It’s April now. Somehow it feels like it’s been months and months since mid-March when things really turned serious (or at least, became serious to people in North America), though it’s been less than 3 weeks. It feels like nearly a year since things otherwise turned upside-down in mid February.

There are more people back at work this week, many having taken a 14-day self-isolation period, or are continuing to work from home. It was getting pretty lonely, but I’m not sure I want to be around any more people than I already am.

I’ve been reading social media posts about people in quarantine, and it still all seems so surreal.

PPE and hand sanitizer is still in short supply. Hospitals are asking for donations of real PPE (eg N95 masks, and water-resistant gowns), though there is a growing social movement to produce DIY “PPE”, such as cloth masks. I’m not yet sure how I feel about that.

Most of them will be poorly made, in the sense that cloths masks are not a great barrier to begin with, especially not to droplets and viruses, and the less informed people will make crappy masks (even by handmade PPE standards), simply because they don’t know any better (eg making ill-fitting, single-layer masks, or unwashable masks made out of paper towels or something, rather than multi-layer fitted masks). Plus I suppose there’s potential risk of people slapping on a DIY cotton mask and then feeling safer than they really are, and thus taking more risks than they otherwise would.
That said, if someone if going to be an idiot in public, to be honest I would rather have a thin cotton level of protection from them than no protection from them, so I don’t know. ?‍♀️

Shopping is different. I wonder how much it will change shopping habits in general, once this is all over? No stores approve of anyone just wandering around to kill time (though it still happens in larger stores like grocery stores, I think). In many places, you need to know exactly what you want ahead of time, because an employee will go collect it for you. I went to Pet Valu last week. Only two people were allowed into the store at a time, one at the register being checked out, and one waiting behind a line of tape for an employee to fetch the items you want to the front. Of course, me being me, I basically shop by sight. I know what the item I want looks like, but unless it’s something new I’m trying, I’ve long since forgotten the brand name. Cool, awesome. At least I could describe exactly where the brand of cat food I wanted was on the shelf, so the guy was able to grab the exact one I wanted.

Luke went out to get groceries today. Bulk Barn only let in one person at a time, and he was given a “personal shopper” who was the one to actually scoop out anything from the bins, then escorted him directly to the checkout. The cashier was behind a plexiglass barrier. I still haven’t been out shopping anywhere larger than the tiny pet food store, so I have not seen these yet.
He was able to buy toilet paper, though! Only one 12-pack per person, but still. Yay! (the things I cheer about now)

Gas is currently $0.759, holy crap. It’s still higher here in Tourist Town than other places in Ontario, where it apparently averages $0.659. I don’t think I’ve seen it that low as an adult. Maybe the early 2000s??

Nobody is making April Fool’s Day jokes this year. Nobody dares. It would be refreshing and nice, if it wasn’t for these reasons.

Photo from the Winnipeg Free Press.

Ontario has ordered the closure of all non-essential businesses as of 11:59pm on 24MAR2020. The list of all “essential” businesses is quite long, though:
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/what-s-essential-the-services-and-workplaces-still-open-1.4865668

My workplace is essential, apparently. I suppose that makes sense – people need anything that can help them stay calm these days. Honestly, it’s quite a relief to find out one way or another. My anxiety has been through the roof these past few days, hearing rumours of closures. My brain is happy to have a firm decision, even if it means no quarantine for me. I don’t like ambiguity, and I hate it even more when everything is moving so fast lately, and everything is ambiguous. With a firm direction I can just accept things and make it work. The unknown bothers me much more than the known, even if the known is crappy. I can adapt.

I am grateful to still be employed, when I know so many who have lost their jobs.