Surviving COVID-19: What You Can Do (ePub)

As of August 2020, COVID-19 has killed more than one hundred and seventy thousand people in the United States, approximately 30 thousand people per month. The deadly viral pandemic is poised to kill thousands and perhaps hundreds of thousands more.

Are you frightened and confused? We were. Do you have a lot of questions? We did. Do you know how to protect yourself from becoming the next statistic? We didn't. Did you look to our national leaders for answers? We did. Did you find the answers you needed? We didn't.

We began social distancing in mid-February. We were and continue to be afraid of COVID-19. We didn't know how to stay at home and deal with COVID-19.

We started looking for scientifically well-founded information. We were pleasantly surprised by the number of scientists and healthcare providers worldwide who are studying this pandemic and who are publishing the results of their preliminary findings on the internet. Our understanding of the pandemic and its implications for our daily lives is growing as rapidly as the virus.

We were also pleased by the thoughtful responses of many business leaders who are thinking ahead toward the new world we're building. We'll focus on one of the major links in the chain of viral transmission, the airplane. Airplanes carried people who were infected with the virus throughout the world. Airlines around the globe are faced with economic devastation. They must change, and they know it. Their thinking about the future is reasoned. It provides a model for us as individuals. It shows us how we must change our thinking and how we interact with the world around us.

We were reassured by the information we gathered. We no longer felt like rudderless ships foundering in the sea. Knowing what to expect and what to do during a pandemic was reassuring. Somehow studying the parameters of COVID-19 reduced our anxiety.

We decided to write a pamphlet summarizing what we'd learned with a goal of getting the information out to other frightened citizens. The pamphlet quickly grew into a book. We hope reading the information we have gathered will help you survive COVID-19.