Wednesday, March 18, 2020: I think it is Wednesday ... *checks phone, yes. Yes it is indeed Wednesday.
It is day 6 of quarantine: not 60, just 6. The past couple of days have been basically the same: eat honeycomb cereal for breakfast at like 10am, study some neuro, go for a run, succumb to my anxiety and existential dread that this social distancing will never end, study some Spanish, make some dinner, watch TV, try to go to bed, lay in bed with thoughts racing, try again to go to bed, finally go to bed, repeat.
It could honestly be so much worse though. I am constantly thinking of the nurses and employees at the grocery stores/ pharmacies: I can't imagine how crazy it must be. My best friend Sam works at King Soopers in Pueblo, she said people are being so rude to all of the employees. She also said that someone straight jacked the bananas in her dad's shopping cart lmao ... bananas.
I also think about the different industry workers: restaurant, retail, art, comedy, you name it. They are being hit so hard right now. Hoping this curve flattens out soon for their sake and for the sake of our healthcare, but it looks like we may be in this situation for the unforeseeable future.
Okay, some positive stuff. Leanna and I have been running everyday! Today we ran 3 whole miles, the longest ever with her!! :) She is getting better each day, except she still hates bikes and strollers so we will have to work on that. There was this little girl riding around in a unicorn car today and she did not like that haha. The dad was like "Guess she's never seen a unicorn before" lmao.
Yesterday we made a friend. He was a young boy named Dillon and was playing with a remote control car on the path. He asked me if he could pet Leanna and I said sure. He said he was sad that no one was letting him pet their dog, and he didn't understand why. I mean I understand why people weren't letting him: everyone's so scared right now of being infected or infecting someone else. And dogs are technically considered fomite surfaces (I think?), but it made me really sad at how a tiny piece of human interaction was being taken from this kid, this young kid who has no idea what is happening in the world.
Tomorrow we start our online classes! I'm excited to get back into a routine, and also anxious to see how it's all going to go. Just gotta take it day by day, not take on too much and just find the silver lining to everything!
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Monday, March 16, 2020
COVID-19 Lockdown: Day 4
Monday, March 16, 2020: I think this new temporary reality has really set in for many people today. Looking at my social media accounts, I see a lot of people waking up and saying, "Oh shit. This is really a thing now." Some were having a nice breakfast with their roommates, some were displaying their plants in their homes to show signs of life and growth. There were some sitting at their computers getting ready to "go to work" and then others just posting positive messages or uplifting mantras to help people get through their day. I mean this all makes sense, considering today is really the first day of the new reality where people are navigating their new desks which are either their kitchen table or their bed. I think over the weekend maybe people were like "Yeah, this is just another lazy weekend where we get to lay low and chill on our couch. Things will be back to normal by Monday." But they're not. And so now we settle in...
An update on closures: the Denver Mayor ordered all restaurants and bars to close their eat-in/dining room areas, so now there's only takeout/delivery in the city (if the restaurants choose to use that option). The Governor of Colorado followed suit when a few hours later he ordered a statewide closure of such businesses: as devastating as this will be for the food/retail/entertainment/ art industry/ local businesses, etc, it was definitely the right thing to do. So now if the Senate could get their heads out of their assess and pass an emergency bill providing funds to all individuals who will be affected by these closures, that would be REALLY GREAT!
Today I took Leanna for a run, despite the total lack of cars on the road it actually made everything seem fairly normal! We ran at a nearby nature reserve with a lake and really nice running trails. The place is surrounded by houses so we passed several families/ spouses: some people had their kids with them, some had their dogs. The cool thing was that we saw kids playing by the creek with sticks and checking out nature: definitely not normal but should probably be made the new normal once this is all over with. It was really cool to see that, just kids enjoying nature and the great outdoors, really not having a care in the world now that their school is probably over for them for the rest of the semester. And we saw other people riding their bikes or running by, and it threw us straight back into our new reality when they would hesitantly wave with this slight fear in their eyes of "Are we still 6 feet apart oh my GOD COVID-19 IT'S AFTER ME I'M GONNA DIEEE!!!" But I get it, it's a scary time with all this uncertainty: contrary to the lyrics in Lin Manuel's "My Shot", for the first time we actually can't think past tomorrow so we really cannot plan our futures or look forward to future family vacations or weddings or graduations...
