I thought I was going to add to this blog every day, but so far I’ve been busy–busier than usual for several reasons.
I just finished reading a blog post from a friend of mine who lives in Montana: https://blog.smittie.com/quarantine-for-covid-19/ His experience is way different than mine here in Silicon Valley.
Here, we are somewhat in the thick of things. Santa Clara County, where I live, has the highest incidence of Covid-19 of any county in the San Franciso Bay Area.
All business are closed, except those that are deemed “essential” which includes grocery stores, drug stores, and gas stations. People are instructed to stay at home except for essential activities. As a consequences, the roads are close to deserted.
Exercise is considered one of the “essential” exercises. So I do see people out walking, jogging, and bicycle riding. For a while people were playing pickle ball at the local park, but the rules have been tightened and that is no longer allowed.
The super markets here are crazy. There are shortages of many items, including bottled water and toilet paper. What either of those things has to do with the pandemic, is a mystery to me. People are just panicking and hoarding. It’s starting to get better as the hoarders reach their storage capacity. But past shortages are prompting people to buy more than usual just because things are in short supply.
So far my family seems to be OK. My wife and I spend most of our time at home. But that was true before the pandemic: I’m retired. The difference we can’t just drop by Costco, or whatever, when we feel like it.
We also can’t go out to eat in a restaurant. I used to go out with a friend for lunch once a week or so, and go out with my wife for dinner whenever she worked on Saturdays. No more. The restaurants are hurting because of the current rules. Some are just closing down, and some are offering take-out service (which is allowed). But my feeling is that even the take-out service is a small fraction of the business they used to do. We are ordering out once a week just to help them out.