March 11, 2020
Hey, a seat! With Covid-19 taking more events off the calendar every day, with schools closing left and right, and with working from home or flat out banging in sick being encouraged by the authorities, the chances of finding a seat on the subway shot way up this week. Mayor De Blasio and other officials have suggested that New Yorkers stagger their work hours or just stagger over to their sofa and work from home. Federal spokespeople have warned us away from planes, trains, and especially from cruise ships. And directed us to avoid large gatherings: the lullaby of Broadway’s now a whisper stream of rumors – steeply discounted tickets already out there and maybe even some closings soon.
What the heck is going on in this city that never sleeps? It’s starting to look like everyone’s home taking a nap. On the national campaign trail the two remaining Democratic hopefuls have started to cancel rallies, although President Trump has so far not let a ‘hoax’ pandemic alter his rally routine. You don’t have to be (an allegedly) drunk Alex Jones to suspect there’s more going on here than meets the eye. The entire country of Italy‘s on travel lockdown for Pete’s sake!
Part of the explanation is something called ‘social distancing.’ It sounds like a bloodless sociology term describing how mean girls viciously shun a nerdy junior high classmate, but it’s more like the shun’s going the other way: individuals avoiding larger groups. As a public health measure, it’s intended to help contain an epidemic and/or delay its peak, and maybe even buy enough time to develop a vaccine. It’s thought to slow the spread of an outbreak and reduce mortality – although there haven’t been any controlled studies to prove it works, for obvious reasons. But many epidemiology experts think it’s worth a try anyhow, especially since there aren’t any drugs to prevent or cure Covid-19 yet.
Voluntary home quarantine: CDC might recommend voluntary home quarantine of exposed household members as a personal protective measure during severe, very severe, or extreme influenza pandemics in combination with other personal protective measures such as respiratory etiquette and hand hygiene.
There’s already been a number of mentions of ‘voluntary home quarantine‘ (usually paired with the only slightly reassuring ‘abundance of caution‘ modifier) in pandemic news reporting. Several lawmakers have submitted themselves to it, out of a you-know-what, to carry on their Congressional duties from home. Ominously, the CDC guidance presumes ‘severe, very severe, or extreme’ pandemics (the recs refer to influenza, not novel corona virus, although both are transmitted in similar ways). Can we infer then that this outbreak is already on the severe to extreme continuum? Should we prepare for the end of the world as we know it? Are we all gonna die? (the manager at a local supermarket answered ‘yes!‘ when asked by the Gazette). Or will it ‘go away in April, with the heat‘?