I think that's what's been the hardest thing for me so far is just not knowing. Not knowing when things will get back to normal, not being able to plan fun hangouts, trips, and get-togethers and look forward to them. One of our groomsmen has been in South Korea since September, so we talked to him the other day and he said they've been on lockdown for a month and a half. He said it's getting pretty boring because you can't leave your place unless it's an emergency or you run out of toilet paper (joking), so it's not like restaurants or bars are open to go and chill. But he said the situation there is getting better- and that's because their government chose to enact and enforce those lockdown policies to everyone. So see guys!? PROOF that all this will work in the end YAYYY!!!
I will leave on a happy note with this picture of Leanna post run today. She is the GOODEST GORL!!
Peace out!
Britt
An update on closures: the Denver Mayor ordered all restaurants and bars to close their eat-in/dining room areas, so now there's only takeout/delivery in the city (if the restaurants choose to use that option). The Governor of Colorado followed suit when a few hours later he ordered a statewide closure of such businesses: as devastating as this will be for the food/retail/entertainment/ art industry/ local businesses, etc, it was definitely the right thing to do. So now if the Senate could get their heads out of their assess and pass an emergency bill providing funds to all individuals who will be affected by these closures, that would be REALLY GREAT!
Today I took Leanna for a run, despite the total lack of cars on the road it actually made everything seem fairly normal! We ran at a nearby nature reserve with a lake and really nice running trails. The place is surrounded by houses so we passed several families/ spouses: some people had their kids with them, some had their dogs. The cool thing was that we saw kids playing by the creek with sticks and checking out nature: definitely not normal but should probably be made the new normal once this is all over with. It was really cool to see that, just kids enjoying nature and the great outdoors, really not having a care in the world now that their school is probably over for them for the rest of the semester. And we saw other people riding their bikes or running by, and it threw us straight back into our new reality when they would hesitantly wave with this slight fear in their eyes of "Are we still 6 feet apart oh my GOD COVID-19 IT'S AFTER ME I'M GONNA DIEEE!!!" But I get it, it's a scary time with all this uncertainty: contrary to the lyrics in Lin Manuel's "My Shot", for the first time we actually can't think past tomorrow so we really cannot plan our futures or look forward to future family vacations or weddings or graduations...
I think that's what's been the hardest thing for me so far is just not knowing. Not knowing when things will get back to normal, not being able to plan fun hangouts, trips, and get-togethers and look forward to them. One of our groomsmen has been in South Korea since September, so we talked to him the other day and he said they've been on lockdown for a month and a half. He said it's getting pretty boring because you can't leave your place unless it's an emergency or you run out of toilet paper (joking), so it's not like restaurants or bars are open to go and chill. But he said the situation there is getting better- and that's because their government chose to enact and enforce those lockdown policies to everyone. So see guys!? PROOF that all this will work in the end YAYYY!!!
I will leave on a happy note with this picture of Leanna post run today. She is the GOODEST GORL!!
Peace out!
Britt
Sunday, March 15, 2020
COVID-19 Lockdown: Day 3
Sunday, March 15, 2020: It is day 3 of our temporary lockdown. We have gone without sports for (four?) days now, it still feels unreal. I was having some super bad anxiety about it all yesterday: I'm sitting at the kitchen table trying to figure out the Corneal Blink Reflex and I just get this crushing realization that I will no longer be able to ask my professors questions face to face, or be able to sit with my friends in class and occasionally zone out and eat a piece of chocolate. WHAT IF I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW THE CRANIAL NERVES ALL INTEGRATE TOGETHER CLIFF?! Slight mini panic attack- having the feeling of not being able to access something can be scary. Which is a weird thing to feel considering we live in the age of the internet where literally everything is accessible at the tip of your fingers ... I don't know it just won't be the same. I told Ryan that I was kind of struggling and he suggested we just relax on the couch and watch a movie -- he picks A Quiet Place. LMAO.
