CoronaVirus
It is Wednesday, March 18, 2020, and COVID-19/CoronoVirus is spreading across the land. The rate of infection is a doubling of cases about every 3 days. The history books will record what is happening, but I wanted to put down what it has been like for one suburban dweller.
Last Thursday were told to get ready to be able to work from home, test your VPN connection, etc. By the time Friday rolled around, we were told on Monday, to begin working from home. Also on that Friday, the governor of Illinois ordered all schools closed as of yesterday. My son has been home the past two days and is adapting pretty well, so far. Us adults are little freaked out. Yes, the stores have been emptied of toilet paper, paper towels, and many other cleaning supplies. I took today off, I just needed a mental break to get adjusted to this social distancing. We went out late last night for a few more supplies, and out again today to complete our gathering. We are pretty well stocked, thankfully. I know they say the grocery stores will stay open, but goodness knows how long that will be the case.
All of the restaurants, bars, coffee shops, are all closed to inside customers. Just delivery and drive through. It is all just so surreal at this point. Today I sent out my last retro repair order, I had so many orders for the last few months, and now it has just dropped to nothing. I am sure it will stay like this a while. Writing this all down is therapeutic, I think I will try to post once a day to just keep this for posterity.
One thing I did notice is the how uneven the hoarding was in the stores. Paper products, cleaning supplies, old fashioned oat meal, dried beans, and for some reason, breakfast sausages are hard to come by. Bacon is plentiful. Makes no sense at all. We do not know how long this will last, or even if there will be a shelter in place order will be commanded for our state. Speaking of that, there has been really poor co-ordination at the national level. I knew Trump would be bad in a crisis, but, holy hell, not this bad.
Finally, working from home is all new to me. I did have to go in for a few hours yesterday to run a test, but it really is a mixed bag working from home. The commute is great and my office is setup well, but I miss the water-cooler chats and just being around work friends. I just don’t know what will happen with employment, long term. I am sure we are in for a recession/depression the like virtually no one alive now has seen.