NYC in the Coronavirus lockdown is calm. Downtown Brooklyn and the areas around it remind me of a smaller European city, like Stockholm or Warsaw. The speed at which things are running is slower than it usually is. Most stores, except for grocery stores, liquor stores, pharmacies and bodegas are closed. There are few people outside, which means more available space. Almost everyone is wearing a facemask of some sort and giving each other space to social distance as much as possible.
Some grocery stores have long lines wrapping around the block if you happen to arrive there at the wrong time. They are limiting the number of people allowed inside. But at other times there are no lines at all. There were some shortages of toilet paper, frozen food, vitamins and flour a few weeks ago. But recently I have been able to obtain most items on my shopping list. I think this is similar to how it’s been in many other parts of the world. Being vegan helps, the alarms about failing supply chains for meat hopefully won’t impact us.
The Coronavirus have definitely affected everyone’s lives and with over 12,000 deaths in NYC so far, it’s a tragedy. But New Yorkers are tough and New York will get through this. NYC will have another scar, but the millions of people that make the city great, will continue to do so. Likewise, this is an ongoing worldwide tragedy with areas managing it better and worse than NYC. But this will eventually end as other pandemics have before this one.
My wife, our two cats and I are doing great. We are fortunate in that we can work from home. I go shopping once or twice per week and for the occasional walk with my wife. We eat well and exercise at home. It helped that we were already well prepared before all of this.
The suspicion is that my wife and I had the Coronavirus disease back in March. We developed mild versions of several of the symptoms for about two weeks. With antibody testing suggesting that over 20% of NYC residents have had it, it’s quite likely that we did. There was nothing to do, other than self isolate during that time and carry on with work from home.
Other than working on my first project with Bumblebee Mind, I have been playing RimWorld and Mount and Blade 2. I have spent more time cooking, experimenting with new recipes and perfecting my pizza dough. However, I do really miss playing soccer, going out for dinner, beers or a cocktail with friends. And the freedom to take the subway at any time to anywhere in NYC. But we do have bicycles to extend our range somewhat when the weather allows. Most likely we will spend our vacation this summer biking around here in NYC.
My thoughts go out to everyone that lost someone in all of this. To all of those that lost their job, are experiencing economic difficulties or are worrying about what will happen next. And I am grateful to all of those essential workers that make sure our city is still functioning. New York and the rest of the world will get through this!
