At the beginning of the current pandemic there was a moment (a very brief moment) when we were encouraged to make sacrifices for each other, but I worry in the case of another pandemic we will just jump directly to being encouraged to make sacrifices out of each other.

Will an asteroid destroy the world on Monday? No, an asteroid will not destroy the world on Monday. For that asteroid will pass 56,000 miles from the world. On Monday what will destroy the world (on Monday what will keep destroying the world) is our indifference.

Apparently France has confined more than 1,700 people to their cruise ship after a suspected outbreak of norovirus onboard, and while it is very important to understand that a norovirus outbreak is not a hantavirus outbreak, you still might as well avoid cruise ships.

I know you already have more than enough reasons to wear a mask but in a new BMJ article several scientists argue: “WHO should say plainly that ANDV should be managed as a pathogen with plausible airborne transmission,” so now you have yet another reason to wear a mask.

As I look around it saddens me to realize how much faith I have lost in experts And as I look around it saddens me to realize how much faith I have lost in institutions But as I look around what saddens me the most is realizing how much faith I have lost in other people.

I have heard it said that a pandemic doesn’t end (doesn’t really end) until the next pandemic begins, and as I sit here reading about what would happen if the hantavirus outbreak turns into a pandemic, I find myself hoping that the Covid pandemic is not about to end.

I know that many of us are concerned about the hantavirus outbreak that began on that ship, but considering how we have no surgeon general, no confirmed CDC director, and no FDA commissioner, all of us should probably be more concerned that nobody is steering this ship.

As you see the news about the hantavirus outbreak it is vital to remember that the “mysterious” virus, that the strange “something,” everyone you know keeps contracting is not the hantavirus but the coronavirus.

When they tell you that in a few months you’ll feel foolish for being so concerned about the hantavirus outbreak, calmly but firmly tell them, that you hope they are right calmly but firmly tell them, that you really hope they’re right.

I asked, my friend, the epidemiologist and she told me it is ridiculous to act like this outbreak is the end of the world. And I asked, my friend, the historian and she told me it is ridiculous to act like the world as you know it is a stable place.

When I read the articles about the hantavirus 
I think to myself: 
“if this gets bad,
we’re in big trouble.” And when I read the comments
on those articles
about the hantavirus
I think to myself: “if this gets bad, we’re in really big trouble.”

Its important not to feel too anxious, but considering: “A French woman who tested positive for hantavirus after she was evacuated from a cruise ship reported symptoms to doctors onboard but was told it was probably just anxiety,” it’s hard not to feel a little anxious.

With all of this talk
about the possibility
of the next pandemic
it is essential that you not forget about the persistence 
of the current pandemic.

Apparently one of the passengers from the hantavirus ship (who is returning to the US) “tested mildly PCR positive for the Andes virus,” so if you are wondering what it means to have “tested mildly PCR positive”? Just know it means that they have tested positive.

When you hear that (according to the HHS) “At least one American who was a passenger aboard the MV Hondius has tested positive for hantavirus, and another has shown mild symptoms,“ be thankful, yes, just be thankful, be thankful that they are bothering to test at all.

I sent my aunt, the doctor, a clip of the secretary of health and human services noting (in regards to Hantavirus): “We have this under control, and we’re not worried,” and in response my aunt, the doctor, said: “Oh, yeah, we’re fucked.”

When you hear them say (and you will) what frightens them the most about a hantavirus pandemic is that it would mean the return of lockdowns, calmly but firmly reply what should frighten them the most about a hantavirus pandemic is that it would mean millions of deaths.

If they ask you:
how will we get through
a hantavirus pandemic?
Tell them: we’ll do it the same way we got through
the coronavirus pandemic, by taking care of each other. And when they say:
but we have not
yet gotten through
the coronavirus pandemic.
Tell them: exactly.

My aunt, the doctor,
told me a new joke.
She asked: Why doesn’t anyone need to worry
about hantavirus spreading? I said I did not know. And so she answered. Because with the cost
of gas
no one can afford
to go out and spread it. And then neither of us laughed.

I have heard it said that given the choice between getting sick more often and wearing a mask, most people choose the former and so, my friend, I sincerely hope that you are not most people. * The 321st week of plague poems… librarianshipwreck.wordpress.com/2026/05/08/p...

When I asked, my friend, the historian of medicine for her thoughts on a potential hantavirus pandemic she thought for a moment and then replied: you know it's not every president who gets the chance to catastrophically fuck up two pandemics.

Are people anxious because of what they do not know about the hantavirus outbreak? Yes, people are anxious because of what they do not know about the hantavirus outbreak. But people are anxious because what they know is we are not ready for another pandemic to break out.

When you hear them say that they are not worried about the possibility of a hantavirus pandemic for they survived the coronavirus pandemic so they are sure they can survive another pandemic, calmly but firmly remind them: they have not yet survived the coronavirus pandemic.

If all the news about the hantavirus outbreak has you searching for something you can do: wear a mask; and if this passes and it turns out you don’t need it to protect yourself from a hantavirus pandemic, it will still protect you from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

My brother in law sent me an article about the hantavirus outbreak along with the message “this is bullshit,” and as I wanted him to have the facts I gently informed him that in actuality hantavirus has much more to do with rat shit.

