Calamidipitous

At the end of the week last week, there came a cascade of concern about the coronavirus (or, as my brother-in-law resister calls it, the cabrónavirus [New Mexicans will get it]).

On Wednesday evening, March 12, IMPOTUS gave a 10-minute "presidential" address which alarmed the world. It was completely chaotic, and minute-by-minute as he spoke, Dow futures reversed course from 300 points up to more than 1000 points down during his brief speech. The Dow lost even more during trading the next day.

It confused and upset us. The lack of leadership was once again borne to light.

And also on Thursday, it seemed that we suddenly and collectively woke up to the very real risks, and "social distancing" became the phrase of the day.

Still without federal guidance, state and local governments took action. More and more states declared a state of emergency (including my home state of New Mexico), school districts began suspending classes, the NBA suspended their season, there were calls to cancel large and small events. And so, one by one, things were cancelled. Companies told their workers to stay home. Conferences were cancelled, other sports organizations suspended or delayed their seasons, concerts and plays were cancelled, movie theaters agreed to allow only 100 viewers per screening. Keep 6 feet between you and anyone else, people!

Finally, on Friday, 45 declared a Federal State of Emergency. It came as a sort of relief to many of us, finally having him take this seriously. The declaration frees up billions of dollars and puts FEMA into action.

And then, apocalypse preparation kicked in to high gear. And people began to panic buy. Store shelves were cleared out. People hoarded toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and water.

Well, you know. You were there. It felt like we were facing Armageddon, didn't it?

But it’s not Armageddon, nor the apocalypse. Nor doomsday. It’s a remarkable, unique time in our planet’s history.

Let's pivot to the positives. This may be the world's first major calamadipitous happening.

Calamidipitous (from the LSR Dictionary): (adj.) unexpectedly positive arising from an extremely troubling situation.

We may not see it now, it's horrible, and we are in a bit of a panic (some more than others). But what good can see in this?

Children and young people have not been affected much, if at all. This is a huge positive! Though schools are closing out of an abundance of caution because children may be little germ vectors, they have not been expressing COVID-19 themselves in near the numbers that adults are experiencing it. I can not think of a better silver lining. Can you imagine the tragedy of losing many of our precious babies? And can you imagine trying to keep them from touching, licking, picking, and rubbing? We are sanitizing what we can in their world, but truly we don't have the worry as we do for our chronically ill and elderly friends. And without them getting sick, there are more hospital beds for those who do.

Research into why kids don’t get it may lead to new medical breakthroughs.

This may be the event the U.S. needs to overhaul its healthcare system. We know that our "healthcare" system is in reality an Insurance Company Profit System. The insurance companies are in the business of denying healthcare. With millions potentially becoming seriously ill, this will be The Great Wake-Up. We'll see how other developed countries with socialized medicine come through this.

And our paid time off system. Millions from coast to coast will be off work or on reduced hours. The hardest hit will be hourly workers, mostly in the service industry. We'll see that many will be devastated by this, and we may come out on the other side with real reform in employment laws.

Perhaps this will goad some to quit smoking and reduce smoking-related illnesses and death. Studies in China suggest that men there are afflicted more than women and it’s been theorized that this may be because they smoke more. As more studies are conducted, this may be a huge health finding and may be a huge impetus to stop smoking. (By the way, please if you smoke, try once more to quit today!)

Hotels, cruise ships, and other public places will forever be cleaner places. 'Nuff said.


We know what the enemy is, and we have an inkling of how to battle it. Ok, this may be a stretch as a positive. But thanks to science we know what this is and we're learning more each day. That’s a lot more than many of our other medical and human enemies. A vaccine, though off in the seems-like-forever-from-now future, is on the horizon.

With social isolation, there will be fewer accidents leading to death and major injury. Fewer cars on the road means fewer accidents, period. Fewer people at work, fewer work-related injuries.

With social isolation, there will be fewer deaths from influenza, the other deadly respiratory disease. The other horribly fatal respiratory disease is the flu. By practicing our best hygiene practices and staying away from each other, the end of this year's flu season will go out like a whimper.

There may be positive environmental impacts, as less fossil fuel is burned while we all stay home and nest. Fewer travelers means fewer emissions. It'll be fascinating to see what the studies show during this period. We'll have a treasure trove of data. It's already been evident in China as manufacturing shut down during the early days of the crisis. See the striking satellite images in this article from The Guardian.

There will be fewer mass shootings and terrorist attacks during the period of collective social distancing. Think on that! It's a huge positive. Crime in general will go down. I betcha there will be fewer robberies (unless the bad guy is desperate for some toilet paper), rapes, burglaries, and murders. There will probably be an uptick in domestic violence, though. Eeeep. Again, we'll have a great big bunch o' data to analyze once this is all over.

People will develop or re-discover new hobbies or creative outlets. I like this one! We'll be stuck at home, so maybe we'll start reading more, or we'll dig up our paint kit from the garage, or we'll start our memoir. Human beings are resilient. We'll find something wonderful to do!

As we keep our distance, somehow we are finding ways to come together. People are joking about the empty shelves at the supermarket. Networks of helpers are popping up to help their neighbors. TP hoarders notwithstanding, the best of us is emerging.

And, happiest of all, it's likely the end of 45's reign of terror. His crown jewel has always been the stock market. It tanked in record amounts as a direct result of his mishandling this crisis. In fact, the biggest one-day drop in the history of the Dow was last week. The winning doesn't stop, does it?

SCROTUS's main mechanism crisis after crisis has been to lie and misconstrue and hope <whatever it is> goes away. And much of the time that has worked, since <whatever it is> was always closely followed by <another shit show>. This time, his tactic of see no evil, hear no evil put Americans directly in harm's way. He can't gaslight a virus. "Those" Americans are finally waking up to the fact that this deeply flawed man is destroying us. As the Peter Wehner in The Atlantic writes, the TЯUMP presidency is over.

Let us hope, as we face November when this horrible event is over, that this is borne out.

And until then, I remain,
Yours very truly in good health,
Little Sister Optimister