- Beach-going vacationers, March 16th, 2020.
“Yeah I’m free... I’m free fallin’.”
-Tom Petty, “Free Fallin’.” 1989.
(A Thread) 1/
She is already sweating.
She steps from the ante room, across the threshold, into the isolation room. 2/
A chill runs through her, a thin blue flame flickering to life just beneath the surface.
There might be something else in this room.
An invisible predator. 3/
The doctor is careful to make sure his mask is secure as he walks down the sidewalk.
Normally the streets would be bustling, but people are avoiding each other, staying home.
The city’s health commissioner has taken drastic measures. 4/
Churches suspend services.
The moves are unpopular, but a deadly disease is ravaging the world.
The doctor turns up the collar on his overcoat as he walks, feeling a chill in the brisk breeze. 5/
“Cover up each cough and sneeze. If you don’t, you’ll spread the disease.”
People are being fined for violating quarantine.
The world is changing. 6/
The wartime media is being censored, to keep up morale. Spain is a neutral country, free from censorship, and as they report freely on the influenza pandemic, the US media points at them.
It’s the “Spanish Flu.” 7/
“Spanish flu” sounds far away.
All the doctor knows right now, is that other U.S. cities didn’t take the same measures as St. Louis.
Mass graves are being dug in Philadelphia. 8/
Social distancing is one of the reasons why after six months, Philadelphia has 16,000 deaths while St. Louis only has 700.
People are slow to react to unseen dangers. 9/
“This is not a public health measure. There is no cause for alarm.”
The doctor sighs as he finally reaches the hospital, and enters the front door. 10/
Beneath the mask, he allows himself a smile.
The truth is he feels helpless every day. He has seen things that haunt him, lingering.
But when he sees his team, those risking themselves alongside him, he is buoyed.
He dares to hope. 11/
She focuses, suppressing her fear.
And she does her job.
Tomorrow the testing will come back negative. Either way, the tension lingers. 12/
The numbers are cold. Unforgiving.
She looks away from them for a moment, sees the world around her.
The world she knows. 13/
Professionals in every field, doing the best they can with dedication, ingenuity, compassion.
Voices echoing through space and time.
The past is never far.
She feels buoyed.
And she dares to hope.