Keep Calm: Thoughts on Coronavirus

This is one of my favorite mugs. I'm a major anglophile and I love Downton Abbey. But I chose it today because I think a reminder to stay calm needs to be sent out to everyone.

Panic is everywhere. Schools are closed, sporting events are cancelled...even Disney World has closed. Toilet paper is scarce and grocery stores look like a blizzard is about to come through. With every passing moment, there seems to be some new item about coronavirus out there. If I hear the words "an abundance of caution" again, I might scream.

With everything I keep seeing and hearing, I expected this morning to be quiet as I sat on my deck. However, I heard cars whizzing by, a power tool somewhere and people were out walking as if nothing was going on. Maybe I'm just more aware of the noise because I was expecting so much quiet but it seemed noisier to me than normal. It was a nice reminder that there is still life out there.

Some of the things I am hearing about coronavirus sound pretty frightening. For example, here in Georgia, they have sectioned off part of a state park for isolating people with coronavirus that can't self-quarantine. When I first read that, it sounded insanely scary. Now we're sending sick people into the woods so they can't harm others! Entire school districts are closing "until further notice". There are few phrases that sound as ominous as "until further notice". However, there aren't very many people in the woods and they are only there because they have living situations that prevent them from doing self-quarantine properly. We are not, by far, sending everyone with coronavirus to the woods. And "until further notice" simply means the school district isn't sure when they'll re-open but they are monitoring the situation and will let you know when they can re-open. That's just a lot of words to use in in alert.

Heck, my church and several others are closed and are live streaming their services. When I mentioned this at work yesterday, my boss laughed and made a crack about having a lack of faith. I can certainly see where he and others might think so but I don't think that's what's going on here. Some people think faith is believing God is jumping in front of every bullet so you won't be harmed. Really, it's about believing God is always with you to lead you through even the worst bullet wounds and you're never suffering without a purpose.

All of these things are happening because of that "abundance of caution" I mentioned earlier but it still sounds scary. People are blaming the media for reporting too much of the scary stuff. Maybe that's true but then I pose these questions: What is too much? What should the media not be reporting? Would we be happy if the media wasn't reporting something or would we accuse them of withholding life-saving information? What is it that you don't want to know?

The problem is that panic breeds panic. People jump to conclusions when they hear the scary things and start acting irrationally, like buying all the toilet paper a store has for an illness not known to give you the runs. Then people panic because there's no toilet paper. Some people are panicking simply because other people are panicking. It's extremely difficult to be in a room full of panicky people and not start to do so yourself. 

To all of this, I say "Keep Calm". Only when your mind and spirit are calm can you make the best decisions. Look at the facts with a clear head. Despite what you may have heard, life is still going on and there are still things to do. Don't be so scared of coronavirus that you lock your-perfectly-healthy-self inside and shiver in the dark. Calm down so you can make the best choice for your situation.

To be clear, I am not saying "Don't be cautious." Please be cautious. Wash your hands, stay home if you're sick, etc. Don't put yourself needlessly in harm's way. Just don't let panic make the decision for you.