asocial distancing

All day every day alone. Every week, every month, every year. Until I started training again and taking classes. Now that's canceled by the coronavirus and I'm alone all the time again. The only human contact being an occasional grocery store clerk, but I've even been trying to shop as little as possible.

It would be nice to do some grappling or sparring. My knee was finally feeling ready to spar again. I handle my solitude relatively well, but it does take a toll. I do need the human contact.

On March 18th, there were 4 cases in the Burlington area.
On the 20th, there were 12, one died.
By the 22nd, over 20 cases.
As of the 24th, there are 40 cases, and 4 have died.

40 is a tiny number, but 4 was even tinier. I don't like where this is going. Could be 400 in no time. Most people can't stay home as much as I can. All their precautions won't fully protect everyone from an airborne contagion. There are always going to be some people taking no precautions. I'm afraid it's going to keep spreading.

Even worse, I hear mutation's a normal thing these viruses do, once they spread sufficiently. Like the flu, we could be looking at new strains all the time, except this one's much more brutal. We could be looking at not only a few million deaths now, but million more every year going forward.

Or maybe all this social distancing will work. Maybe they'll come out with a vaccine and eradicate this. For now though, it's looking all kinds of terrible, and I have no idea which way it will go. Not sure how ok I'll be a week from now. A month from now. Can't even say where this will all be a year from now.

It's an odd feeling. My intuitions tell me this will all blow over in a month or two, but my intuitions are based on past experiences. From what I understand, this is unlike anything in recent history. Not sure whether I should be freaking out or not. I'm just trying to brace for whatever's coming next.

[update, just hit 400 cases in Chittenden county, a month later. A month isn't "no time." It's a pretty slow progression. We seem to be especially good at social distancing around here.]