5/16/2020 of COVID-19 Home Life

Chel Owens

As of 12:01 a.m. this day, our severity level in most of Utah has gone down another color. Instead of red or orange, we are now at yellow. The exception to that is the areas still reporting high levels of infection: Grand County, Summit County, Wasatch County, Salt Lake City, and West Valley City.

This would explain how I saw many people out and about today. It would also explain the grocery store worker cheerily greeting me as she loaded my groceries, without mask, while her coworkers stood outside chatting. When I pulled up and called, they also did not tell me to open my trunk according to current COVID-19 guidelines and maintain appropriate social distancing from the associate that will approach my vehicle…

ani-kolleshi-vu-DaZVeny0-unsplash

The pediatric dentist was different, yesterday. They’ve been closed to patients until very recently; considering the nature of dental work, they are still being careful. We were asked to call from our car when we arrived and to enter their office wearing masks. I hadn’t brought my kids’ masks (c/o my helpful neighbor) but the assistant met us with some dental varieties and an electronic gadget to measure our temperatures. I also signed a paper that promised I had not experienced symptoms, did not intend to experience symptoms, and had not traveled anywhere that might have symptoms in the last 14 days.*

Thus began the only dentist visit in my life where everyone wore a mask up until getting his teeth cleaned and examined, a visit in which we all smiled with our eyes and tried not to get high from the fumes of rubbing alcohol.

Less-strict restrictions are good news for the right-wing types, who have been smugly getting under my skin for the past while. It’s funny, because the left-wing types were getting under my skin pre-quarantine.

Divisive

Mommy Needs Vodka shared this on TwoFacebook.

*Sigh*

Farmer-Cowmen like myself often stand around, scratching our heads at the divisiveness.

Hopefully some other cause will come along to distract them all from imminent death by asphyxiation, like the presidential election or …goats invading a neighborhood.

Now, that’s breaking news!

Honestly, we’ve been very fortunate in how Coronavirus has affected Utahns. As might be expected, those who’ve still had to work the service jobs and those who’ve lived a long time and those who’ve increased their risk due to preexisting conditions have been affected the worst.

As to those fortunate enough to be young and fortunate enough to be able to stay home, the reaction’s becoming Old News. To some, it’s becoming a joke. Impatience is setting in; some question or demand when they may return to Disneyland, Europe, or to eating samples at Costco.

For me, day-to-day life has been like a typical summer vacation -without a planned family road trip or excursions to pools or splash pads. In some ways, I’ve felt odd writing about Home Life. I’ve thought to start my report with Well, the boys didn’t want to wear clothes …again. Then, the water heater broke …again. Then, I did dishes laundry weeding dusting toilet-unclogging etc. …again.

I hope good news is the same for all of you and that it stays that way. Keep waiting; keep washing; keep masking. It’ll get better …again.

 

©2020 Chelsea Owens

*I exaggerated a bit. They wanted to know if I’d traveled outside the state in the last 14 days.

 

Photo Credits: Photo by Ani Kolleshi on Unsplash

65 thoughts on “5/16/2020 of COVID-19 Home Life”

  2. Exaggerate? You, Chelsea? Never!
    Whichever part of the political spectrum they are from, the nutters claiming that it’s all caused by G5 phones, Bill Gates and the flying purple people eater are reassuring us that the Rona is real. The irony of one of the ‘set us free’ protest leaders coming down with ‘the plague’ was delicious.
    The good news from our patch in Aus is that our home State now has no active cases of any kind and we’re keeping our borders closed for a long time yet to keep it that way. Internal travel restrictions were relaxed this weekend and you can’t move on our roads for joyful escapees.

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  7. I don’t know, I kind of liked your pledging that you have no intention of getting COVID. Were that it was so easy.

    The problem with the electronic revolution is that the attention span has shortened appreciably, and that seems to make it difficult for people to stay focused on something for extended periods of time. We’ve seen that crop up in other ways over the past few years, but I think this has really strained a lot of people. “Wear a mask and stay home? Why I’d rather die first!” Uh, yeah, and you might well do that, or make it happen to others. And the death toll keeps rising…

    Glad you all are managing to weather it with a little more dignity (and sense of humor).

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    1. Thank you!

      I believe you’re right about the attention span. I’d never considered I was learning and practicing useful skills like patience and selflessness in being a stay-at-home mother, but now everyone’s complaining about my day-to-day! 😀

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  8. Haha, it really is like summer vacation! Actually, I was thinking about that the other day since I have my oldest doing workbooks during the summer to prevent his brain from turning to mush, so I keep wondering what the difference between school from home and our summer is. The start of the next school year will probably be just like it is now, so it does kind of feel like a never ending summer, except there’s no escaping these four walls.