But the weird thing was that I woke up yesterday feeling pretty great. We slept in, and around 12:30 I was like, "I'm gonna make some dank ass breakfast." And I felt like Danny in that one scene in This Is The End where he wakes up and cooks all the food not knowing there's an apocalypse going on outside lol. I'm making omelets and sausage and potatoes, and I'm like hell yeah we EATIN up in here! And also we started our wedding registry, and I came up with a great idea for table setting shopping: you design an app that allows you to visualize certain foods on your table setting so that you can really picture yourself eating off these plates! Like I want to be able to visualize chicken tenders on these plates before I buy them, right? Yeah I know we aren't even to the first week of the lockdown yet and this is the shit I'm inventing ... basically, we're going to be millionaires when this is all over.
No but really, yesterday was tough. It was the realization that for the first time in my whole life, I wouldn't be watching March Madness or filling out a bracket (BUT there is this mammal bracket you guys can fill out, I will post the link at the end!). I wouldn't be watching the Masters, wouldn't be counting down the days to Opening Day. The ski resorts have all closed, I bet all the Texas and Florida people who were coming from spring break are HELLA PISSED. It's just weird: everything that has ever happened or that I've looked forward to this time of year is no longer a thing. It just poofed into thin air. Speaking of poofing into thin air, wouldn't it be dope if the Trump Administration could do that? lolz but seriously they're awful.
So today was a new day. I woke up and made some more good breakfast (I love breakfast but just always think I don't have the time to make it, but it turns out now I do so YAY!), studied some more cranial nerve integration without panicking, Ryan and I did a FaceTime wedding counseling with our church: basically, everything seemed normal. And it was a good day. And I knew that things were going to change in the next coming days but that's okay because you take it one day at a time and you get through it. So now I will get ready for bed by likely watching Captain Marvel because I'm watching all the Marvel movies in chronological order based on the time they took place, and I will wake up and see how tomorrow goes. And I will go to bed hoping everyone is doing the same as I am tomorrow, which is not being a dumbass and STAYING HOME!!! :)
Peace and Blessings,
Britt
PS: here is the link to the "March Mammal Madness" bracket! The first round is already done, but it''s still fun to fill out a bracket!!
http://mammalssuck.blogspot.com/2020/02/march-mammal-madness-2020.html
But the weird thing was that I woke up yesterday feeling pretty great. We slept in, and around 12:30 I was like, "I'm gonna make some dank ass breakfast." And I felt like Danny in that one scene in This Is The End where he wakes up and cooks all the food not knowing there's an apocalypse going on outside lol. I'm making omelets and sausage and potatoes, and I'm like hell yeah we EATIN up in here! And also we started our wedding registry, and I came up with a great idea for table setting shopping: you design an app that allows you to visualize certain foods on your table setting so that you can really picture yourself eating off these plates! Like I want to be able to visualize chicken tenders on these plates before I buy them, right? Yeah I know we aren't even to the first week of the lockdown yet and this is the shit I'm inventing ... basically, we're going to be millionaires when this is all over.
No but really, yesterday was tough. It was the realization that for the first time in my whole life, I wouldn't be watching March Madness or filling out a bracket (BUT there is this mammal bracket you guys can fill out, I will post the link at the end!). I wouldn't be watching the Masters, wouldn't be counting down the days to Opening Day. The ski resorts have all closed, I bet all the Texas and Florida people who were coming from spring break are HELLA PISSED. It's just weird: everything that has ever happened or that I've looked forward to this time of year is no longer a thing. It just poofed into thin air. Speaking of poofing into thin air, wouldn't it be dope if the Trump Administration could do that? lolz but seriously they're awful.
