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Everything is cancelled
Mar. 15th, 2020 01:37 pmOakland is in all but lockdown as "social distancing" has become the norm more-or-less overnight. Everything is cancelled. School is closed. Work is closed. The Vietnamese restaurant around the corner, Monster Pho, has sensibly converted to "to-go only." The financial markets have tanked, and it's easy to imagine that things will get much worse before they get better. On the other hand, it's almost nice to be able to stay home and do nothing while experiencing a complete freedom from FOMO. Everyone is at home.
These days remind me of the days before a hurricane, when everything is still quiet but people have begun to prep, stockpiling supplies and boarding up windows in the calm before the storm. Unfortunately in this case, getting together with all your friends to hole up indoors and consume a lot of alcohol while the storm rages outside is ... contra-indicated. This hurricane party will have to be conducted by video-conference.
Similarly, meeting up with friends has the feel of of a spy movie, where braving contact is an act of resistance, lest the enemy detect our collaboration. The enemy is hidden like spies or radiation, but unfortunately here too we'd better use the phone.
I don't yet know anyone who has been infected, although I do know friends who have coworkers who were confirmed cases. Thus my coronadistance is 2. No one knows how bad this will be. Maybe it will turn out to be no big deal, maybe it will turn out to be like the flu in 1918. I think it's safe to say that this emergency is unprecedented in my lifetime.
These days remind me of the days before a hurricane, when everything is still quiet but people have begun to prep, stockpiling supplies and boarding up windows in the calm before the storm. Unfortunately in this case, getting together with all your friends to hole up indoors and consume a lot of alcohol while the storm rages outside is ... contra-indicated. This hurricane party will have to be conducted by video-conference.
Similarly, meeting up with friends has the feel of of a spy movie, where braving contact is an act of resistance, lest the enemy detect our collaboration. The enemy is hidden like spies or radiation, but unfortunately here too we'd better use the phone.
I don't yet know anyone who has been infected, although I do know friends who have coworkers who were confirmed cases. Thus my coronadistance is 2. No one knows how bad this will be. Maybe it will turn out to be no big deal, maybe it will turn out to be like the flu in 1918. I think it's safe to say that this emergency is unprecedented in my lifetime.
