The COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus And Human Behavior

As the coronavirus narrative dominates the nation, along with diminishing taxi business, I thought, as a certified "cabbie psychiatrist," I might add my considerable "professional" experience to the conversation.  As having noted over the years, I am completely daily immersed in the human dialogue comprising what we know as American Civilization in this early part of the 21st Century, the Pleistocene Era Happisburgh footprints bringing us up to this moment, though our American Neanderthal relatives of 35,000 years ago might disagree, cudgel in hairy hands, ready to bash away any remaining rationality from our prehistoric brain.

Yes, there is no denying that with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are facing an ancient yet modern puzzle knowing what to do when humanity is faced with a relentless and unpredictable disease.  My San Francisco buddy Jake wrote me that, in a worse-case scenario, the CDC estimates that between 160-214 million Americans could become infected, with 200,000 to 1.7 million dying.  With a current USA population of 331,002,651, CDC figures display the possibility of many dire days ahead.  Jake also sent me a translation of an Italian doctor describing what he has been seeing since the coronavirus hit Italy like an exploding bomb, the good doctor issuing a compassionate message warning against complacency, making it clear the situation, as he reads it, is beyond serious.

My concern here in Seattle is panic and overreaction, something I abhor and detest but I realize that my reaction in itself might not be wholly helpful toward combating this viral pathogen residing amongst us.  Commonsense plus caution is probably the best way forward but what that truly means, even I write it, I can't exactly say because this illness appears to compose new, unfamiliar rules baffling even the most experienced virologist, this virus, as the saying goes, "is a brand new ball game," thus making it a particularly dangerous disease.

And yes, people across the nation are panicking, buying out local grocery stores of everything imaginable while deciding to stay close to home, which is probably a good plan in the short term.  For us cabbies, clearly the next month at least will mean an extreme drop in business.  Hopefully most of us will be able to both remain healthy and survive the coming economic storm, advising everyone to remain calm even when the alternative is tempting.

Take lots of vitamin C and zinc and eat well, doing all you can enhancing your immunity.  Sleep and dream well, taking the time to let this living nightmare pass, because it will, all of us doing the best we can not to become an unintended causality to this new disease engulfing our precious time and space and breath.  Cooperate and live, is what I believe all of must do though it might it is advised not to shake hands, virus transmission at this moment our most grievous concern.