Stir crazy......and how I plan to avoid it

Well, well, well.  This Coronavirus outbreak is a bit of a bugger.  Coming out of nowhere - or at least China (unless you subscribe to the conspiracy theories about it being planted there by the CIA, with or without the assistance of aliens and/or the Lizard People and/or the Illuminati (delete as you like) - it's playing havoc with Living on Planet Earth.  All joking to one side, the numbers of infections and deaths are truly horrific, and the chaos being caused to businesses and sports and especially people's lives by the very necessary safety measures being put in place by governments everywhere are likely to change the way we all live for years to come.  It's still way too early to have any real idea how long this crisis is likely to last, and equally impossible to really make any meaningful predictions about what fallout actually will come about.  I'm not even going to try!

But there are some things we do know. Despite what very many people are saying, it is NOT seasonal flu.  I have lost count of the number of social media posts I've seen maintaining it is just that, and providing a multitude a graphics to prove it.  Most of these show that "seasonal flu" (I'm still not quite sure where that expression comes from - flu is a year-round ailment, surely?) kills many more people every year than COVID-19 has so far.  Well, yes - the key words here are "so far" - the graphics invariably show numbers from a couple of years ago, with the latest COVID figure squeezed in somewhere near the bottom.  Quite how that can be considered proof of anything, when the COVID figures cover a period of less than three months as a comparison against a full-year's numbers for everything else, is beyond me.  Apart from an ability to doctor graphs obtained from the internet to suit a personal narrative, that is....

The point is this is a completely new strain of coronavirus. Thus there is as yet NO CURE.  Indeed there are many things still not clear about it that we may need to understand before a safe vaccine can be created.  How the virus reacts to hotter weather is still unclear, for instance.  It started in a cold China, and the countries worst affected at present (beyond China itself) are mainly European (in particular Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) where the weather remains relatively cool.  Granted, there are outbreaks in hotter African and South American countries, and all American states including Hawaii, Florida and California (where temperatures are always hotter) - but also Alaska, where it is still bitterly cold.  This would appear to suggest that the virus is not affected much by temperature extremes, so anyone hoping it will all die down with summer are way wide of the mark.. Best guesstimates from government spokespersons in various locations and the World Health Organization all suggest a vaccine is unlikely to be available for wide use for at least another 18 months.

We also know that many of the "cures" being bandied about on social media are complete nonsense, and in many cases dangerous nonsense.  Gargling with bleach is unlikely to do anything other than burn your throat out.  Swallowing solutions of liquid silver will do no more than cause kidney damage, seizures and skin discolouration (to blue apparently).  Eating loads of garlic will not cure coronavirus but as part of a healthy diet may help you stay fitter and, critically, your immune system remain stronger.   Certainly the toothpaste and vitamin supplements that loony American conspiracy theorist, alt-Right campaigner and Trump supporter Alex Jones is flogging at extortionate prices "exclusively" on his web-site will do nothing except boost his bank balance with the money received from the morons who believe his tripe and part with their hard earned readies.

With so much uncertainty around, the advice to stay indoors in so-called self isolation and practice social distancing (which seems to mean staying at least a couple of metres away from other people in check-out lines and avoiding crowds) seems to me prudent.  Quite how long this practice is likely to be required is anyone's guess - in my view, probably months.  Things may quieten down in the summer, in which case such measures may be relaxed - but what if there is a resurgence in the number of infections, as has been suggested by the latest Chinese figures?  As a 67 year old man with what is considered a pre-existing health condition (I had whooping cough in childhood and a bout of seasonal flu two years ago caused it to re-surface, meaning I am now more prone to breathing issues if I catch a cold) place me firmly in the highest risk profile.  So self isolation it is.  With my kids off-school and my wife at home too, it's not quite solitary confinement, but if any one of them catch a cold or a cough, then for me it will become exactly that.

With that in mind, I've just spent a week indoors, thinking through what I need to do if that happens.  Last Wednesday I went to a crowded supermarket for supplies, and until today that was my last step outdoors.  It's been pleasant enough, especially with my family here too, but I have to say it has become increasingly stressful (the Samsung Health app on my mobile tells me that - I could feel it anyway).  Part of the problem is we live in a small flat, with three rooms (not counting the bathroom) - a lounge and two bedrooms.  So there is little space to find a bit of privacy and peace and quiet - it will become easier with warmer weather when I can sit on the balcony.  But no matter how patient we are, no matter how much we love each other (and we do - a lot!), just sometimes that is precisely what we do need.  There is normally a queue for the bathroom....

So how am I planning to prevent becoming stir crazy?  So far I haven't taken any special measures at all.  But now, I plan to do the following:

• I am avoiding television news, since it's wall to wall coronavirus (and understandably so).  And not just television news - I'm cutting down on perusing the online versions of the BBC and CNN news sites, the Guardian Online newspaper and the curated news apps on Google and Windows.  There is nowhere safe, not even the Sports sections.
• I am also cutting back on social media.  I don't use it a lot, to be honest - Facebook, to stay in touch with family and friends around the world, and Linked In to do likewise with my old business friends and colleagues.  Tripe like Twitter and Instagram and TikTok and the rest I simply don't understand or use anyway.  Facebook is and always has been the Home of Fake News, so I always take any "news" item on there with a huge pinch of salt.  Linked In, sadly, is equally obsessed with the crisis, particularly with its effect on business (as you would expect from a business networking site), but the number of posts complaining about the damage being done to economies and businesses and ignoring the real human tragedies are becoming depressingly frequent now.
• I've made sure I have a good library to dip into.  I read a lot in any case so always have a shelf full of unread books (my backlog).  I've added  to it by digging out some old favourites to re-read, including some anthologies (the complete Evelyn Waugh, for instance) and some volumes of short stories.  There's definitely enough to keep me occupied for months - well, maybe three - before I need to risk a trip to a bookshop.
• I've made sure all my internet radio apps are working properly so I have something to listen to (I can always mute the news bulletins).  And there is YouTube.
• I'm trying to find other things to do - ironing and hoovering for instance, to give my wife a break, cooking for the same reason.  I'm also allotting time every day to shut myself in the bedroom and write - this Blog is the result of the process.  There are a couple of old side projects to work on as well - my long planned travel book and perhaps another go at the memoir, and even publishing my bloody book finally....
• We have plenty of board games to play, as a family.  The view from our window (5th floor) is pleasant enough, over a busy street, and allows me to gaze at nothing very much while I try to wake up my Muse.
• I also considered trying to make some plans for when this is all past, but it doesn't seem worth it yet, given the continuing uncertainty.  It might be depressing anyway, the longer the uncertainty lasts.  I'll do it later, when the end is in sight.

Hopefully all of that will protect my sanity, at least for a while.  Whether it will do the trick for several months remains to be seen - but you can guarantee I'll write about it here.....

Over to you, Dear Reader - any other bright ideas?  How are you coping with the prospect or reality of self-isolating?  I'd love you hear from you....Comment Costs Nothing.