Taking a side break from my Disney World posts to talk about the latest Covid 19 happenings.
Last week was the first week a lot of people spent actually staying home. Oregon was under this sort of vague "Stay Home Stay Safe" model. Basically our governor said "you're adults, you don't need me to make it a crime to be out and about. You know what to do. Stay home for 14 days, it's super easy." And Oregonians responded by crowding the beaches and the hiking trails. So today it became a mandatory Shelter in Place or get a fine until I say differently.
It won't really change anything Brent and I are doing. Grocery stores and quick take out food and delivery are still open and options. Though our favorite restaurant did a week of take out before realizing the risk reward ratio wasn't really worth it to them and shut down. Which makes me so sad for them. Lots of businesses aren't going to recover from this time period. BUT...we still need to do this. Because if we don't our hospitals are going to be slammed and a lot of PEOPLE aren't going to recover.
Just imagine those images you saw of people crowding Florida beaches and California boardwalks and Oregon hiking trails and put those people in to a hospital instead of on the beach. Now do you see?
The good news on the home front is that Christopher made it through his first 7 days of quarantine with no symptoms. They can still show up, of course, but for most people it's day 1-5 where they are most likely to happen. So hopefully he wasn't infected. They are working on getting all of their workstations delivered so they can move forward with working from home in a more in depth way. He'll have to figure out where to set up that rig but a good problem to have considering the number of people out of work altogether.
Saturday Brent and I did our "BIG DAY OUT" Yeah, I know I just lectured you all about how we all need to stay home except for essentials...and it was just that. We got takeout from our favorite place (really glad since I don't know when or if we will be able to again) then we went to the grocery store. Which was crazy. It wasn't as crowded as it had been a week and a half ago, but it was still busy. The store had set up things a little differently to help with the social distancing. They had two feeder lines for registers with tape marks on the floor where to stand to wait. So that was great. But people just didn't get the spacing thing when left on their own. Like, you know, if I am standing here, YOU stand over there! One couple kept cutting me off over and over. One of them laughed, "Oh we are in your way again!" It's not funny. It's not business as usual. Watch me...see how I wait WAY OVER HERE while he grabs flour, then when he is done I step in to get mine. SIX FEET APART! But no...people would walk down the middle of an aisle. Or stand in front of things just staring for ages. Grab and move, people! Grab and move!
Though I do get it, I walked back and forth in front of the meat case a few times. Trying to stay out of anyone's way while contemplating the menu change I was going to need to make because the shelves were bare. That and my mint tea were the two things I needed that weren't there. The rest was okay. Some things I would have picked up (more dried beans, a little more pasta) but couldn't because they were still out of stock. But we should be good for another week and a half to two weeks.
Which is good because we both felt like we were crawling with germs by the time we got home. I have a feeling this is going to spur a whole new group of germaphobes. But a shower and a complete change of clothes and laundry helped that feeling.
We also picked up takeout dinner. Call in. Pay over the phone. Hand it to you. Minimal contact. And I went in because though both of us were bothered by the store I was less so than Brent. I have always fallen into the camp of let your kids eat some dirt, it's good for them and helps build their immune systems. But, like I said, even I am feeling pretty squicked out when around too many people. I've never been a fan of crowds, they make me uncomfortable, but now it's almost a physical feeling, like I can feel them in my air. Not sure when that will go away.
Which is where we are right now. Not sure when this goes away. Not sure what else is coming. Not sure how bad it's going to get. I think we missed our chance to contain the virus at the beginning and then missed our chance to slow the spread over the past few weeks. I think within a week or two our hospitals will be completely overwhelmed and hard decisions are going to be facing those in the medical community. I think we are going to face two waves of financial implosions. This first one, where things are closing and people are being laid off in mass, and then the second when the people who got sick are hit with their medical bills.
The president is still giving daily press conferences where he gives the wrong information and his health department people try to come in after him and clarify. He's also starting to tweet about the how this whole stay at home thing is wrecking the economy so we need to stop it. Money, money, money...who the hell cares if a large chunk of the population gets sick and or dies? Who cares if the hospitals are overrun with people and completely lacking in supplies? Put your mask on and get your lazy ass back to work...
It's extremely frustrating.
It's all up in the air.
I'm afraid we haven't even begun to see the worst of it.
Stay home.
Stay safe.
Wash your damn hands.
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