Virus: I am a carrier

I am a coronavirus carrier.

So are you.

I can’t prove that because I haven’t been tested, and I feel fine, but that’s tricky. One insidious thing we know about the virus is that it can take 6 or more days to incubate in your body. During that period you may feel A-OK, while you are infecting others.

Then — wham! You are in the hospital if you get hit hard, or hanging around home if you are lucky enough to contract a light dose.

Among all the advice I have read, if you are a responsible adult, the best is this: Act as if you are infected. Take all the possible precautions to avoid infecting your friends, relatives, neighbors, and even strangers. 

Although the health professionals say face masks do no good in protecting you — which I do not believe — they say they are effective in protecting others if you are infected. It’s a one-way street?

I wear one when I am going to be among other people, such as at Acme. I wear latex gloves under rubberized winter gloves and discard the latex after any errand. 

I take every precaution I can think of. My mask is not a super effective N95, but does no harm that I can see.

If you are like me, which is to say a responsible adult, this is a no-brainer. Unfortunately, we have a subset of our fellow citizens who don’t give a rat’s ass about anyone but themselves. And I thought the ‘80s was the Me Decade.

Who are they and what do we do about them?

We are in World War III, fighting an invisible, stealthy, unforgiving enemy. Can you recall another time when drivers with out-of-state license plates were pulled over by police at the state line and warned to self-quarantine? Is that even legal?

Various news outlets have spot checked and found — despite government urging 6-foot social distance — kids (young adults) playing basketball, friends gathering in parks, even holding parties in rented Airbnbs. Chicago had to close its popular lakefront recreation area because of overcrowding. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is threatening to close the parks because too many mopes are hanging there, possibly spreading disease. Do they need to be hit with a brick?

Imagine the lack of responsibility. 

First, the violators. They put themselves at risk, sure, but they also put others at risk by their blockhead activities.

Second, the hapless leaders who are afraid to take serious action, even when lives may be on the line. 

Example: Pennsylvania “non-essential” stores that opened received “warnings.” What — don’t make them stand in a corner? In Philly, do you expect enforcement from Mayor Jim Kenney and D.A. Larry Krasner when they spend most of their time trying to empty the jails?

A couple of days ago, in response to basketball players, Philly removed basketball hoops from city playgrounds. That is effective in keeping them from playing, but how long will it take for the kids to up hang milk crates for hoops, as they do in the streets?

Here is my dilemma. I have a libertarian streak in me, battling against my core belief in order under law. (I like that better than the easily satirized “law and order.”)

 The libertarian streak is supported by our brilliant Constitution, and especially the Bill of Rights, designed to limit the power of government and to guarantee the freedom of the citizen.

That’s why I endorse most forms of free speech, even so-called obscene or hate speech, neither of which I like, but I like the government boot of censorship even less.

If you buy the premise that giving someone the virus is potentially lethal to them, doesn’t the state have the duty, the responsibility, to protect its citizens from that kind of harm, from those whose selfishness is giving us a raised middle finger?

Those who deliberately violate the protocols must be dealt with. How?

Some jurisdictions have authorized arrest.

For me, slap individuals with a hefty fine and a spray of some type of skunk odor before being sent home. Yes, to mark and embarrass them. I am half serious, kind of like ink cartridges banks place in cash bags they surrender to robbers.

For businesses that open against the rules, I suggest heavy fines, while a friend wants the state to post a list of violators, “so we know who they are and we can give them a middle finger back” by boycotting their stores.

Ostracize them, shame them.

As for the rest of us, the responsible people?

Pretend we are infected. Play act and save lives.