Thoughts on the Covid Pandemic
As I write this (April 2021) the world is beginning to open back up. We have been vaccinated but still wear masks and are wary of big crowds. I feel a little like Rip Van Winkle in that I must re-learn my old ways while adapting to how things have changed.
We had traveled a lot just before the pandemic hit. We went to see Francine in Knoxville, with a lunch with Emily in Nashville, in February 2020. Then we took a cruise to Key West, Dominican Republic, and Cozumel. I got really, really sick after the cruise. All the symptoms were exactly like the symptoms for Corona virus, as it was called then. I had an anti-body test several months later and it was negative, so it must not have been Corona, but I’m still not certain. Then, we did a short trip to San Antonio. We were supposed to go on a cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Spain in March. There was great uncertainty as to what the cruise lines would do. The cruise got cancelled a couple of weeks before we would have gone. We had decided we were not going to go anyway.
My reflections of that spring were that it was pretty nice. Most of the disease was hitting Europe and New York and Seattle. Houston was preparing, but things were not bad. They decided to lock down the city in late April. That meant everyone was to stay home and work from home. What I remember the most was the lack of cars. We rode our bikes everywhere. Almost every day or two we took 20+ mile rides from home. The spring weather was good, and we could explore the city without worrying about cars. People were out walking and biking everywhere. There was great respect for distancing. If you approached someone on the sidewalk, one of you would move far away or into the street. We bought new patio furniture that turned out to be perfect for a pandemic. It was lightweight and had 6 pieces so we could spread it out in different configurations. We had people over for meals or drinks and could stay apart. We had everyone bring their own food and drinks at first. In the beginning there was great fear that Corona could be spread by touch, so no one wanted to eat or drink with others. We also switched to plastic and paper. That was ironic, because I had finally switched so I never have to use disposables for any type of party.
People started to work from home and that setup applied to other groups too. The Bayou Bend Docent Organization is 225+ people. My job as Chair-Elect was to look after the long-time docents at the various activities. Well, it suddenly switched to being more of a cheerleader/mother role. Many of the docents are older and live alone. They really practiced social distancing, to the point that many did not see any other people for months. As we switched to a virtual Zoom-based lifestyle, it became particularly important that they were able to communicate with others and that they did not feel left out. I did lessons on how to Zoom and created other ways that they could connect with each other without being in person. It was gratifying to see how some of those little events meant so much to some people.
There was a huge layer of anxiety over the country. Not only did we have the uncertainty of the pandemic, but we also had a horrible political situation. Donald Trump was using the pandemic for his personal goals and was denigrating science and the facts about the disease and its prevention. No doubt it spread further and faster because of his mistruths. As more and more people died and we got closer to the election, the nation was stressed. I am not an anxious person, but I would wake up with my jaw clenched or my heart racing. Fortunately, the election signaled the end of Trump and the beginning of the end of the virus.
There was great uncertainty about how you could get access to the vaccine. It really was a game of who-do-you-know. Fortunately, I had a friend who was an attorney. Her former partner now works for a hospital. He called her and told her that several hundred shots would be available through the hospital’s Facebook page. She called me. We were eating dinner. I jumped up and yelled for Steve to come run to his computer. It was chaos—like on an old television sit-com when the wife would go into labor and the dad would panic. We raced to our computers and both logged on to their site. This was about 6:30 pm on a Friday. We had appointments for 7:08 a.m. the very next morning. We drove to the football stadium and got out shots without getting out of the car. (I’m telling this in such detail because it’s important to understand how willy-nilly the whole access to vaccines was. Emily ended up driving over 3 hours one way to North Carolina to get her shots. Parrish randomly got called for a shot by the City of Houston before he was even eligible. My brother and sister, who are older and have health issues, could not get the shots for months. Fortunately, Francine got hers in February. The system is total chaos.)
In the spring of 2020, the schools shut down. They continued operation, but students stayed home. We home-schooled Louise and Henry every day. We had a curriculum from the school, and I got other materials online. For about 2-3 hours every day we accomplished the entire day’s schoolwork. We had a schedule and took turns with the kids for one-on-one instruction. They thrived. It was really gratifying to see Henry learn to write and read. Louise started long chapter books.
In the fall, Louise and Henry went back to school virtually. Louise had a pod of four students who met up at First Congregational Church with a paid facilitator and a teacher on the television. Henry started kindergarten at our house, by himself. We covered the first 9-week session. Then he went up to the church so he could have other kids around during recess and lunch. His nanny was his facilitator. I enjoyed having him here and learning how schools work. This was actual real-time school, rather than the way we had done it in the spring. I really admired how the teacher could keep the kids involved, even when it was clear that some of their learning situations were less than ideal. It was hard work and I was glad when Henry went to join the pod.
