On Reading "Station Eleven" During the Coronavirus Pandemic

We really do live in interesting times, don't we?

This seems to be the week that people in the U.S. are finally starting to realize just how disruptive to daily life the Coronavirus is going to be. The last 24 hours has seen things like the immediate suspension of the NBA season, the announcement that Tom Hanks and his wife are being treated for the virus in Australia, the acceleration of the already rapid decline in the stock market, the closing of the U.S. capitol to tourists, the European travel ban, and the decision of several U.S. lawmakers to self-quarantine themselves after learning they had shaken the hand of someone who later tested positive for the virus.

Closer to home, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, an event that has a huge impact on the economy of this city, has been cancelled after only a few days, and local universities are extending this year's spring break for a few extra days while school administrators try to figure out what to do when the break ends. There are panic-driven shortages in essential items like bottled water and bathroom tissue to deal with as people try to find enough of each to last them the next 4-6 weeks. Shelves are literally empty in most stores, and the only way to find the products is to be lucky enough to be there when a new truckload of the stuff has been placed on the shelves overnight. 

And that brings up the impossibility of finding hand sanitizers anywhere in this city (country? world?) Last weekend I decided to brew up a batch of sanitizer based upon the formula found on the internet: 1/3 Aloe Vera gel mixed with 2/3 70-91% Isopropyl Alcohol. But that's not easy to do if you have neither of those ingredients on hand. Although it took me four stops, I finally did manage to find enough alcohol and gel to brew up a good-sized batch of the stuff that I bottled up and gave to members of my family. But home-brewing is no longer much of an option because it is impossible now to find alcohol anywhere that I've looked.

It's rather amazing how much time all of this has taken, and how little reading I'm being able to work into my schedule these days. Even more disappointingly, I was really looking forward to attending the San Antonio book festival on the first weekend in April, and that is not going to be happening now, even if the festival is not cancelled, because I'm in that age-group most susceptible to dying from the virus. Just not worth the risk, small as it actually may be.

Oh well, back to my current book, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Fittingly, that's the 2014 novel about a terrible flu pandemic that practically wipes out the planet, leaving only scattered communities of survivors. This should be fun. Maybe I'll learn something useful from it.