PAGE 28 • June 2020 •
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TABLE HOPPING
My Mind To Yours
by DEBRA MERRYWEATHER
My Pandemic Musings I was enjoying my first helping of Dosa Grill’s lunch buffet when the manager approached our booth to tell my friend and me that there would be no more buffet for a while because Governor Cuomo had ordered restaurant dining rooms to shut down as of 8 PM that day. After I paid my check on that March 16, I walked away overly optimistic that dining rooms would reopen quickly despite the restaurant manager’s suggestion that it might be a while. As of late May, we New Yorkers are still living with limits in response to a highly infectious virus that was here before we knew it. Of course, there are epidemiologists who suggest that someone should have seen this coming; that the 2017 gutting of the NSA pandemic response team was like taking the batteries out of a smoke detector and hoping the detector still works. So now what? Because I’ve experienced severe physical trauma, I read a lot about stress related physiology. We hold our breaths during stress. Deep breathing reduces stress and we’re more likely to feel extra stress around other stressed out people. I’ve found that some face masks impair deep breathing. I choose to wear a neckerchief/face covering in case I can’t stay away from people outdoors and a blue paper face mask when shopping. I am
not ready to seek out designer fashion masks. I don’t want certain COVID19 avoidance measures to morph into normalcy. During the H1N1 epidemic, epidemiologists suggest we stop shaking hands. Ok. Maintaining safe personal space might solve a lot of our problems. I’ve heard that everything happens for a reason. While we always have reason to investigate our own personal health choices, most of us want to believe what we have come to believe. Most of us come to believe what we believe by accessing information that reinforces our beliefs. When I last checked, the FOX News website reports the total COVID infections by state. Fact: New York State is and may continue to be number 1 in total infections on any list continued on pg 30
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