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      1. Haha, yeah. The 2 year summer. Or, as my husband recently pointed out, maybe 5 year summer, if these first vaccines don’t work out.

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  11. Here the restrictions are being relaxed in what can be best described as a shambles. Lots of people walking round saying the same things, is this ok, can I do this, should I have a mask on, ami still supposed to be 2m from you. And the government just says we have issued guidance (strangely no one can find them) and use common sense. My approach is to look like a nutter and wave Rhubard around like a lightsaber. It’s a great way of achieving social distancing.

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  12. Not so bad for us, though lucky not to live in a big town. I haven’t used the car in weeks! and I have been blessed with good teeth too. Our dentists are all closed for the duration. 😀

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  14. I had to stop by Home Depot the other day. They were only allowing a certain number of people in at one time. An employee stood by the door with a little counter, keeping track of the comings and goings, so people were lined up (keeping the appropriate social distance) until they were okayed to enter. When I finally got inside I was thrilled to see most of the customers wearing masks. However, I can’t say the same for the employees, none of which were doing so. I observed the “social distancing manager” standing next to two other employees conversing with less than a foot between them. There’s a bit of irony there folks…

    You all stay safe. Everyone is getting antsy with this lull in COVID-19 numbers but it’s better to be safe than sorry, right?

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    1. What an odd experience! Of course, that’s been similar to mine at Wal-Mart or the grocery store. I guess it’s simply too uncomfortable for the Home Depot workers all day.

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  15. We are in yellow where I am which means reduced restrictions but are still required to wear masks in stores and people are. In our area, people do want some businesses opened up (that can practice under the guidelines) and are having protests but it is more because our governor hasn’t explained guidelines very well and changes them two hours later or the night before. Bottom line is that no one really knows what is going on. In addition, he’s approved some businesses to open but then businesses who offer the same services aren’t being given waivers so there are a lot of very angry people who are less worried about their freedom and more worried that they haven’t had a paycheck in three months and can’t feed their families or pay bills. The unemployment compensation they were promised never came and many of them are having to close their doors, so I don’t blame their anger. Plus, they really can’t figure out why big stores like Walmart can sell all the stuff they can and are deemed safe but the small businesses who can clean and take precautions even better are called “non-essential”. Seems geared toward big business a bit too much in the minds of some. And the fact the governor was giving permission to businesses where he had connections was a little odd but I have no idea if that has been proven yet, so don’t quote me there!

    I was glad to see some of the local protestors were staying apart from each other and wearing masks and peacefully asking for answers, however. Not everyone is a crazy loon but the media makes more money when they photograph or highlight the extremes (on any side of an issue. It’s just the nature of the beast. I worked for media, I know. Ha!). Luckily, I’ve seen more of the calmer people who are just asking for help to survive locally while looking at the crazy ones on TV and scratching my head. lol.

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    1. I think most who filed for unemployment received their checks. 😦 I’m sorry to hear that’s not the case by you.

      And yes, I agree about the media.

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  16. I read today that pajama sales are up 143% and fewer people are buying pants (?). Such a strange time. I’m still wearing a mask out of respect for others and hoping to keep them safe even if I feel fine. It annoys me to see people without masks. It feels so unkind to me as if they don’t care about other people in the least. If my parents catch this virus, they’re dead. The right-wingers don’t give a… *Sigh*
    Love the goats! Reminds me of living in Vermont. Lol

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  17. Ah, yes. California’s best contribution to the crisis…unleashing the goats. Apparently it happened because one goat just wanted a tastier patch of grass on the other side of the fence.

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  19. Glad you’re doing well. I think even more time may tell which countries got it “right” and who got it “wrong”. I’m always surprised at how quickly people judge these things, when in two or three years down the road is when the full tally of deaths, economy, and other stats will be available. Meaning, yes, US looks bad and people are quick to jump to conclusions about who did things right and who handled things wrong… but maybe the US will not look so bad after a second or third wave as some are predicting? Who knows.

    In Canada masks have not become mandatory and in our remote area, very few people wear them, which I am actually happy about. The numbers in my province have not gone up in a week and remain so low that the risk has never been above yellow, in fact, there are no active cases in our area now at all. Of course this could change quite quickly if we become careless, but this week has about it a sense of normalcy that I haven’t felt in a very long time.

    And considering most of the comments I read these days on news articles, I think the fear of “normal” may be holding us back, maybe even more than the virus.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. A lot of people around me have been insisting we never needed to go to the extreme measures we did, but also seemed to insist that’s also the case for everywhere. I’m with you that we just don’t know and that everywhere is different.

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  20. Ah, America – we love to have freedom, no matter what, even in the face of a global pandemic! I actually have to admire our dedication to free will, even if there’s a clearly bad choice in this case. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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