By Louise “Lou” Fischer–
Over the past few months I wrote columns about electing women to higher office, the importance of voting in the presidential primary, Thanksgiving with Republicans, and other “la-dee-dah” topics. Now we are facing the most deadly pandemic in the modern era and I am staring at a blank screen thinking, “What the hell can I say that hasn’t already been said a hundred times?” Even my guilty pleasure of ending each column with “By the Numbers” brings me no joy because by the time this issue goes to print, the numbers will have all changed and will be worse.
Let’s start with my oft-repeated mantra of “Elections Matter”; specifically, the presidential election of November 2016. Our current president took “no responsibility” for squandering precious time and living in denial (“It will all be fine, we have it totally under control”), cut the department that actually developed a functional pandemic plan, failed to replenish the nation’s medical stockpiles of crucial life-saving equipment, and, worst of all, did not provide enough testing to prevent unchecked community spread. This missed opportunity, in addition to Trump’s pandering to his sycophantic right-wing media and advisers, is why the U.S. has not been able to contain the outbreak. Other countries’ aggressive testing practices saved lives while the bungled testing policy of the Trump administration will cost lives.
In contrast, in our very own backyard, we have two elected officials whose heroic (and yet initially unpopular) actions actually saved lives, On March 16, Mayor London Breed was one of the first elected officials in the country—along with five other Bay Area counties—to require residents to stay home. Since then, she has gone Ninja on cutting bureaucratic red tape by speeding up the hiring of nurses and public health care workers from the usual glacial pace of six months to less than a week.
San Francisco’s former mayor and current Governor Gavin Newsom’s statewide order that restricted all 40 million residents from all but essential activities followed three days after the initial Bay Area lockdown. Both elected officials were essentially ahead of the curve to “flatten the curve” of COVID-19 transmission and to hopefully prevent the surge of patients from overwhelming the region’s hospital capacity.
Stop hoarding.
As an “essential worker,” I have not experienced much change to my work schedule. I am going to the office every day, but my team of eight who report to me are all working from home (protect the workers; the bosses, meh, not so important). The rest of the population seemed to interpret “essential activities” as rushing to the store to stock up on toilet paper, hand sanitizer, water, and canned goods. People, I exhort you to, “Stop hoarding.” The supply chain is strong, and although the empty shelves look scary, it’s only temporary. Fight the urge to panic-buy and think of others when you shop. Do you really need that last package of imported bow-tie pasta—don’t you have a few boxes of noodles in the pantry? Shop responsibly, buy only what you need, and be creative with what you already have.
Wear a mask, but give your N95 to hospital workers.
The great debate on whether to wear a mask or not rages on. Initially the CDC and other experts maintained that the only people who need to wear a face mask are those who are sick or are caring for someone who is sick. This may have been tied to the need to leave the supply of N95 medical masks to hospital workers who risk their lives every day, because who are we kidding. The same people who hoard toilet paper are going to hang on to their N95 masks instead of donating them to the overworked and exhausted nurses and doctors who are literally dying while taking care of others.
The experts maintain that even simple homemade masks may prevent asymptomatic people from transmitting the disease or might prevent you from picking up an infection from the grocery clerk who rings up your shopping cart full of toilet paper. Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, most Asian countries, and even Israel require people to wear masks when out in public. It makes sense that masks are required in Israel; for 5780 years, Jewish mothers have been warning their children that if they go outside, they would “catch pneumonia” and now all of a sudden, they are right. Bottom line: wear a mask. If you don’t have one, make a mask or use a bandana, scarf, or anything you have.
It’s OK to feel sad.
While it may feel like a First World problem to complain about the loss of social activities, sports, the ability to buy toilet paper, or get a manicure when there is so much tragic loss of life and health, it’s still OK to acknowledge small losses that affect emotional health. Granted, isolating in a comfortable living arrangement with access to food, water, and unlimited streaming options is hardly the same as Anne Frank and her family hiding from the Nazis in an attic for two years, but there is no “hierarchy of grief” and loss still needs to be acknowledged.
A term that describes what many people may be feeling is “ambiguous loss,” an example of which is when a loved one is suffering from dementia. They are still alive, but their personality, memory, and “essence” are gone. With the pandemic, there’s a great deal of uncertainty. How long will this last? What’s going to happen next? How can I keep my loved ones safe? Will I ever be able to buy toilet paper in bulk again?
Grieving current losses, in addition to ones that have not happened yet, puts people in a continuous state of mourning. So instead of catastrophizing and over-reacting (this means you, my fellow Jewish tribe-mates), stay grounded in the present and let yourself and others experience loss in your own way. Even author Elisabeth Kübler-Ross notes that the five stages of grief are not felt equally and everyone needs to grieve in their own way. Bottom line, don’t minimize loss; you be you and let others be them.
Stay safe and be healthy; we will make it to the other side of this crisis, and, hopefully in November, this country will do the right thing and vote out the ignorant buffoon whose actions caused so much loss.
By the Numbers (as of this writing)
209 – Countries and territories in which COVID-19 has spread
1,490,986 – confirmed COVID-19 cases globally
87,409 – approximate global death toll
417,206 – U.S. confirmed COVID-19 cases (that we know of due to limited testing)
14,183 – deaths in the U.S. from COVID-19
43 – days to go from 1 to 100,000 COVID-19 cases (January 23–March 6)
27 – days to go from 100,000 to 1 million COVID-19 cases (March 7–April 2)
74,186 – acute care hospital beds in California (source: American Hospital Directory)
140,000 – projected need of hospital beds in CA due to Coronavirus
7,274 – intensive care hospital beds in CA
15,000 or 20,000 or who knows? – projected need of ICU beds in CA
Louise (Lou) Fischer is a Former Co-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club and has served as an appointed and elected Delegate for the State Democratic Party. She is a proud graduate of the Emerge California Women’s Democratic Leadership program, was a San Francisco Commissioner, and has served in leadership positions in multiple nonprofit and community-based organizations.
Published on April 9, 2020
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