You know what would be interesting? If technology advanced to the point where if you contracted a contagious illness, you could trace it to EXACTLY who gave it to you.

So if you faced a lifetime of lung problems from coronavirus — or maybe if you unknowingly passed it to your parents, and it killed them — you would know which neighbor’s barbecue or bar crawl directly caused that.

You could ask them if it was worth it.  It would make for some interesting conversations.

It would actually make a hell of a science fiction story.

*****

Oh!  One more thing!

Quick word of thanks to all the dudebros who work at Denny’s who are breaking down the finer points of the incidence, transmission, and long term effects of a new and potentially fatal respiratory disease.

I’m glad you’re here to explain this stuff. I hate getting all of my information from the CDC.

The virus, the government and cultural response, pretty much everything — save for some encouraging news about vaccine development.

People are dividing politically over things that ought to be pretty straightforward. There isn’t any grand plan or overall strategy — we’re all arguing about components of what should be the overall strategy: masks, social distancing, reopenings, etc. No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, you’ve gotta agree that that kind of division is kinda not good.

The news just gets steadily worse. I’m worried about exactly how bad things will get before they get better again.

The last time I was this worried about the nation was 19 years ago.