Coronavirus Situation – A Positive Perspective – 5 Reasons to be Grateful

I really wanted to write about something else this week – anything but the coronavirus. But alas, I cannot escape how this pandemic is fundamentally changing all of our lives and rapidly. This is one “lemon” many of us didn’t foresee, even after the Wuhan situation in China in late January. We all thought we were far away enough to be safe. We all have heard the saying “when life give you lemons, make lemonade.” Can we this time? I am going to try with this post.

First, the bad stuff

Wow, how life have changed in one week! I was entertaining friends last Sunday and living a pretty normal life. As of Friday March 13, however we decided to start self-quarantine to help slow the spread of Coronavirus. We are all healthy, thank goodness. But given the fact this virus can be transmitted by people who show no symptoms, my family is doing it to protect ourselves and others in the community.

New York Times just shared an article called “Worse Case Estimates,” which is pretty scary.

• 45-60% of Americans or 160M to 214M may get infected,
• About 200K to 1.7M could die from it. 200K is about 7 times the estimated deaths from the common flu this season.
• Worse than this, however is that 2M to 10M people may need to be hospitalized and we only have capacity today for 1M patients.
• Any kind of vaccine for this virus is still at least 6 months to 1 year away

If we don’t proactive self-quarantine, we can end up like Italy but at a much larger scale. :-(. Ugh! I feel like I am living a science fiction movie vs reality.

A Positive Perspective – 5 Reasons to be Grateful

I am not even sure I can make “lemonade” with this coronavirus lemon, but I am going to try. We all need to have a positive outlook to boost our own immune system. If nothing else, read on to help yourself and your body stay strong in the face of all this uncertainty.

Here are five reasons to be grateful in our current situation. I realize below doesn’t apply to everyone as many still have to work hourly and on-site. However, for those of us who can work from home and self-quarantine, let’s be grateful. This is what I am grateful for at the moment.

• This virus is NOT airborne. We can still enjoy the outdoors as long as we are practicing good hygiene and social distancing. My kids and I play soccer on our 3rd floor plaza every other day. I have given up all group and in-door exercises (eg., dance classes, bikram yoga, orange theory, etc…), but I can go running outside anytime in beautiful San Francisco.
• Amazing family time. Since our kids are now at home due to school closure, we will have 3 weeks, perhaps more to spend every day together. My husband and I will still work from home, but we are having some amazing family time – playing games, watching movie, going out together to do some exercise, making breakfast together. My older daughter has made pancakes twice this week. She actually makes it better than me – don’t tell her I said that.
• Employers are fully supporting us to prioritize health and family. Many companies are providing emergency policies to support their employees. My employer just shared that we can have as many as 5 days off to figure out childcare without using our PTO and we can receive up to $100 daily reimbursement for childcare. Our short term disability benefits also changed in case we are infected or need to take care of someone infected. Our leadership also agree given this is such trying time for employees, we expect folks to need to focus on family first and work second. For the first time in history, companies will unilaterally enable us to focus on our family and our health.
• Time to slow down and appreciate the basic things – I have been more present in the last few days than in the last few months. We almost have to be as our survival instincts are kicking in. There is no time to think about the past. A week ago already feels like a month ago and irrelevant in our new reality. I am thankful also that my kids are not yet affected by tall this craziness emotionally. They only process the present – “Mom, can I have dessert? can I watch TV? Can I FaceTime my friends? Do I really have to do my homework now?..” They keep my life sane, simple and happy
• This virus has minimal impact on kids. While they may be big transmitters of this virus, healthy kids fortunately are minimally impacted by this compared to adults. While I still worry for both set of parents in our family, we at least can be less worried for our kids. I still ask them to wash their hands like 20 times a day, but they are already used to this new norm. They are also loving the long spring break. Their happy mood is really helping with ours.

My Hope for the Future

With every major world event, I believe something good will also emerge from this in the long run.

• A chance to help our neighbors and bond globally. We have been so busy working and living our own lives that we forget to connect with people who live near us. That is changing even though we are practicing self-quarantine. We are reaching out to our elderly neighbors to find out if they need supplies or shopping help since they are more at risk than we are. This situation is an amazing opportunity for all of us to think beyond ourselves and truly become better human beings. I hope nations will cooperate and fight this global threat together. What everyone will do remains to be seen, but I believe in the fundamental goodness of people. Perhaps with this global threat, we will evolve for the better.
• A chance for drastic innovation in the long term for the US health care system. Our system is broken. We have known this for many years. With the pain we may feel from this crisis, I am hoping it will serve as the impetus for transformative innovation and major changes in the long run.

I am not sure I made you feel better. I had to try at least as it’s important for all of us to have hope and faith in the face of so much uncertainty. Remember to breath and take it one day at a time. Reach out to others if you have the capacity to help or reach out to others if you need help. If our health care system will not support worse case scenario, it is up to us to help our neighbors. Take care of yourself and your loved ones.

Lei