Shelter-in-Place Part 1
Today's blog post marks the beginning of a new, exciting, pandemic-themed Pedestrian Adventures series. As you might be aware, the COVID-19 pandemic is currently ravaging the planet, and the Bay Area is a veritable hotspot of viral activity. What a time to blog.
Rewind a few months. At the beginning of January upon returning to the US from Christmas at home in the UK, renewed China visa freshly in hand, I was excited to plan a visit the brand new factory my company was ramping in Shanghai. Work was very occupying, scrabbling to get programs on a smooth footing ahead of the annual Chinese New Year holiday which shuts down most companies in China and beyond for a couple of weeks in January. There had been rumblings for a few weeks about a strange new virus in Wuhan, which seemed like a sad local problem at the time. The Chinese factories did not reopen for several weeks after CNY this time around, as the government rushed to contain the outbreak. This did not look so good for the global economy, so reliant on Chinese manufacturing, but the expectation was that all would return to normal within a few more weeks. Indeed, factories did start reopening a few weeks later. I held off booking flights to China.
Then, cases began popping up in Japan and Korea, also key parts of the supply chain. The Koreans have their shit together; a vendor told me that whenever a new case was detected via the widespread testing, everyone in the area received a text message with details of restaurants and buses the patient had frequented over the last few weeks. How sinister, we gasped. Such an authoritarian regime.
In the Bay Area, nervous shivers. The tech companies host visiting suppliers daily from all over East Asia. If this virus was to hit the US, we would surely be first. End of February and my partner's mother is visiting from Chicago. Pointing out the sign to Solano County in a hushed whisper - there was a case here. Shortly thereafter, a friend is compelled to remove her child from pre-school in San Jose after one of the teachers tests positive. Companies start to recommend or mandate that employees work from home. Traffic on the commute is much better.
In the UK, the government makes wishy washy prognostications with no real content, aside from one alarming tidbit - within a few weeks, all over 70s would be asked to stay home. My over-70 mother and her friends all begin living their best lives in anticipation of the coming quarantine of the elderly. They attend lectures. They visit grocery stores. They take a coach trip together! I consider the logistics of working remotely from the UK to lock down with my mother in the event of the worst. I am already working from home for the last few days.
Italy locks down. An Italian friend in the US describes the living situation of her friends and family. There have been five positive tests in her tiny hometown, and she knows them all. The carabinieri are patrolling the streets, telling people to go home.
Every social gathering starts to feel like the last. A group of friends irresponsibly continue a planned trip, kids and all, to spend a delightful weekend together in an airbnb in San Luis Obispo. We hug one another, and eat out of communal bowls of chips. It transpires this actually was the last social gathering, because the next day seven Bay Area counties, including Santa Clara, announced the nation's first Shelter-in-Place order starting 12 am Tuesday March 17th.
Monday evening I race to the office for the first time in several days to ransack my desk. Computer monitors, headset, dock, keyboard; the equipment for a longer term working-from-home solution. While the car is charging, a final sunset run in the hills near work, fervently praying that shelter-in-place still permits solo outdoor activity in the weeks and months to come.
Now it is the first weekend after shelter-in-place was ordered. Things changed fast. On Thursday, the entire state of California was ordered to stay at home (excepting grocery store trips, hiking...), and several other populous states followed suit shortly thereafter. Britain has closed the pubs, which is surely the most apocalyptic sign yet, and millions of the elderly and vulnerable await a letter from the government on Monday expected to tell them to stay home. Lombardy in Italy has strengthened its restrictions as viral cases keep growing, to now exclude outdoor activity of any kind. China has few new domestic cases, but several imported cases risking a second wave.
Social activities adapt quickly. Online board gaming with friends, with ribbing over videoconference. Many more people out on the trails I usually run, with long waits for parking. Walkers giving each other a six-foot berth on the street (one man gave me a good twelve-feet this morning, I must look grim).
