Before I begin, let’s start by saying that I’m pulling this out of thin air as a way to keep my sanity. There’s no rule book or guide or whatever that I’m pulling this from.
We cool? Alright, let’s do this.
To survive, you need to keep in your head that you are not safe. Yes, being complacent about safety will get you killed. Well, in this pandemic’s case, it will get you infected.
Ever watched a zombie movie where the characters aren’t too careful with what they were doing, and ended up on the other side of a zombie’s bite? Well, this is sort of based on that. Going off on our zombie analogy, imagine going in a room full of dead bodies. Why are you in here? For reasons. Let’s move on.
Any moment, one of these dead bodies can get up and bite you. Do you know which? Nope. Unless you can see that the head’s been blown or cut off their body, assume that one of these corpses can join the undead and eat your brains or whatever. Don’t be doing anything stupid such as prodding the bodies for supplies or things. You might get the last jump-scare of your life.
I am running that same mindset on my pandemic survival strategy. If you want to survive this, think that everyone is infected and you might get one, too, if you aren’t careful.
“Oh, come on,” you say. “Bob or Mike can’t be infected. They’re careful, too.”
So, off you went drinking with your buddies… And the next thing you know, you and your whole friends group are sharing a quarantine facility.
How can I be so sure? I ain’t.
And that’s the big issue with this crisis. We can’t be sure that the one we’re talking to ain’t a carrier. Unlike the zombie apocalypse analogy, we know that they are zombies because they are dead, walking about and out to kill us.
“They got no symptoms so they’re safe,” you say. Ever heard of the term “Asymptomatic”?
” Yeah, well, they can’t transmit the disease, right?” Are you sure about that?
Frankly, I have not been reading up on studies and things about this virus, so I’m probably as clueless as you as to transmission and things. But I do remember reading about a study that suggests that it might be airborne, and may spread farther than the required social distancing suggests.
Anyway, my point here is that you can never be too careful. The friends and family members that you are with may have encountered an infected in their daily routine.
So, that’s the mindset that I am on at the moment – “Everyone is infected.”
If I am thinking that, then I have to do everything I can to prevent myself from being infected. That includes personal protection such as face masks and shields, staying away from large groups of people and avoiding social interaction.
Which means what normally would be a mundane task – such as buying groceries, or going to the bank, becomes a survival adventure.
There’s the regular check of equipment and protection, as well as making sure that I got disinfectant on me. Then there’s also being aware of your surroundings and making sure you don’t wander into a tightly-packed group of people.
It ain’t fun, and being on a heightened sense of alertness can be taxing.
I really can’t wait for this health crisis to be over. Remember when crossing the street was the most we worry about… Well, there’s also wandering in dark alleyways… man, this paranoia is starting to get to me, eh?
I hope you are all doing fine, and I hope you have a nice day.
Later.
Jomz Ojeda’s Blog 