Pandemic Panic?

The sudden burst of evening sunlight that comes with daylight saving time has been nice.  The mornings are still dark when I get to work, and once there I'm too busy to note when the sun rises, even with plenty of windows in view.  In fact, I shouldn't say I don't notice because I remember noticing a few times this last week. It was the orange reflecting off the next building's windows.  If not for that glare, though, it's no matter to me.

The warmer temperatures have been very welcome lately.  Almost all the snow has melted so now we are in the time of dirty grays and browns, waiting for the green to burst forth.  While it was above freezing yesterday evening the breeze was a bit much to have a fire.  The dirty brown lawn was also still pretty soft for lawn chairs and still covered in rabbit poop.  We need a couple good rains to wash away the remnants of winter and encourage growth and greenness.

Everything seems to be just about on track this spring, so why not drop everything and panic?

Okay, maybe not everyone is panicking, but many people seem to be.  And I saw it come to a head on Thursday, when seemingly every sporting event, concert tour and other events were canceled.  I've heard the stories of hoarding toilet paper and other toiletries, empty shelves and limits on items, and now we're advised not to go out to eat or order food in.  I even heard a bunch of people were lined up outside a local grocery store this morning waiting for it to open.

Also on Thursday, everyone at work who had the capability of working from home was required to stay home.  A friend at work was going to fly to Texas soon for vacation, he was told if he did he would have to self-quarantine for two weeks when he got back before they'd let him come back to the office.  It was a little odd at work on Friday as only about half the people were there that would normally be in the office.  I'm not set up to work from home, and there's much of my job that I can't do from home, so it looks like I'll be going to work as normal.  It was certainly the topic of discussion on Friday, and many jokes were made, but I guess if you don't laugh you'll cry.  "Social distancing" was discussed, and while I normally wash my hands several times a day I found myself using a big bottle of hand sanitizer a whole lot more.  This huge bottle was bought for my 50th birthday party and sat in a closet for a while and has now been on my desk at work for a year.  I had to hide it now so it won't get stolen.  Seriously.

Locally speaking, we had only one case in the area several weeks ago until another one was confirmed about a week ago, and now I hear several more in the last week.  Sorry, I don't know many details as I tend to not watch a lot of news.  I seem to get a lot from hearsay, the newspaper a couple times a week, or my wife who is much better at keeping up on things than I.

How else has it changed our life?  Well, normally my wife and I like to go out for food and drinks on the weekend, but we will most likely stay in this time.  And any stops at the local bar and grill any time of the week may end for the time being.  Otherwise, not a whole lot.  I can be content at home, home is my favorite place to be anyway.  At least I don't work in the service industry - what will all those people do?  They don't have a choice but to mingle with the great unwashed and take their chances.

Stay in if you can, wash your hands and don't touch your face.  Not a whole lot else to do - but panic!