COVID19 Diary: Week 2

I’m writing this again on Saturday, at the end of the week. Currently the US has 24,665 cases, with 11,645 in NY state and 7,800 in the City itself. The City itself has really taken the social Isolation to heart this week. One day this week, a NYC subway tweeted that it had 3.7Million less riders compared to the same date last year.

Work

My entire work has shifted to WFH now. We’re doing daily Zoom meetings in the mornings to get on the same page. I’m currently looking into automation for our slack channels, to get daily standup bots or automated reports going. So far having 20sh people on a conference call is working well, and coworkers are slowly learning to mute themselves when they need to.

Maintaining a schedule in the morning has been met with a bit some roadblocks. I don’t normally eat breakfast or have coffee at home, so my goal next week is to be up and out of bed, and have breakfast before 9:30.

Thankfully no one at work is infected as of yet.

The City

Life in the US epicenter has its hickups so far, but nothing apocalyptic. The grocery store closest to us has been out of multiple things depending on the day. One day they’ll be fully out of salad and vegetables, the next it will be in full stock with chicken, pop-tarts, and cereal gone.

Thankfully the fruit stands are re-stocked every day and we’ve had luck getting out a few items from them. Otherwise We’re going to the store at night to do shopping.

All Cleaning supplies are in limited stock now. By the end of the week, a small majority of people were wearing masks when outside.

Monday was also the last day that bars and restaurants could be open for dine in. Since then, all restaurants can only do delivery or takeout. A few local bars have started Venmo donations, and gift cards for when they open. A few bars that do serve food were also cleared to sell/deliver their beer / cocktails as long as you order food as well.

 

Starting Sunday, the state is suspending 100% of non essential businesses. However, the governor made a point to say no fine for individuals being out.

Family

My wife picked up one night shift on her unit. This was supposed to be spring break so she was initially off. Thankfully she has yet to receive a patient, and won’t be back until later this next week. We still however, took precautions once she got home: undressing and bagging scrubs in in the entry way, different shoes for off-unit.

Hospitals in the area are rationing PPE gear. They’re attempting to limit nurses to 1 mask per shift, which is drastically under protocol. Thankfully my family in SD is able to send us some gear to substitute.

Through this all, it’s great to see everyone adapting. Many of our family and friends have been faceTiming every few days, and friends i haven’t talked to in months, some even years, have reached out to check on us.

If you have any questions about this all, feel free to tweet at me!