It’s been a couple of days since my last entry. Closing out the first week since shutdown of schools and other institutions.

Yesterday was a rough day. Found out a friend who lives here in Frederick, MD was pressured into attending a meeting in Washington, DC earlier in the week…. and then was told yesterday that someone in that meeting tested positive for COVID-19. So, now, he and his wife and two high-school aged daughters need to self quarantine for several weeks. So far, he has no symptoms so we wait and see. I was livid. With all the technology we have available (and I have been fully remote for 3.5 years), there’s just no excuse for it. It’s downright Orwellian to force people into these choices.

And then, after my wife finally convinced her mother and step-father, who are wintering in Florida, to cancel their Bahamas trip, they were frantic yesterday telling us to take all our money out of the bank because there was “going to be a bank run”. We thought this was ludicrous. The banks are simply closing lobbies to prevent virus spread and this older generation (who don’t trust ATMs and online banking) are freaking out. There is, of course, no evidence of this and things seemed relatively calm today. In any case, the two incidents were very stress-inducing, and I had to cut out from work a bit early to decompress.

The economic impact of all this is really going to be staggering, so I am starting to have some sympathy for those who think we are over-reacting. Not that I believe that, it’s just that they are under a lot of stress if their income is directly affected, so I can understand their frustration… it’s very scary. Prospects for my 4-person startup firm still seem very, very solid and not directly impacted by any of the chaos, so I am very fortunate. In fact, we may even looking to bring on a couple of people in soon to help with all the work in front of us.

My wife picked up a curbside grocery order today. Got most of what we needed although we were unable to procure some Tofu for our daughter, an aspiring vegetarian. Wife is looking around to find a source for that. It’s looking like we may have to go to the grocery store ourselves. Also had an order from a local farm for meat and dairy products that was supposed to be delivered last night. It did not show. Friend of ours in Frederick received their order but the delivery guy was pretty flustered. Still have not received it, but hopefully tonight. We have plenty of food for now, but would be good if that works out.

Today was downright gorgeous. Temperature in the 70s. A gorgeous spring day. Went for a walk with my wife after dinner and it was, frankly, a bit surreal. In any other year, we would have been reveling in the returning spring and summer, but this dread underlies it all. I did feel a weird sense of community camaraderie I haven’t felt since the aftermath of 9/11.  I remarked to my wife about the irony… it takes a quarantine to bring us together.