It’s 4 weeks into quarantine and we are now halfway through my initial prediction a month ago. When the first whisperings of a coronavirus shutdown emerged, I expected it to be at least 6-8 weeks. I knew the rosy expectations of 2 weeks were not realistic. At this stage, I wonder how much longer it will ultimately extend – another 4-6 weeks, perhaps?
While I know a lot of people are feeling it, I’m perfectly happy to continue like this for a couple more weeks. It hasn’t really changed the rhythm of my life much since I’m a homebody anyway. However, as summer hits I’m sure I’ll start itching to be outside more, especially since my current place doesn’t get much direct sunlight.
I remember back in the first days of March, I braced myself for the “social distancing” that I knew would come. It’s like watching the swell of a wave approach in slow motion. All the signs were there, with other countries at slightly more progressive stages along the curve. Our own comeuppance was inevitable.
Friday, March 13th was the last day of complete freedom I experienced. That night, I had a massage with my favorite masseur. As I was leaving, my phone slipped off the counter and cracked. “No big deal,” I thought, “I’ll get it fixed or replaced this weekend.”
I checked Apple Store appointments but didn’t book any since I wasn’t sure what time I’d have free. “I’ll decide during the day,” I figured. The next day, I drove down to San Diego to meet up with some friends and go house hunting. Bestie is in the market and was looking for a place to move when our lease is up at the end of June.
We toured three homes and then went to get lunch. There were 10 of us total and that was the time when they were telling us to limit the size of gatherings. Ours was just within recommendations. As lunch was wrapping up, I decided to look up a local store to visit to get my phone fixed while my friends went to go charge the car or return to their place to nap.
To my surprise, all the appointments were gone. “They can’t all be that busy, can they?” I wondered. Well, I kept digging and found out that all stores now listed “special store hours” as closed. Little did I know that the day before, Apple had announced the closure of retail stores effective the first day that I needed them. Just my luck.
So instead I went back to the condo we were meeting at and we watched TV, played an extensive board game, and grabbed dinner at a local pizza place that was quite empty. I figured I was already there with plans to stay overnight, so might as well go through with it and begin my quarantine the next day.
On Sunday, I mentally started to distance myself in earnest. I left for home, stopping along the way for a few errands. The digital signs on the freeway all said “COVID-19, less is more, avoid gatherings” and so I did. At the grocery store, I was able to get some food and supplies for the cat, but water, toilet paper, paper towels, pasta, canned goods, and flour were pretty much gone.
Work had told us we would come in on Mondays and be remote the rest of the time, so Monday we worked a normal day. On my way home, I decided to pick up food from 2 restaurants so I’d be better prepared for the next day and also to support the businesses. At this point, they had put up signs and restaurants were only allowing seating at every other table. I opted for takeout.
On Tuesday, I worked a remote day much like every Friday that we already do remote. It felt pretty natural. My parents had just moved to a new place nearby, so I went to check out the house for the first time and see my mom briefly. My dad was on his way back when I left, and Orange County had already told non-essential businesses to send their workers home. Our company president scheduled an in-person meeting on Thursday, but I knew that by then, we wouldn’t be allowed to meet physically.
That night, Bestie was feeling like a rebel, so he wanted to go get dinner with Terminator and his girlfriend. I was a little reluctant, given I had already mentally transitioned to a state of quarantine, but I figured it was our last night of freedom. That’s when orders were coming down to stop doing dine-in. We took advantage of the smaller crowds to go eat at a place that usually has an hour+ waitlist. We got seated within 15 minutes!
Wednesday the 18th found us with time and motivation to work out! I haven’t really done anything since we left Equinox during the Ross/Trump scandal. Since we weren’t supposed to congregate, Bestie and I decided to go do a nice beach workout. People would pass by, but we didn’t have to get close to anyone. I can’t recall if the 6-foot guideline had been mentioned at that point.
On Thursday, we did our meeting digitally as I predicted. We only went out to pick up groceries and dinner. It rained a bit but was still sunny, producing a nice rainbow in the early evening. By Friday, I wrapped up the week as a normally do, working from home anyway.
As the weekend rolled around, I decided to go visit Panda and the cats. I was careful not to interact with any other people other than picking up food. My apartment complex shut down all amenities, including the pool and rec room. They no longer accepted packages in person, so deliveries were left in parcel pending if there was room, or on the floor of the package room if there was not.
I hadn’t quite grasped the full brunt of what I was supposed to do – limit my movement to my local neighborhood, so I actually drove around looking at neighborhoods and homes (from the street). Along the way, I saw a ton of people at the beach — more than I thought was safe, given the distancing we were supposed to be observing. I was even going to try going up to a park I always meant to visit, but it was too crowded when I drove by. I didn’t want to risk passing by so many people. Instead I checked out the area by half a dozen homes of interest and enjoyed a gorgeous day in the sun.
When I went to get lunch at Blaze Pizza at the outlets, they had blocked off all but one entrance and they had a security guard checking to ensure you were going to pick up food from one of the restaurants only. Later at a Whole Foods, they offered gloves and sanitized all carts/baskets before handing them to us.
That first week saw massive changes for me. It started with reducing activities and ultimately became minimizing movement to “flatten the curve” as they kept telling us. At first we could eat out with restrictions, but by the end of it we were only picking up food and doing essential grocery shopping. Since then it’s been much of the same for me. More to come on what has been happening since week 1! Stayed tuned.
