Mine will be staying at home. But, that length of time is going to cost me.

There are things that may happen at which point the public will respond out of self-preservation and take this pandemic with the seriousness they should have from the beginning. Here are a few of my guesses:

* The number of infections and deaths per thousand population becomes high enough that most everyone knows someone having the disease so that adequate fear is induced into the general public. I often hear the excuse "I don't know of anyone who has had the disease".
* The economy crashes into depression mode due to mass infections, causing many more shutdowns in industry, transportation, energy, banking, etc.
* Out healthcare system is totally overwhelmed to the point that the public becomes extremely fearful of becoming sick for any reason.
* Severe shortages occur in our food supply, again inducing mass fear.
* Serious disruptions occur in critical infrastructure such as gas and electric supply, internet or transportation, again inducing mass fear.
* Things get bad enough that most all media sources - public and social - begin thinking far more in terms of public well-being rather than profit and start being truthful and realistic with our people.

In other words, it may take a mass awakening and surrender to the disease.

Because Republicans and the ultra right-wing have virtually destroyed America's sense of community and seriously divided us, it's anybody's guess as to what could happen.

I'm sure there are others appropriate for that list but that's enough to shake me to my core for today. It could be that the risk of extremely serious rioting caused by any or all of those factors would be as dangerous as the virus.

KY......... ........

The US has 4.29% of the world population. We have 25% of the world's Covid cases and 25% of the world's death toll from Covid. These are figures you'd expect from a failed state, and this is about where we are politically right now, the government rendered incapable of response by an orange slug in the White House and a vicious dogmatist in the Senate. What you see is what we got for the next seven months. There is nothing we can do about this except vote, that and make nuisances of ourselves who make sure everybody around us knows what is really going on out there.

What will be fascinating will be the two decades after the virus either runs its course and sinks into hiding or a vaccine is developed and distributed beyond the 0.1%, the latter necessitating the defeat of the slug and most of his enablers. By November, we should all know people who aren't there any more, thanks to their bungling and refusal to consult experts who might have been bad for business.

I'm getting up there, so I won't see it. Right now, I'm clinging to spite to keep me alive until I can help vote them out. Anything after that will be gravy.

I wish I could tell you it would be sunshine and roses, but it won't be. It will be bad enough that the world will pity us. And it will have happened in four years.