Dear Diary,

The beginning of 2020 began with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) a strain of the flu we've never seen before and therefore have no antidote or vaccine. It started in Wuhan China, in a seafood market they say, and it is spread, I believe, like most common illnesses with the coughing, sneezing, touch, etc. It's symptoms seem the same also "fever, cough, shortness of breath", a general not feeling well.

Honestly I'm not sure how they separate it from any other common cold or flu other than testing it. This flu is fatal, just like the normal flu does, but this one tends to take down the older people, esp who have had previous health issues "underlying medical conditions" like respiratory issues or who are immunosuppressed. People in their 60's and older are dropping dead. But most recover from Corona, like the normal flu.

And on the subject of testing, because of how rare this random strain is and how fast it spread in China there may not be enough testing kits as it spreads throughout the world. But I'm sure the CDC is very proactive when it comes to that. It spread from Asia to Europe to the US. China and Italy I believe got hit the first and hardest.

The only solution we have so far is isolation. Quarantine. 14 days they suggest.

People on the cruise ships got a lot longer vacation than they anticipated. The old folk's homes, rest homes, retirement communities, hospice, BEWARE. Maybe this is the world's harvest and reaping of the baby boomers and elderly off the earth so something else will happen, something bigger, something glorious. I'm trying to talk like the dooms dayer people.

But on a worldwide scale it has infected over 100,000 and killed thousands. Jan 11 2020 was the first death from the virus, a frequent customer at the seafood market. Jan 20, 2020 was the first case in the US, a man in Washington. Of course they wanted to keep all that awesomeness in China, but they quickly learned this was going to be a global issue, which was declared said global health emergency on Jan 30, 2020. The next day the President restricts entry into the US from China or anyone who has been there the last 14 days. Then there began the deaths outside of China.

Feb 5, 2020 was a mass exit from China. Run for your lives! China is going to kill us all! They have a huge contaminated population they can't contain! There were little upsets all over the world at the beginning of all this about eating at Chinese restaurants or interacting with any chinese person or participating in the Chinese New Year or other cultural activities. Oy vay.

On a side note, Mother thinks China is testing in chemical warfare tactics and accidently created something and it got loose. Some people think this was created and released on purpose. Trump thinks it was to thwart his presidency and re-election this year. Cuz it's all about him.

The first American died in Wuhang while living there on Feb 11. Feb 15 was the first death outside of Asia, a chinese tourist in Paris. (and boom! There goes Europe) But then Feb 23, Italy is in an uproar with incoming illness.

By Feb 27 people are considering cancelling major events that have to do with large crowds. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints discouraged attendance to their semi-annual General Conference here in the state, esp international travelers, and soon other Utah state companies followed suit with their major events, asking people to stay home if at all possible.

On Feb 29 (leap day?) the first person to die in the US because of the virus and the governor of Washington declares a state of emergency. We've had the virus in the US, and we've had an American die, but this is the first American to die IN the US.

As far as ties to my home state, we had Utahns from Tooele and St. George quarantined and eventually ended up contracting the virus, but they were on a cruise ship by Japan at the time. But they were the first Utahns to be diagnosed with the virus on Feb 14.

March 5, 2020 is the first person to be tested positive in my home state, Utah. A man coming back from a cruise ship tested positive just hours before the Governor declared a state of emergency. (He didn't know we had a case in the state at the time) By declaring such it helps with funding to prepare, to be on defense for when it does hit our state. By then the other cruise ship passengers from Utah had come home and were in quarantine and taking test after test until they passed. March 10, a second person tested positive in UT.

Of course, President Donald Trump is all up in arms and is ready to solve this problem. How? The American way. Money of course! Throw money at it. 8.3 billion to be exact. Okay okay the money is helping to make testing kits and find a cure. I guess. But of course, Trump doesn't want to go down for this tanking his country so he throws his VP under the bus and tells him to be in charge of this virus thing. Some say the VP is not very good at public health crises.

By March 9, the stock market has taken a plunge sending the economy into a dither. The worst since the global financial crisis of 2008 (The recession, I remember clearly). In response, Americans (I'm sure the rest of the world is responding just as enthusiastically) went into a panic and raided ALL the stores of ALL their hand sanitizer, cleaning products, cold medications, bottled water and even the toilet paper. The last two don't even make sense to me, but okay. The fear is protecting yourself from others and therefore you need lots of hygiene products I guess.

