Social Distancing: Day 1

I hope to keep a journal of our time spent actively avoiding the Coronavirus that is believed to be on the brink of devastating our country. Our world. At this time no one is certain of the destruction it will cause--both economically as well as health wise--but our country has essentially gone into lockdown mode in an effort to curb the spread of this virus that has already ravaged through several parts of the world leaving thousands dead in its path. The uncertainty of what's upon us is scary, but we hope that if we remain vigilant with both cleanliness and social distancing that we can forge ahead unscathed.

So how did we get to today? I will spare the details that we all know, and instead focus on my own experiences.

Beginning of February (I think):

We began to feel the impact of Coronavirus in Chicago's China Town just more than a month ago when reporters were covering a story in which patrons were no longer visiting the area's restaurants due to concerns over the virus that was known, at that time, only to be in China. Talk of this virus, at this point, was buried deep within the nightly news broadcasts so I wasn't extremely familiar with its affects and laughed that this would even be a news story. If only I had known then what I know now.

End of February:

People are hoarding toilet paper, and Coronavirus memes are plastered over the Internet. This silly little virus was making for some great entertainment.

March 12:

Mason and I went to the grocery store in an effort to buy supplies for Camryn's birthday and party. What we walked into was Black Friday-type crowds. Only instead of purchasing oversized TVs for pennies on the dollar, people were filling their carts with an unreasonable amount of canned and frozen food items as if preparing for the apocalypse. It seemed surreal and ridiculous. I snapped a picture of the long lines as Mason and I paid for cake mix, frosting and a handful of party items.

{It's hard to see the amount of people in the checkout lines, but our line extended back to the frozen food section while the other lines extended deep into the clothing aisles.}

Friday, March 13 through Sunday, March 15:

The Illinois governor calls off school beginning on Tuesday through the end of March, or in our case April 6 because of Spring Break. Restaurants and bars are ordered to close. People are urged to work from home. This thing called "social distancing" is now a common term. I am worried that I am not really worried. But by Sunday, I am becoming worried.

Sunday, March 15:

Caleb and I head to the grocery store at 10 PM in an effort to grab one last round of supplies before hunkering down at home. What we walked into was what felt like a post-apocalyptic world. One in which only a few survivors were left to wander the empty aisles of the grocery store in an attempt to secure any remaining supplies for survival. It was an incredibly ominous feeling and like nothing I have ever seen before. Nearly all shelves were empty. Caleb joked that it's obvious what food people really don't like as those are the only food items remaining. Speaking of, we are now the proud owners of the last frozen pizza in Meijer--what appears to be a somewhat unpalatable chicken and bacon variety. Our life seems weird right now.

{Left: The shelves were relatively bare with pallets of unpacked food deserted in the open space of the store. We had to tear open boxes on the pallets in order to get some of the food we wanted. Right: This is what was left of the bread aisle. Nada.}

And today. Monday, March 16th.

Caleb and I decided it best to keep the kids home from school on their last day before required closures. After having spent the weekend away from most everyone, it seemed counterproductive to send them to school to be around 600+ people. Of course they were fine with it. I have received educational materials from all of their teachers and we have already played school for today. Interestingly, the school closing is being labeled as an Act of God so none of these days missed will need to be made up. Likewise, teachers cannot assign work for grades during this time either. So now I have two jobs: 1. Keep my kids from spending all day on their devices, and 2. Make sure my kids don't forget everything they have learned this year in the event that they are able to finish out the school year. This afternoon our county reported its first confirmed case. Time to buckle up. Our current reality is far from any reality we have ever known.

The Dow Jones closed down 12.93% today at 20,188.52.
Confirmed cases of the virus in the US are at more than 4,300 with 81 deaths.