The worldwide pandemic is being talked about everywhere, so why not here? I’m only going to mention a few impressions, not repeat statistics and such. First, this disease is spreading so fast. Last month it was just beginning in China, now it’s all over. Because it has moved so fast and so far there is a lot of information that has appeared on various social media platforms. A lot of it is simply “Fake News”. I am only listening to what the medical people at governmental levels have to say. Too much of the rest is just leading to spreading panic. Panic is definitely not helpful.
Second, I’ve seen lots of video showing empty shelves and shortages of various items. That, too, is pure panic. Almost all the shortages are only local and were, or could be, alleviated in a very short time. The big exception to this is the shortage of assisted breathing machines in Italy. It seems that lack of special equipment might be a major factor in contributing to an apparent collapse of health services in Italy, and to a higher death rate.
Where I live, South of Jerusalem, in Israel, the shelves have never been left empty. But shopping last Thursday took a lot longer than normal because many of the regular employees at my nearby supermarket are residents of Bethlehem. Their city was under quarantine. There was a shortage of workers to handle checkout. Home deliveries could not be made. The workers were not infected, but the virus had been discovered in a group of tourists that stayed at a Bethlehem hotel. This resulted in a 2 week clamp down that hit everyone who lives there. For us, the collateral damage amounted to an extra hour and a half of standing in line.
There was a country-wide ban on all events with over 100 people attending. Now that ban has been extended. or perhaps I should say limited, to events with more than ten people. One friends daughter was getting married. The marriage took place, but the party was postponed until some time after the end of the pandemic. I’m sure this kind of solution has been adopted by a lot of others. One visitor came here for a wedding of a relative who lives in our little village. He is now stuck here for an indeterminate time because there is almost no airline traffic in or out.
Individuals working at hotels, restaurants, tourist industries, and mass entertainment, including spectator sports, are all going to be hard hit economically for the next few weeks. Since no one yet knows when this will all end, they could suffer extreme hardship. Our government is looking at steps that might help, like freezing mortgage payments, dropping interest charges on missed payments, and similar steps. The details of what to do are hard to establish because discovering who is suffering economically is not so easy. The main problem is for the lower level workers like waiters, room service maids, ushers and the like. Many of them are just part time employees and have no other source of income. Working out a system that will help them is not easy. The high paid stars probably won”t get much financial aid, but they can most likely afford a few weeks unpaid vacation.
Wetherhorn 