Post 14 - March 25, 2020
Day 14…
Today is hard. It’s cold and gray outside.
We lost Terrance McNally yesterday to complications from this virus. The man who became the powerful uplifiting voice of the last huge global pandemic. The man whose play LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! gave my husband his Broadway debut.
He’s gone.
Jackson Browne has it.
Prince Charles has it.
Friends have it.
For those of you not here in New York, who are concerned, it is not carnage in the streets here.
There have been no sightings of Kurt Russell in an eyepatch. Yet.
It is extremely quiet.
There are people outside. Walking dogs. I can see them from our windows.
Individuals. No groups.
It’s much easier to stay inside when the weather is like this and more and more people are doing that.
The Mayor is talking about closing down some of NY streets to traffic to give people more room to walk around and still maintain social distancing. I think that’s a good idea.
The estimates are that the virus in New York will spike three weeks from now.
We currently have the most cases here in NY.
One of the reasons for that is that we have, by far, done the most testing compared to other states.
So, what this really means is that we have the most KNOWN cases of this virus.
Until more testing is done, nobody can feel like they are out of it. Wherever you are.
People have to stop traveling.
We need to stay in place.
If you’re here in New York City, stay here.
It takes about 5-7 days to get the results from testing.
Even if you tested negative you could easily have gotten it in the time since you took the test.
Traveling now is selfish. It just means that you could bring it out with you.
Stay put.
Initially, we wondered whether we should stay here or go up north to Michael’s family, but that was two weeks ago. We decided to stay and that’s what we are doing because the time for that kind of choice has passed.
Do we regret the decision?
No, I don’t think so.
Even if we did, the die is cast. This is where we are.
We are home.
We are together.
We are staying put.
And that’s what we all should be doing.
There’s no definitive answer to where we should be and what we should be doing but there is something that we should all be doing.
We should be behaving in a way that is the safest for OTHERS.
We should assume we have it and act accordingly.
Stay physically away from your neighbors and friends and FaceTime with them.
For heaven’s sake, don’t cut them off - don’t cut yourself off.
Now, more than ever, we need each other - we need our community.
Let’s not inadvertently harm each other.
This is really hard and its really getting old.
It’s boring.
We have, I’m afraid, just started.
Stay strong, stay the course.
We can all do this.
Our federal government is passing stimulus packages.
The worst impulses of one side are being checked by the other. Both ways.
None of it is perfect.
There is absolutely no way to solve these issues in a way that makes everybody happy.
We elected people and they are in there fighting for us.
Stay strong.
We will get through this.
What we are doing now seemed like a science fiction thriller two weeks ago - what will this be like two weeks from now?
Who knows? We will find out soon enough.
In the meantime, stay where you are.
Hunker down.
Love each other.
Take a shower.
Get dressed
Make your bed.
Eat well.
Stay strong.
We got this.