I have been mentally trying to figure out how to put my feelings about recent events into words without success. So I am just going to write and I hope that it is coherent.
Two weeks ago Thursday we were sitting on a beach in Florida.
The next two days we spent driving home.
That Sunday I was stressed about how the following week would go with jury duty, finding baby-sitters, Teddy not drinking from a bottle, and having just returned from a trip there was no food in the fridge and a pile of laundry that needed to be done.
I got three hours of sleep that night but made it through Monday (I wrote about it here).
Tuesday night the WHO issued a pandemic for the Coronavirus.
The NBA had a player test positive for Coronavirus so the NBA canceled the season.
And the US went into panic.
Before the NBA made their announcement businesses in the US had decided that they were going to take actions to mitigate the spread of the disease but would otherwise carry-on. Such as sports events telecasted but no spectators in the stadium.
Through out the day Thursday I received emails and text messages from Hulk's school about the outbreak stating that they were monitoring the situation and they would keep parents/guardians appraised. Then, right after he got home from school I received a notice saying that the Governor had closed schools in Ohio starting Friday until April 3rd. That night I was sitting with friends at a church event when we received an email from the church saying that church was canceled (and ironically all church events were canceled).
Thursday night I stopped at a store on the way home to get a few things for dinner the next day. The store was wiped out. I had an idea that it would be bad (I had just been with a group of women and we had been talking about people's reactions to the coronavirus). One friend had said that she had been at Aldi and people weren't returning their carts (kind of a big deal since you have to pay a quarter to get a cart and then the quarter is given back once you return your cart). My friend went on to say, "What kind of post-apocalyptic world do we live in where people don't even return their carts!" We had all laughed at the time but walking through Aldi's bare aisles was sobering.
When I go shopping I usually buy in bulk (if I need a can of tomato sauce I'll by ten). This way I have a small food storage continuously in rotation. But I don't buy the stuff until the storage starts to get low. So we'll have weeks where if a major calamity hits and the stores shut down we'll be fine but then we'll have weeks where nothing better happen because we're low on toilet paper.
We were low on toilet paper.
Like, on our last roll of toilet paper low.
And for some reason everyone decided to bulk up on it. Covid-19 is a respiratory virus so I'm not sure why people targeted toilet paper. Unless they're like my family and they use toilet paper as tissues but I kind of assumed we were peculiar in that aspect.
My theory: people were panic buying. Something strange and potentially scary was happening and they needed to do something to control their situation. They may not have needed toilet paper but it was there and so they bought it so then other people bought it and the cycle continued.
We ran out of toilet paper this morning just as J was getting ready to go to the store for the first time since I had gone a week ago. As we were meal planning the night before and writing the shopping list J said to me, "did you put toilet paper on there?" Nope. I had forgotten. 😑
J started his shopping trip at Aldi before going to WalMart and then Kroger. Aldi usually puts limits on how many of a single item you can buy (6 cartoons of eggs, 6 gallons of milk, etc) because their prices are that good. Today, you could only buy 1 cartoon of eggs and WalMart and Kroger also had limits. WalMart and Kroger were also out of toilet paper whereas Aldi was not. But I probably shouldn't have told you that because now everyone is going to be rushing Aldi for their toilet paper.
For the record, J only bought one package of toilet paper.
IF THERE IS A SHORTAGE IT'S NOT OUR FAULT.
Aside from my usual runs, today was my first time leaving the house in a week. I went to donate blood at the hospital downtown. There were police guarding the entrances and people sitting at tables that would interrogate you when you tried to enter. They would ask questions regarding your health and possible exposure to Covid-19. All the healthcare workers in the hospital were wearing face masks and gloves (even the receptionist).
I feel like there was a moment of panic last week. There was a moment where this idea of a pandemic hit, things started shutting down, and people became scared. In Cincinnati, there is nothing to do and no where to go (aside from a public park). Restaurants, museums, the zoo, opera, symphony, and bars are all closed along with churches and schools. Thousands of people without jobs.
Because of the perceived panic that is happening around me I feel like I should be panicking too. And I feel... guilty? panicked? scared? But those feelings are directed towards my lack of feeling towards the pandemic. I feel guilty for not being panicky when the news describes the panic of others.
And that's our normal right now. J works from home now. I homeschool Hulk. We don't go anywhere and we avoid our neighbors. I am not afraid of getting Covid-19. I am young and healthy. It wouldn't be much different than getting a cold. But I could pass it on to someone else. I (or J or our kids) could be patient 31 which would burden our already struggling healthcare system. That's why we stay home.
It will be interesting to see how week two of self-isolation will hold and how the community will react.
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