Should have watched cute animal videos instead ....

Osterholm

In the first place, I overslept this morning. In the second, I've been reading --- among other things --- this quote from Michael T. Osterholm, University of Minnesota infectious disease specialist, as  quoted by The Washington Post: "As a country, we’re unprepared not just logistically but mentally for this next phase. For a while, people were told all we need is to get past the peak. Then, they started hearing all we need is testing. Meanwhile, the president keeps telling everyone that things are going to reopen in a matter of weeks. The way you prepare people for a sprint and marathon are very different. As a country, we are utterly unprepared for the marathon ahead.”

In other words, as the Post puts it, "He worries most Americans do not grasp the long, hard months facing them and the likelihood of repeated surges of the virus." Here's a link to the entire Post article.

It's unnerving to realize that we're in a situation worldwide that no one now living has experienced before --- and that because of 20th and 21st century developments in transportation and other areas we've never been so precariously positioned universally; that so many of our support systems are so precarious and that the prevailing premise that we'll get back to normal in a matter of days or weeks is entirely false.

Being reminded of this is not an uplifting way to start a day. I should have watched cute animal videos instead ....