Whoever you are, I'm pretty sure you've heard about the worldwide pandemic of Covid-19. My experiences during that strange time aren't unique, but they're mine and maybe you wonder what I did then.
The 19 in the name is the year this virus was discovered and became a pandemic, autumn 2019. For me basically two things happened, everyone completely freaked out and life remained almost exactly the same. I was and am retired, so the fact that businesses closed with the exception of groceries and hardware, made little impression. It made some, of course. At first we were advised to use grocery delivery services, which I did, and then I watched a YouTube video about how you should sanitize all the packages. Did that too. Wiped down cereal boxes and canned vegetables. Not for long however - I was too lazy.
It became almost impossible to find rubbing alcohol and by the time I thought to get some sanitary wipes - the shelf was bare. Many shelves became bare. So I bought some baby wipes. Luckily I had the alcohol and I just poured a lot of the bottle into the baby wipes - presto - instant disinfectant.
The President was Donald Trump. Love him or hate him, those were some pretty interesting news conferences. I've read that he didn't want to scare the population. We were scared enough without any encouragement, information or lack thereof from him. It didn't take long to hear news about people dying. Lots of people. Mostly older people (that includes me?) with health conditions and woe to them if they lived in a nursing home or anyplace with lots of other older people. One of the aides, inevitably it seems, would be sick - with or without symptoms - and the next thing you know - more dead seniors.
But younger, healthier people were dying too. From the news, I think New York City should be a village by now. So many dead that refrigerated trucks had to be brought in because the morgues couldn't handle them all. Doctors and nurses and all hospital personnel were stressed to their limits. Some sickened, some died, some took their own lives, many simply left the profession. People would go to hospitals and leave gifts and food for the staff - just to be encouraging. There is still a lot of turbulence in the medical profession especially among nurses who have gone on strike and not always for more pay, but to demand more staff. One of the issues is that "traveling nurses" are much in demand and command very high pay, so hospital nurses feel their patients are not getting appropriate care. But I digress.
It really didn't matter to me that restaurants closed. I was perfectly happy getting a Junior Whopper from Burger King - no contact. Plexiglass barriers went up all over the place and stayed up for three years. We were told to wear surgical type face masks. Those went out of stock instantly and were then reserved for health care workers. People began sewing and donating masks. I remember reading about it on Facebook right here in Eustis. Timothy Totten, who I'd met at an event some time previous was spearheading the local effort. I made my own mask from an old kitchen towel.
But I had a life to live and one item in that life was a car to be bought and left at the cabin in Minnesota. The previous car had completely died on the very day I was scheduled to drive it to Duluth, leave it at Don's garage and take a cab to the airport. No car and the airport an hour away. I called a friend at a lake across the road, Ken Swanson, and begged him to take me. He did. He and his wife Bonnie have been life savers a number of times.
This exercise in car buying during a pandemic wasn't as tough as you'd think. Cars are still available, car lots are open and you can search inventory pretty easily on line. I knew the car I wanted. I love cars that look like boxes, but turns out the car I liked - used of course - didn't have any of the things I needed. Number one was gas mileage. Yes, gas is cheap in 2019 but we all know that won't last forever and if I leave the cabin, the nearest destination is twenty miles away and a weekly grocery run is forty miles, one way. After doing the research, it turned out that the perfect car for me was a Honda Fit; forty-five mile per gallon, more interior space then imaginable (is it a tardis? Never heard of a tardis? Research Dr. Who) and a few used one are in the area. It looks like a bubble, but never mind. I was willing to pay $10 thousand. Unfortunately, the going price was $13,000. But by searching just a little farther there it was in Daytona: 2017 red Honda Fit, 35,000 miles, $9,995. I called so they knew I was coming. What they didn't know was that I had stumbled on some information to my benefit in my research. Turns out that Florida has a statute that says dealers are not allowed to charge any items they make a profit on if it's not on the sticker. Almost no one knows about this, so dealers simply ignore it. I played somewhat the dumb consumer to the salesman; did he know about this statute? I showed him the photo I'd taken of it. Dealer Prep Fee? I don't think so. He said he had to talk to the manager. I was more than prepared and told him, "take your time, I've brought a book". The manager came out in record time. We did the deal and the car was mine. They even delivered it.
I had to drive the 1,500 miles without touching anything unless I'm wearing gloves or talk to anyone without being at least 6 feet away and preferably wearing a mask. Turned out to be pretty easy as not many people were driving anywhere. Motels and gas stations were turning somersaults to prove they were doing everything to make you safe and McDonalds drive-thru is still in business. At the end of summer I flew home and while it was surreal to be in a quiet airport with no line at security and keeping 6 feet away from everyone, it wasn't unpleasant.
By late fall, a vaccine was being promoted, however getting one was proving to be a challenge. But I had some dumb luck. I was out in the yard when my neighbor Jerry drove by and stopped for a minute. He was on his way to Ocoee to get the shot because his daughter is a nurse there. Turns out I could qualify too as a friend. He told me the website and I made the appointment immediately and was vaccinated that week, January 2021.
Many every-day items became scarce. Toilet paper is the one often talked about. With most people staying at home - schools and businesses are closed - this is something we all need and people hoard it while factories can't keep up with demand. There was a bird flu and eggs disappeared and those available were triple the price. One week I really had a desire for rice. Nope. No rice on the shelves at all. It wasn't unusual to walk down a grocery aisle where most of the shelves were completely bare.
Somehow, I never got sick, nor do I personally know anyone who died. Almost four years have passed since March of 2020. Many of the plexiglass barriers are just now being removed. But grocery delivery is booming, as is delivery of just about everything. Very few people still wear masks and I usually assume those who do have some health condition. Times are still very odd though. Prices of many things are much more than pre-pandemic, although some are coming down. Interest rates are going higher and higher to try and bring the inflation under control.
There have been and will continue to be consequences to shutting down the world. I'm most concerned for young people who were forced to stay home without the company of friends and have their schooling online. Behavior issues from lack of socialization may be a consequence as well as other mental health conditions. The cost of housing is higher than many people in lower paying jobs can afford so homelessness is increasing and out of control in many larger cities.
This pandemic resulted in major changes in many areas of life and change is always difficult. Yet change is one of the only constants in the universe.
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