How long before we start having "John Q" confrontations? How long before some father---

[Atticus]

---or mother or child or spouse---DEMANDS a respirator for their loved one at the point of a gun?

The sheer utter desperation is just beginning and desperate people are capable of just about any excess you can imagine. The passion that could save us could also destroy us.

[The Magistrate]

1. Hell, Sir, I'm Expecting Somebody To Get Shot For Coughing In Public Soon

"This is America."

[Atticus]

3. Well, we do have those pockets of "He needed shootin'!" mentality and a cough

COULD place one "in fear of imminent bodily harm", so---

[tanyev]

4. I will confess when I was at the grocery store Sunday morning

and I was at one end of an aisle looking at a cluster of people down at the other end, in front of some products I had on my list, I briefly thought about faking a cough to see how quickly that cluster would clear out. I decided the better plan would be to make a U-turn and come back to that aisle later.

[CrispyQ]

5. Spotted on FB:

I used to cough to cover a fart; now I fart to cover a cough.

[C_U_L8R]

2. So far we've all held it together pretty well

Considering there's a possibility of going full-on apocalypto at any point. I think most know what the right thing is, especially when our family's and community's safety is on the line. I'm more heartened by the generous acts of kindness and caring we're seeing everywhere.

[area51]

6. Considering that we don't have a right to healthcare in this country,

I'm surprised it hasn't happened before the pandemic.

[Montauk6]

7. And 4 years later.....