During Covid-19, This is Not the Time for Selfishness

This is day 5 for my household of not being able to find toilet paper at any store.

And, today is the day my brother, who two days ago had a high fever and was coughing with severe body aches, went back to work because he has no temp, 2-1-1 said he "probably didn't have it" and his family won't survive if he doesn't make money.

Here's the thing, when my mother and sister-in-law called 2-1-1 they were told they were the 200th caller in line and they waited hours for a call back.

When they finally got the call, they were told that unless my brother was struggling to breathe they weren’t testing him. That if he could sit next to my mom without crying out in pain he probably doesn't have the Covid-19 virus, and to monitor his temperature. This was there advice, despite my mothers questions regarding her granddaughter and herself. So, my brother took it, and since he doesn't have a fever, he went back to work.

My niece, has just spent her 1st birthday coughing with a fever. My niece could potentially not survive this disease, she is just 366 days old.

My mother has the same genetic condition that I do, putting her in the high-risk category too, and she was stuck with my brother and niece and sister-in-law, as she flew in from another state for my niece’s first birthday and was picked up by my brother, right before all the flights were canceled, so she cannot fly home, and she has no where else to go.

My mother will not survive Covid-19 if she contracts it.

I will not survive Covid-19 if I contract it.

My grandparents will not survive if either of them contract it.

There's a lot at risk for me and my family right now, and for everyone.

Everyone needs to be more rational and less selfish through this or our entire world is going to fall apart.

This is the time for selflessness.

Families are unable to work, unable to provide, unable to function.

Today my partner went to the grocery store and didn't find most of what we needed inside, but, he found 20+ people standing on the side of the main road with cardboard signs. Singles, couples, and families.

Some of which were two very thin parents, the mother silently sobbing, with two hungry toddlers screaming-- their sign said “We need food.”

My partner and I are being impacted by lack of income during this time, so he knew he couldn't afford to really feed their family, but he went back in and purchased them a 4-pack of Pedia-sure drinks to help the babies get through the hunger and maybe give them all a better chance at other's helping them, without them both wailing in hunger.

This is reality now.

So stop being so selfish.

Here are some strong examples of what I mean when I say we must refrain from selfishness;

• Hoarding Supplies
• General Disregard for the Health and Wellbeing of Those in the High-Risk Category; by continuing to not take recommended precautions to protect those around you.
• Creating Ignorant and Insensitive Memes / Tweets
• News Reporting Greed- paywalls

If you're hoarding and/or mass-purchasing basic supplies, (i.e. toilet paper, paper towels, disinfectant wipes, baby wipes, diapers, etc...) you are worse than this virus.

Although it's a classic response, this is not the time for selfishness.

I understand the panicked feeling of wanting to be prepared for the worst. Trust me, I do, I have severe anxiety and I struggle with those thoughts on a regular basis.

But, do not over do it with your preparedness, by buying more than you actually need, as you're preventing other people and families from having ANY of the bare necessities.

Babies without diapers or wipes.

Elderly people without the supplies to protect themselves or the paper products to clean themselves.

My partner met an elderly woman at Office Max, where he had also ventured in his search for ANY toilet paper.

There was ONE 4 pack left when he got to it. But, when he turned around with it, he saw the woman for the first time, standing there, looking defeated, he asked, "did you want this too?" she said, "yes, I did. I haven't had any toilet paper for days, I didn't see any of this coming, I haven't been able to find any at any store, would you be willing to split that last pack with me?"

Since we still had a few rolls left at home, my partner gave her the package and said "it's all yours," she thanked him.

This is how you behave like a decent human being in the smallest way.

You may or may not have already seen this, but I feel it's definitely worth sharing here,

"30 Rolls

425 sheets per roll

12,750 sheets per case

20 sheets per shit=

637.5 shits per case=

45.5 shits per day.

So a person that grabs 4 cases of TP from costco and has a family of 4 quarantined for 14 days would need to shit 182 times a day to use the purchased amount of TP at 20 sheets per shit."

As I said before, this isn't just about toilet paper, this selfish hoarding includes supplies actually necessary for fighting the outbreak of this contagious disease!

Disinfecting wipes and sprays, hand sanitizers, face masks, gloves, are all necessary for the sick and non-sick to have access to during this pandemic.

However, face masks aren't necessary for the non-sick to wear, and can actually increase risk of contracting Covid-19 among the general public; I assume this is because people tend to touch their faces to place and move their face masks, and touching your face is the worst thing you can do right now.

