Legacy of Gold by Kristin Ward

Author:Kristin Ward
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781732792340
Published: 2020-04-29T04:00:00+00:00

8

From Distant Shores

Sam looked at the HAN on the morning of April 10th. It included the first US case. The individual was a young businessman in his thirties who had recently returned from a tech conference in Switzerland. He had flown into Los Angeles following a layover in Atlanta and had developed symptoms within two days of his return. He was currently hospitalized. The news was alarming. Sam finished reading the update before passing it along to Ben, who would share the information with the nursing staff. Atlanta was a major hub, and this man had had contact with multiple people, allowing the airborne virus to have spread to hundreds by now. Sam imagined that everyone on those flights would be traced and monitored. She hoped they would be. It had only been a matter of time before the virus found its way into the US, and now it was here.

Despite the ferocity of the spread of the virus, the country's leaders remained optimistic during a late afternoon press conference, discouraging large social events and air travel to affected countries, while also holding back on more extreme measures seen in other parts of the world. An overarching message, however, was that things could change very rapidly, and the nation's residents needed to be prepared for that possibility. On the news that evening, Sam watched reports of people flocking to grocery stores following the announcement from the White House, panic-buying until shelves were emptied. Fights had broken out at some locations, resulting in arrests. A crisis always had the potential of bringing out the ugliness in humanity. With our constant connectivity, the world could watch it play out in real-time.

Being in a small town had its benefits. The local market remained untouched by the panic seen in large cities. Shelves were fully stocked, and shoppers meandered the aisles as they always did when Sam went food shopping the next day. Just in case, she bought a few extras of essentials, some for her and some for Betty. It was good to be prepared, but there was no need to clear out a shelf to do it.

The next week brought regular reports, one indicating the death of the first patient in California. In other parts of the world, the outlook was genuinely terrifying. Countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe were seeing an explosion of infected people. In many situations, cases and death tolls were doubling every twenty-four hours. On the news, the world watched as the slums of India's largest cities saw an outbreak of unprecedented proportions, the influx of sick and dying so great that medical infrastructures collapsed while makeshift treatment centers were overrun. There simply weren't enough beds and medicines to treat the ill, and bodies were piling up, creating another health emergency. Graphic videos of hospitals in the hardest-hit areas showed the vivid result of the pandemic, with bags of corpses lining streets and vacant buildings that had become makeshift funeral homes.

A few days later, following the advice from

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