The Isolation Diaries No. 3

“Why? Because there was no money to be made in being prepared, in making test kits we might not need, in having unprofitable community hospitals remain open merely because they serviced low-income neighborhoods. COVID-19 is why we needed to be prepared, needed to protect everyone behind a stout medical infrastructure free from the profit motive, but all of that went by the boards because ‘healthcare’ is a commodity to be traded like petroleum, and for pennies on the dollar.” William Rivers Pitt, Truthout

The bread aisle at Whole Foods is bare in the late afternoon, and only a few people at a time are allowed in to shop. I find some lettuce, asparagus, and almond milk. I forget that we need eggs, but I’m not sure any were available. The frozen section is picked over, though I find some broccoli. Near the check out aisles there are tape lines on the floor to remind people to keep their distance. Some customers wear masks. Some wear latex gloves. We are still not greatly inconvenienced, but it’s fair to say that resupplying has become more difficult, requires more planning and forethought. 

According to the Santa Barbara Independent, there are now 13 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the County. 

I listen to On Being with Krista Tippett. The episode is a repeat of her 2017 interview with the writer, historian and activist, Rebecca Solnit, one of my favorites. Solnit has a knack for tracing social roots back to when the seeds were planted, and for naming the hands from which those seeds fell. When she thinks about how social change is made, Solnit takes a long view, decades in some cases. In this interview, she talks about the 1989 earthquake in the Bay Area, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, how people, often complete strangers, came together to offer mutual aid in a time of mutual emergency. We see the same sense of cooperation and solidarity now, in this time of enforced isolation. Solnit’s point is that a crisis like a hurricane, earthquake or pandemic more often than not brings out the best in people, we rise beyond our daily preoccupations with ourselves, we reach out, lend a hand, extend ourselves to strangers who are in the boat with us. This spirit of community often baffles social Darwinists who believe human beings are incapable of cooperation. 

In a pandemic, survival of the fittest depends on survival of the most vulnerable. 

More full bore BS from Trump. His goal is obvious: by dint of repetition he’s trying to change the story of how the Covid-19 has gone down. He doesn’t care about what happens on the ground to millions of people, as long as he can make his followers believe his version of the story. Autocrats, even one as incompetent as Donald J. Trump, rewrite history. 

Here’s a fine example of a Trumpian word salad from March 2: “A lot of things are happening. A lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly.” Meaning? Nothing, nothing at all, these words only fill empty space. What “exciting” things have happened in the past twenty days? 

Get down in the cracks and crevices, read between the lines, connect the dots, find the pulse, take the baton, the sword or the torch. 

What we do today matters.