So… how’s everybody doing?I haven’t been on tumblr all day (work, errands, rehearsal = my...

So… how’s everybody doing?

I haven’t been on tumblr all day (work, errands, rehearsal = my entire day). I work at a museum that gets international visitation every day, on the front lines (I work in the galleries themselves), aka I also get international exposure to absolutely everything. Yesterday, COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. Today the first confirmed cases arrived in my city. North America is in panic mode and it’s scary as fuck. I’m absolutely swimming in anxiety - at one point today, I felt so nauseated I thought I was going to have to leave work either barfing or crying or both at once. 

I’m not worried about catching the virus and dying. According to an article I read last week, around 70% of the world’s populace will probably get it (unless containment efforts get a lot more effective very quickly). Most of us won’t die from it, though. What I’m worried about is panic, widespread shortages, social isolation, the loss of work and pay, especially for part-time workers without benefits or any sort of protection. Without paid sick leave. Without people to look after their kids when schools close, as they’ve already started to. I worry about the ugliness that prompts people to buy 18 pallettes of toilet paper to resell online at a serious mark-up. 

It feels like the end of the world and I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling intensely anxious about the coming weeks and months. I haven’t had a chance to see anything on my feed at all (and won’t before about Saturday, ugh), but I wanted to just check in and ask how the rest of you are doing? At least we folk in our online communities know that physical isolation =/= social isolation. We still have community. We still have each other. So let’s check in. How’s it going for you guys??