Corona virus is shutting us
down. This is common to all of us. Here in Israel, we are seeing the COVID-19
directives coming down in stages. Though not everyone sees a stage as I do.
Some take the directives one at a time, as they come. I, on the other hand, am
a gamer. In a game, the levels get progressively harder. You have to see the
next move coming, which move will put you ahead of the curve, if you plan to win.
For this reason I canceled out
on a wedding last minute, before they were limiting gatherings to 200. It was
why I told my book club that I would not attend the next meeting, though they
were not yet limiting gatherings to ten, or instituting social distancing. It’s
why even before they asked us to avoid libraries, I’d stayed away from the library,
though I had just 19 pages left of Rebecca before I’d
run out of reading material.
(And it was a Friday morning.
And I read fast. And it’s hell for me to go without books.)
It is clear to me: I can see
the stages of the corona lockdown directives coming before they come, so unless
I have to, I will not be leaving my home for some time, maybe months.
But it was hard when my friend’s
husband died and I couldn’t hug her. It was already weird and surreal (as
nighttime funerals are, anyway) when an announcement was made, “Twenty people leave
the room.”
I could have looked around the
room and hoped that someone else would leave. But I didn’t. I left. Because if
that is what we have to do, we have to do it now.
I believe in being smart and prudent,
in staying ahead of the curve.
Not everyone agrees. Why come down harder than the current decrees and
directives? Perhaps they are only changing the rules of the game as the danger
increases. That it’s not dangerous to do something until they tell us not to do
it.
But who really knows? The
decisions and directives, for all we know, are subjective. Or maybe the experts
are changing their minds as they learn more about the disease. Take the
library, for instance: Maybe Israeli experts hadn’t yet thought of libraries as
a source of contagion. Until they did.
But I thought of it as soon I read that the virus lives on surfaces for days.
What is handled with the hands more than library books? I knew this without a
directive or an expert. They just hadn’t thought of it yet, or perhaps they’re
breaking us in slowly, in stages. Getting us mentally used to one stage of
lockdown before the next.
Who really knows?
It doesn’t matter. I know how
hygiene works, how contamination and contagion do their thing. And hopefully so
do you.
It’s why I asked the
technician, “Did you wash your hands?” before a recent medical procedure,
though she was insulted.
Again: it doesn’t matter. Her feelings are irrelevant.
In fact, they hamper her ability to deal with the public and I submitted a
complaint to Israel’s Ministry of Health.
We all have to do the best we
can do to stay ahead of the curve, to beat this thing, this corona virus. This
is what I believe. So use your gut sense and institute good practices before
the directives come down. Don’t wait for them and don’t be afraid to stick to
your guns.
It’s how it has to be right
now.
If we want to win.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 19 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.
Jews from Egypt share their exodus stories
-
Passover is the occasion for two Israeli newspapers to focus on the Jewish
community of Egypt. The Jerusalem Post interviews David Hayna, whose father
wa...
If Not Now Seder Advanced To Friday Morning
-
They cannot afford to squander such an opportunity to piggyback their
political agenda onto an ancient tradition.
The post If Not Now Seder Advanced To F...
War Assessment
-
[image: Dry Bones cartoon,War, Iran,Tehran, Hostages, IDF,Pro-Palestinian
demonstrations, Jewish, Israel, Oct 7, Jews,]
Seeing it from THEIR side.
** * *...
Sky News’s abject failure in covering the war
-
Psychological treatises will one day be written on the moral degeneracy
which has taken hold of so many Western minds, which credulously take the...
The ...
Sky News’s abject failure in covering the war
-
Psychological treatises will one day be written on the moral degeneracy
which has taken hold of so many Western minds, which credulously take the...
The ...
Passover - From Slavery to Freedom
-
As the first days of another Passover conclude with the echoes of "Once we
were slaves and now we are free" and "Next year in Jerusalem" recited at
the...
A Conversation on X with a Professor
-
Basically starts here, with him responding to me reaction so:
Re: "That is the least disruptive way of occupying space on a campus”
Actually, it's one of...
Confrontation with Iran: Who Won?
-
The West likes its Jews passive, dependent, and weak. When American
officials say “Israel has a right to defend [herself]” they mean that they
will allow h...
The Palestinian “Two-State” Plan: Duping the West
-
One of the great unsolved mysteries of the 21st century is why, given what
a catastrophe it proved to be, anyone, much less a whole phalanx of
politicians,...
06-Feb-24: Obituary: Naftali Gordon
-
The obituary that follows was published yesterday by *Times of Israel* under
the headline "*Master Sgt. (res.) Naftali Gordon, 32: A man of ‘honesty and
...
Closing Jews Down Under Website
-
With a heavyish heart I am closing down the website after ten years.
It is and it isn’t an easy decision after 10 years of constant work. The
past...
‘Test & Trace’ is a mirage
-
Lockdown II thoughts: Day 1 Opposition politicians have been banging on
about the need for a ‘working’ Test & Trace system even more loudly than
the govern...