So today was a new day. I woke up and made some more good breakfast (I love breakfast but just always think I don't have the time to make it, but it turns out now I do so YAY!), studied some more cranial nerve integration without panicking, Ryan and I did a FaceTime wedding counseling with our church: basically, everything seemed normal. And it was a good day. And I knew that things were going to change in the next coming days but that's okay because you take it one day at a time and you get through it. So now I will get ready for bed by likely watching Captain Marvel because I'm watching all the Marvel movies in chronological order based on the time they took place, and I will wake up and see how tomorrow goes. And I will go to bed hoping everyone is doing the same as I am tomorrow, which is not being a dumbass and STAYING HOME!!! :)
Peace and Blessings,
Britt
PS: here is the link to the "March Mammal Madness" bracket! The first round is already done, but it''s still fun to fill out a bracket!!
http://mammalssuck.blogspot.com/2020/02/march-mammal-madness-2020.html
COVID-19 Lockdown: Day 1
March 13, 2020: I woke up this morning to our crazy puppy licking my face and pawing at the covers, informing me that it was in fact past her usual breakfast/morning shit time. I checked my phone and it was 8:00-- it was pleasantly nice to sleep in a little for a change. I walked downstairs and welcomed the morning, and how nice it was to be able to stay home from school today. I fed the pup and prepared for our morning walk- I began to think "Oh I bet there will be a lot of other dogs and dog owners out at this time considering we're getting a later start than usual." I opened the door prepared to be greeted by the starting of car engines across the way at the nearby apartment complex, and Leanna (puppy) was prepared to see one of her friends trotting down the sidewalk sniffing out some delicious poop to eat. But instead, we were both greeted by silence and gloom- a cool, cloudy day without a soul in sight. We walked down the sidewalk to her usual grass patch, where usually at least one of her friends is sniffing about ... but there was no one. We continued to walk past the driveways expecting to have to move over for cars whizzing by, but today we didn't hear a single car nor see a single garage open. It was almost eerie: even the birds that Leanna usually chases out of the bushes weren't around.
We got back inside and I prepared for my day: usually that involves making coffee for my fiance, Ryan and myself before he heads to work and I head to class. I prepare the coffee, then head upstairs to Ryan ironing his dress shirts and me getting together my outfit for the day. But today I prepared the coffee and went upstairs to Ryan working on his computer in our loft, a half-eaten sock from Leanna (that part is pretty common), and me throwing on sweats and a t-shirt for my online student government meeting. The reality of working/learning from home has just begun, and it will definitely take some time to get used to.
I should mention I am in a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program. My classmates and colleagues are all thoughtful and intelligent individuals who share a common goal and desire to help people and make this world a better place to live in. So we completely understand and support the necessity of going into temporary lockdown, taking a hiatus from campus and switching to online learning for the time being. We are very vocal when it comes to the health and wellbeing of others, and we understand the urgency to act immediately to do our part in assisting those that are immunocompromised or elderly. That's why when our university announced last evening (March 12th) that we wouldn't be transitioning to online classes until March 30 and would continue to hold on-campus classes until then, we rioted. Just kidding, not so much rioting as sending heavily worded emails, but you get the point.
So our student government meeting held on Zoom today was centered around this idea of how are we as a cohort going to navigate these necessary changes in the next few weeks. How are we going to still collectively come together and support one another, how are we going to achieve the same comradery that we do in the classroom? How are we going to practice goniometry on each other, or test the strength of each other's biceps brachii through a computer screen? Well, in short, we're not. But rest assured we will all still graduate in 2022 as the best DPTs there ever was. AND we will have had a very unique, if not the most unique experience that any cohort before us has ever had. But we will be better and we will be stronger for it because we understood that putting the wellbeing of others far outweighed the importance of our education. I mean our whole profession is literally based on the principle of putting the wellbeing of others first, so why not start now?
