On Friday, 03/13/2020, the United States declared a national emergency because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Like other states, the State of Pennsylvania followed suit and began to implement protective and preventive actions as well.
- Schools (K-12) closed for the next two weeks
- Non-essential stores ordered closed
- Community should stay home, going out only for priority runs like going to the doctor or the supermarket
- Wash your hands
- Don’t touch your face
- Cough into your sleeve
- Avoid crowds
- Don’t go to the gym, movies, the local park. The libraries are closed as well.
Yes, the Coronavirus is really happening
Zen Master and Zen Mum are glued to the news and with the TV on all day long, I really can’t escape seeing the face masks or the down-to-the-grass details on how the world is reacting to the current crisis. Or how the local residents are reacting by overreacting on canned food and toilet paper and water.
The only plus of this virus is that the babies and young children aren’t affected by it. While the rest of the population are fair game, most especially the over-60 group, which Zen Master and Zen Mum are in.
There was a news report yesterday that simultaneously broke my heart and gave me hope for people during this crisis. An elderly couple in their 80s were so terrified of leaving their house, much less getting groceries. They begged a passerby to buy their groceries while they stayed in their car.
Personal Impacts from the COVID-19
Before the national declaration, we had prepared by doing our normal grocery shopping earlier in the week, which we’d usually do during the weekend. But thankfully we did it early because we had avoided the panic runs.
The day after the national declaration, Zen Master and I went to our local supermarket to get a few more things. In the light of this crisis, Zen Mum felt that baked zito would be helpful.
I’ve read a handful of stories of how life was during WWII. Rationing of eggs, cheese and milk. Although it’s an apples and oranges comparison, it was still surreal to personally see the outage of eggs.
And bread.
And Zen Master said this was just the beginning.
