Coronavirus and the Rich!

While we're all trapped in our homes during this dreadful plague, I'm getting a lot of questions about how the rich are handling all this. It's so easy to slip into daydreams and think that having lots of money might somehow mitigate the crisis and boredom at hand. Being right here on the front lines, I'm happy to share my observations and perhaps shed some light on both the daydreams and reality of what's going on around here these days.

Are rich people as isolated and bored as all the rest of us? The answer to that question is a definite yes! Their Spring Social Season has been decimated. Spring fashion shows have been cancelled. All the elegant cocktail parties, dazzling galas and fund-raising events have been put on hold. (Although I'm hearing that the fund raisers have moved online and they're still expected to contribute - even though they don't get to go in person to show off all their latest haute couture, winter face lifts, and all the new bling from Cartier's, Tiffany's, and Harry Winston.) Then, of course, beauty shops and luxury spas being closed doesn't help out the situation one bit, does it?

Do the rich get better medical care? Since it's a novel (new) virus, meaning there's no vaccine and no treatments available to date, the answer is an emphatic no. With their expensive private doctors, the rich don't have any better access to medical care or cures than the poorest of the poor in a charity hospital. Having said that, it's entirely possible that if they get desperately sick they can find or bribe their way into a private hospital room, rather than being shuffled off to a triage tent or lining the hospital walls on an army cot. And perhaps they can get a ventilator ahead of the line. I don't know about that or if it's actually going on or not - and I really don't want to think that is happening. We're all in this together, aren't we?

Can the rich better protect themselves than all the rest of us? This is an interesting question that requires some thought. But before I even begin, it is certainly true that the rich can isolate themselves better than most of us. And here's some random thoughts on that:

- There's a handful of super-paranoid super rich people around the world who actually have underground bunkers to escape nuclear wars, revolutions, and perhaps a virus like we currently have going on. But the silliness of that is that sooner or later they're going to need supplies from the surface, or a repairman to come down and fix their washing machine, right?

- Quite a few rich people own their own private islands in the Caribbean or Mediterranean - which makes for a much happier isolation than an underground bunker, in my opinion.

- Since many of  the super rich have their own private jets and yachts, they're not as exposed as those who travel on commercial airlines or cruise ships.

- As noted in a previous blog post a while back, multiple homes for the rich is quite common. Some even have gentleman farms and ranches where they could retreat and grow gardens and raise chickens, which makes sense to me. (My employer is in this category, and he's been gone for days.)

- Then of course the rich have house staff and personal assistants to run their errands (some idiot like me) to stand on long lines at the market to fetch food - therefore greatly limiting their own daily exposure.

- Even British and European royalty, with their multiple estates and castles, are having a hard time dodging this calamity. The news from Buckingham Palace is so very sad this past week.

I don't know what else to say tonight. But the rest of us can protect ourselves too. Social distancing is the key. Personal hygiene like frequent hand washings is most certainly helpful. A good diet that keeps the immune system strong should also be helpful, one would think.

As for staying sane and fighting off boredom, who knows? I  miss going to the gym and seeing my friends there like crazy. But we could utilize the downtime to take some online college courses or perhaps to develop our hobbies. I hear there's an interest and increased online sales of  easels, canvasses, and oil paints and brushes for those who have always wanted to take up painting but never found the time. Then of course we could always catch up on our reading lists. There's a stack of books in my apartment that has been there for months!  And we could also perhaps pick up a language from Berlitz online schools. Myself, I'm going to brush up on Italian in the hope of traveling there again someday when this nightmare has lifted.

As always, thanks for stopping by tonight.

Stay safe, stay strong! And try to stay positive. There's an end to this someday...

Dare I say, Cheers! 🍸🍹🍻
Andrew