So anyways, we finish up our meeting and Ryan and I decided we should probably make a trip to the grocery store to grab some food and other necessities just to play it safe. We get to the store, we find a parking spot with maybe like more than average trouble, but as we're walking to the door, this man stops us and goes, "Good luck in there, you're going to need it big time. It's insane." And so we're both just like prepared to walk into a scene similar to the one in South Park where everyone is looting the mall on Black Friday. But we walk in, and it's honestly not much worse than what we had expected to walk into: the lines are abnormally long, there is absolutely zero toilet paper left on the shelves, and all of the Ramen is completely gone too. That was all expected.
What I didn't expect was to feel this crippling amount of alarm and anxiety, or this unsettling notion like something I had never experienced before. I'm walking over to the soup aisle that's blocked by a number of shopping carts, and as I'm trying to get through I hear an employee tell another employee, "We can't restock right now because if we do then we won't have enough supplies for tomorrow." I start to understand the severity of the situation, as well as the selfishness of those around me. Like I highly doubt you need 8 packages of ground beef Karen, save some for the rest of us. Also beef isn't a non-perishable item, but I digress. Anyways, I'm standing at the soup shelf, and I start to grab a few cans, but then I look around and see the amount of people huddling around the almost barren shelf and I reconsider my need and put the majority back. I continue to do this for the remainder of our trip: I take only what Ryan and I need and move on. If there are only two left of something, I take one or even consider if I even need one in the first place.
So we make our way to the mile long checkout line, we're trudging our way through crowds of people who are cutting off employees with large carts of restockable items, or people just standing in the middle of the aisle just dumping large quantities of things into their baskets. And you can just feel the panic seeping out of them- they're freaked out at the unknown and uncertainty of the next month. I get it. But then we also see people passing each other saying, "Oh my, excuse me. It's like a war zone in here!" And then the other person goes, "Oh I know right?! It's worse than the holidays HAHA." And I'm enjoying the positive discourse and the short but necessary injection of humor into this is crazy, surreal time. And a lady unknowingly cuts me in line but the lady in front of her politely acknowledges the mistake, and the lady kindly apologizes and gets in line behind me. And I'm thinking, "Okay, humanity is doing all right for the most part. This will be fine." And I'm looking around and I'm seeing, truly seeing all of these strangers around me just trying to do the best they all can. And sure some may be more rude or ignorant than others, but it's so important to remember in times like these that we need to be kind and patient and give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Because everyone will react differently in times like these...
And then I start to think "times like these" and I realize that in my 26 years of living, I have never truly experienced a so called "time like this." I lived through 9/11, but I was 8 and all I remember was that I was pissed that Disney Channel wasn't playing cartoons and instead broadcasting President Bush's address to the nation. I have never experienced the situation I am currently facing ... a situation we are all currently facing together. I start to think of the women in front of me with her 9-month-old baby covered up in his car seat, or the man in the line next to me with the only contents of his basket being Pepsi and multiple packages of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls (hell yeah man I see you!). And I guess I just start thinking that I hope everyone else is doing what I'm doing-- taking this all in and really understanding how what we are going to be doing for likely the next month will ultimately benefit not only ourselves but all of these people around us. And I'm hoping that everyone is being mindful and considerate of everyone else, and truly being better about spreading germs because it could save the life of the 9-month infant in line in front of me or the elderly woman in line behind me ... oh wait, the elderly lady just grabbed a magazine and LICKED HER FINGER each time she turned the page. Awesome...
