A Public Health Red Alert comes across your phone instructing all those over 65 to stay in their residences. Reminiscent of the old black and white Japanese Godzilla movies, we take to our tv to see what is happening. This is the world that we live in today. Inside is now safe and outside is risky. How quickly that has changed from the old “Mom rule” of going outside, get some fresh air, or you will get sick. Now, it is keep your distance and stay safe inside. If you are retired, you stay inside or, if you are working, hopefully you can work from home. If you work in the medical field, you are not so lucky.
We have both worked in the medical world and every day we feel for those who have the courage and compassion to work endlessly with patients. They do not ask which party you belong to or whom you voted for. They do their jobs and don’t leave their posts even though supplies may dwindle. They remain until the job is done.
Maggie has started writing about our experience and we 2Gals are hoping that a movie about this time in history will be made so that one day we can watch it in a real movie theater, popcorn and all.
We have decided to post each part of this diary during the Coronavirus crisis as a way to reach out to you as we all go through similar experiences. We hope that we can put your thoughts and fears into words and offer some solidarity. The “2Gals Diary” follows:
RED ALERT: About the Feel, About the Fear, About the Experience
This evening we received an Emergency Alert FL Public Health Advisory -“All individuals over the age of 65 and anyone with high-risk conditions should remain in their residences…”
Nine days ago, we started isolation. Some call it social distancing and some call it physical distancing. It is all the same. Stay away from people you don’t know and, for that matter, from people you do know. The day before we started distancing, Maggie raced to her hairdresser to get a very short haircut that would last a long time. We laughed that we would either have to start braiding hair or we would all look like the Three Stooges when this is over. We laughed to ward off the fear and the anxiety. The dogs went to the groomer and got the same cut, ready for war, war with a virus, a bug that you can’t even see. We cut our hair, suited up, stocked up and readied ourselves.
Being an RN, two months ago in January when China was having difficulty with Covid-19, Maggie got online and looked at buying some additional N95 masks. At that time, the masks were either on a very long back order or not available at all. She knew then that something was wrong and that something big was coming. We began to go to the grocery store with an eye for things that might last a while, such as pasta, canned goods etc. We went to the pharmacy for items like hydration replacement, alcohol, hand sanitizer, gloves, and Tylenol. Although no longer actively working full time as an RN, due to Maggie’s past experiences as a Nurse and that of growing up in Washington, DC, her preparedness instincts never left her so we had begun to prepare for the inevitable.
2020 was supposed to be a great year but was now seemingly rolling in with a huge potential disaster. How the government did not see this coming or ignored the warning signs is beyond us. On February 26, 2020, Trump said that the virus “in one month would be done.” We did not believe him. He said that it was “a Democratic hoax.” We did not believe him. We stocked up. We contacted friends who did not have a clue about what was coming. We encouraged them to listen. Listen to the scientists not the politicians. The visual for Maggie was like a huge tsunami coming at us while some were going about their day at the beach and a small few were starting to prepare or run from the wave. Our eyes were opening wider. We were scared. We had a neighbor who had just had major surgery and was released directly from the hospital to home. No rehabilitation in between, no time for that. The hospitals were starting to plan. We dropped off soup for our neighbor which we bought at Whole Foods and where Maggie used a rubber glove on the soup ladle and tossed it out when finished. People looked at her strangely. She didn’t care. She was not going to take a chance infecting our neighbor. Yes, we were starting to plan for the tsunami.
At social events, we kidded as we bumped elbows with those who wanted to shake hands. We sat apart from people. We believed that the time to do those distancing gestures is when you can laugh about it. Get it started and make it a habit. We started to distance more and more. Many feet apart in the return line at Lowes, from the delivery person, and from our beloved landscaper. We thanked everyone from afar. The plastic bag around the morning newspaper was now considered contaminated and immediately tossed out, followed by washing our hands. Our friends returning from travel were told to isolate for at least 14 days to see if they were infected. Airplanes were considered petri dishes. A good friend, who is Canadian, drove back to Canada as the border was being closed.
We think our fear of dying rose to the surface. Maggie started a daily journal to track our days. She found that she had more to write in the beginning which she thinks reflected our level of fear. We connected with friends and family – text, email, phone, Zoom, and Skype. We shared jokes about politicians who rightly deserved criticism. We did whatever we could do to reduce the feelings of isolation while we were being told to stay in our home and away from others. While some people were running to stores for toilet paper, we were running from the boredom and weirdness of the entire thing. Each day, we woke to what felt like the movie, “Ground Hog Day” – hoping that this was just a dream and that this was the day that things would back to “normal.” That has not happened so we wait.
