The past few weeks have been unforgettable as a sickness that frightens many has rapidly spread across the United States. It is unlike anything I have seen in my lifetime. So much so, as a matter of fact, that it almost doesn’t seem real. The fantastic aspect of this begins with the public panic part of it. Panic buying has been ever-present in the past few weeks and has clearly been a source of hardship for some, as store shelves of necessities are empty. This in itself seems like something straight out of a book. Several stories come to mind for me when I consider a plague of sorts. Daniel Defoe’s Journal of a Plague year strikes a resemblance, though it isn’t necessarily a fictional account.
Another book I think of when I see the widespread panic, is The Stand, by Stephen King. While COVID-19 is in it’s earlier stages and probably won’t cause such unrealistic destruction as demonstrated in King’s book, it still reminds me of the panic. The fantastic component of this includes a sort of apocalyptic or dystopian thriller feeling, as we don’t know what may be included in the rest of the virus’ days. Death rates will continue to climb, though in a hopefully realistic manner.
The common clause overall is the ground-breaking misery and fear that could consume the people and cause destruction.
I didn’t even think of the panic buying as fantastic. Is it because of the extent of panic buying that makes it fall into the fantastic for you? I just justified it as people being people. I never thought that it fell into the fantastic, but that might be because of where I am in the country. The fantastic elements of Covid-19 must differ slightly due to the geographical differences. I am not in a place with a lot of cases, nor am I in a place that has a lot of people in general. Are you in one of these places?
Interesting that you mention the death rate continuing to climb in a realistic manner, especially because of how high the death rate has reached in such a short amount of time. If this was all just a story and I had seen the death toll on the printed page, I doubt I would have thought it at all realistic.