Historians urge everyone to journal experiences during the COVID19 pandemic. Let’s add my two cents to the history books.
Location: suburbs of New Jersey. Working mother and wife. An essential workforce worker.
The early days
I’m not sure when I first heard of this new virus. Let’s say early February 2020. I don’t have cable. I get my news from other sources (word of mouth, electronic, social media).
The first reports did not worry me. Some people got sick all the way in China. Not watching the news gave me a more distant perspective of the issue. Media likes to exaggerate everything.
Then, there were reports of the virus spreading to other countries. They described the symptoms and risks similar to the flu. It did not scare me.
Stories
As people’s experiences started coming in, I was more annoyed than anything else – at the flaws of human nature and our government.
A sick woman working at a nursing home in Seattle (an area that had an outbreak and many deaths in another nursing home) related her experiences trying to do the right thing. Since she worked with people at high risk of complications, she wanted to get tested. Were her sniffles just sniffles, or should she quarantine herself?
She called doctors – they had no idea where to get tests. She tried COVID hotline – no one picked up. She tried a hospital – also no access to test kits. The hospital called COVID hotline for her – someone picked up. She was told that she did not qualify to be tested. Only those who had been abroad or those who had contact with confirmed COVID cases were eligible. Everyone else – feel free to carry the virus and kill old people as much as you can. (That’s sarcasm. Please don’t kill old people.)
Meanwhile in other countries, people were getting tested at drive-throughs. They didn’t have eligibility criteria.
As more light was shed on cases like this, the US government was heavily criticized for poor handling of the situation.
World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that dogs are not carriers of the virus and released all quarantined canines.
WHO let the dogs out.
My office was making this joke for days. Sigh.
Media-incited panic prompted the masses to clean all stores of toilet paper. This still baffles me.
Greedy resellers bought out all masks and hand sanitizers from physical stores and started selling them online at 3, 5, 10 x original price.
Meanwhile, hospitals were running out of masks.
Then, government mandated to stop taking advantage of the pandemic, prompting Amazon and EBay to ban those resellers. And they got stuck with all those essential supplies in their garages, unable to sell them. I heard that at least one of them was forced to donate their stock.
I hope karma catches up to each one of them.
Schools
Colleges closed their doors first, moving all classes online. Complaints poured in as students were told to vacate the dorms without a refund or credit issued for their prepaid board. I signed one of their petitions.
They closed my son’s public school about a week later (Monday March 16th). Some schools districts were unprepared and closed completely. These students will have to make up the lost time in the summer.
My son’s Middle School moved to online classes, using Google Classroom, Remind app, Zoom and other apps to stay in touch. After a week, he hates it already. Online school is chaotic.
State of Emergency
Everything changed after State of Emergency was issued. New York went first, New Jersey soon followed.
The first reaction was – it’s an exaggerated panic. It’s media’s fault. Stop hoarding toilet paper, people!
But then, government mandated all restaurants and casinos to close. That was an eye opener for me.
You see, when they said it’s like the flu, it didn’t seem scary. Wash your hands and don’t get sneezed on. If you’re at high-risk, avoid others, but you should be doing that already.
But they’re not treating it like the flu.
I feel like the government is not telling us everything. Time will tell.
Life during a pandemic
Essential workforce
I work in IT for a marine container terminal – it’s where those giant ships come to unload. Unless there’s a zombie apocalypse, and there’s no one left, or the ship workers refuse to come to shore, we will never close. The day when ports close would be a scary time for the nation – no food or supplies.
As of March 19th, we are working on a half-staff to limit number of people in the office – half on location, half working remotely on a weekly rotation.
They’re cleaning our doornobs and common-use buttons everyday – I hope this practice will stay post-pandemic. We keep internal doors open to reduce touching them. There are hand sanitizers everywhere. People are trying to distance (no meetings), but there is no major panic here.
My husband got laid off right before the pandemic. No chance of getting a job now. So I’m thankful that I have job security when so many people got laid off.
All port workers are considered essential workforce – we have to show up to work no matter what. So when the apocalypse comes, I’ll have to dodge the zombies to report to work.
Big thanks to all other essential workers who keep coming to work. We’ll get through this. Stay safe and don’t get sneezed on, everyone.
Update: just a week later, company decided to let everyone who can work from home to do so.
Masks are required in all stores. But we don’t have any. I gave my husband a bandana to tie around his face.
As the number of reported COVID deaths increases, we’re trying to stay safe and keep a distance from everyone. My son keeps asking when he can go back to school (he hates online classes). He thought this would be a quick, temporary break, but it’s only getting started.
I hate it that for once those who panicked early are better prepared.
It’s time to buy some masks.
Stay safe, everyone.
