Coronavirus Diary 19

So over the past week I had to do some *gasp* flying.

Frankly, I wasn’t all that happy about doing it but, in this case, it kinda had to be done. My daughter, who lives in Texas, has been holed up in our home for the past 3-4 months, hoping to ride out the COVID-19 situation, but finally it was time for her to return.

We worried her car -unmoved in all that time- might need some care and, frankly, she had to be closer to her work. Granted, she now works at home as her work is on the computer, but still, she wanted to get back to her home rather than remain in ours.

I guess we could have rented a car and made the trip that way, but that would have taken at least two and more likely two and a half days of driving to get to her city. Too much versus the 2 and 1/2 hours it takes to make that trip by plane.

But, of course, we were quite worried about the whole flying situation.

To have a group of people locked into a sealed aircraft for that time… to walk through the airport and be around so many others who could conceivably give you the virus…

…truly, its a frightening thing.

Luckily, the trip to Texas proved a breeze. There were very few people on the flight and, luckily for us, the aircraft needed to balance out the passengers throughout the airplane and my daughter and I got an unexpected and very welcome bonus: We were upgraded to first class!

Everyone on the airplane, I’m happy to report, were wearing masks, though the lady to my right and past the aisle did bring a Wendy’s hamburger meal on board and ate it. Airlines I don’t believe serve any foods during these times, offering you a small “goodie” bag with pretzels, a small bottle of water, and a small hand-sanitizer package.

Anyway, the lady removed her mask to eat but otherwise kept it on during the trip.

No huge problem.

But on the way back…

The flight was much more filled and, as my incredible luck would have it, I managed to get seated next to an asshole (for there is no other way to describe him) who a) would wear his mask over his mouth but not nose now and again (not always) and, after I took a small nap, I awoke to find he had his mask completely off his face.

Originally he was seated in the middle seat while I had the window seat. No one took the seat by the aisle so he moved there before the flight took off so we had some distance between us but not the recommended 6 feet.

Frankly, when I saw him without the mask I was enraged. I thought maybe he just finished eating his in-flight snack and would put the mask back on (it was dangling from his ear) but, no, he didn’t put it back on while watching some movie on his smart phone.

Finally I had enough and told him to put his damn mask on. Thankfully, he didn’t argue the point and did so right away.

Still, for I don’t know how long I had this total stranger sitting near me without a mask.

How risky is it for me to catch Corona when I have a mask on and the person near me doesn’t? Check out this handy dandy chart:

Ladies and gentlemen, if that wonderful fellow passenger had COVID-19 and wasn’t wearing his fucking mask while relatively close to me and even if I did have my mask on, the possibility of transmitting the disease to me is listed as… high.

Now, the guy wasn’t coughing nor looked sick at all, so I’m hoping -and that’s all I can do- that he wasn’t sick nor transmitted anything to me, but it is infuriating to see people take this illness and the very real danger of catching it so damn cavalierly.

Which brings us to this wonderful article by Gino Spocchia and presented on the UK’s Independent:

Ted Cruz caught on commercial flight without mask

Here’s the evidence:

Ted Cruz, for those that don’t know, is a Senator from Texas. He’s another of those very hard right-wingers who, based on this image, thinks he is above everyone.

At least the fool who sat beside me came on the flight with a mask and put it on when I told him he needed to.

In that photograph, I don’t see Ted Cruz with any mask at all, even one dangling from his ear.

It will be a long while before I fly again.

Hopefully, by that time people will finally realize the seriousness of the COVID-19 situation and finally, finally begin to take proper precautions.

Not just for themselves, but for everyone around them.