CLJ89: welcome to maskworld (did I say that already? well, there it is again)

June 14, 2020

Thinking back to the early days of the pandemic, when the novel coronavirus was a scary killer bug from China, not a 50/40/10 asymptomatic/flu/big-issue you get from not washing your hands or wearing a mask. The one moment that stands out in my head as the moment that inspired fear in all of us, was when the young whistleblower doctor died. He was something like 33 years old, the first doctor in Wuhan to speak up about the new disease, and he contracted it and died. I think this was the moment covid-19 became a juggernaut. In the popular imagination it became an unstoppable killer. And all of our reaction has been built around that image. The doctor who could do nothing.

We've learned a lot about the virus since then, although I still don't know anyone who's had it.

My guess is that's about to change.

Currently they estimate 2 to 5% of Americans have been infected. Herd immunity, if possible, might happen at 60 to 70% infected.

Talking to my brother yesterday, I brought up this feeling I have every once in a while, that we're living in a simulation. I don't really think that, really, most of the time. I wrote a book about the idea, Swimmer, and basically laugh about it once in a while. Like, "boy, this is a weird glitch in the software" when something goes sideways.

Right now, though? It's like we're getting an OS upgrade. The simulator has been pared back to its bare minimum features, running the programs called home and family, but all those other apps, traffic and travel and office have been erased, waiting for the new OS.

The question, then, is what will the new simulation look like.

So it's the "red hats" versus the "masks."

Meanwhile, in China.

Last year a client of Deb's debated installing this shed as a part of their garden makeover. The husband was for it, the wife opposed. He got his way, and installed a leather couch and peloton.

Then, pandemic. She has taken over the shed as her office, and is actively encouraging her friends to get their own. A happy ending to a stressful purchase.