I missed seeing the Bryans and Francine terribly. Over the summer when the kids had more free time we tried to come up with ways to stay in touch. I had remote art classes with Evelyn and Louise over Zoom. Steve and Max built matching model airplanes over Zoom. I can’t believe how long it has been since we have been together. Thank goodness we have Facetime and texting, but those can’t replace being together.
One side-effect of Covid is that people stopped doing routine maintenance on themselves. We postponed dentists and eye doctors and others because of fear of catching Covid. My cataracts worsened to the point where I could really not see to drive. The very day that my immunity was to be in place after my second shot, I went to the eye doctor. I am very glad to say that I now have 20/20 vision in both eyes. Next comes the dentist--then the dermatologist and the rest of my ‘veneer.’ Steve was very good and did go to his annual physical, but not to the other kinds of doctors.
I have not been to a store for almost 14 months. We were gone for most of February and I was sick for early March. Stores were seen as super-spreaders, so I quite shopping. We learned to shop remotely. Amazon became invaluable because you could order and receive it in a day or two. Target also offered quick car-side pick up or delivery. We started getting our groceries by ordering online, driving to the store and the groceries would be brought out and put in our trunk. It became a big outing to go to the grocery store. I finally did go to some stores in April, 2021. I was excited because I had missed the visual stimulation. I was very disappointed. The stores had very little inventory and what they did have was displayed almost in a garage sale manner. They had little staff. Many stores, both small and large, were permanently closed. It was a little like being in a Mad Max movie—everything struck me as grey and leftover. I really don’t know where I will go for clothes shopping. My two favorite stores have closed. I also noticed that people, even in Target, were using little carrying bags instead of the large buggies. It was like they just were dashing in for one or two items. I felt that the stores were full of things I didn’t need. I kept thinking, why would I buy that? I don’t know if making do without shopping has made the excesses of shopping seem unattractive. Maybe it will last, maybe not!
I, like many others, took advantage of the lockdown to clean out the house. Unfortunately, with the uncertainty of the possibility of death over us all, we began to look at all the stuff our families would have to deal with should something happen to us. I began the great purge. I have been quite successful so far. There are still way too many cloth napkins and tablecloths, but now they are organized and sorted.
Along with clearing the clutter came fixing the house. Steve has probably spent more time actually in the house this last year than ever before. He spearheaded a repair campaign. We had the entire house painted inside (that took a month.) We got new windows. We had plumbers and electricians come. The house has never looked better, but ironically, we can’t have people in to see it.
As for the matter of actual illness or death from Covid, we have been extremely fortunate. We have heard of people who had relatives or friends who got sick or died, but no one close. Houston had full hospital capacity a couple of times, but much of the horrors of Covid seem to have been elsewhere. Our friends and family have been extremely cautious. We have kept a busy life, but the virus has overlaid everything we have done for over a year.
One thing I did early on made the year go faster. I invited several friends to meet in the church parking lot on Monday nights for Quarantine Cantina. Everyone brings their own chairs, food, and drinks. We have met for over a year now. Numbers have varied, but the core is about 12-16 people. We have had birthdays, Halloween parties, a Christmas gift exchange, and even a grandparents’ shower. Louise and Henry are the only children. They have become surrogate grandchildren for several of the regulars. It has been a wonderful, safe way to stay in touch.
I am glad that Emily asked me to write my thoughts on the pandemic because it is already fading into memory, and it’s still going on! The first months were so different from now. Now, we are used to ordering online. We are just beginning to venture out. (Steve and I went to a sushi bar the other day and we were sitting inside. All the sudden we both realized we were actually inside a restaurant. It was thrilling and terrifying.) Traffic has picked back up and bike riding is much less fun. There was a sense of adventure in the beginning. Nobody knew how dangerous it would be. People were willing to lockdown for the greater good—and because it was kind of fun to be home. We have all learned to adjust to a more virtual life. I think if we had had better national leadership we would have had greater success beating, or at least handling and understanding, the virus. Now we are still very cautious as we begin to return to normal life. It would be horrible to get sick now, after giving up a year of our lives to stay safe. People are now saying that by October things should be more comfortable and certain. Last April they were saying the same thing, only it was about last October. I do think that many good lessons have come from this time. People have learned to value family time. People resent commuting time and perhaps that will lead to changes that will help in many ways. We’ve certainly learned what parts of school are easily taught online and which are not. We have come to appreciate how valuable personal interaction is. Even brief interactions with other people add much to our lives. The retail and restaurant/entertaining section of the economy has suffered. I imagine much of it will not return. That, of course, will make room for new ideas and innovation.
Overall, we have been extremely blessed during the pandemic. We have had the financial resources, the medical resources, the common sense, and the good luck to weather the storm.
Tricia Rosencranz
April 9, 2021
