It's November 27, eight months and a couple of weeks since the lockdown in March. Thirteen million people have had COVID-19. Over 268,000 people have died from it. We are in our second or third, depending on who you ask, spike. There are nearly 100,000 new cases and between 1,000-1,500 deaths each day.
Masks are mandated in Kentucky and most states, but many people disregard this or wear them as chin straps with their noses hanging out.
Schools shut down a second time in November if they reopened at all in August. Some, like JCPS, never went back to in-person instruction. I have no idea how kids are learning anything.
Restaurants and bars are also closed again to in-person dining. We didn't eat out a lot before, but I miss being able to go sit in a restaurant with Kirk or my friends and have a meal and talk. We ate out some in the summer, when we could sit outside, socially distanced from other diners, but it's too cold now. Some restaurants put up heaters or these little igloo-like pods, but I don't see how it's going to work in December and January.
Congress has failed to pass another stimulus bill, and the protections from things like evictions and student loan payments ends on December 26. I think that the elected representatives in Washington are pathetic. People are going to lose their homes and businesses if Congress doesn't act. It's all partisan and they need to get their heads out of their asses and work together to find some way to keep people out of the chaos that is going to come if they don't do something. It's pathetic really.
Supplies are hit and miss depending on the day. Kroger and Costco were totally out of toilet paper again last week. Nine days out of 10, you can't find Clorox wipes if your life depended on it. Pasta is thin some days as is any other odd item on the shelves in the grocery. I have stash of things in the basement and in the freezer...canned goods, pasta, cereal, cooking oil, salt, chicken breasts, frozen fruit and vegetables, toilet paper, paper towels, and napkins, cleaning supplies...I had been keeping milk and bread frozen too, but I've gotten away from that. I pick up stuff we might need every time I go to the store, and it's in stock. I think I have enough toilet paper to last awhile.
Knock on wood, none of us have gotten sick. I told Anne the other day that I feel like I'm in a game of dodge ball, and so far, the ball has missed me, but the longer the game goes on, the more anxiety I feel about being hit. There is a vaccine on the way, and I tell myself that we just have to keep holding on for a few months longer. I still feel like I'm playing Russian roulette, and one day, it will be my turn.
I'll be driving down the road or peeling potatoes, and all of a sudden, I'll think, "I'm living through a pandemic. A pandemic. I'm living through a pandemic." It's crazy to think about. Like this is a major world event. It's historical. It will be a seminal event in history, and I'm living through it. It's so weird when I contemplate that. I can't get my head around it.
We just celebrated Thanksgiving. We probably had too many people at our house. We had Kyle, Macey, Claire, Michael, Emily, and Brendan and Kirk and me. I had to trust that everyone was careful and COVID-free, but I'm anxious now and am waiting on pins and needles to see if anyone gets sick. I don't think they will, but that's what everybody says.
I miss normal so much.
