It’s All Up In The Air

The Air Guitar, #1, Mendoza, Argentina, 2020

In The Air

Sorta somewhat like this “air” guitar found along the Panamericana [highway] just south of Mendoza, Argentina… our personal plans, the plans of many millions, perhaps even the future of the world’s economy, and–of course–the spores of the coronavirus are all floating around up in the air.

Argentina. Where we find ourselves during this coronavirus crisis. 

So far, there aren’t a lot of confirmed cases here in Argentina–thirty-one, with two deaths, as of this writing. But the key words are “so far”. It’s still summer here, but as fall and cooler temperatures roll around, what will happen?

Our flight back to Barcelona has been cancelled and Barcelona itself is headed for a 15-day lockdown starting on Monday. All of Spain, really, will basically shut down in an effort to “flatten the curve”. (Spain: currently counting over 6,000 confirmed cases and 191 deaths. Who knows how many are infected and don’t know it?)

We will be looking at rescheduling our flight back to Spain and fully expect to spend a couple of weeks boxed up in at-home quarantine.

But, we’ll see how that goes… after all, it’s all so very much up in the air.

A Don’t-Miss Article…

For an EXCELLENT explanation of the nature of epidemics/pandemics and how they rock and roll their way through populations, I HIGHLY recommend the following article by Tomas Pueyo (currently at around 27 million views, hopefully including Jared Kushner & Co.):

Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now

This is a fairly long article with loads of charts–but it is not really hard to understand if you just take a little bit of time with it (in other words, way too advanced for our President). There are explanations of how viruses work through populations, how policies of different countries have fared and compared so far, how one might calculate actual infections based on confirmed cases and deaths, how to avoid overstressing hospitals (“flattening the curve”), and a lot more.

Take a serious look.

[And, Geez Louise, don’t get me started on all the many crazy conspiracy theories also in the air these days. PLEASE put away the tin foil and read from a variety of reputable sources.]