Journal of the Virus Year: My experiences with the virus beginning March 7, 2020

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Public Domain, Walter Clark, American, 1848–1917

As a genealogist, I have been interested in the impact that wars, disasters, pandemics, and other natural phenomena have had on history and particularly the history of my extensive family. As a result of my interest, I have read extensively about events such as the 1918/19 Flu Epidemic. You can watch a video about some of my thoughts from this video on the Brigham Young University Family History Library YouTube Channel.

Wars, Plagues, and Catastrophes and Genealogy

I never really believed that I would be caught up experiencing a global pandemic. We always have a tendency to think that this type of catastrophe occurred in the past as a result of a lack of knowledge about medicine and hygiene. As I began a renewed interest due to the beginnings of what is now being called the novel coronavirus epidemic, I discovered that I have already lived through a number of pandemics. See Wikipedia: List of epidemics. One of these, the ongoing HIV/AIDS pandemic from 1960 to the present, has killed over 32,000,000 people. Two other pandemics during my lifetime, the Asian flu of 1957/58 and the Hong Kong flu of 1968/69 killed about 2 million and 1 million respectively.

As of the date of this post, the Coronavirus COVID-19 (the official name of the disease) has claimed the lives of 3,555 worldwide putting it into the low category for diseases. So what is the big deal? From all that I have read so far, this Coronavirus has two or three things that make it more disconcerting; it spreads while people show no symptoms, it is relatively more contagious and lethal, and it got a huge head start in China before coming to the United States (where I live).

So why did I start to write today (March 7, 2020)? Today, the Coronavirus made our lives even more complicated than they have been recently. No, I am not sick. No, no one in my family is sick. A least not yet. However, the complications came from the disease. One event this week did give me a preview of what was coming. I greeted a patron in the Brigham Young University Family History Library, where my wife and I volunteer, and she shook my hand and then dashed to the hand sanitizer dispenser to disinfect her hand. Not a usual reaction to me or my handshake. That got me thinking.

One of my grandsons was serving as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South Korea. As the Coronavirus began spreading to countries other than China, the Church began to close down its temples and transfer missionaries out of the impacted countries. My grandson was, at first, isolated and then sent home where he will have to spend two weeks in isolation before being transferred to a different mission here in the United States. See "LDS missionaries removed from South Korea due to virus." Suddenly, the virus was affecting my immediate family.

I have been regularly checking the number of infections and reading some of the recommendations. Here is one I read today: "New CDC guidance says older adults should ‘stay at home as much as possible’ due to coronavirus." Here is a quote from this article:

The CDC guidance comes as two top infectious disease experts with ties to the federal government have advised people over 60 and those with underlying health problems to strongly consider avoiding activities that involve large crowds, such as traveling by airplane, going to movie theaters or concerts, attending family events, shopping at crowded malls, and going to religious services. 

Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University professor and longtime adviser to the CDC, said these two groups should strongly consider avoiding activities that involve large crowds, such as traveling by airplane, going to movie theaters, attending family events, shopping at crowded malls, and going to religious services.

Now, it looks like we might be impacted even further, especially since the first known case of COVID-19 in Utah has been confirmed. My reaction to almost everything is to write, hence, this post and the ones to follow.

Stay tuned for updates as various events occur. I don't think I will write every day but only as events drive my writing.