This is the second in a series of journal entries (read the first one) made by the main character in Sugar Scars, written during the weeks just before the events in the novel.
Okay, it’s a virus.
That much is obvious now. China is denying it, but China would deny that the sky is blue to keep their secrets.
But there are no secrets anymore in this modern age. You can’t hide entire cities of dead bodies from the satellites. The virus kills very fast, just a few hours for most people, and they say that will be our best protection. The worst kind of virus is one that stays dormant for a little while and allows its host to travel far and infect others. This one kills its host before it can infect many others. It’s just that China is so packed with people that it can still spread in the few hours the host stays alive. But it will eventually hit empty spots, places with no people, and that should keep it contained. Like a fast burning fire, it will consume its fuel and then be gone.
All commercial air traffic in the entire world is shutdown. That’s in hope of containing it, but an infected person can get a good distance in a car in the short time they have to live.
A few people survive. Very few. From the news reports and data on the internet I think I’ve nearly worked out the ratio. Somewhere between 1 in 9,300 to 1 in 9,800. Everyone just keeps saying 1 in 10,000, but I like numbers to be exact. I’ll have it in a few more days.
There’s a big presidential press conference at six. I’ll watch that and update on what they say, but first I’ve got to make dinner. I got caught up on tracking the spread on the internet and now I’m feeling a little light headed from low blood sugar. I live alone, so if I pass out there’s no one to help me. And if someone found my body now they wouldn’t think the diabetes had finally got me. They’d think it was the virus and that would start a panic. So in order to keep Tallahassee from rioting, I need to get something to eat.
***
It’s airborne. The President tried to look calm and under control, but I could see the fear in his eyes. He outlined a bunch of steps the government is taking that he called “precautionary measures”. And he assured us that scientists are working to stop the virus.
But it’s moving too fast. It takes years to develop a vaccine or a counter-virus (if that’s the right word). In the hour it took me to make dinner, reports have come in of it spreading to Kazakhstan and India. But we’re safe. Geography protects America us, as it always has. The virus can’t cross an ocean.
Can it?