“…she had warts.”

A local Portland station urges neighbors to check in on one another. A photo shows a group of men standing in the street, spaced well apart, but talking about how they are doing in isolation and making plans to monitor how the neighborhood is managing.

I won’t pretend this is a silver lining here, but a few realities are being faced and some things are getting done.

When people do not have sick pay, they go to work sick. They don’t have any choice with bills to pay. This isn’t just “too bad” because going to work sick means exposing others to an illness.

When people do not have health insurance, they hesitate to see the doctor. I still recall an absurd bill Gary had for freezing off a wart. Four hundred dollars for thirty seconds and no warning before she did it. Our insurance negotiated the bill back to two hundred dollars. And the wart grew back.

When people are just scraping by, being off work for a couple of weeks can ruin them. A study reported a couple of years ago revealed that very few Americans are financially prepared for unexpected expenses. Forbes reports “just 37% of Americans have enough savings to pay for a $500 or $1,000 emergency.” Go ahead, tell me that 63% of Americans are unthrifty and deserve to suffer for their poor planning. Really?

So before we bail out the airlines (which have enjoyed enormous government support forever) or the cruise lines (shouldn’t we have expected this after all the reporting on overworked crews and past outbreaks?), let’s have a round of applause for action on sick and family leave, on growing awareness that failing to provide medical care for some impacts us all, and that low wages and emphasis on spending harms us as a society.

There are no cases of cover-19 reported in my county, but then I doubt many tests have been performed. I don’t know anyone who has been tested. Gary’s nephew in Washington state was told he’d been exposed at Boeing, so he and his wife and twin daughters are at home. The son of a friend in Corvallis has all the symptoms, but their pediatrician told them to stay home. No test. One of my sons sounded very sick when we last spoke. He assumed was a cold that has lingered for a couple of weeks. No test.

Americans are fond of the myth of self reliance. Human beings are not self reliant. We are social animals. We thrive in community. This is not only true on a political and social level but on every level. Socializing is natural and healthy for us—emotionally and physically. An active social life is a predictor of good physical health—regular interaction with others is not the result of good health but a direct cause of good health.

We are genuinely all in this together. Even spaced six feet apart.

---

 

I just listened to a duet with Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu. I feel safe recommending this artist—someone reminding us of shared humanity.