Isolation Photo Project, Day 45

In New Jersey and New York, the death rate due to COVID-19 has not decreased. It has increased. Over 25,000 people are dead in New York and almost 9,000 in New Jersey. That is nearly half the total deaths for the United States.

However, given that Wall Street is the nexus of the economy for this northeastern states, the pressure is mounting for the Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, to "re-open" the state. When New York moves, New Jersey follows. I think relaxing the restrictions too soon will have dire consequences.

The CDC has information on their website about the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, popularly known as the Spanish Flu.

Mortality was high in people younger than five years old, 20-40 years old, and 65 years and older. The high mortality in healthy people, including those in the 20-40 year age group, was a unique feature of this pandemic. While the 1918 H1N1 virus has been synthesised and evaluated, the properties that made it so devastating are not well understood. With no vaccine to protect against influenza infection and no antibiotics to treat secondary bacterial infections that can be associated with influenza infections, control efforts worldwide were limited to non-pharmaceutical interventions such as isolation, quarantine, good personal hygiene, use of disinfectants, and limitations of public gatherings, which were applied unevenly.

Although I hate being inside with a passion very few can understand, I don't want to see more people die. We lost my 84-year-old father-in-law to COVID-19 a month ago. The only family elders that remain are the mothers.

As New York's governor said, "My mother is not expendable".


I've been experiencing anxiety over specific responses to some of my posts on Facebook. Some are posting memes about Anne Frank or older Americans during World War II etc. I feel as though I'm being told it's wrong for me to have a bad day. I learned a phrase associated with that; "toxic positivity".

We define toxic positivity as the excessive and ineffective overgeneralization of a happy, optimistic state across all situations. The process of toxic positivity results in the denial, minimization, and invalidation of the authentic human emotional experience.
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If you’re being influenced by toxic positivity, we encourage you to set healthy boundaries with anyone who passes judgment on your authentic experience and speak your truth. We get one chance at this beautiful, painful, imperfect life…embrace it entirely and you’ll reap the rewards of bountiful aliveness.

Submitted as part of the 100DaysToOffload project.

Author: Khürt Williams

A human who works in information security and enjoys photography, Formula 1 and craft ale. #nobridge

2 thoughts on “Isolation Photo Project, Day 45”

  1. Sorry to hear this news about your family. Reading about your feelings and what you are going through gives me many feelings as well. None are that you should feel uncomfortable expressing yours. Health and strength to you, family and friends.

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