Quiz #61. Beyond the Bubble
What was my first trip outside of my bubble--and why was it perfect? 2 thumbs up for Steve's Stay-at-Home Coronavirus Quiz for June 24th, 2020.
As I explained in Quiz #60. A Prince, I took a break from writing and posting coronavirus quizzes which seemed irrelevant when the floodgates of racial inequality broke loose with the death of George Flyod.
When I started writing this coronavirus quiz in March, I wanted a written record of what I was doing and thinking as the pandemic unfolded. On high alert, I was alive to the strange wonders of a whole new way of living. Now, with yet another new normal, I’m still not back to cranking out daily quizzes.
Worn down. Beyond wonder. Out of words. (Perish the thought.)
For Sara and me, stay-at-home life has become routine--and beyond the fact that the world has turned upside down again in the last month--there is really very little to report that’s new about us. We celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary this week. I took the night off and we celebrated with a contactless-delivery dinner. “You know me--and yet you love me.” (The first line in our wedding vows.) It was perfect.
June 23, 2006. @lorifleisnner_photography
Beyond marking special days and the demands of work, it is hard to separate one day from the next. Still, for the first time in more than 20 years, in this last month I am no longer working from Sunday to Thursday. I am now on a Monday to Friday schedule. The change in my shift happened a few weeks ago and it felt really odd that first Sunday night to NOT be going to work. To NOT be worried when I woke up Sunday morning that I’d have to shut personal things down mid-Sunday to get ready for work.
With nowhere to go and plenty of time on my hands on the weekends, I am savoring the freedom of not feeling like I have to rush to get something done. With 3 extra hours each day NOT commuting, I am also sleeping more and getting more things done.
Do it right.
Take a nap.
Stay in the bubble.
As I write this on Thursday, June 25th, when it comes to the coronavirus, I’m confused, dismayed and cautious. In the last month, social distancing has been relaxed, people are heading out in crowds and sports are still planning to come back--as if “it” was over--when it is not.
The coronavirus is still here.
Waiting.
Lurking.
Spreading.
The last month has felt like the lull in the storm of coronavirus which is now surging in multiple states. One month ago, I read some great advice from a Wisconsin cardiologist, Dr. James Stein. I wrote a draft about it in a quiz that I did not post in the days after Memorial Day. Stein started out with a post widely seen on Facebook and then a May 24th opinion piece in the Wisconsin State Journal, “How to manage COVID-19 risk as you leave your cocoon.” (I like his Facebook post better.)
The COVID-19 we are facing now is the same disease it was 2 months ago. The “shelter at home” orders were the right step from a public health standpoint to make sure we flattened the curve and didn’t overrun the health care system which would have led to excess preventable deaths. …. But all of our social distancing did not change the disease. Take home: We flattened the curve and with it our economy and psyches, but the disease itself is still here.
Stein does an excellent job, especially in his Facebook post, of breaking down the risks--they get higher as you get older--while pointing out that nothing can totally take the risk away. Young people can still get sick and some will die. It’s worth reading--with concrete examples on how to manage risk. While it’s very calming, it’s also sobering.
We have to learn to live with it and do what we can to mitigate risk. That means being willing to accept some level of risk to live our lives as we desire. I can’t decide that level of risk for you — only you can make that decision.
That was written one month ago--and reading it now, it feels like something that’s a month old. Since then, with governments pulling back on quarantines and social distancing mandates, it’s fallen on people to make their own decisions about risk--and if the spikes in several Southern and Western states are any indication, they’re doing a very bad job.
Exactly one month later, on Wednesday morning, June 24th, I was struck by this quote from the New York Times Morning Briefing:
“There are ways to be responsible and socialize, but people don’t seem to be able to draw the line between what’s OK and what is not. For too many people, it seems to be binary — they are either on lockdown or taking no precautions.”
The Morning Briefing said that this quote was from NYT Science Reporter Apoorva Mandavilli, but when I went looking for it, I found that Mandavilli (@apoorva_nyc) tweeted out a clarification. Mandavilli was quoting Mischa Geracoulis (@MGeracoulis)---and it’s Gercoulis who called today’s coronavirus decisions “binary.”
Binary?
