The pandemic comes to Wyoming

I awoke in the middle of the night and had the strange feeling that this week had been a nightmare.

But it’s real. A plague has been loosed upon the world. Like something out of an apocalyptic novel. The run-up to the post-apocalypse featured in novels and films. The Road. Dawn of the Dead. The Book of Joan. 28 Days Later. The Stand. Children of Men. Mad Max. WaterWorld. Something in us that loves these "what if" scenarios. What if a zombie plague erupted in our hometown? What if climate change turned the earth into one vast ocean? What if a medical experiment goes awry and wipes out most of the population except characters imagined by Stephen King?

But the Coronavirus is real life. It looks mean and nasty in artist’s renderings. A sphere with spiky red nodules. Once it’s inside your body, it plants itself in your lung tissue and begins replicating in your body’s healthy cells until it takes over and shuts down your systems.  What if these microscopic orbs were human-sized? They might be almost comical. Zombies might even laugh at them. Its lethality depends upon its miniscule size. It allows it to migrate into our nasal passages and mouths and start its dirty work. It’s brand new and we have neither antibodies nor vaccines.

No wonder I’m awake at 3 a.m.

I’m in the high-risk zone. I’m 69 and a cardiac patient. My wife Chris is 64 and a diabetic. The virus makes quick work of those over 60 with chronic medical conditions. So we hunker down and survey the fridge and pantry to see if we can hold out until the Albertson’s trucks make their next deliveries. And toilet paper? Go figure.

I've been reading about the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918-1919. Research for my novel set in 1919. As many U.S. soldiers died from the flu as they did in combat in WWI. Experts estimate that up to 100 million worldwide died. Young people were hit hard, just the opposite of what we see now. Katherine Anne Porter may have written the best fiction on the pandemic with "Pale Horse, Pale Rider," a novella or, if you prefer, a long short story. 

Wyomingites should take a look at the Wyoming Department of Health’s Epidemiology Unit COVID-19 page. Good info and guidance there.