Time on My Hands

My first trip (tomorrow to the Midwest) was scrubbed this after due to the evolving situation with the coronavirus (CV). I had my bag packed and ready to go, checked the airports that I would be traveling through for CV stats, locked and loaded with hand sanitizer and totally mindful of "social distancing" and here I sit. Oh well. Spit happens. As I sit here and contemplate what is in all likelihood an overblown response, several thoughts occur. 

First, there may be a silver lining in this dark cloud. We are already seeing that our country's emergency response assets are not ready. The CDC did not have enough test kits ready, slowing down diagnosis and treatment for many. We discovered that 97% of U.S. antibiotics and much of our medical equipment comes from China. What could possibly go wrong? Information has been slow to be disseminated in some cases. We have seen panic buying in stores. Toilet paper stocks getting cleaned out? Seriously? In short, I think we have become greedy and sloppy and if we got hit with a really serious situation - say an EMP strike, or serious pandemic, we could get clobbered. We need to fix these things and many others to avoid that.

Secondly, just as a hypothesis, the U.S. has been putting a world of hurt on the Chinese economy. What if the Chinese were looking for a way to knock the U.S. economy down a notch or two? Perhaps engineering a virus like COVID-19 that would not necessarily be traceable back to them might be a way to strike back. It might also be beta test to see how America's systems would handle a test like this. But the Chinese got hit too, so it can't be. Maybe, but they are not overly concerned with losing someone here and there, so if Wuhan gets drilled - oh well, spit happens. Maybe a scientist working with the virus went out for lunch unknowingly contaminated and spread it through contact. Spit happens. But what have the Chinese gained in watching how we have responded in terms of their future strategy? 

These are reasons for us to get busy. If we get hit with a considerably more lethal agent or action, we had better be a lot more ready than we are now.