An open note to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (but in this moment particularly to pestilence and war): it’s not a race.

Listen: you must be mindful of the key difference between this moment and the start of the Covid pandemic, the key difference between this moment and the start of the Covid pandemic is that at the start of the Covid pandemic nobody was saying “I can’t do this again.”

I have been assured that considering how deadly hantavirus is it is really quite unlikely that this outbreak will turn into a pandemic, and while I know that this information is meant to be reassuring, I must confess to not feeling reassured.

If you listen you will hear the experts confidently stating it is unlikely this hantavirus outbreak will turn into a pandemic. And if you listened in 2019 you heard the experts confidently stating that it was unlikely the coronavirus outbreak would turn into a pandemic.

As you see the news 
about the dangerous virus 
that can spread 
from human to human 
and which can result
in illness and death, it is worth remembering
that Covid 
remains a dangerous virus
that can spread
from human to human
and which can result
in illness and death.

When you hear them talk (and you will hear them talk) about the hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship, calmly but firmly remind them, that all of us are on the same ship, and when they reply that we aren’t all on that cruise ship, tell them we are tell them we really are.

When you hear the news about the hantavirus outbreak you must remember: that since 2020 we’ve had time we’ve had plenty of time to get ready for another pandemic, so we are ready oh, yes we are very ready, we are ready to pretend this isn’t happening.

I keep seeing headlines about what various celebrities wore to their fancy gala, which I suppose means we’re about a week away from seeing headlines wondering about the strange “something” so many celebrities have come down with after attending that fancy gala.

It was just last week that the WHO stated “The world is now better prepared for future pandemics,” and though I scoffed at the time, this week as I read the news about the hantavirus outbreak I hope the WHO is right, oh how, I hope they are right.

Apparently “A hidden force is quietly pushing up costs for everything from your summer vacation to your weekly grocery bills,” and though I have noticed these rising costs as well, I must admit that “A hidden force” is an odd way of saying “steady societal collapse.”

When you see the news that McDonald’s is removing self-serve soda fountains from its locations, you may find yourself thinking “that’s depressing,” but it’s important to realize it’s not that it’s depressing, it’s that we’re in a depression.

By now, you have probably heard about the deadly outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship, which is a reminder, which is yet another reminder, that we are not in an era of plague, but in an era of plagues.

When my friend, the ethicist, asks if I am “doing good?” I say “I’m trying,” and when my friend, the ethicist, asks if I am “doing well?” I change the subject.

As she talked about
gardening
the old punk noticed
my attention was drifting,
apologetically I explained
it feels odd to think 
about building a garden
at a time like this,
and the old punk replied 
at a time like this
all of us need to think about building a garden.

I know, my friend, that it often feels like the world is getting worse, but research has found: “Our food is growing less nutritious” with many crops containing “fewer vitamins and minerals,” so it may feel like the world is getting worse, because it is, it really is.

People keep telling me 
they are worried 
that during 
the pandemic 
far too many people 
lost it. And
I keep telling people 
I am worried 
that during 
this ongoing pandemic 
far too many people 
caught it. * The 320th week of plague poems: librarianshipwreck.wordpress.com/2026/05/01/p...

I have heard in honor of international workers’ day you should attend a rally. I have heard in honor of international workers’ day you should not work or shop. And I have heard in honor of international workers’ day you should wear a mask as Covid remains a labor issue.

The professor told me as her students with smiles turned in their exams she felt like she had succeeded in teaching them something. And the professor told me as her students without masks turned in their final exams she felt like she had failed in teaching them anything.

With sincere apologies
to Mr. McFerrin: but I must confess 
that I am struggling
to “don’t worry,”
and I must confess 
that I am also struggling
with the other part of those lyrics too.

I know an economist who says the cost of gas will lead to disaster I know a climatologist who says our use of gas is causing disasters I know a doctor who says there’s still gas in the Covid disaster And I know a historian who says we are pouring gas on an era of disasters

According to the WHO “The world is now better prepared for future pandemics,” and while I suppose it is reassuring to hear that the world is prepared “for future pandemics,” it is difficult to believe that considering how the world has given up on the current pandemic.

I will admit 
it had been a while since I’d been insulted
so when the man sneered 
“I bet you’ll be buried
in that mask,”
it took me a moment
but I caught myself
and calmly responded
“the whole point
is to put off being buried as long as possible.”

When I asked about her last lecture the professor told me that after class students thanked her for her engaging lectures, for making study guides, for allowing extensions, but what mattered most to her was the one student who thanked her for still wearing a mask.

I sent my friend, the historian of medicine, and editorial which noted “Protecting Americans from deadly, preventable diseases should not be a partisan issue,” and by way of response she said: “it shouldn’t be, but it has been, it really has been, and it is, it still is.”

As we stood beside each other in the vitamin aisle the stranger pointed to a bottle and said: “you should take these, you know, for your heart,” and though I wanted to point to my mask and say: “you should wear one, you know, for your heart,” instead I just said: “good idea.”