SWNOVELS Chapter Elsewhere
Some people also wore gloves, which really makes no sense. Gloves serve to transfer bacteria and dirt from one surface to another the same way as if you touched it with your bare hands. Some people took to wearing their masks inside their own vehicles. Again, this didn’t make any sense, but if it made them feel safer, so be it.
The big thing was stopping international travel. Switzerland, Germany, and Canada handled Covid the best. The United States ranked number 4. Not bad at all, considering there are 195 countries. Of course, the politicians have said that Covid has “laid bare the political failings of the nation”. China was the hardest hit since that’s where Covid started (If only Kay could tell them the truth.) and they still hadn’t opened their borders to international travel yet. Europe responded with satisfactory crisis management and coordination. They even invented the vaccine, yet they were looking at a recession, much like the United States.
Vaccines are starting to be given, but only to those most at risk or in the medical profession. Eventually everyone would be eligible for the vaccine, but it would be quite a few months before that occurred. Some extremists are even protesting the vaccines, saying they cause other diseases and possibly deformities. None of which have any supporting evidence.
Severe upper respiratory infections, long term lung crystallization, blood clots, heart failure, pneumonia, fever, and a barking cough that leads to headaches. These are only a few symptoms of Covid-19. There’s been talk that the virus is mutating again. How many times will it mutate? Will the vaccines be able to stop the spread? How long will people be immune before they can get it again?
These are but a few of the burning questions on the minds of the citizens of the world. The same citizens that, just a year ago, had very little objection to the death penalty or abortions. Now they wonder if Covid will kill them like it did their neighbor, aunt, brother, or friend.
Knowing how the world has reacted, Kay decides to reach out to some of her family in Louisiana and see how they're handling things. They were told that the vaccines were rolling out in phases. Elderly and immunocompromised would get the vaccine first. Kay’s grandparents laughed it off. They said,
“We’re 70 years old. We have 4 children, 15 grandchildren, and 3 great-grandchildren. We’ve lived through the Cold War and the Civil Rights Movement. We both attended schools where negros were integrated into and we lived through that. Not that we cared about skin color. Shoot, one of those little girls ended up being my best friend and we made her the God-mother to our first born child. There is nothing that this Covid sickness can do to us that the good Lord himself can’t do. If it’s our time, so be it. We ain’t getting no shot!”
Her grandparents weren’t the only ones that thought that way. Over 18,000 deaths in a 3 month period couldn’t sway the minds of some of the Creole natives. When polled, less than half of the state said they were going to get the vaccine. It didn’t matter that their favorite news stations and reporters were telling them that the unvaccinated were at a much higher risk of catching Covid. They listened to that Trump fellow tell them that everything was under control and there was nothing to worry about.
At least her Scottish family members were smart. Since they had recently relocated back to their homeland, they were better taken care of than some other countries. Scotland immediately instituted self-isolation, restricted non-essential travel, and pursued a zero-Covid strategy to eliminate the virus. They were lifting their restrictions a lot slower than other countries. Though many of the elderly members in care facilities passed away from Covid complications, the rest of the country continued to fight and do very well.
One of Kay’s uncles, who went back to Scotland, said, “Kay, me lass, ye may think I’m a blethering auld braw, but I dinnae wanna hear that you have nae gotten the vax when it’s out ye hear! I’ll be up tae high do if’n ye don’t.”
“Yes, dear athair (uncle). I have had the vaccine for a while now since I am in the medical profession and all.” Kay’s uncle was a dear man, but a mite slower in the head now due to dementia.
Kay tried to talk her parents and cousins into getting the vaccine, but they were staunch Republicans and believed their President no matter what the news said. While the rest of the world gave Covid the seriousness it deserved, it seemed her family was still just as stubborn as ever. It didn’t help that her father swore he had a cold and still went to work, even though he had tested positive at a clinic with a nasal swab. She had no idea if any of his coworkers had fallen ill with Covid because of her father, and she probably didn’t want to know. She was simply glad that her family seemed to be intact and doing well.
Many businesses had employees working from home. Other places had to shut down until Covid restrictions were lifted. The government helped out a little, but a lot of people still needed more assistance and they just weren't going to get it. There were more homeless people now than in any other era. People were being evicted from their homes for failure to pay rent and mortgages. Children and infants were starving because their parents were either sick or unable to go to work. Gas prices were at an all time high and food prices were skyrocketing. The economy was in the tank and there was no end in sight. All in all, things looked pretty bleak for the world.