Notices by Plague Poems (plaguepoems@mastodon.social)

As we waited
for the meeting to start
my supervisor turned to me
and quietly asked:
“would it kill you
to take your mask off?”
and while I should have acted
as though I did not hear him,
instead I simply replied:
“The virus might.”

Between surging levels
of influenza and Covid-19
of RSV and Norovirus
there are some who say
that we are in the midst
of a “quad-demic,”
yes, there are some who say that,
but not the health agencies,
for they have been ordered
to stop saying anything at all.

With all that is happening
costs are about to rise
the cost of groceries
and of cars,
the cost of electronics
and of gas,
yes, with all that is happening
costs are about to rise,
and as for the cost
of our continuing failure
to take care of each other
that cost is rising as well.

If
in this moment
there are too many disasters
for you
to keep track of them all,
remember, what matters
in this moment
for you
is to not lose track
of your sense of empathy.

I asked a friend,
who lives in a different state,
if the bird flu outbreak
is driving up the cost
of eggs
where she lives,
and in response
she sent me a link
to a vegan cookbook.

I asked my aunt, the doctor,
about a biologist’s comment
that the recent cancellation
of research-grant reviews
at the NIH
will be “devastating
for the scientific community,”
and my aunt replied
that the biologist
could have just said
this will be devasting
for humanity.

If only
there was a poem
to warn people
that if they fail
to speak out
when others are threatened
eventually they will find
that there is no one left
to speak out for them.

If only
there was such a poem.

If only.

People keep telling me
how alarmed they are
that the US is withdrawing
from the WHO,
and though they are right
to feel that way
I wish those people
were equally alarmed
when the WHO
tries to remind them
that “COVID-19
is still a global threat.”

Please, my friend,
do not say
“we survived him once
we can survive him again,”
for now more than ever
you must remember
all of those
who did not survive him
the first time.

My mother insists
in this moment
we should heed the words
of that kindly neighbor
who told us:
“Look for the helpers,”
but we must do more than
look for the helpers,
we must be them,
so if you are looking
for a simple first step
you can start
by putting a mask back on.

Do not panic
please, do not panic,
upon hearing the news
that the CDC has confirmed
the first severe case
of H5N1 in the US,
after all, this is the first case
this is only the first case,
so do not panic
please, do not panic,
but pay attention
of please, pay attention.

There are worse situations
than needing to wear a mask
to protect yourself
from the virus,
for example
needing to wear a mask
to protect yourself
from the virus
and from wildfire smoke
is an even worse situation.

When you hear them say
that the person who died
of H5N1 in Louisiana
“was older than 65
and had
underlying medical conditions,”
what they are saying
is that we need not care
what happens to those people,
which is what they say
about those people
in the current pandemic as well.

This year
did I finish my book?
No, this year, I did not.

This year
did I get in shape?
No, this year, I did not.

This year
did I take a trip?
No, this year, I did not.

This year
did I do what I could
to care for others?
Yes, this year, I did.

And that
is achievement enough.

I’ve heard it said
that at this point
a H5N1 pandemic
is a matter of when
not a matter of if.

Alas, at this point
us taking care
of one another
is still a matter of if
not a matter of when.

If you are looking
for something
something small
that you can do
to prepare yourself
for the possibility
of an H5N1 pandemic:
order more respirators
for yourself and others,
if you don’t wind up
needing them
for the next pandemic
you can still use them
for the current pandemic.

I asked my aunt, the doctor,
to help me make sense
of a study titled:
“Multi-Organ Spread
and Intra-Host Diversity
of SARS-CoV-2
Support Viral Persistence,
Adaptation,
and a Mechanism
That Increases Evolvability,”
and my aunt replied:
try not to catch this virus.

My friend
who likes horror movies
sent me the trailer
for the third installment
in a zombie franchise
saying: “this looks terrifying,”
and when I asked why,
he explained that when
the franchise started
he thought the world
could handle a deadly outbreak,
but now he knows better.

A new study asked
“What if
everyone had masked up?”
and found
that it “could have
cut transmission markedly,”
which is a reminder
of how much better
it could have been
had we tried
to take care of each other,
and how much better
it can be
if we try
to take care of each other.

According to a study
this virus can cause
“mitochondrial dysfunction,”
and though at this point
I have seen so many studies
that explain how this virus
causes various harms,
I am still awaiting the study
that explains why this virus
has caused so many
to lose any sense of empathy