March 15, 2020: Why I Can't Talk About Anything but Coronavirus So Far

I didn't start this blog with the intention of writing specifically about Coronavirus but this is all anyone is talking about at the moment.  I really would like to talk about something else, but this is an unprecedented worldwide pandemic that my generation has never experienced.  It is everything that Y2K was supposed to be.

I don't say this as if we've never had some kind of crisis or we've never been short on supplies, but we have not witnessed public life so adversely affected.

Our cultural institutions, most notably major sporting events have been affected.

We are in the middle of March, and there is no March Madness.

The NBA has suspended its season.   ESPN is full of news about how NBA players have been helping to pay for arena workers.

All of the big soccer leagues have been canceled with the exception of Mexican league soccer and the Turkish League.  ESPN is putting news about how the 7th Tier of soccer is still playing despite Coronavirus concerns.

Yeah, 7th tier soccer in England existing in the midst of a crisis is in the news in ESPN USA soccer.  That is how much activity there isn't going on.

Local cultural institutions have canceled events/gatherings.

Disneyland...closed/.  LA Zoo, LA Observatory, recreation centers, aquariums, libraries...closed. 

Most events or gatherings of 50 or more people have been limited if not outright canceled.  It not only began when an event I signed up for at CSULB had been canceled.

There was a Compton Job Fair that I had been interested in, which was canceled.

And even if I wasn't reminded by the lack of cultural events, even when I just stepped outside and drive, we encounter things reminding us of the crisis anyway.

We see it on the highways.

We see it with the wraparound lines and full parking lots at grocery, and general stores.

At church, there were restrictions about how many people could sit down in a certain pew, and the sermon was about how we would all eventually get through. There wasn't any singing, and mass was over before we could get to communion.  The sermon was about how we needed faith in Jesus for things to pull us through...

if only...