I think it's incredibly stressful, the crushing stress, people face in NYC. Just reading Nycfem's personal account of what is transpiring in her NYC neighborhood and the loss of life, the ongoing crisis of not being able to find food or the basic necessities one needs for life everyday? It crushes my heart.
I think it is difficult for people to wrap their arms around the magnitude and consequences that comes with a medical crisis, like this. I know, right here at home in my own metro area, which is no where near as big as other mega-metropolitan areas in the US, people seem to know how serious this is, but I see other signs in the environment that tell me otherwise: People not really staying 6 feet away in distance from others, people not wearing any gloves or homemade mask out in public or at the grocery store or post office, etc. Before our metro area got on board with the severity of this crisis, I was using gloves and my scarf to protect myself while on the job. I can't help but think of how people don't practice good hygiene etiquette. For example, people who won't cover their mouth when they cough or carry tissues to cover their nose when they sneeze, much less go wash their hands after coughing or sneezing. I was in the ladies restroom, weeks ago, when I watched another woman leave the toilet and not wash her hands and touched surfaces with her hands after using the restroom. How many times have we seen that, in day to day life examples? I'm betting it's common place to see people not practice cleanliness. I think the COVID pandemic crisis not only provides people with a crystal clear picture of what needs to change dramatically, as far as taking ownership of their own hygiene practices, but it is also a gigantic wakeup call to reexamine the flawed ways that our country addresses critical issues in day to day life, at every level of any institution, as we go forward in using this situation to rectify issues that have never really been rectified suitably for the well being for everybody who lives in America.
Sending wellness wishes to all,
~K.
