7/9/2020 of COVID-19 Home Life

Chel Owens

Welp; things are not looking good, number-wise, out here in do-it-yourself Utah.

Graph

Thanks, Coronavirus.utah.gov. What a lovely blue.

Wednesday marked the single, highest number of new cases reported in a day. Now, we’re no New York City. New York City has 2.5 times more population in it than our entire state. Still, that’s a bad growth rate unless we’re talking earned revenue in stocks.

I remember back when the world shut down, together. My occasional errands to the grocery store pickup or follow-up appointments for the baby were spent driving through nearly-empty streets and barricaded parking lots. Restaurants had signs about being closed and/or ordering online. Everyone locked up at nightfall, even Wal-Mart.

Yesterday, our family got caught in rush-hour traffic on our way up to visit my parents. What is this? I thought, then remembered. My parents and a sibling are two of the few places we go, and I assumed others were similarly, intentionally homebound.

Today, I went to my home-away-from-home: Costco. My experience there, in the last four months, has changed from an uneasy anxiety to over-zealous cleaning to a resigned impatience. A lot of the store has opened up again, sort-of. They still mandate wearing masks, although their cart-retrievers were not doing so outside. The workers at the gas station, outside, were also bare-faced. A woman stood at a samples table inside, though she only advertised her product and did not offer tastes. The food court area showed a simpler menu of two kinds of pizza, a hot dog meal, and three desserts; the condiments were stacked behind the cashier in tiny containers with lids.

20200709_110854

My poor Oxford comma.

Also today, a relative of mine visited with his children. They drove across the country to do so, and have also visited “things we can’t do back home,” like a hot springs resort and the local aquarium.

Another relative drove to one of Utah’s rural communities for their Fourth of July festivities. Word is that the city had a parade and threw candy.

Meanwhile, back in Salt Lake County, we’ve been mandated to wear masks in public. I haven’t seen any policemen to enforce this rule; I have seen nearly everyone complying. I heard that Utah’s governor thought to make the ruling statewide and looked for such information. Instead, I found he’d announced that everyone attending school in the fall will need to wear a mask.

He also said that, if we can’t be good little citizens and bring our case numbers down by August 1, he will put us in the corner -erm, make masks mandatory.

I don’t see what the big deal is, especially considering that our numbers keep rising. If the case counts were at least plateauing, I might agree with my more-conservative friends about their right to bare arms and faces. As things keep climbing, however, I say they’re being needlessly selfish about a small scrap of cloth.

mona lisa protection protect virus

Photo by Yaroslav Danylchenko on Pexels.com

I see the rise in numbers being related to the rise in traffic, travel, and don’t-care attitudes. I want things to normalize again, too, people. I also want to avoid contracting a disease that permanently affects some or kills others.

COVID-19 aside, I’m keeping busy and enjoying my ‘break.’ How’s everything where you all are?

 

©2020 Chelsea Owens

38 thoughts on “7/9/2020 of COVID-19 Home Life”

  1. It’s good to hear from you, Chelsea. While not cavalier about it, my daily routine includes work in a supply chain deemed essential. 400 people come into the building each day and then depart to “who knows where”. The virus has been on the rise in our area after a loosening of restrictions. A vaccine cannot come soon enough. Stay well.

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  3. Sounds like a lackadasical return to non-normality. Impatience will only bring on further delays and more cases. Stay safe. It’s better to wear a mask than feel free to face a virus bare-faced.

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  4. the future of the country will most likely never go back to the way it was, bleak as it sounds stupid selfish people will die from the virus or pass it on to more vulnerable people, or people that find a very different future challenging will take their own life.

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    1. I agree about passing it around; it’s already happened! We’ll return, eventually, just because we did after other world events like the Spanish ‘Flu. :/

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      1. idk I read a trajectory in the NY times looking at both sides if Trump continues or Biden takes over by 2022 the virus will be a thing of the past but so many businesses will go under 😦

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  6. Well hello there!! hahaha I am back at work.. tourist office for summer. Got pespex between me and client and I always wear a mask when someone enters the space to ask something..I try keep the door open for fresh air!!

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      1. Its not really a country that people rush too at the best of times, but so do I. In my experience there are two main sets of people those that are extra careful, and those that think its all been blown out of proportion. Its very hard to know what is going on. Guess the best we all can do is have faith, move forward, but at the same time be careful, wash hand wear mask on public transport etc. As with eating a healthy diet, our health in our responsibility. The majority don’t like that word…lol

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  10. Hiya. Good so see you again. Sorry for a Utah spike. London has gone roght down but we’re in the process of releasing restrictions so who knows if we’ll get a local spike. Leicester has and is in a local lockdown which is working. No evidence here that the BLM protests caused and noticeable changes. My children joined in and they reported the majority wore masks and did their best to keep apart but not easy in 50k people. I went to a restaurant on Wednesday encouraged by the Vet. It was a bit weird but lovely too. And the first international sport anywhere – I believe – began on Wednesday in Southampton. Cricket too England v The West Indies in a bio secure bubblle. Bit odd listening to it on the radio while gardening as no crowd noise but so excited too. Inevitably England have been crap so there’s one immediate return to normal…

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  11. I’ll admit I do worry for you and how things are being handled in general in the USA. We have just had a spike in Melbourne so a full lockdown has just been reintroduced for 6 weeks to get it under control. Fortunately, we are just outside the lockdown zone so life continues as normal for us for the time being. Btw, a spike in Melbourne reads as “288 cases in one day for the whole state”. Stay safe, Chelsea.

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    1. That *does* make us look bad. We’ve since had another “highest number day” at 862… People just don’t seem to be taking it seriously.

      On the plus side, a friend who shared a petition to make it so we don’t send our kids to school in masks received many responses in favor of masking.

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  12. I don’t see the big deal about mask-wearing either, Chelsea. As someone who cares for elderly parents, when I see someone without a mask, I want to yell, “Are you serious? If you get me sick, my parents are DEAD!” (A little direct? Lol). I heard a great slogan on television the other day: “If you don’t like wearing a mask, you’re going to hate wearing a ventilator.”

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  13. I don’t believe most of what the media says about the virus, the riots, the economy, everything. It’s so politicized on both sides. I do believe that Trump, warts and all, must be re-elected or we will be living in a very different country in a short time if the Democrats ( communists) get control. These are not the Democrats of the past. These people are radical and dangerous. The divide is deep. It will be people like US, you and me are very similar, against people who have very different values. Of course the Bible warns us that things will get worse and Christians will be persecuted and killed. To God be the glory! Repent and believe and follow Jesus!

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