Here is my point: it is imperative that we all do our part in decreasing the rate of spread and "flattening the curve." My neighbor shared this incredible article with me yesterday that illustrates how truly devastating COVID-19 could be for the United States if we do not act immediately (I will link the article below, seriously the most thorough information I have read on the matter. Also note: the article updates daily with newer and more up to date projections taking more recent precautions into account). A model projection in the article outlines what Denver could look like in a week if we all don't start laying low and avoiding social gatherings by illustrating the difference between "official" cases and "true" cases. Official cases are those that have been diagnosed- as of yesterday, there are currently 48 official cases of COVID-19 in the greater Denver area. Now true cases are cases that have not been diagnosed yet due to either the infected individual is not showing severe symptoms or they have not/ are unable to be tested. True cases are projected based on previously calculated models based off what has already happened in, say Wuhan and Italy. So with 48 official cases, the model estimates that there are likely 192 true cases in the greater Denver area. Every infected area that did NOT act immediately to shut cities and areas of high risk down (so like Wuhan in the very beginning before they shut down travel to and from Wuhan) has experienced DAILY exponential growth: so that means that if there were an estimated 192 true cases in the greater Denver area yesterday, there is around 215 true cases today. In one week: this number rises to 1,019.
Now this is all very scary and alarming, I get it. But the model also shows what started happening in areas of China that shut down completely to isolate the virus from further spreading. The exponential growth ceased, and eventually the number of true cases flattened out. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, however, the damage was already done, and COVID-19 was able to spread and turn into a pandemic.
So what does this mean for places like the United States? It means we need to learn from this model and begin to immediately enact lifestyle changes that will slow the spread of infection and flatten the curve. By collectively refraining from attending social gatherings for a few weeks, we will likely cut the incidence of infection rate in half, giving hospitals and health care professionals a fighting chance against this pandemic. It doesn't matter if you yourself are at minimal risk of contracting the disease or experiencing severe symptoms, what should matter is your community: your elderly, your immunocompromised, the individuals who already suffer from respiratory illness. I would venture to guess that every single one of you knows at least one of these individuals, whether they're a family member, a friend, a neighbor, or a coworker. COVID-19 could be devastating to them. The time has come and gone for us to contain the virus: it has spread, and this is truly our last resort.
I wanted to start this blog to not only shed some light on the COVID-19 current situation, but to also provide an avenue for people to come together, share their thoughts and feelings through this situation, and know that they are not feeling these feelings alone. I think that documenting my experiences over this next month or so will be a tremendous coping strategy for me, as I am a very social person who loves to connect with people, but I also hope it can enlighten those of you who choose to read and follow my blog! My goal is to continue to share updates and thoughts as well as some suggestions for fun things to do inside and how to stay busy.
Tomorrow I will wake up, probably find another chewed up sock (what else is new), and begin this new reality. My first plans are to get a head start on my neuroscience studying, and I also want to start playing the piano again. I am taking this opportunity to reconnect with the hobbies I have lost from being too busy with the daily hustle, as well as to spend some quality time with my little fam bam. <3
I ask you all to remember to think of others, be kind to one another, check in on your loved ones through these difficult and truly unprecedented times, and don't be afraid to tell Karen to stop hogging all the beef at the supermarket. In short... DO YOUR PART TO END THIS PANDEMIC! <3
Love to all!!!!
Brittney
PS: here is the link to the article I mentioned above :)
https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca
Thanks for reading!!!
We got back inside and I prepared for my day: usually that involves making coffee for my fiance, Ryan and myself before he heads to work and I head to class. I prepare the coffee, then head upstairs to Ryan ironing his dress shirts and me getting together my outfit for the day. But today I prepared the coffee and went upstairs to Ryan working on his computer in our loft, a half-eaten sock from Leanna (that part is pretty common), and me throwing on sweats and a t-shirt for my online student government meeting. The reality of working/learning from home has just begun, and it will definitely take some time to get used to.
I should mention I am in a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program. My classmates and colleagues are all thoughtful and intelligent individuals who share a common goal and desire to help people and make this world a better place to live in. So we completely understand and support the necessity of going into temporary lockdown, taking a hiatus from campus and switching to online learning for the time being. We are very vocal when it comes to the health and wellbeing of others, and we understand the urgency to act immediately to do our part in assisting those that are immunocompromised or elderly. That's why when our university announced last evening (March 12th) that we wouldn't be transitioning to online classes until March 30 and would continue to hold on-campus classes until then, we rioted. Just kidding, not so much rioting as sending heavily worded emails, but you get the point.
