If you’re at all like me, and I’m assuming you are in at least a peripheral kind of way, you’ve been wondering what this global quarantine looks like for everyone else. I’ve started watching more YouTube channels and keeping tabs on Facebook more, not to learn more about the pandemic, but to try to wrap my head around this community experience.
And I wish there was more I could find. How many people are Cloroxing their groceries after shopping? Who in the family is doing the shopping? Are people using more delivery? Are people comfortable with take-out? Where are people taking walks? How are people with kids but no backyards getting along? Whose job is being affected, or who has lost employment? Is life easier in some ways?
All of these are on my mind.
So here are a few snippets of our experience, in a corner of the world where the virus itself has only made a modest appearance but where it could escalate any day.
First: Michael.
Michael, my husband, has Cerebral Palsy. From what I’ve researched online, individuals with disabilities are NOT likely to have greater risk of Covid-19 complications, unless they have other underlying conditions like heart problems or asthma. However, Michael does have asthma (as do I, though not as badly) and a history of pneumonia and breathing problems. As a kid, he was once hospitalized for a week for severe breathing difficulty, and as newly weds, we once went to a doctor who measured his breath force and said he had the lung capacity of a seventy-year old. Yikes.
So, he’s the one we’ve been most worried about in our immediate family. Fortunately kids are not usually at risk, which has been a huge relief for us. But we’re trying to take this thing seriously both to limit community spread and in hopes that this will pass by us.
Second: Pollution.
While there are bigger issues at play, this is a really cool silver lining from all this (and hey, we can actually see those silver linings with less smog!) China, of course, has been social distancing far longer than the U.S. has, but even in Utah the sky looks clearer to me. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but I stepped outside to get milk and a prescription (that I disinfected, and then I washed my hands) and the evening overhead was deep and clear and more saturated than I’m used to seeing.
Third: Hands.
Anyone else having dry, cracked hands from washing them so often and so long? I mean, I wash them several times a day normally, but not for two “Happy Birthdays” every twenty minutes.
Speaking of Happy Birthdays…
Fourth:
Jeffrey’s birthday! He’s four now, and has been telling people for MONTHS that he was going to have a party when he turned four. He wasn’t too upset when I told him that we’d just celebrate his birthday at home for now, and that we could have another one when the germs went away. He loved his truck cake and presents and got lots of long-distance grandparent love.
We also got him a hoppity ball (like a kid-sized exercise ball with a handle on it), but that was a social-distancing present so he could use up some energy inside.
And now my hands are feeling sore from all that washing, so that’s a wrap for today.
Alizabeth Worley 