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The Coronavirus: Life in the Danger Zone
In the face of death, major disappointments become minor inconveniences
As much as we’d all like to just get on with our lives, the fact is that we can’t. The world is in the midst of a pandemic, and all signs point to it getting worse before it gets better. So, what do we do? Take precautions, stay calm, and use our best judgment. We should take extra care if we are over 60 and have underlying health problems.
Well, guess what? I may just have made the cut. I’m 61 and suffer from sleep apnea. Still, I assume my risk is relatively low. Sleep apnea is not COPD, and 61 isn’t 80. So how extreme should my precautions be?
I’m currently in rehearsals for a play that opens at the end of March and continues through much of April. Five of my castmates are also over 60. Whether or not they have underlying health issues, I do not know. (Luckily, nobody has to kiss anybody!)
As of this writing, there are no plans to cancel the production, and nobody is talking about dropping out. Truthfully, the audience would probably be more at risk than the actors. It’s early days, though, as pandemics go. We’re a little less than three weeks from opening night, but, in three weeks, we may all be on lockdown, the theater shuttered, the play dead on arrival. That would be a…
