What happens if life as we know it becomes a dystopian battle against a parade of ravaging pandemics? Could bubble communities like the NBA is trying to create to finish their suspended season become a way of life?
A future plagued by pandemics is not far fetched considering the damage coronavirus has caused worldwide. Now we hear coronavirus has begun mutating and a virulent form of swine flu could be the next pandemic. Europe has already shut its doors to visitors from the United States and states like New York are already effectively banning travelers from other states suffering rapid spread of Covid-19 by requiring quarantining.
My son’s father-in-law owns a large winery outside of Sacramento with the acreage and facilities to harbor dozens of extended families and friends in a safe and isolated residential bubble possibly for months or even years. While he’s not what would be considered to be a survivalist, he’s already started to enhance security systems, stockpile provisions, and prepare contingency plans for a move there should the current situation worsen.
What’s next? Could the gated communities of the future evolve into the bubble cities of the future? As crazy as it sounds, bubble communities as an idea could actually make sense in a dystopian future dominated by plague. Coronavirus may not be as lethal as originally thought but it’s given us more than we can handle and the next pathogen could be a more lethal and deadly threat than nuclear war, climate change, or overpopulation.
It’s a frightening thought to think life as we once enjoyed it could never come back but we’re all now in the process of creating our own personal bubbles to stay safe be it with family or friends or a combination of both. The programmer from India who is working with me to build the new Lakerholics website lives in a form of isolated bubble in Southern India that includes multiple extended families and close friends and associates.
Maybe the NBA’s Orlando bubble experiment will become a model not only for professional sports but also for groups of people who want to recreate the old normal in groups larger than just immediate family and friends.
I wrote this article more as a personal cynical expression of the frustration of wasting all of the time my wife and I spent self-isolating and sheltering-in-place as the coronavirus pandemic exploded everywhere in our country including our beloved Marin County, California where we live. The news the virus has mutated and is now three to nine times as infectious combined with all of the people who refuse to wear masks and will likely refuse to be vaccinated suggests we’ve still got a long way to even get to the peak of this situation much less on the way towards solving it. The more I reread the article, the more I became concerned that it wasn’t just a far fetched dystopian fairy tale. It could be where we’re headed.
The idea of the NBA playing the regular season in bubbles seemed unthinkable a week ago. Now, after Eric Pincus brought up the idea in his article, it almost seems inevitable. If we’re going to have to live with this virus for a long time, we’re going to have to get creative on how to keep life and our economy moving. Expanded bubbles suddenly don’t seem outlandish. I know my son, daughter-in-law, and three grand kids have combined with my daughter-in-law’s brother and a couple of other families to create a group that gets together while remaining isolated from others and I’m sure that’s happening everywhere. We can only stay in isolation for so long before we go stir crazy. At some point, my wife and I may join that bubble. For now, we’re digging in for a second long run isolated in our home but even we have a limit.
Be interested to know how the rest of you are doing and handling this situation. Even if you’re not stopping by and posting regularly, at least give us a shout out and let us know how you are doing. Hope everybody is still safe and healthy and you’ll all be in our prayers. Are you expanding your bubbles or do you think this is all crazy and will all go away next year? Let us know. Go, Lakers!