Friday, October 21, 2016, 9:02 pm Kristina and I have been holed up in the apartment for about a week now. How fitting it is that during the month of spooks that a freaky outbreak of this deadly virus occurs. It's spreading so fast that the WHO told everyone to stay inside so as to curb the spread.
It's like a... well, I don't want to sound like a nerd, but this is a lot like a zombie apocalypse. I even mentioned that to Kristina and she said, “Ew, don't make me think of zombies right now. They're scary.” It's just that exactly two years ago I read World War Z and that really got me interested in the zombie genre. I've read dozens of zombie books since then. But I'm avoiding them right now. Even though the Zombie Survival Guide actually has some decent survival advice, I'm not counting on it to save my life. Besides, we have bigger fish to fry than reading books (especially since that's a waste of daylight).
Now that things have settled down, I can write what happened at the start of this fiasco (and you can refer to my previous journal entries to find what's happened in between):
Kristina and I were driving home from Kim and Ned's to walk the dogs in our neighborhood. We're technically not allowed to do that, but Kristina does it anyway. Turned out to be a good thing. Dogs are great to have in a crisis—born out by World War Z (sorry, I'm still a zombie nerd).
So as soon as we pull in, we hear on KSL, then the rest of the radio stations, to self-quarantine in our homes. The virus--”the flyer,” they're calling it—is spreading at an alarming rate, and the WHO is still confused about what this virus is---they're not even sure it's a virus (“ virus-like strain” is what the news reports say) or how it is transmitted. IT's clear that it's airborne and can be transmitted through physical contact, but that doesn't account for all the cases. All they know is that it appears to stop with sedentary people. That's all they know.
They want to minimize risk to rescue personnel, especially since they can easily quicken the spread if they get infected.
They're using experimental delivery droids to deliver supplies (food, water, light sources, etc.) but it's slow going because it is new, untested, and overwhelmed, not to mention that each person needs different things.
I can see the wisdom of emergency preparedness. The prophets were right—be prepared!
Fortunately I'm a Boy Scout that is always prepared for an emergency. I have several dried emergency rations, bottled water, hand crank radio/flashlight. Some of it's kind of old, so Kristina lets me eat that while she eats the fresh groceries left over from last week's shopping.
A few more details:
- no electricity. Employees at the power plants can't go to work. We've conserved our cell phones. Just a few phone calls and texts to check in with family and that's it.
- A news report comes on 102.7 FM, KSL, every hour on the hour. They're pretty repetitive. So really it's only worth tuning in at 9, 12, AND 6. SAME SCHEDULE ON TV, if one can manage to turn on a television set. Radio is easiest to power since mine is handcrank. The car radio works, but we try to conserve that battery, too, and we may need the gas when we can get moving. And even just going out to the car is risky for us to catch the virus.News stations are all that's on.
- We occupy ourselves by organizing our apartment and trying to solve this puzzle like everyone else. We also play Racko, Go Fish, and War.
- Essential services have backup generators. For example, news media, community leaders, health officials, etc.
- We're going nuts in here. I'm anxious for when we get the greenlight to leave our houses. More importantly, when in God's name will a cure be devised?
- At night, this 100 hours “ candle” (wick, liquid fuel in plastic container) to do stuff at night. I've probably used too much candle just now but I feel a duty to record my experiences here on paper. Plus, I'm having trouble sleeping.
- This reminds me of the Ebola outbreak in 2014. That was mild.
