Dino City was actually quieter than Lyre/Animalia. Unlike Nevada, Texas had more Corona Virus cases and as such was being harder it by it, in more ways than one. Like many places, with things shutting down, many of the tourist sites that Glen Rose had and Dino City would depend on were also closed, and with non essential travel limited, it wasn't as though Rex was getting calls about a new dig site or a new find at an old dig site. And even if he did, many of the things related to travel would limit moving about. This had in turn kept him at home, and while Tyra was glad to have him at home, it had also included other aspects of his work.
Most of it was often limited to discussing finds that had been made before the present Pandemic with other paleontologists, which was something that Rex found interesting. Though it often did get into other discussions on how Dinotopians would be changing the field, as while there would be obvious difference in anatomy between a Dinotopian and the Dinosaurs they were based off of, Dinotopians would still provide paleontologists with more information on how muscle attachments worked and how the reconstructions of what live Dinosaurs would have looked like. That was pretty much a given, and Rex very much enjoyed talking about that, as it also related heavily with his study into Dinosaurs and belief in that things like feathers were far more prominent than old reconstructions thought of.
However, for that Easter morning, there wasn't much of that going on. In fact the morning was quiet and carried a rather somber air about it, something that contrasted heavily with the nature of the holiday, and Rex could see that fairly heavily. He'd found Tyra generally happy and outgoing, and while she could be firm when she needed to be, the core part of her personality was very outgoing. She could be flirtatious at times, often when in front of Heather, but Rex had also felt quite secure in knowing that he was only man that Tyra wanted. But that didn't change her outgoing personality and he could tell that staying at home was not that good for her smile.
"This was supposed to be the time of year for miracles," Tyra said weakly as she looked down to a plate of hard boiled eggs. They'd gotten them from one of the local groceries, which was open, though with reduced hours, specialized rules to help maintain social distancing and with staff assigned to make sure no one was sick. Any sign of a sniffle or a cough and people were sent out with instructions to order online. "That Jesus came back from the dead and well... here we are... at home all day, with little to do and few to talk to."
"There is Skype," Rex offered, "you talk with your friends on there fairly often."
"Yes," Tyra gave a sigh, "but it's different from being able to show up with the most attractive Tyrannosaur in town and being able to BE in a community and I can't even volunteer to help at the hospital because I'm not medically trained."
Rex slowly nodded. The clinic in Glen Rose wasn't super big, at least when compared to some the larger hospitals in the state, but there had been a handful of Corona Virus cases that had popped up in the town and had threatened to overwhelm the hospital staff, particularly with some of the other instances people could sick or injured. Instead of risking a drive to Dallas and being placed there, in wards that might overflow, given the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Dino City offered to use its clinic as the Covid-19 treatment center for the two towns and it would shorten the distance that patients had to move
"I know," Rex nodded, "but things have changed since you were young... and there is little the medical community knows for sure. And that has a lot of people afraid... including me."
"And I was looking forward to the coming months," Tyra nodded, "everyone would be starting their new families... and now... all this fear..."
Rex had again nodded. He and Jeremy had found that Dinotopians tended to have their mating season in the spring to early summer period, largely mirroring many bird and other egg laying species so that the eggs could be kept warm and hatch while things were warm and lush before winter type conditions arouse, and in the northern hemisphere that was in March to May. However with all the dangers over things related to the present pandemic, many, if not all, of the Dinotopian couples had chosen to ignore the present breeding season, with the knowledge that they would hatch into conditions that would be difficult. So far as he knew, the only Dinotopians to have a family Annie and Ralph Johnson, and that was because their children were born/hatched before the start of the pandemic. Rex hoped they were fine.
"Yes..." Rex said slowly, "and I was looking forward to that too... but we must have faith that things will turn around and get better... and things will get better. By next year there will be a vaccine and there will be treatments for the disease that will help. Until then... we shall have to carry on, and be grateful that friends and family have not fallen victim."
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Next door with Heather and Jeremy, a lot of the atmosphere was much the same in that things related Easter just didn't feel like Easter. Heather often took to practicing some paintings and sketches that might sell well in the future, while she had the free time, and when it was something that wouldn't involve paint, she'd enjoyed doing some of the work while watching the television, often searching for something that would provide something more cheerful. And there were some old movies that did a good tone for that, it also helped serve as a distraction from various parts of Jeremy's job that didn't just stop because it was Easter.
It started with a Skype message that rang in while he was watching one old movie with Heather. He gave a sigh at that, as there was the potential that someone at the hospital being treated for corona virus might take conversion to becoming a Dinotopian if it meant avoiding a long hospital stay, and while the Horizon Labs part of the building was officially closed on Sundays, and had Friday and Saturday off as well in connection with Easter, the Hospital did have his phone number and Skype number in case there was an emergency that came up. Thus, thinking that that was one of the calls he expected to be like that, Jeremy sighed and got up from the couch and went into their home office that had been set up for them to check email, handle bill payments, and occasionally Skype with those they knew. Usually it was Heather talking to Sophie, but it could be anyone. As Jeremy arrived, he found that the number was not a Nevada number, but he couldn't quite place it.
Jeremy quickly scrolled the mouse over to the Skype icon and clicked on it to answer the call. It soon pulled up the image of a man with dark brown, almost black hair, and a short and graying beard. Jeremy could see a window behind him with sunlight coming in through the closed curtains.
