My Mom's Thoughts - COVID-19 Watch from Pioneer, CA

My mom has a sixth sense about stuff. I'm not always super-good at taking her advice because I totter the line between GEN-Y  (Why?) and Millennial - (take out please!).  

But in early February she told me she was on the way to Costco to stock up on some freezer items in case she needed to shelter at home in light of the growing epidemic in China. I was way behind, "What epidemic?" And so I turned on the news. 

A week later she called me. She works in a hospital. "We're going to have a mask shortage." And so I began to prepare myself and my family for a long stretch of hanging out at home. 

My point is, she was weeks ahead of most Americans, including our leadership. Even before Trump started assuring Americans that everything was going to be fine, she predicted a pandemic of astonishing devastation. 

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Elizabeth Ann Curtis, Clinical Laboratory Technologist, Placer County, CA
 
What is your greatest challenge and what are you doing to overcome it? 
My greatest challenge is being in the house by myself. I miss going out. I want to go to Home Depot so I have a project, but no. I’m going to meet some friends for a social distancing hike. I can’t stay cooped up forever. 
 
I have tried morning exercise, working in the yard, then taking a walk with my dog, Kokomo. I have checked in with my older neighbors and have gone on-line to get a few groceries with another neighbor. Also, I'm calling a few friends and messaging others.
 
What will be our greatest challenge in a year and how will we overcome it?
Hopefully this virus will go away when it gets hot in California and things will turn around quickly, but if the virus continues to ravage the world as it is now, the world will be someplace I won't recognize. Will 80-90 % of the people be gone? Those that will be left will have a difficult time.
 
Have you ever lived through anything like this before?
Never in my lifetime have I lived through such an unknown enemy. My mother stockpiled groceries during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but we could clearly understand and see our threat.
 
Anything to add?
The only thing to add, is to make my friends who either don’t understand or are in denial, see the danger we are in.