spike. Every nightly news told
about hundreds of new cases. I was in the demographic most likely to
be hit hard. So medical places were not where I wanted to be. Not to
mention that in the unlikely event I got bad news there would be
nothing I could have done about it because operations were being
cancelled right and left.
I found reading Lawrence Wright's The Plague Year: America In
The Time Of COVID to be a fascinating and slightly surreal
experience. It was like taking a zoom lens to the past little over a
year--seeing the larger picture overlaying the day to day uncertainty.
It also gives the backstory most of us didn't have access to.
Lawrence gives us a picture of all the things that did go wrong
which were legion. The whole world lost weeks of response time
because China maintained a face saving denial, working to silence
doctors who suspected the mystery illness had reached the point of
human to human transmission. America was not prepared despite
multiple warnings of a looming pandemic. We didn't even have enough
protective equipment for medical professional. (Recall the requests
for everyone with a sewing machine to start making masks?) Rather than
coordinating a focused national acquisition of these needful things
Trump told the states, good luck with that. You're on your own.
And then there was all this protest against common sense basic
scientifically proven to be effective steps like mask wearing and
socially distancing--all empowered by the denier-in-chief, even when
he himself became one of the COVID statistics.
"In part because of the president's courtship of the virus,
millions of people followed his example, giving the pandemic access to
new communities, infecting new families, endangering health care
workers, prolonging unemployment, sabotaging efforts to open the
economy, and causing untold numbers of people to die."
Lawrence also tells us about the heroes of the battle,
particularly the governors who didn't succomb to pressure from all
sides and did the right thing and medical professionsals who risked
all to save fellow humans and stem the spread of a deadly disease. He
brings the most important players in the grim drama (Like Anthony
Fauci) to life as complex humans. He gives us back story on the many
aspects of the pandemic. And he shines a light on the uglier aspects
of our nation's experience such as the huge racial differences in
morbidity and mortality.
As happy as many of us are that it feels like we're turning the
corner, we aren't out of the woods. And, in a world with climate
change and quickly decreasing barriers between humans and species
potentially harboring illnesses capable of making the leap to us,
it's only a matter of time before an ugly sequel. We can't count on
someone else making advance preparations for harm mitigation. We all
have to work to secure our homes, schools, work places, and
communities and demand that our leaders do their part. There's a lot
of useful information in The Plague Year that can help us ask the
right questions and take the right steps. So I think most of us
should read, discuss, and act on it.
Our lives and those of our children may hinge on what we do or
fail to do now.
On a purrrsonal note, Orono's outdoor concerts are back after a year
long pandemic hiatus. Local artists entertaining local people. The
concerts happen at the same time at commumity garden which is nothing
less than fabulous! Yesterday I had fun gardening and brought home
beet greens for Eugene and lettuce for me.
Earlier in the day Emily and her lovely daughter Stuart stopped by.
Emily gave me bananas just right for baking banana bread, molasses and
Cool Whip to make Eugene a molasses cake, and cherries and gourmet
chocolates for me. Stuart had made up a pink cat from a kit I'd
bought at Goodwill and realized I probably wouldn't have time for.
It's not only adorable but now reminds me of a very special person.
(Jules)
Stuart came by to see me. She is my friend. (Tobago)
Great big shouts go out to Emily, Stuart, the garden crew, the
musicians, and all the people who are getting vaccinated.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway



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