Please hear me to the end of this letter. If you look at my past posts, I am not one to post off topic and I believe this post is very much on topic in regard to the social side of the hobby and safety of our members. I am a younger MTFCA member and would likely fight the virus off in a few days, but I write the following in concern for all members.
Logic behind shutdowns and self isolation
Because of my employment I happen to be contacted earlier on in the decision making process regarding closures do the pandemic. In short, I expect to see a lot more shutdowns in the next two weeks. This may seem excessive when there are only two isolated cases in the county. But our elected officials are faced with the reality that hospitals have a limited number of ventilators, the challenges of isolation of large numbers of people and looking at other countries late response that caused hospitals to triage people. Additionally social distancing has it greatest impact if a very small percentage of the population is ill. In my lifetime I don't think the USA has had a nationwide disaster hit, it is much easier to focus skilled professionals on a few regions. Because of all this, healthy regions are encouraging (requiring) shutdowns to slow down the virus and allow skill professionals to focus on areas harder hit. The logic is not so much on the individual, but the whole herd. I heard someone say it this way, "This is not a time to panic, but to avoid a reason to panic." The optimist in me hopes that this ends up being the best (least impact) flu season ever.
How should we respond? (In my opinion)
Rather than questioning the logic of elected officials and the advice of professionals I suggest the following:
- Follow the warnings and if you are older or at higher risk self isolate.
- Meet in smaller groups. Perhaps you have meetings that are normally too large for most of you club members to host. Here is an opportunity to just have one or two members come by...
- Sell Online- if you are like me, you supplement the hobby by selling things. I prefer to sell at a swapmeet even at a lower price. But this year I will likely pull out just a few higher priced items and put them online. (If I had more time, complete isolation, I would sell more.)
- Look at the positive. For me it is likely I will get to work more from home. (There are lots of negatives about how I don't like change... I will avoid dwelling on that.)
- Post more online. I know there are many people who have told me they just havn't learned the new forum login. Now would be a great time to learn.
- Talk with your faith leaders. Times like this cause us to question things beyond ourselves, and put us at a place where we want to right wrongs. I encourage you to talk with faith leaders. (If you can't think of anyone, feel free to contact me, in the past I was a life coach for a Christian nonprofit.)
- Generosity Unfortunately with shutdowns many people who work day-to-day may find them selves out of work. I can't help everyone, but I can help a few people pay their rent and/or share some food. I will look for ways to be generous.
- Finish a project. If we are isolated at home we have no excuse not to:)
- Add to this list. I would love to hear other ideas.
I really hope the best for everyone even if you strongly disagree with what I have said. But I hope that you can respond in a similar way to how you would if I was just promoting a safety feature on their Model T.
Respectfully,
Matt