Captain's Log, Stardate 04.01.20. We have entered into another time and dimension. SO FAR many things look the same, but I am slowly realizing that they are not… I just cannot explain it. A month ago we were all driving around, eating out, shopping… free. But now... we are not… we CANNOT! In this, other world, the sun still comes up in the east and the birds still sing in the morning but the people… they just are not here and the ones that are, are different. The few people I do see, as I have been told, have been deemed to be essential. I am not clear on what that actually means, but I initially assumed it was people that were important to sustain life or very important for life. But then, as I was making my way through this new world, I observed humans entering a beer distributor. Could it be that beer is essential? Could stale beef jerky in a jar be life sustaining? But then, why would beer be essential, but the wine and liquor store down the street be boarded up? Is wine NOT essential? It makes no sense. I had to dig deeper. As I walked around, I did notice that all educational institutions were closed with no life anywhere. Trying to learn (no pun intended) more, I walked all around looking for anyone who could shed more light on this. I finally found a kind man on an abandoned college campus, wearing a strange mask. He did not tell me his name, but I will call him N95. He explained to me that a virus exists in this new world, and people are “social distancing” to keep from spreading this virus. He said schools and colleges were closed, but they were teaching kids using the internet and computers. He said all of the buildings were empty, turned off and didn’t require any heating or air conditioning or electric, water, gas, or janitorial maintenance. He said the student dorms were the same… empty! I said, wow, that is terrible, but that must mean a HUGE savings to the university. I bet the parents of those students were happy to get reimbursed their money for this during this difficult time. "NOPE" he said… the schools just kept tuition the same! Never gave back a penny… WOW! I continued walking around and arrived down by a large sports stadium. I spoke to a security guard there, who ironically had the same name, N95, and I asked when the next game was scheduled. He informed me all games were canceled indefinitely! WHAT? I was shocked! I told him, in my old world, I would buy tickets for the entire season, upfront, the year before. It would cost me thousands of dollars. We called people who did this… Season Ticket Holders! He said, yes, we have the same thing now! WOW, again, I guess those season ticket holders will at least be able to use that money they spent a year ago now that the season is canceled I said. "NOPE" he said….the sports team is keeping it! Captain emphasizes… THIS WORLD SUCKS. I just had to get to the bottom of this new world. I figure if a virus is causing this, the answers will be provided by a medical professional. It was a long walk to the hospital, but with the streets and sidewalks empty, I decided to take a stroll. The hospital was chaotic, with doctors and nurses rushing to take care of patients. I heard one yell out; "We have no more rooms or beds! We need to build a new hospital!" I said, “Hey, there are a bunch of empty college dorm rooms right down the street. Each room has two beds in it!” No one even looked at me. Finally, I grabbed one of the doctors and said “Can you please tell me what is going on?” "We have a terrible virus pandemic that is flu-like" he said. "We have over 217,000 cases in the country and over 5,150 have died! I cannot talk… the entire country is shut down." That was all I had to hear… I got out of there immediately. I know now that this is not the world I want to live in. If could go back in time, I would. Back to a simpler time, like in 2009 when the Swine flu infected 60.8 million Americans and killed over 18,000 and we had plenty of hospitals and no one cared. I wonder… how did this happen?
