Early this year, in the month of January. B was flying back to Seattle from Canada on a business cum personal trip. On that very same day, I received a forward message, stating some deathly virus infecting people at the SeaTac airport. I would hardly ever send forwards to B. But that day, that message just struck me, and I quickly sent it to him. And I remembered he said we all need to be safe and not step out. Hmm well, I was like “it’s at airport, you be careful. Let’s think about us staying at home later.”
Fast forward— March.. the virus is doing its rounds, lots of news, virus spread by a man who traveled from China to Seattle. The word - Quarantine being used a lot. People in panic mode. And there’s another term- Paranoid. And soon another term- Social distancing.
First we received a huge volume of news. Then there was a never ending lot of forwards on social media. Soon memes started out by mid March. Meanwhile, people started prepping to be in QUARANTINE (meaning isolating yourself from the rest of the world). Stay home they said! So started the overdoing of stocking up on grocery, cleaning/ sanitizing stuffs, and cancelling on events. That went overboard a bit, where the grocery stores got emptied out.. out of toilet paper, out of tissues, wipes, sanitizers, out of many necessities. PARANOID is the word! And then government officials and news stated to avoid gatherings. The size of gathering was limited. It started at 250 and then went to 200 to 100 to 25 to 10. SOCIAL DISTANCING was the latest thing. At groceries and parks, people started practicing standing a couple of feet apart.
The unfortunate part of being in Seattle- it started here. We are leading in the count of cases and deaths too. As of today March 21- the city hasn’t been lockdown yet. While Italy, China have locked down and things are getting better. Also recently New York and California are going lock down as well. In Seattle, there’s a equal number of people out there- on the roads, trails, and grocery! I know this as I too had been stepping out fairly a lot.
But I stopped going to any other place, other than walks and grocery! Guess we will be cutting down on grocery too going forward!
The situation is only getting worst. My prediction is that this state of the virus 🦠spread will cool down when summer is here. But might be back once winter comes each year and along with flu vaccine, we would be taking a covid vaccine as well. That’s my PREDICTION, from what I have been reading and hearing so far!
Our City, State and Country, maybe even this World is being affected in many ways- all businesses are affected - malls closed, restaurants closed, airports/ flights grounded, events cancelled, movie theaters closed, casinos, and all enclosed indoor locations. Even government offices. Visa processing’s in standstill. The country’s borders are closed. Many rules put in. And on the bright side, a polluted misused EARTH is getting back to a beautiful place- with less pollution, less fuel consumption, more work from home, meaning less office spaces, no commune time, more family time, and then there’s everyone eating healthy, cooking fresh wholesome meals at home! With endless possibilities to better our lives! While maybe the initial transition would cause some depression and being a couch potato!
It’s easy for the HOMEBODIES, but like jail for ME! Hope I soon make this time more productive and creative! Luck to me and all of you’ll struggling with this huge change!
What a 2020!
