Welcome to the coronapocalypse!

Last post: eight years ago.

I used to write in this blog when I had a job with too much time on my hands some years ago. Now I have less free time even though I'm self-employed and working from home (which, don't get me wrong, is fabulous). The reason I'm starting again is to create a diary of the coronavirus situation. Here's what's happened so far, but first a bit of background to get caught up.

Becky (now Becca to most) is 18 and is on a half-semester program in Israel. The 10-week program was already a bit rocky because they overbooked incoming group, so they moved all the kids to another campus and then moved the back again after much parental outcry. We're in touch via WhatsApp, of course, and today Becky reported that one of the groups at her location is being sent home due to virus fears. Many of the kids are entitled rich girls who say things like "Time to
spend Daddy's money!" The group being sent home, according to Becca, is from L.A., where there's probably more illness than in Israel, so it seems silly, "but as my friend said: 'Beverly Hills moms don’t think that way'.”

Trump is the usual — willfully ignorant. His address last night, where he said travel from Europe would be restricted, was widely panned; the markets plunged even as he spoke. They're down another 8.7% as I write this (3/12/20, 2:40 p.m.). Trading was twice automatically paused for 15 minutes.

Sarah is taking a semester off from Northeastern, doing music stuff and waitressing at Not Your Average Joe's. Just as well since NEU, like most other colleges including MIT and Harvard, told students not to return from spring break and go to online classes.

Other developments just in the last 24 hours:

• Italy is in full lockdown; they've closed everything except food stores and medical facilities, and hospitals are triaging ventilators. Iran has many cases that started in Qom; satellite photos show they're digging a huge burial trench at the cemetery there.
• The NBA, NHL and MLS called off the rest of their seasons. MLB just called off the rest of spring training and is delaying the start of the season by at least two weeks (yeah right). Inexplicably, the NCAA basketball tournament is still on.
• New York banned gatherings of more than 500 people. Broadway has gone dark.
• The Massachusetts governor declared a state of emergency (two days ago, actually), and the tide of event cancellations and orders to work at home is mounting. Ben's company is having them work at home today as a test, and I'm sure they'll do it for real starting next week. 
• Lincoln has canceled all of its Council on Aging programs for the rest of the month. The Board of Selectmen is having an emergency meeting tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. The smart money says the annual town meeting and election at the end of this month are off.
• I went shopping today at Market Basket and it was the busiest I've ever seen it, even before a predicted blizzard. not a single cart to be had at the front of the store. All 27 registers open and lines at least four carts deep in front of each. Sold out of boxed milk, peanut butter, some kinds of canned beans, generic ibuprofen. And of course toilet paper — the aisle was stripped bare.. Why? Do people really think they're going to be unable to shop for months on end?

I get that they're trying to slow the spread of the virus so the health care system isn't overwhelmed. But I can't help feel a lot of this is overreaction. If it was polio or smallpox, maybe. Another thing: they're closing and canceling various things for the next few weeks, but does anyone really think they're all going to reopen/restart in April? If people are this worried when there are so few cases thus far, imagine the panic when we all start to know someone who has the virus (or worse yet, has died from it).