You should be starting your own ‘Time of Coronavirus’ journal soon, if you haven’t already. You needn’t share it on OpenLan–unless you want to–but you will be using it for a paper and turning it in as part of your portfolio. I am going to keep a journal, too, providing an example, I hope, for you as well as a record for me of this strange and unnerving time.
When I awoke yesterday, I had a stuffy head–not unusual for me, but of concern as we face COVID-19. My wife could hear the difference in my voice and quizzed me on it but I brushed her off. I was in a hurry to get our clothes to the laundromat by seven when it opens for I did not want to be there when other people are. I should have let my wife go, and recognize that now, but I wanted to get out for a bit (all we have been doing is walking the dog and a bit of grocery shopping).
Normally, I do our laundry, using the time there to read or grade student papers or do other work. Last time, though, I dropped it off. It costs about twice as much, but I had decided that the degree of contact with others was not worth the saving. This time, I did the same.
We are among the lucky New Yorkers who have room for a car. We rent a space in front of our building so it was easy to load the laundry bags into our little Mini Cooper. No one was out on the street. Our block is beginning to take the situation seriously, especially since the death of the son-in-law of one of our neighbors last Thursday. The laundromat we use is about a mile away on a normally busy street. We like it because it is always clean and the people who work there are personable.
Though I arrived at the laundromat at seven, opening time, it was still dark. I parked on the street where I could see the bus stop across the street for I new that Phyllis, who opens up, would arrive by bus. There were a couple of people waiting, so I knew she would likely be on the next one to come by.
She was. The bus came after a wait of about fifteen minutes. Phyllis was in a mask. I waved to catch her attention and told her I would give her a few minutes to get things ready before coming in. In her Italian accent, she replied, “Thank you, Aaron.”
She had her mask on still when I lugged my bags in. She weighed them while we kept the appropriate distance apart and told me she was quite busy, which I expected, and asked if tomorrow was OK for pick-up. I said sure and drove home.
I am glad that I did respect the distances suggested, for I started to have a raspy throat by noon. Now, I have seasonal allergies and that’s probably all this is but, frankly, I don’t know. So, we decided that I should isolate even in the house. This is going to be difficult even though it is just the two of us, but I am beginning to learn just what that means. We are lucky. Our apartment has a half-bath right off the bedroom. I am unlucky. I have been stuck in the bedroom for almost a day now and may be here for a while.
Today, I will spend time exploring how best to isolate in a New York apartment. Maybe we’re exhibiting an abundance of caution, but there’s no way I can get tested right now so we’re putting safety first though I am not happy about it–though, at the same time, I am annoyed at myself for having gone out at all yesterday. What if I am positive and infected someone else?
Right now, I have a box of tissues on the night-table that looks like it has an image of the coronavirus on it, or at least it amuses me to think so. I don’t need them right now, but want to have them around.
Yesterday, before my throat got a little rough, we wiped down everything in the apartment from door knobs to telephones to countertops to bannisters (ours is a third-floor apartment with one flight of stairs inside). I’m thankful for that, for I decided to isolate soon after, soon enough so that my wife didn’t have to do it all over again immediately, though she will again, today… leaving me feeling guilty that I can’t help.
No matter that I know that this is what I should do, I feel rather foolish isolating like this. Everything seems so calm, though sirens are still constant in this city, making me feel I’m being overly dramatic. I’m feeling quite imperfect but I am trying to do what is needed.
Your experiences will be quite different from mine but do try to record them three or four (preferably four) times a week, writing for half an hour or more. In may, you will use your journal as the basis for a paper, one where you will add some outside sources, citing what other people have written–doing, that is, a bit of research.
People-to-people isolation policies are needed to reduce the spread of the epidemic. We try our best to go out to visit relatives and friends. Also pay attention to personal protection, traditional masks, hand washing and other strategies that should be paid attention to. In addition, pay attention to rest, do not entertain or drink too much alcohol, better immunity can protect yourself. Recently, with the continuous increase of test data, more and more people are diagnosed, and the United States has become the country with the highest number of confirmed diagnoses in the world. The reason behind the growth is that Trump’s attitude and attitude is inaction and does not help New York. Just like the governor of New York said that we need 30,000 respirators, why only give us 400. We need the help of military medical personnel, and the governor has been begging Trump to send doctors to help New York. But Trump’s actions and gradual slowdown have led to rapid growth in New York
Great advice!
of course it is trumps fault… because he is the one in charge…
also he should know exactly what to do because, he has been a doctor for many years… (oh wait he hasn’t)
well then he should at least have been smart enough to use the Defence Production Act to call on all the different big companies to produce ventilators because New York needs them. (just because he says that he is living in a wartime, i don’t think the country has officially “Declared War” on the coronavirus, btw…)
WE KNOW HE SHOULD DO THIS, because we are all in senior ranks in politics, and industries and KNOW exactly what should be done, how government funds should be distributed, and how everything should work from the safety of our beds at home…
I think its sad that Everyone knows exactly what to do when they are not in charge of anything, but change their tone of voice as they gain more responsibilities… in my opinion i don’t think Trump is doing all he can be doing to help New York. In contrast to me putting blame on him for not helping New York the most, I am NOT going to say that HE CAUSED this to spread in New York. The reason why New York is just gonna forever be a hub for the coronavirus, is because of how congested and full of humans it is. There is almost nothing that New Yorkers can do but ask for help… and i really hopes that POTUS sends the needed help to New York. Bitching and moaning might help, because when people complain shit usually moves faster =/
P.S. as an industry worker, manager, i would have loved to get a government grant to work for the government… the government gives an absurd amount of money to people who work with them. Take Financial Aid the government puts “The total awarded to college students for 2018-19 was $27.5 billion” and the “$2.6 billion in free money for college, according to NerdWallet’s annual analysis of federal financial aid data. The money went unclaimed because about 661,000 of the nation’s graduates who were eligible” (Helhoski , https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/2018-fafsa-study/) tons of money being thrown at different branches of government….
