The Xi Jinping Flu Chronicle

My first suspected contact with the Wuhan Flu--the common way to refer to viruses until insane people insisted it was racist, but which I now call the Xi Jinping Flu to protest China's propaganda campaign to avoid responsibility for lying about the epidemic that became a pandemic--was at the beginning of February.

At that point the epidemic was in the news and just starting to seem like it would have the potential to reach America. My mom went to the hospital and across the hall was a patient who was on his feet and walking around in his room. He was not happy about being there. Whenever a staff member entered his room, they wore masks. The patient wore no mask.And a staff member always sat at the door preventing the patient from leaving the room. If that staff monitor was in the hall, the staff did not wear a mask. If the staff sat just inside the doorway, the staff monitor wore a mask. This lasted for days until we left.

We had a normal game night and otherwise patterns did not change although I was not happy about repeated trips to the hospital during the rest of the month, which made me worry about being exposed to the virus.

In March I began to stock up on extra canned goods each shopping trip. By the time schools were closed at the end of the school day (a half day?) on Friday the 13th, my pantry was sufficiently stocked so that I figured I could go a couple weeks easily if I was confined to my home. Variety and fresh foods would be gone by the end of it, but I was fine.

And I checked and found I had a box of N95 masks that I bought after a prior epidemic scare that didn't erupt. Why not be prepared, I figured.

I even bought material for small home improvement projects during lockdown and got one done successfully in mid-March.

We had game night on March 21st, but only two showed up. The worry about going out was growing. I had put out paper towels and used all single-wrapped snacks to keep worry down. But I was starting to worry, too. One result of poor attendance is that I had a lot of leftover beer. So I had a stockpile of that, too.

By March 23, Michigan had its first stay-at-home order that began shutting down our economy. I had to assure my mom that the apartment staff couldn't keep me out when I came by to take her to her doctor appointment the next day and do shopping. I managed to get a Kroger pickup date for ordering online and tried that out. It was tough to get a slot but it worked. I was encouraged, not wanting to infect my mom.

I was concerned but not stressed. I had prepared as much as I could and I had the advantage of not worrying about losing a job and income. Plus my hobbies made it unlikely I'd go stir crazy at home. And as long as it was still cold, I didn't miss going out to bars and restaurants for outdoor beer and lunch. I resumed exercising after the winter couch potato phase of my life.

I started recalling Army anal retentive procedures on operating in chemical warfare environment. I was diligent about cleaning and discarding clothes to the laundry or the trash (it was a good time to weed out older clothing) after potential exposure. I made masks with rubber bands and handkerchiefs, including some for my mom. I went to a pizza place for the last time to freeze some. The same with a bakery for donuts.

I washed my hands a lot and bleached doorknobs and surfaces.

My children continued to come over as usual. My next grocery pickup took me a week to schedule and when I got there on the 5th, I had to wait and hour and a half plus a third of the dollar amount was unavailable. I said screw it and went to Kroger the next morning and then delivered food to my mom. April 10th was the first time I no longer saw my kids as their mom wanted full lockdown. I suspect we could have continued on but the situation was bad enough in Michigan with much unknown that I did not challenge that decision.

I gave up on grocery delivery and just went once a week, with a delivery trip to my mom's after. This is the time I saved the N95 for. I used it and paper bagged it to isolate and kill any potential virus, with two in the rotation. Eventually, one-way aisles were set up with checkouts spaced.

And honestly, it was a relief. I felt a bit guilty for having people taking a risk I was not taking by shopping and putting my groceries in my trunk. Somehow it seemed wrong. But at least I was taking a risk, too. 

I noticed toilet paper, Ramen noodles, and hand sanitizer were the big items completely out. At one point I had to give my mom some of my toilet paper. In time, toilet paper returned to the shelves and I bought a big pack for my mom. I had no need to get more for myself and left it for the truly desperate.

At first I took daily walks unmasked. But when new guidelines on wearing masks outside were promulgated, I decided to set an example and wear my newly made masks while walking. Most people did not. Although use in stores was high.

With a lot of canned goods in case of sickness or total shutdown, my eating probably got better as I mostly shopped for fresh fruit and vegetables weekly plus odds and ends.

The reappearance of Ramen on my April 21st shopping trip made me feel we'd turned the corner.

We did trial runs on virtual game nights and held a formal game night by invitation to test it in a real world environment. It was a success! Not the same but better than nothing.

I made sure I texted often with my kids and checked on friends and family via text. I called one of my brothers to make sure he was up and around. I began to take walks with my youngest in her neighborhood. And we began FaceTiming while watching Better Call Saul. And later Rick and Morty. I really missed my children.

And I finally began to write again for publication after discovering a couple opportunities at the beginning of April.

But I was getting tired of being told to stay at home. If not told I would probably stay home just about as much to be cautious. But the mandatory nature irked. And I was worried about the national economy and people who need to work or they can't pay for their homes or food.

And I was really getting effing sick of those "we're together alone" PSAs  that seemed to be broadcast all the freaking time.

By the first week of May I was tired of it. I had been focused on finally writing and submitting an article for publication after having nearly two years of writing disinterest. I don't want to go crowd surfing in a bar, but we had to stop forcing people to stay at home.

And in early June I started having my children over again. That was great!

And my daughter got to experience a pandemic graduation, with drive through procession and a virtual commencement later. 

Still, with an elderly mother I have to remain cautious. By June I ditched the mask when outside away from other people. And I became willing to go to restaurants for takeout.

NOTE: I just noticed I accidentally published this a week ago.

I guess I'll end the random and disjointed chronicle of impressions from the pandemic here, then. I survived and everyone I know survived. So that's good. Hopefully our country recovers fully soon to minimize the pain of the pandemic.

Oh, and the first article I wrote was accepted for publication and I'm going over edits right now

I now resume normal programming.