LONDON, U.K. -- A friend broke his wrist on a skiing trip in Switzerland a few weeks ago. It was a bad break that required finicky surgery and a few metal pins to patch it up. (With the addition of a lot of strong pain medication to get him through the drive back to the U.K.).
It was time for a checkup, so off he went this week to see the specialist at a private hospital in London. My friend is very smart and understood the risk of spending time in a potentially infectious waiting room. He arrived wearing a mask and latex gloves.
When he walked into the examination room, he was rather alarmed to find his doctor wasn鈥檛 wearing any protection, not even a simple surgical mask. His first thought: we鈥檙e worried as hell, and this guy isn鈥檛 taking it seriously.
That may not be fair to the doctor, but it鈥檚 a valid observation. We鈥檝e all gone through a steep learning curve in how to avoid infection. Many of us feel vulnerable the moment we step outside, let alone into a pharmacy or a supermarket. And we still don鈥檛 have a clear answer on whether wearing a mask helps or not.
I mean, really. Is that so difficult to figure out?
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I have another friend who practices at the same private hospital. He now wears a mask when he sees patients, and told me he covers his nose and mouth when he goes outside. He even thinks it鈥檚 a good idea to wear glasses to protect against infection through the eyes.
鈥淓very breath,鈥 he told me, 鈥渋s the equivalent of a cough or a sneeze.鈥 So when he sees patients, he pushes his chair against the wall 鈥渢o get as far away as possible.鈥
And that brings us to this morning鈥檚 breakfast conversation. Are you ready to be captivated? Morally challenged?
She: 鈥淩uth (our friend) thinks people are inherently selfish and that鈥檚 why they don鈥檛 take precautions.鈥
He: 鈥淕o on.鈥
She: 鈥淧eople who think they鈥檙e immune from the virus. Who believe they won鈥檛 get it and can鈥檛 spread it. So there鈥檚 no need to do anything.鈥
This requires more coffee. It seems too early for a vodka Quarantini.
He: 鈥淪o how is society supposed to respond to that?鈥
She: 鈥淚 think it just makes everybody a little more selfish.鈥
As you can see, there鈥檚 some heavy talk going down in this bubble of isolation we and our fellow inmates now inhabit.
By the way, for anybody who鈥檚 having trouble keeping track, today is Tuesday. I know that because I look at my phone. My inspired daughter knows that because she inscribed the days of the week on different mugs -- excluding weekends.
I have to say, it鈥檚 sort of like the prisoner who keeps track of his sentence by making scratches on the wall. We used to do that in Afghanistan when you were stuck on the Kandahar Air Base for eight weeks at a time. Counting down the days.
For anybody who doesn鈥檛 know, 15 looks like this. Maybe it鈥檚 the start of a trend.
