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The Curious Contrast
Perception of “The Virus” in the Big City vs Out in the Boonies
Life in the Big City
I stood in my living room, staring, in disbelief, at the television screen the afternoon of March 11th, 2020.
I didn’t usually have the TV on anything but The Weather Channel during lunch — I’m a weather geek, what can I say? But on this day, someone texted me, alerting me to the news bulletin coverage on a local channel.
I switched stations. The local Albuquerque station’s “Breaking News,” showed earlier footage of the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) declaring COVID-19 to be a global pandemic.
Wow. It’s really here.
Next, I watched the president’s news update.
Is This Really So Bad?
Like many of you, I’d heard about this crazy virus creeping its way around the world but didn’t believe it would hit so hard. We’d watched this slow-motion catastrophe develop for three months.