"Hello, sir, this the Green residence... how may I help you?" Jeremy asked, quickly recognizing that this wasn't anyone from the clinic in either Glen Rose or Dino City.
"Yeah... I'm Wallace Worthington, and I got a bit of a health question I was hoping you could answer," the man asked.
"Aside from some of the common sense advice that the state and CDC have given, I'm afraid that while I do have a doctorate... I'm not a medical doctor," Jeremy spoke, "a lot of what I do is more research related... primarily in genetics."
"It's not actually the present pandemic I'm callin' about," Wallace answered, "see, my daughter likes you Dinotopians. She's read the books by the title... she's seen all the Jurassic Park movies... and well... just about anything that has dinosaurs in it. She was very pleased ta visit Dino City last summer when ya'll had your sporting events go on. It made her day."
"Well... that is good to hear," Jeremy gave a slight smile, "but how is that a health question?"
"Mostly just providin' some context for the question," Wallace scratched the back of his head, "see... there's this show called "Primal" and she's taken to watching it when she found out it had cavemen and dinosaurs in it. And in an episode they had... well... let's just say it had some spooky stuff in it that reminded her a stuff that we've had in our town a year or so ago..."
"And you're in Glen Rose?" Jeremy asked.
"No, we're between you and Austin, if you go by a straight line, and over an hour away by road," Wallace answered, "but a few years a go, a skunk wandered into our backyard in broad daylight and seemingly unconcerned. It got our family dog... a beautiful Black Lab named Lady all frustrated and she set barking at it. But instead of spraying and running, the skunk attacked Lady... Lady ended up killing the skunk in the fight, but got chewed up awfully good."
"The skunk was rabid, I take it," Jeremy said slowly.
"Yes," Wallace nodded, "thankfully Lady was up to date on her vaccinations and we had the vet give her boosters... and because of that she lived for another year or two... before cancer took her. But anyway, the episode my daughter saw reminded her of the incident and she's now been nervous that you guys could get it..."
Jeremy slowly nodded, and while he'd never seen the television show Wallace mentioned, he did generally know and understand what Rabies was, and that vets and doctors in Animalia and all its colonies were required to provide vaccination shots for all mammalian based Animalians as a means to prevent infection with the disease. Polly had stated she didn't like the shots, but that was also something that couldn't be avoided. For, without the vaccine, Rabies was lethal and the uncontrolled aggression it fostered served as a means of transmission. The vaccination efforts had lowered the case of people in the US contracting it from pets, but there were other animals that could carry and spread the disease that weren't always vaccinated.
Though, so far as Jeremy knew, the disease was something that was a mammalian disease and that it wasn't a threat, or as big of a threat to fish, reptiles, amphibians, and birds. The fact that birds were the group of dinosaurs that survived the Cretaceous Period and their other closest relatives were crocodilians, which were reptiles, there could be the case that that was a barrier the lethal nervous system virus couldn't cross. However, there were other concerns that did enter his mind, namely the fact that while there were Animalians based on non-mammalian animals, ALL Animalians had various mammalian traits. Those that had been Human often kept their hair and all females had breasts and were lactating, regardless of pregnancy. That actually jogged some of his concern, as while he knew he and Heather, and every other Dinotopian in Dino City had been smart to avoid contact with any stray animals outside of the wild boar that had been hunted, he also knew that the required vaccination against Rabies was required only for mammalian based Animalians.
"At the moment... I cannot say with absolute certainty," Jeremy admitted, "dinosaurs in general occupy a transitionary space between reptiles and birds... and if you've met Dr. Ramos, you'll know that birds ARE dinosaurs in that they evolved out of the Theropod lineage. And as such, to my knowledge the Rabies Virus is something that would affect mammals and birds and reptiles might not be affected by the virus. But because Animalians, be they converted or uplifted, share mammalian traits, and that for the moment, with the exception of a few small Dinotopians that were once birds... all Dinotopians are converted humans... it could be possible that transmission is possible... but I wouldn't have the full genetic knowledge on hand. I'd need to send some blood and tissue samples to a lab that would cover these sorts of things more directly."
"I see..." Wallace said slowly.
"But until I can get that information, let your daughter know that every Dinotopian is paying attention to their surroundings and would know what to do to avoid dealing with rabid animals," Jeremy spoke, "can I get contact information, so that I can inform you on when I've gotten that information?"
"Yeah... sure," Wallace replied, and provided his Skype number, his cellphone number, and an email address, when he finished he gave one final comment, "and I must say thank ya for your kindness and your time. This has been somethin' that's frightened my daughter and I can't deny her much... I've tried with Dino City's city hall... and Horizon... but I've always seemed to run into a busy signal or no one there..."
"Well... we've all had a lot to worry about with the present pandemic and that's kept a lot of us on our toes," Jeremy said slowly, "So it's no surprise there... and in the end, you might help us with other health issues for the future. As such, I probably must say thank you to you, as well."
"No problem," Wallace managed a smile, "stay safe. Sorry to bring all this up on Easter with ya..."
"It's okay," Jeremy answered, "anything for a fan. Let her know we're all fine for the moment. And hopefully things will get better."
"I hear ya," Wallace replied.