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) came out early on giving the normal speech they do during the regular flu season of avoid touching, cover your mouth when you cough, wash your hands often. We all roll our eyes and continue our lack of hygiene like usual. But now! The people have interpreted the CDC as practically screaming "Don't touch each other! Don't touch yourself!" Don't breathe on each other. Don't cough, clear your throat or sneeze! Hang out with your friends at 20 feet apart. It has become common place to apologize for shaking hands on accident now. Isolation will be next. If didn't have social issues before.... we definitely will now.

The General Surgeon asked people to stop buying masks (as they do not effectively stop the spread of the virus) and the people that actually need them for daily procedures don't have any because the public went into a panic. They now have restrictions on how many medications and masks you can buy. My dentist couldn't order his usual order of masks and his reason is legit. He deals with peoples mouths, salvia, noses, faces, petri dishes of bacteria.

Personally though, the impact of all this didn't sink in for me until Wed March 11. The President interrupted normal TV broadcasting to announce a ban on travel from Europe to the US. First China, now Europe. Nobody can come to the US for 30 days, with some exceptions. (And he was worried about the Mexicans) This news sent families fleeing off airplanes while on the tarmac. The same day the Church announced General Conference to be via technology only. No one in the building.

But the kicker for me was the breaking news was that Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz basketball NBA team tested positive for Coronavirus. Just before a game! Which caused an exodus of the arena and the cancelling of the whole NBA season. During March Madness! I thought for sure, if the NBA has quit then the US is going down. Up to this point people are considering cancelling certain things and discouraged from large gatherings, but with this announcement of suspending altogether... This was big. I could feel it. And everyone followed suit.

The next day everyone is sending out mass emails cancelling everything, universities are going online, businesses telling employees to not come to work but to work via online while at home, to customers telling them they will help them via the internet, telephone conference, or video. Even the Church cancelled everything on the books (til April 13 is the date most ppl are going with). TV shows like Jimmy Fallon are not having audiences anymore. Mandy Moore interviewed with Jimmy and performed on tv in front of like 5 people and the Roots band. Donovan Mitchell, another Jazz player, tested positive the next day. And the stock market is said to be the worst they say since Black Monday of 1987.

Within hours of the Wed night announcements, the stores were raided yet again for said products as before but now also the food, moreso the shelf stable foods. I haven't been to a store since Monday when I bought lots of food for the Relief Society activity we probably shouldn't have held. But my roommate has been and she's seen the long lines, many shopping carts to one person, and the empty shelves of everything. I'm sure Costco was crazy on March 12, 2020. The fear now being they will have to self quarantine for weeks, if not months, and they need all the food to take home and survive, ride it out. They talk about "postponing" (cancelling everything) for a few weeks and some have stretched it out to 30 days, so I'm not sure if we'll all be isolated for 14 or 30 days or even more. Nobody knows the timeline so therefore they prepare by emptying the stores. Better safe than sorry. Ironically, by March 13 the stock market took a little boost, I’m assuming with all the consumers buying out the stores the last 42 hours in mass hysteria. Friday the 13th!

Everything and everyone is spiraling very quickly I feel like after March 11. Feeling the impact moreso in the U.S. now, moreso in my home state. I mean they cancelled church! The WHO (World Health Organization) declared this flu a pandemic. 114 countries reported 118,000 have contracted Covid-19. Nearly 4,300 people have died. In the US just over 1,000 cases been diagnosed and 29 people have died. (Facts in this entry I've gathered from the news, cuz ya know, the news never lies.)

This feels like closer to the end to me (even then though it doesn't feel detrimental to me yet) than any other time I've been alive. I survived Y2K, essentially the "end of the world", the recession, natural disasters plaguing the country, financial emergencies, etc. Nothing really, compared to those who survived the wars and depressions.

The consensus around here is this is all ridiculous, the panic is unnecessary, and the world is not ending. There's maybe 3 people in UT with the virus and we have more warning and instruction than China did. We are considered brave to go into work now. But now having a less risk state/country shutting everything down and creating a ghost town essentially out of caution already has made me feel just a little uneasy.

CALM DOWN PEOPLE.