Some upsides. Much less time wasted commuting, showering, choosing what to wear. Perhaps I am already well adapted for the apocalypse if I consider showering a waste of time. During what would have been commute time, calls home to family instead. More time to exercise, although less gym to do it in.
Rewind a few months. At the beginning of January upon returning to the US from Christmas at home in the UK, renewed China visa freshly in hand, I was excited to plan a visit the brand new factory my company was ramping in Shanghai. Work was very occupying, scrabbling to get programs on a smooth footing ahead of the annual Chinese New Year holiday which shuts down most companies in China and beyond for a couple of weeks in January. There had been rumblings for a few weeks about a strange new virus in Wuhan, which seemed like a sad local problem at the time. The Chinese factories did not reopen for several weeks after CNY this time around, as the government rushed to contain the outbreak. This did not look so good for the global economy, so reliant on Chinese manufacturing, but the expectation was that all would return to normal within a few more weeks. Indeed, factories did start reopening a few weeks later. I held off booking flights to China.
Then, cases began popping up in Japan and Korea, also key parts of the supply chain. The Koreans have their shit together; a vendor told me that whenever a new case was detected via the widespread testing, everyone in the area received a text message with details of restaurants and buses the patient had frequented over the last few weeks. How sinister, we gasped. Such an authoritarian regime.
In the Bay Area, nervous shivers. The tech companies host visiting suppliers daily from all over East Asia. If this virus was to hit the US, we would surely be first. End of February and my partner's mother is visiting from Chicago. Pointing out the sign to Solano County in a hushed whisper - there was a case here. Shortly thereafter, a friend is compelled to remove her child from pre-school in San Jose after one of the teachers tests positive. Companies start to recommend or mandate that employees work from home. Traffic on the commute is much better.
In the UK, the government makes wishy washy prognostications with no real content, aside from one alarming tidbit - within a few weeks, all over 70s would be asked to stay home. My over-70 mother and her friends all begin living their best lives in anticipation of the coming quarantine of the elderly. They attend lectures. They visit grocery stores. They take a coach trip together! I consider the logistics of working remotely from the UK to lock down with my mother in the event of the worst. I am already working from home for the last few days.
Italy locks down. An Italian friend in the US describes the living situation of her friends and family. There have been five positive tests in her tiny hometown, and she knows them all. The carabinieri are patrolling the streets, telling people to go home.
Every social gathering starts to feel like the last. A group of friends irresponsibly continue a planned trip, kids and all, to spend a delightful weekend together in an airbnb in San Luis Obispo. We hug one another, and eat out of communal bowls of chips. It transpires this actually was the last social gathering, because the next day seven Bay Area counties, including Santa Clara, announced the nation's first Shelter-in-Place order starting 12 am Tuesday March 17th.
Monday evening I race to the office for the first time in several days to ransack my desk. Computer monitors, headset, dock, keyboard; the equipment for a longer term working-from-home solution. While the car is charging, a final sunset run in the hills near work, fervently praying that shelter-in-place still permits solo outdoor activity in the weeks and months to come.
Now it is the first weekend after shelter-in-place was ordered. Things changed fast. On Thursday, the entire state of California was ordered to stay at home (excepting grocery store trips, hiking...), and several other populous states followed suit shortly thereafter. Britain has closed the pubs, which is surely the most apocalyptic sign yet, and millions of the elderly and vulnerable await a letter from the government on Monday expected to tell them to stay home. Lombardy in Italy has strengthened its restrictions as viral cases keep growing, to now exclude outdoor activity of any kind. China has few new domestic cases, but several imported cases risking a second wave.
Social activities adapt quickly. Online board gaming with friends, with ribbing over videoconference. Many more people out on the trails I usually run, with long waits for parking. Walkers giving each other a six-foot berth on the street (one man gave me a good twelve-feet this morning, I must look grim).
Some upsides. Much less time wasted commuting, showering, choosing what to wear. Perhaps I am already well adapted for the apocalypse if I consider showering a waste of time. During what would have been commute time, calls home to family instead. More time to exercise, although less gym to do it in.
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