So our student government meeting held on Zoom today was centered around this idea of how are we as a cohort going to navigate these necessary changes in the next few weeks. How are we going to still collectively come together and support one another, how are we going to achieve the same comradery that we do in the classroom? How are we going to practice goniometry on each other, or test the strength of each other's biceps brachii through a computer screen? Well, in short, we're not. But rest assured we will all still graduate in 2022 as the best DPTs there ever was. AND we will have had a very unique, if not the most unique experience that any cohort before us has ever had. But we will be better and we will be stronger for it because we understood that putting the wellbeing of others far outweighed the importance of our education. I mean our whole profession is literally based on the principle of putting the wellbeing of others first, so why not start now?
So anyways, we finish up our meeting and Ryan and I decided we should probably make a trip to the grocery store to grab some food and other necessities just to play it safe. We get to the store, we find a parking spot with maybe like more than average trouble, but as we're walking to the door, this man stops us and goes, "Good luck in there, you're going to need it big time. It's insane." And so we're both just like prepared to walk into a scene similar to the one in South Park where everyone is looting the mall on Black Friday. But we walk in, and it's honestly not much worse than what we had expected to walk into: the lines are abnormally long, there is absolutely zero toilet paper left on the shelves, and all of the Ramen is completely gone too. That was all expected.
What I didn't expect was to feel this crippling amount of alarm and anxiety, or this unsettling notion like something I had never experienced before. I'm walking over to the soup aisle that's blocked by a number of shopping carts, and as I'm trying to get through I hear an employee tell another employee, "We can't restock right now because if we do then we won't have enough supplies for tomorrow." I start to understand the severity of the situation, as well as the selfishness of those around me. Like I highly doubt you need 8 packages of ground beef Karen, save some for the rest of us. Also beef isn't a non-perishable item, but I digress. Anyways, I'm standing at the soup shelf, and I start to grab a few cans, but then I look around and see the amount of people huddling around the almost barren shelf and I reconsider my need and put the majority back. I continue to do this for the remainder of our trip: I take only what Ryan and I need and move on. If there are only two left of something, I take one or even consider if I even need one in the first place.
So we make our way to the mile long checkout line, we're trudging our way through crowds of people who are cutting off employees with large carts of restockable items, or people just standing in the middle of the aisle just dumping large quantities of things into their baskets. And you can just feel the panic seeping out of them- they're freaked out at the unknown and uncertainty of the next month. I get it. But then we also see people passing each other saying, "Oh my, excuse me. It's like a war zone in here!" And then the other person goes, "Oh I know right?! It's worse than the holidays HAHA." And I'm enjoying the positive discourse and the short but necessary injection of humor into this is crazy, surreal time. And a lady unknowingly cuts me in line but the lady in front of her politely acknowledges the mistake, and the lady kindly apologizes and gets in line behind me. And I'm thinking, "Okay, humanity is doing all right for the most part. This will be fine." And I'm looking around and I'm seeing, truly seeing all of these strangers around me just trying to do the best they all can. And sure some may be more rude or ignorant than others, but it's so important to remember in times like these that we need to be kind and patient and give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Because everyone will react differently in times like these...
And then I start to think "times like these" and I realize that in my 26 years of living, I have never truly experienced a so called "time like this." I lived through 9/11, but I was 8 and all I remember was that I was pissed that Disney Channel wasn't playing cartoons and instead broadcasting President Bush's address to the nation. I have never experienced the situation I am currently facing ... a situation we are all currently facing together. I start to think of the women in front of me with her 9-month-old baby covered up in his car seat, or the man in the line next to me with the only contents of his basket being Pepsi and multiple packages of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls (hell yeah man I see you!). And I guess I just start thinking that I hope everyone else is doing what I'm doing-- taking this all in and really understanding how what we are going to be doing for likely the next month will ultimately benefit not only ourselves but all of these people around us. And I'm hoping that everyone is being mindful and considerate of everyone else, and truly being better about spreading germs because it could save the life of the 9-month infant in line in front of me or the elderly woman in line behind me ... oh wait, the elderly lady just grabbed a magazine and LICKED HER FINGER each time she turned the page. Awesome...
