[Kätzchen]

I am off work early tonight, due to attendance at our work campus being 70% down. People are opting to work from home (for those who can). On the drive home tonight, NPR featured local updates for our metro area and our Governor (Kate Brown) has signed off on closing schools for the next two weeks, which leaves thousands of kids without meals that they would ordinarily get at school. We have a stark divide between the people who are high income earners vs the people who barely get by (living pay check to pay check, in some cases it's more dire).

I also read, moments ago, that the first case of Co-vid 19 is bench marked to have appeared on November 17th of last fall (Patient Zero). So here it is, nearly six months later and it's almost like it's a "little too late" (…).

It's good that Nancy Pelosi has a bill ready to pass that will provide two weeks of paid time off, for those who have been affected by being exposed or who actually have been diagnosed (It's not clear to me, the parameters of help), but it's a start and I hope it helps spur a more vigilant effort on correcting the Medical Industry and other important aspects of what happens to people when you have a massive health crisis that FMLA just doesn't seem to help (etc).

I am being super vigilant with sanitation practices and being aware of risks that might not be so obvious to the careful eye.

All I can think of is that this epidemic is an epidemic that will topple not only anybody's life but across the entire spectrum of daily life activities (earning a living, one's health, etc).

Oh, and I got a call from my therapist's office and the CEO of the clinic personally called each participant receiving therapy at the clinic I go to and they've cancelled appointments for the next two weeks... so they can self quarantine, clean the entire building, etc. Social distancing - is what I think they are advocating. Putting as much distance between oneself and any risk or exposure.

I went by Trader Joes this morning to pick up a salad for my lunch and waited more than 30 minutes to check out my single item. People ahead of me and in lanes nearby? They were buying groceries to the tune of over $500 or more (I heard one cashier voice an amount of over $1K). It was a chaotic crisis scene at that store this morning. And everyone was quiet. Patiently waiting their turn to be checked out. I can't even imagine what it was like at a nearby Walmart or The Dollar Store. One store patron was retelling how there was an actual fight at the Dollar Store over antiseptic hand gel bottles, only four were left.