14 March 2020
At the end of yesterday the plague map on WILX TV-10’s website showed a jump from two case of the novel coronavirus in Michigan at 25. The clusters are in the larger urban areas. This is a jump from a report of zero two days earlier. Given that testing is so limited at this point we can assume the virus has spread much further. The wave is coming.
So it goes.
As the day went on yesterday more and more things closed down. All the city and township offices in the area are closed until at least April 5. In my hometown that means the community center and its gym are closed. The library is closed. Pretty much everything is closed save for grocery stores, pharmacies and gas stations.
Today’s morning chores are done. I have fed three out of four people and washed the dishes. Put ‘em away too. During all that time I have had a eye on my big bay window. Since I got up at 9 am there has been 1 car pass by the window. Now mind you mine is not a busy street. However, on a Saturday morning there is usually a steady stream of people headed out in their vehicles to do the errands they cannot do during the working week. Three hours, one car. The world has slowed.
What I have seen are dog walkers. The canine crowd has been passing by in clumps two and three people, usually with one dog. A couple of solitary dog walkers have passed by. Up here in the north country the air temperature is 34F. Kinda cold. Still, dogs must be walked. I doubt people would be leaving their homes at all except for Fido’s need to respond to nature’s call. Me, I will leave for my 30 minute exercise walk a little later in the day. I will keep six feet away from all other humans.
I am sure people will turn to shopping to avoid going store crazy. Me, I have my writing and the trashy books I am readings. But it you want to get out you are going to have the choice of a visit to a grocery store or a mall. I don’t think the malls have either voluntarily or by government fiat closed yet. It maybe coming.
The Feds have advised us to shop at hours when people will most likely not be at the stores to minimize our breaching isolation. This raises a question that is akin of that scene in The Princess Bride where the two characters are dithering over which cup contains the poison. With a great portion of the workforce off what time is the best time to go shopping?
If I am thinking like I should I know most people go shopping on Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon. Should I think that all those people will heed the government’s warning and go shopping on a weekday morning. Ergo, the stores will be empty so I should go shop today. Or should I assume that will ignore all advice from the government and still go today. Or maybe ½ will change their plans and maybe if I go at 2 pm there will be a lull in the foot traffic in the stores. Well, anyway you see how far down the rabbit hole this could go.
It is a grey day out my window.
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