If someone would have asked the best odds maker who ever lived on December 1, 2019, “what are the odds of a global pandemic that in less than 4 months would kill almost 34,000 people, and cause extremely serious damage to the economy of the entire world”, his answer would probably have been, “trillion to 1 odds”. The reason why the odds of something like this happening were so unlikely a short 4 months ago, is because medical advances have been astronomical since the Spanish Flu killed 50 million people in the world, 102 years ago. Medicine has leaped forward since the days of medical treatments that included blood letting. There are agencies, including WHO (The World Health Organization) that were created to prevent viruses like COVID-19 from infecting the world that have been vigilant in preventing viruses like this one.

What we all have right now, is one of the most fast moving and unlikely events in the history of the world.  Almost everyone is either quarantined or staying at home as much as possible. Working from home is now the standard, taxing the internet and servers more than ever before. Who would have ever thought that we would all see every movie theater close?  All gyms are closed, malls are closed, and the phrase “social distancing” the most common phrase. Through it all, there are still people who refuse to follow the common sense edicts that included  avoiding crowds, no doubt causing more people to test positive for this disease.  From the current ongoing pandemic nightmare, the world now is fully aware that it could all end one day. Not from an asteroid or another world war that would involve nuclear weapons, but from a tiny microscopic disease that is measurably more fast moving and deadly than COVID-19.

Against this disaster that has forever changed everything as we knew it before, we have all learned that inevitable losses in the stock market mean nothing against 34,000 people who have died so far and many more thousands who will suffer with this disease in the future. Then add the thousands more who will lose their jobs and businesses that will fail. The entire world is now on the same page. How long will this go on? Will life ever get back to the way it was before this all began?  We all now routinely worry about respirators, lack of hospital supplies and medical professionals. Will we be overwhelmed by this disease beyond the medical resources of countries around the world? For those who have compared this virus to the flu, and claim the media is making too much of this, the alarming growth rate of this virus, mortality rate and the fact that there is no vaccine are the obvious reasons why this is nothing like the flu. This virus has also taught us that we are all the same, regardless of fame, wealth or luck in life. Tom Hanks and his wife have this disease, Prince Charles, Boris Johnson and even Harvey Weinstein have all tested positive. This disease makes no exceptions. Anybody can get it and anybody can die from it.

As far as movies and the loyal readers of this blog, my first thought after all movie theaters have closed was NETFLIX or Amazon prime movies. Unfortunately, I have not found a movie on these two services so far that have inspired me to write another blog entry. Hopefully this will change in the near future and thank you to all who have read any of my movie reviews that I have been compiling for over 5 years.

What else is there to say about this extremely challenging and unusual time in the world other than for all to stay indoors, stay safe and pray that this will all be over soon.