We hold our Sunday family phone call. My mother tripped on her paper shredder’s power cord, fell, cutting her cheek on the corner of an open drawer. She tells the story ruefully, as a series of poor choices. The cut wasn’t deep, apparently; she says she’s fine.
Mom’s continuing to do her own shopping, at the supermarket a 2-minute drive from her home. Some friends have told her she’s crazy to do it; we’ve discussed alternatives. (The store offers no online or delivery options.) She’s been going once a week, early in the morning (the store’s senior hours), says she’s never seen the market implement its customer limit. We kids assure her she’s being neither silly nor negligent.
“I’m still going through soap like crazy,” she says. “I’m washing my hands 15 or 20 times a day. Your brother had to bring me an emergency delivery of hand soap.”
“It was my Mother’s Day gift,” he says.
After Covid-19-induced delays, my sister’s husband had successful surgery to remove a cataract from his one good eye. Before the surgery, he could see nothing when a doctor held two fingers before his face. Now he can read the second line of an eye chart. This means, if all goes as expected, he’ll be able to resume cooking, one of his great pleasures. My sister’s relief is palpable.
Their son lost his lucrative summer job when the state closed the annual arts festival at which he bartends, where tips often amount to several hundred dollars a night. He’s facing increased financial pressure to land a full-time job by fall.
My sister in Washington Heights says she feels very different than The Girlfriend about walking around in New York City: “Maybe it’s my neighborhood; maybe it’s the fact that I’m out with my dog several times a day. But I just don’t feel outside is risky.”
Her boyfriend is more nervous, she says — perhaps a result of knowing more than a dozen people who’ve died or had family members die of Covid-19. “But I’m not a very fearful person. I’ve always liked traveling, and I’ve never been scared about it. It’s not some great strength — it’s just how I am. I’m making rational choices: wearing a mask, limiting trips to the store, staying physically distanced. But I’m not feeling routine fear.”
She’s trying to figure out how to use vacation days — she thinks she might parcel them out over the summer rather than spending them in a block. She’s contemplating projects she can undertake (furniture staining?) to occupy herself in the downtime: “I need to do something; work’s been exhausting.”
On Saturday she and her boyfriend drove north two hours to Art Omi, a 120-acre sculpture and architecture park in Columbia County. They’re limiting the parking lot to 25 cars, turning people away when it’s full, making physical distancing easy. Their dogs could run off-leash, making for a perfect get-out-of-the-city outing.
My brother’s wholesale flooring business continues to fare surprisingly well. His main supplier had a videoconference with sales reps from around the country; only the New Jersey rep has seen business shut down. Elsewhere, homeowners seem to be undertaking enough home improvement projects to keep sales up. The Indiana rep said two of his biggest accounts, who work mostly with builders, actually saw sales increase over April 2019.
As stores begin to re-open, he’s been traveling again across his Northern California sales territory. Overall, the state has done well keeping numbers of Covid-19 infections and fatalities low; the quick actions of the seven Bay Area county health leaders, followed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, no doubt saved lives. Now the state is reopening.
“Every county is different,” he says. “Some followed quarantine rules; some didn’t. I think that’s why I stayed busy: some people were going to work when they weren’t supposed to. A lot of the people who own stores in my field are right-wing Republicans, so I see a lot of Trump voters. The level of denial and delusion is incredible to me. I’ve got an East Bay store manager who always reminds me that Trump is my president. When I walked into his store this week he announced loudly, ‘You don’t have to wear a mask in here!’ I said, ‘Well, I’ve had members of my family impacted by this, so I’m going to wear a mask.’ And three of the four people in the store put on their masks. I closed a big sale there. So I put up with the guy emailing articles about how the whole thing is a hoax to turn the country socialist.”
“In our field, business owners are cautiously optimistic. People aren’t going to be traveling; lots of folks who usually take nice summer vacations won’t be, and instead they’ll be fixing up their houses, gardens, and yards. That’s an opportunity for us. I’ve got two landscape gardening friends who are slammed. Not with maintenance — people want to be working in their own gardens. But they’re getting requests for big projects.
“We make vinyl flooring in China — it’s the one product we haven’t been able to keep in stock. But we’ve now got 15 containers of that on the water from China, so by the middle of June we should be restocked on that. Overall, business seems to be ramping up again.”
He and his roommate keep playing golf at Northern California courses, which are enforcing strict rules: flagsticks replaced by metal cups raised a couple of inches; no sand rakes, no socializing in clubhouses or parking lots. Courses have to abide by county regulations; so far he’s only heard one golfer complain about restrictions. Most folks say they’re just happy to be outside.
After the call, we host at our Catskills cabin My Upstate Friend for dinner: our first CoronaWorld meeting. The Girlfriend is protective of her son, who’s remained isolated and healthy; we take precautions. My friend comes into the cabin only for a brief bathroom visit, when he dons mask and gloves. Otherwise we stay in chairs six feet apart. We grill beef and tofu burgers, veggies; I make patatas bravas; we have beers, chocolate chip cookies. Our household trio goes through the food line before my Upstate Friend. Expected rain holds off. We all chat and laugh easily; underlying stress remains.
“Great to have a socially distanced grill night,” he writes afterward. "But so strange to spend so much time thinking about masks, gloves, plates, utensils, seating arrangements, etc. The new normal.”
(New York state numbers on Sunday: 351,371 diagnosed with Covid-19, up 0.4 percent; 110 dead, to a total of 22,729, up 0.5 percent. Overall U.S. deaths: 785, to a total of 83,439, up 0.9 percent.)
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