I am a planner. I like to get ready--and I have spent my whole life getting ready for the worst. So, on March 16, 2020, is it finally here? The answer for today, say the CDC experts, is no. And yet, they also say it’s going to get much worse: more coronavirus cases, hospitals overwhelmed and untold numbers dead. Am I ready for worse? Are we?
I’ve been struck by something I read on Twitter from Thomas Bossert, a former Homeland Security Advisor.
(In looking up this Bossert tweet, I was struck by the fact that he posted this on the morning of March 12th. That was 4 days ago. It feels like I first read it a lifetime ago. Remember, when schools were open? When the NCAA basketball games were on--but with no spectators?)
So, I decided to go back to where I was two weeks ago--and see how I’d done. I don’t have a time capsule, but like all of us I have left behind a digital footprint that can serve as a map of where I was two weeks ago. Looking through emails, text messages and my calendar, I can reconstruct a lot of what I was doing and thinking. In the news, two weeks ago on March 2nd, Amy Klobuchar (remember her?) was dropping out of the Democratic race. Chris Matthews announced his retirement from MSNBC. Yes, things were moving fast--but life still seemed relatively normal. That week, I had Girl Scout cookies delivered to my office by the daughter of a coworker and I ordered tickets to what was then the Phillies’ Home Opener on April 2nd.
And yet…
Even two weeks ago, there was a sense that things weren’t normal. There were dark clouds on the horizon and we all knew a storm was coming. There are few people I know who prepare and plan more than me--and one of them is Sara. She had listened to the February 25th advice of the CDC’s Dr. Nancy Messonnier to prepare because, said Messonnier, it was no longer a question of if coronavirus would spread--but when.
The weekend before Monday, March 2nd, Sara and I went grocery shopping in shifts, stocking up on the essentials: lots of pasta and paper products, canned fruits and soups plus lots of cleaning supplies and cold and flu medicine. Saturday night, February 29th, we’d planned to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge where we’d gotten engaged 14 years ago. We skipped the public outing to avoid any unnecessary crowds and drove to a small restaurant in Brooklyn instead. (Two weeks later, even that looks like it was risky.) That week on March 4th, I texted a co-worker, “If the underreporting is widespread, it’s only going to get worse before it gets better. The only way out is through.”
The pantry as of February 29, 2020 (Even without a pandemic, we always have a stockpile of pasta and paper products.)
In short, I knew it was going to get worse and my time capsule of emails and texts shows I was getting ready. I am lucky because with my work, I can work remotely with a laptop and had done so regularly almost every night. I did not need to check that my laptop was up to date. It--and I--were ready to work from home if needed.
So, looking back into my time capsule, is there anything I wish I’d done two weeks ago that would have better prepared me for today? Truly, the answer is not that much. When Sara and I were stockpiling, I bought 6 cans of evaporated milk as a lark--sort of a “Why not?” purchase. I wish I’d bought more. Milk is already getting hard to find.
One week ago today, on Monday, March 9th, I went on self-quarantine. My last day into work and New York City. 63 years old, I am lucky to be able to work from home. I’m glad I did that, but I wish I’d kept a log of the people I’d interacted with in case they (or I) got sick--something that’s become relevant today with word that an unidentified colleague in a distant department at work has tested positive for COVID-19. Did I interact with them? I don’t think so. If I did, I can only wish I made my meeting with them memorable. Why? Well, for privacy reasons, the name of the infected person is not being released. In a process explained to us at work as social mapping, HR and health officials are now working with that infected person to trace their work interactions from when they might have been contagious. If I interacted with them, I want them to remember it. I want to turn up on their social map. In this instance, being unforgettable pain-in-the-ass could actually be a lifesaver. Normal, bland or forgotten—and you’re not on the map.
Where will we be in two weeks? Again, the advice from the CDC experts is that it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Just last night, there was a new warning to cancel all gatherings of more than 50 people for the next 8 weeks. If I’ve made any broad mistake so far, it was thinking that things would be safe after a two week quarantine. Flattening the curve will help to lessen the impact, but it won’t be over in two weeks--not by a long shot.
I hope that writing regular installments of this quiz will help me remember what was going on and what I was thinking “back then.” I’m also putting Bossert to the test, trying to take this crisis two weeks at a time. I’m doing things to get ready for the next two weeks. In two weeks, I’ll check back to this time capsule to see how I did.
What did NOT happen?
A. I’m working with family and co-workers to do a daily FaceTime check-in to cut down on the social isolation of self quarantines and social distancing;
B. Sara, Will and I just began taking our temperature every morning, writing it down on a chart in the kitchen;
C. I have begun keeping a log of all the people I’ve had contact with in case I--or they--get sick;
D. I’ve resumed work on my draft for a 3-page, multiple-choice quiz with ten “What did NOT happen?” questions about my life story that might serve as my final chapter (in case things get really worse);
E. I’m setting aside an hour a day to scan old photos to calm myself and put my extended solitary time to productive use.
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If you’re a subscriber, the answer will be sent to you as a separate email when the question is published.
Want more?
Here’s the next quiz in the series: Quiz #4. ”OK Boomer.”
Here’s the previous quiz in the series: Quiz #2. March Sadness.
Here’s the first quiz in the series: Quiz #1. Stella and Social Distancing, March 13, 2020
The quiz is explained here: Steve’s Stay-at-Home Coronavirus Quiz.
Here is an archive of all the quizzes.
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