(ThyBlackMan.com) I live in, and am from, New Orleans, Louisiana; my city is one of the hotspot cities for the coronavirus. Simply put we are sitting at 100 cases and 2 deaths. New Orleans is an old city, so it is built very tight. If you notice there are many older cities that have narrow streets, and close quarters. This is a hindrance when you are trying to halt, or even slow down, the spread of a virus. I believe this is one of the reasons the virus has spread quickly in my city. It interesting how the things we have read about in books seem to have become reality. I don’t believe in panicking, yet I acknowledge that I am a part of the high-risk population. No, I’m not elderly, but I have a seriously compromised immune system due to long term illness.
The regular flu is a nemesis to me, and I am always on alert to not catch pneumonia. Due to this my life is now confined to my home. I don’t leave the house for anything, and any supplies I need are sent to the house. Life has been drastically altered in a matter of weeks and days. When February started I would have never imaged living as I am now. I’m sure this is the care for many Americans and people in various countries of the world.
Living in a hotspot has allowed me to see the hysteria fear causes, and the disregard caused by the exact same thing. Though these positions are polar opposites both exist in New Orleans, and I can only imagine that they are in other cities as well. There are those that fear this like it’s the apocalypse; it is their worst nightmare. They have hit the stores with a vengeance buying up, in some cases, more items then they have room to store. The sheer panic of I might be shut in indefinitely has caused some of the most irrational shopping I’ve ever seen…and I’ve lived through quite a few hurricanes Katrina included.
On the other hand there are those that handle this fear by acting as if the coronavirus is no big deal. They feel everyone is overreacting, because you know the flu kills more people. No matter what you tell them is happening in the world their reaction is pretty much we need to chill out. The governor of Louisiana restricted gatherings larger than 250, and these are the people that want to gather in extremely large crowds at the pub. The crowd was such that NOPD had to disband them. They don’t want anyone to tell them what to do, and they want life to keep partying along as usual.
Though both of these extremes are in my city, and other places, I fear those with disregarding fear. The citizens that don’t feel the need to adjust to what is going on put themselves and others like me at risk of contracting this virus. I would much rather be a shut in by choice than have it actually mandated by the government and enforced by officers…or in worse cases the National Guard. You might be thinking that’s a bit extreme…but again I live in New Orleans and I’ve seen it happen during hurricane season so I can only imagine what it would look like now. I appreciate the state and local government doing all they can, and keeping the citizens informed. I hate to say I feel this will get much worse before it gets better. I am grateful for my village because if it weren’t for them, given my health, I don’t know what I would do.
This is the time were community must come together as best we can to care for our neighbor Even if we are indoors we may be able to send our loved ones the items they need, or offer encouragement to those whose anxiety may be high. The one thing we should avoid…is treating this situation like it doesn’t exist. If this ignore the virus behavior continues more people here and in other places are going to get sick. We must do our part. I’ll continue to stay in the house.
Staff Writer; Chelle’ St James
May also connect with this sister via Twitter;Â ChelleStJames.