But, all of these products are becoming more and more difficult to find as Americans (and citizens of other countries) buy them by the cases and leave suppliers and stores with no product to sell at retail price.

People like the Colvin brothers, Matt and Noah, who purchased the remaining supplies of hand sanitizers and antibacterial wipes across two states (TN and KY), just to immediately turn around and list them all on Amazon for high prices of $8-70 each.

Trying to make their fortune off of innocent people frantically trying to survive a pandemic.

I have two words to describe these boys and every other human being attempting these price-gouging scams:

DISGUSTING and SELFISH.

Thankfully, the attorney generals in both Tennessee and Kentucky have committed to cracking down on these particular criminals and preventing them from continuing.

Furthermore, after getting caught and having a case opened against them, the Colvin brothers announced that they will be donating the remaining supplies to first responders and a church. Although I do wish the supplies would have been distributed to low-income families, I'm happy that this case was stopped in it's tracks.

But, not every case is stopped, as the previous was only caught by Amazon's due-diligence against the price gouging! This issue is stretching across every item need now, even our medical professionals are experiencing the shortage as they struggle to find enough masks.

Only trained medical professionals should be wearing face masks preventatively. If you've already panic purchased them, do the right thing and donate them to your local hospital or triage center.

Take a look online, if you haven't already, everything is "unavailable" or "out of stock."

However, some company's are doing the absolute most and increasing production, such as Purell.

Meanwhile in-store retailers are placing quantity restrictions on customers, because apparently people have no regard for others or self control.

Somehow in this whole mess, people have forgotten that the high-risk category is made up of actual human beings that are valuable to the world.

The list in the info graphic includes:

• On Blood Thinners
• Recently Pregnant
• Sjogren's Syndrome
• High Blood Pressure
• Immune Suppressed for Autoimmunity
• Blood Disorder
• Liver Disease
• Diabetes
• Asthma
• Immunocompromised
• Ehlers Danlos Syndrome
• Mast Cell Syndrome
• Heart Disease
• Over 60
• Cancer Treatment
• CVID
• Kidney Disease
• Dysautonomia

And this is just SOME of the list of the high-risk category.

Many of these conditions are extremely common, such as Asthma, being On Blood Thinners, and being over 60 years old.

When you're saying things like

"I'm not scared of the Corona Virus/Covid-19!"

"Who's being brave with me and going out this weekend?"

"It hasn't even killed that many people yet! We're fine!"

"Everyone is so dramatic!"

"It's not even a big deal!"

etc...

You're saying

"I most likely won't die or even get this so why should I bother with precautions."

"I don't care if I carry this deadly disease around with me and spread it; as long as I don't get sick it doesn't matter."

"I don't care if I get high-risk people sick."

"It doesn't matter if high-risk people die."

Which brings me to my next point, quit posting insensitive memes.

There's still plenty of funny stuff to joke about. A deathly virus and the fact that it only kills some people, just is not one of them.

This was a tweet screenshot I saw go viral on Facebook.

Tweet: "Remember when everybody thought Ebola was gonna cause mass death around the world and world-ending epidemics and then just... didn't"

"That's basically how i see the corona virus and the media sensation around it rn"

OP Responded to Tweet: "You aren't going to die of the coronavirus and there will be a cure/vaccine likely by the end of this year. You will only die of it if you already have a weakened immune system, so particularly elderly people are in danger but if you're healthy you'll usually be fine."

This ad for a BI Prime article on Business Insider is written as follows:

"A leaked presentation reveals the document US hospitals are using to prepare for a major coronavirus outbreak. It estimates 96 million US coronavirus cases and 480,000 deaths."

When I tried to view this article, I was given a pay wall to purchase BI Prime. Which is yet another example of selfishness and greed during this pandemic. Linking such a panic-inducing headline on a free article pertaining to the virus, and then blocking it behind a paywall is elitist and wrong.

So, I screen shotted the ad so I could save it, and look it up, but now, it's nowhere to be found. Even on Business Insider. Mysterious, no?

Let me know in the comments if you have any leads on this intense headline!

While sites like Business Insider continue to require subscriptions in order to read ALL Covid-19 related content; the New York Times is doing it right, making all articles pertaining to Covid-19 free for everyone.

Thank you to the New York Times for prioritizing people over profits.

Although there's more I'd like to say and add to this, I am running out of characters to do so. I especially wanted to include more selflessness I've been happy to see.

But, to close, I'll say this;

Please remember that what you do and how you react to this crisis effects more than just you.