Yeah, it always seems to be those with the least knowledge and experience…
I did some research on the virus, how it originated, how to prevent it, how it spread, and how to maintain the safety of the community. I’m more interested in this. It is interesting that it has not yet been accurately determined from where it was transmitted. Some people say that it originated in the United States and broke out in China. Others say that China originated. I am doing a lot of research on this. I also asked my friends in China how they had controlled the virus before
I did some research on the virus, how it originated, how to prevent it, how it spread, and how to maintain the safety of the community. I’m more interested in this. It is interesting that it has not yet been accurately determined from where it was transmitted. Some people say that it originated in the United States and broke out in China. Others say that China originated. I am doing a lot of research on this. I also asked my friends in China how they had controlled the virus before
According to CNN, Trump “Matsuguchi” admitted at a White House press conference on April 1 that he recently changed his tone after learning about the “severity” of the coronavirus. In the early days of the epidemic, the virus was likened to “flu”. For weeks, Trump has been downplaying the threat of the virus, comparing its impact to the flu, reminding people that flu can also be deadly. This week, Trump’s tone seemed to have changed dramatically. He was talking seriously about the severe epidemic situation.
According to the latest data from the website of the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Research Center, as of 4.55am on April 2nd, Beijing time, the cumulative number of confirmed cases of coronavirus pneumonia in the United States is the largest in the world, reaching 209,071, and 4,633 deaths. .
By the way, all we have to do during coronavirus is to prevent it. If you live in an area where the coronavirus is endemic, try not to go out. Pay attention to wearing masks and gloves when going out. Don’t have meals or activities with others. Usually pay attention to exercise, you can run, dance, walk, more exercise can help the body improve immunity.
who would’ve thought? something like this will actually happen all of a sudden? i heard about corona virus and what it’s been doing more than 3 months ago. i didn’t take it seriously until we went on lockdown. it took a whole citywide lockdown for me to take it seriously, and i think it’s for most of us.
the first day of the lockdown i started off normally. i thought the lockdown probably going to stay for 1 to 2 weeks. but the schools and colleges started to give the whole semester off to us, it’s then when i realized it’s more serious than what i think it is and what they are showing us. i live with my parents and my brother. even though me and my brother taking it more bravely, my dad is not.
my dad is really paranoid, which makes all of us paranoid. and i think most of it comes with the press and the social media. social media makes everything really heightened and extreme. and my dad is hooked to the news 24/7, which is not really a great idea. i have been trying to avoid unnecessary news that can take away my peace. i have been staying home and trying to stay healthy and positive during this pandemic. i hope everything goes back to normal real soon and we can get back to our regular life. recently china has reopened and it’s going back to normal. but with that the market that sells exotic animals for food has opened too. it is so weird that even after all that people didn’t learn and they are buying these animals. even tho china is going back to normal rest of the world isn’t.
This pandemic is something scary for everyone. I think I speak for mostly everyone when I say I wish it could all just be over. During my time home I’ve been doing research and came across many different perspectives about the carona virus and one tab led to another. Anyway, what I came across was someone’s opinion questioning the credibility of the govt. It basically said that once this whole thing is over we can not trust the govt. Seeing how they’ve lied to us about many things that has been brought to light with the covid-19 spreading. This goes from companies telling their employers that there’s no way for them to work from home, or even take time off for the sake of who knows, to colleges telling students said classes can’t be online, to the trillions of dollars that they have and claim that they never do.
The situation is being really an annoying and panic of course but i think we will be able to overcome to this adversity if and only if we make ourselves strong enough to fight against it. I have been trying to practice of social distancing with social media too. That is because, these days, I find social media is filled with the storm of rumors and negativity which will make people anxious and nervous. for instance, I can post the news of 10478 people are recovered instead of 3565 deaths in NYC. Only 3.5 percent of patients are in intensive care unit.
I can relate to this journal entry. COVID-19 has been out for a numerous amount of months. Recently the virus blew up like a wild fire and all of my co workers started to be more and more exposed to the virus just like me. Little did I know I was exposed to a patient who carried the virus when me and my partner arrived on scene in the bronx. The following week my usual partner called out. He kept calling out non stop. one night I get a call from my partner whose name is Gino and he tells me “milo remember that night we were up in the bronx with that patient who had hypoxia? yea well turns out he had corona virus. I had a fever of 103 for the last 3 weeks. loss of taste and smell. Figured it was seasonal flu went and got tested positive for COVID-19.” As soon as the message registered in my mind my heart dropped to my stomach knowing I live at home with my parents and younger sister knowing I could of brought the virus home to them. COVID-19 is a scary thing…
You understand, I think, much more than most of the population.