Big picture, I suspect I am like a lot of people when I throw up my hands and wonder how quickly people have gone from one extreme to the other. From stay-at-home to party-with-your friends. From take every precaution to take none. (And, yes, how--despite science--did not wearing a mask become a political statement?)
At 63, I’m at a higher risk--and I am more concerned than ever.
Making my own decisions, here are some of the things I cannot imagine doing until there’s a vaccine:
Riding on a train or subway.
Flying on a plane.
Shopping in a store.
Going to a movie or sporting event.
It’s not binary. The virus is still here. Manage risks--don’t ignore them..
And yet, last week, I did venture beyond my bubble.
I visited my daughter Annie who works as a psychiatric social worker at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens. Annie calls Elmhurst the epicenter of the epicenter and we had not seen one another since the pandemic hit. I wanted to see Annie for Father’s Day--and knew she wanted to see me. Sara and I did not want to ask Annie to come to New Jersey on mass transit and we were also worried about crowds with any kind of weekend visit. Annie and I agreed to meet one morning in Astoria Park, a large, open space beneath the rail bridge next to the Triboro Bridge.
Our meeting was delayed a few days by a COVID scare with one of Annie’s co-workers who had some symptoms including loss of smell. The co-worker and Annie both got tested--and when the results came back negative for both, Annie and I went ahead with our meeting in the park. I drove through Manhattan, oddly populated but not crowded with a lot of businesses still boarded up.
(Rockefeller Plaza was vacant on my ride home at 1:30pm on a Thursday afternoon.)
The visit was great. I brought 2 beach chairs and we put them on a grassy hill, 10 feet apart and 20 yards from a walkway that was just active enough for people-watching. For 3 hours, we just talked and caught up, masks on. Annie’s been through a lot, but that’s her story to tell. (She’s been taking coronavirus photos and wants to make a Shutterfly photo book. She declined my offer of help.)
2 thumbs up from Astoria Park.
(Taken with my selfie-stick/tripod with a bluetooth camera shutter for the iPhone.)
We had not planned on it, but the park is right next to Agnanti Meze, my favorite Greek restaurant in Astoria. They opened for take-out at 12 noon. Annie bought me lunch for Father’s Day, phoning in the order and walking over to pick it up so we could eat in the park, socially distanced but well fed in our bubble.
It was perfect.
What did NOT happen?
A. John has moved back into his apartment in Greenwich Village. There was looting in his neighborhood, but he’s safe;
B. When the New York Times published its online story about that elderly protester who was shoved to the ground by riot police in Buffalo, the article included the word “with” in a critical section where it should have been “without.” I sent a DM to the reporter on Twitter. He thanked me and updated the story in minutes;
C. In Quiz #59. Foot Notes, I told you that Sara and I gave ourselves do-it-yourself pedicures on Memorial Day. Several people asked what product Sara had ordered. It’s called Baby Foot and they were featured this Wednesday in the New York Times, “Goodbye, Pedicures. Hello, Peels.” My feet still feel pretty good--and the peeling was not nearly as bad as I feared;
D. The Phillie Phanatic read Quiz #55. No Spitting and emailed me to discuss an idea he had for making virtual appearances at no-fans-in-the-stands baseball games--if they happen (which I still doubt);
E. In Quiz #59 Foot Notes, I told the story of how my friend Ed’s family had made a special newspaper for him when he retired in 2013. I mentioned Ed’s son, Greg, but Ed’s daughter, Diana, is now a new subscriber to the quiz--and she emailed me to set the record straight about the retirement newspaper.
As (my family) seems to do to you often, I wanted to point out one small correction, mostly out of vanity. While one would likely assume Greg was the brains behind (the retirement newspaper), that actually was all me. With of course, the help of my contributing columnists/editors.
I went back through my 2013 emails. It was Diana who reached out asking me to write an article for the newspaper. I regret the error (and so much more).
Want the answer?
Answer #61. Beyond the Bubble.
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 #62. Football Fantasy.
Here’s the previous quiz in the series: Quiz #60. A Prince.
Here’s the first quiz in the series: Quiz #1. Stella and Social Distancing, March 13, 2020
Here is an archive of all the quizzes.
The quiz is explained here: Steve’s Stay-at-Home Coronavirus Quiz.
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