;The other day after returning from a jog, Carol observed, “You know, Reid, you sweat a lot, but you don’t stink.” The alarm bells sounded immediately. Loss of smell can signal the onset of coronavirus. But later that day she noted, “I think they’re cooking fish next door.”

I look at the coronavirus as an easily transmittable form of a serious lung disease. It may start as a flu, but it heads straight for the respiratory system. When that happens, it’s deadlier than any flu you’ve ever had. While not being tracked officially, a report in Physician’s Weekly suggests the mortality rate for coronavirus patients needing a ventilator is somewhere north of 50%. Maybe way north, up to 70%. Think tuberculosis before the cure. I want no part of risking getting this “flu.”

Carol has been handling the stay-at-home quarantine quite well. She’s fidgety, bored, misses people and increasingly restless to run errands. In other words, she’s behaving like a normal human being. The other day she excitedly and repeatedly offered to drive to Target for a curbside delivery of a bottle of sherry, the only ingredient we lacked for a veal marsala recipe. The thing is, Carol’s trying to avoid my calorie-rich recipes during this period of physical inactivity, so picking up the sherry would be a double-edged sword. I finally calmed her down by adding the sherry to my biweekly wine delivery, but agreeing to a pickup of grocery items at the local Mother’s food store on Monday. She’s counting down the days till Monday.

THE BOLD AND THE SANITIZED: Rick suspects Laura when he sees her and Ted at the park standing only four feet apart. Al denies paternity for Rosemary’s baby based on social distancing guidelines. Bob, Carol, Ted and Alice continue their affairs in the ICU unit of a Los Angeles hospital. Dennis goes spelunking in a cave that is home to bats.

Although social distancing has improved my personal interactions (avoiding people at only six feet instead of at all), it appears many of my natural inclinations are helping me do my bit to help stop the spread of coronavirus.

(March19th, Cornedbeef-on-Rye, England) A marriage counselor is using the principles of social distancing to assist couples in reconciling their marital issues.

President Donald Trump boldly stated the coronavirus is “completely contained,” as the 50th state has now reported confirmed cases of the virus.

If being born male immediately put me on a course to mistreat women, I was quickly disabused of treading down that path by the time I reached the second grade. I will say that my instincts regarding the treatment of the opposite sex had gotten off to a most admirable start prior to that.

One of the sadder, personal implications of an expanding coronavirus pandemic would be the cancellation, or at least postponement, of our May travel plans.

The ocean provides the best backdrop for idle staring, because everyone does it. The private restaurant concession at the state park where Carol and I have stayed overnight several times provides lounge chairs and umbrellas for no other purpose than to sit and stare at the changeless blue or gray horizon, depending on the cloud cover.