Here is my point: it is imperative that we all do our part in decreasing the rate of spread and "flattening the curve." My neighbor shared this incredible article with me yesterday that illustrates how truly devastating COVID-19 could be for the United States if we do not act immediately (I will link the article below, seriously the most thorough information I have read on the matter. Also note: the article updates daily with newer and more up to date projections taking more recent precautions into account). A model projection in the article outlines what Denver could look like in a week if we all don't start laying low and avoiding social gatherings by illustrating the difference between "official" cases and "true" cases. Official cases are those that have been diagnosed- as of yesterday, there are currently 48 official cases of COVID-19 in the greater Denver area. Now true cases are cases that have not been diagnosed yet due to either the infected individual is not showing severe symptoms or they have not/ are unable to be tested. True cases are projected based on previously calculated models based off what has already happened in, say Wuhan and Italy. So with 48 official cases, the model estimates that there are likely 192 true cases in the greater Denver area. Every infected area that did NOT act immediately to shut cities and areas of high risk down (so like Wuhan in the very beginning before they shut down travel to and from Wuhan) has experienced DAILY exponential growth: so that means that if there were an estimated 192 true cases in the greater Denver area yesterday, there is around 215 true cases today. In one week: this number rises to 1,019.
Now this is all very scary and alarming, I get it. But the model also shows what started happening in areas of China that shut down completely to isolate the virus from further spreading. The exponential growth ceased, and eventually the number of true cases flattened out. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, however, the damage was already done, and COVID-19 was able to spread and turn into a pandemic.
So what does this mean for places like the United States? It means we need to learn from this model and begin to immediately enact lifestyle changes that will slow the spread of infection and flatten the curve. By collectively refraining from attending social gatherings for a few weeks, we will likely cut the incidence of infection rate in half, giving hospitals and health care professionals a fighting chance against this pandemic. It doesn't matter if you yourself are at minimal risk of contracting the disease or experiencing severe symptoms, what should matter is your community: your elderly, your immunocompromised, the individuals who already suffer from respiratory illness. I would venture to guess that every single one of you knows at least one of these individuals, whether they're a family member, a friend, a neighbor, or a coworker. COVID-19 could be devastating to them. The time has come and gone for us to contain the virus: it has spread, and this is truly our last resort.
I wanted to start this blog to not only shed some light on the COVID-19 current situation, but to also provide an avenue for people to come together, share their thoughts and feelings through this situation, and know that they are not feeling these feelings alone. I think that documenting my experiences over this next month or so will be a tremendous coping strategy for me, as I am a very social person who loves to connect with people, but I also hope it can enlighten those of you who choose to read and follow my blog! My goal is to continue to share updates and thoughts as well as some suggestions for fun things to do inside and how to stay busy.
Tomorrow I will wake up, probably find another chewed up sock (what else is new), and begin this new reality. My first plans are to get a head start on my neuroscience studying, and I also want to start playing the piano again. I am taking this opportunity to reconnect with the hobbies I have lost from being too busy with the daily hustle, as well as to spend some quality time with my little fam bam. <3
I ask you all to remember to think of others, be kind to one another, check in on your loved ones through these difficult and truly unprecedented times, and don't be afraid to tell Karen to stop hogging all the beef at the supermarket. In short... DO YOUR PART TO END THIS PANDEMIC! <3
Love to all!!!!
Brittney
PS: here is the link to the article I mentioned above :)
https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca
Thanks for reading!!!
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