Quarantine Life: Day 1, Preparations
Call it Day 1. Grant and I are officially in self-isolation. Like 7.5 million of our Bay Area neighbors, we were ordered by our county health officers yesterday to shelter in place as a way of containing the spread of COVID-19. That order went into effect at 12:01 this morning and will be in effect until April 7, unless otherwise extended or rescinded. Translation: We’ll spend most of the next three weeks or so at home alone together. We’re not completely shut in. We’re allowed to shop for food and essentials, make necessary doctor visits, etc. We’re also allowed to go outside for a walk, provided we practice “social distancing.” which means staying at least six feet away from any other person who does not live with you.
The past 24 hours have been filled with calls and texts from many of our concerned friends and relatives from Washington, Pennsylvania and even as far as the Philippines. They’re all asking if we’re ok. And thank God, we are.
We started preparing a couple of weeks ago for a possible shutdown, shelter-in-place, or whatever you want to call it. We’d been watching the news closely and knew that entire cities in China were locked down, cruise ships had quarantined passengers and Italy was starting to shut down cities and regions. As we read about people being confined or forced to stay in their homes, we asked ourselves whether we were prepared in case we find ourselves in a similar situation. We answered honestly: We were not.
And so, two weeks ago, we started to build up our food reserves slowly. Two weeks ago seems like another lifetime. They were the days of going to Costco or Whole Foods and finding everything in stock. We could wander up and down aisles at our leisure. No pushing. No fist fights over toilet paper. No having to wait two hours in line for doors to open at 9 a.m. At that point, it seemed like we had a one in a thousand chance of being forced to self-isolate. People we know generally seemed mildly concerned about needing to prepare, but I don’t think anyone really expected the reality we’ve arrived at today.
We justified our shopping then by saying that the food and supplies we were buying were “just in case.” We reasoned that there’s no harm in buying a little bit of extra food that you’ll probably shop for and eat anyway. We kept it low key. We didn’t want people thinking we were those fanatical doomsday people who expect the world to end at any minute. We just wanted to be prepared. Just in case. And so, we shopped. We got frozen meat, sacks of sweet potatoes and some frozen fruit and vegetables. I should also mention that Grant and I are exactly eight weeks, 23 hours and 5 minutes into a life-changing diet, but who’s counting? More on that in future posts. For now, all that’s relevant is that we’re pretty limited in what we can eat, thus making emergency preparations more challenging.
Shopping for shelter-in-place mandates.
Fast forward to one week ago and the idea of a shelter-in-place mandate still seemed unlikely, but not as far-fetched. Certain companies like Apple, Facebook and others started to ask their employees to work remotely. I have several close friends who work in the tech industry, who were suddenly working from home full time until further notice. Grant and I began texting my parents, aunts and uncles, asking them if they had any food reserves. Just in case. They said they were fine. They’d be ok. We went back to Costco and bought some canned chicken and dried fruit, in accordance with our diet. We also got some non-compliant, crave-worthy, just-in-case-of-emergency food: frozen breakfast burritos, Clif Bars and ramen.
Then, Wednesday night happened. We were at my parent’s place when the president announced from the Oval Office that he was suspending flights from Europe and was directing Treasury to provide a tax filing deadline extension, among other measures. It all of sudden started feeling a little more real. Quickly. In the time it took us to leave my parent’s front door and get to our car, the NBA announced it was suspending its season indefinitely. Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert had tested positive for COVID-19. A famous person got infected by the virus? A major sports league suspended its season? Unheard of. By the time we got home, we also heard that Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson had tested positive for the coronavirus.
By Friday, the president officially announced what we already knew: This was a national emergency. Suddenly, everyone was shopping. Stores got pummeled as people stormed in to stock up on supplies. Grant went to Whole Foods Friday afternoon and called it a madhouse. Shelves were bare and people were anxiously scrounging around for whatever food they could put into their carts. Grant said his heart went out to one elderly employee who emerged from the back room with a stock cart of canned goods. With no products left on the shelf to use as reference, the poor man had to look through his bifocals and compare the shelf labels with the product labels. Meanwhile, shoppers had spotted him and started pulling product off of his stock cart. “It’s like the apocalypse!” he yelled.
In more ways than one, I think that man is right. This may not be the end of the world, but I think it’s certainly the beginning of a different kind of world. The shutdowns won’t last forever, but I think these days will have a lasting effect around the globe. Grant and I are blessed with the opportunity to work from home during this crisis. That means continuing to earn a paycheck and being able to pay our bills. For many others, that’s sadly not the case. Some people employed in essential industries must continue going into work, even if that means increased risk of exposure. Others are in a no-work, no-pay situation. Some are in between jobs or will be laid off because their employers won’t be able to weather the financial disruption. Not to mention, the infection rate and death toll continue to skyrocket around the globe.
It’s easy to feel helpless in time like these. There seem to be so many forces out of our control. So, let’s concentrate on what we can control. Let’s follow the advice of medical professionals and health officials. Let’s be generous by sharing what resources we have and by not taking more than we need. Let’s think of others. That’s the only way we’ll get through this.
This daily blog post series is our way of sharing our experience with you, our readers. We’ll talk about our daily routines, adjustments to working from home, recipes based on limited ingredients and any other topic that comes to mind. It’s our way of connecting with the “outside” world, while also giving us the opportunity to look within and reflect on what we’re experiencing and how we’re feeling. Thanks for your interest in sharing this journey with us. Stay tuned and be well.
