A Week of Social Distancing

These days we're supposed to practice social distancing, and I for one have been taking this pretty seriously, having begun my intensive social-distancing efforts on March 11 when our face-to-face classes were obliged to go remote. Since each person's situation and temperament is different, the social distancing experience varies.

For me, as a not all that extroverted person (call me an ambivert) with a housemate and pets, staying home most of the time is pretty much normal behavior. Sure, I like to travel, but I attended two conferences in the past month (possibly unwisely, but what's done is done). Sure, I like to see my friends, but most of them live in other states and countries anyway (and while I like my co-workers and neighbors, it's not as though I constantly socialize with them).

Staying six feet away from people in public places has been trickier. I'm happy to do it when possible, but it's not easy to keep a six-foot distance at the cash register, and other people in stores often don't have a good grip on the six-foot idea. A few days ago I took my housemate to a craft store that was going out of business (housemate needed to get mat board and frames, or so we thought at the time), and it was crawling with families who seemed to think this was a good place to spend the afternoon or something. I was eager to leave, although happy to get quite a few knitting needles and some embroidery floss for a huge discount (maybe someday I'll get back to knitting and embroidering, like during this pandemic or else during my retirement).

A lot of people are eager to support local businesses that will suffer. So am I, but within reason. I was certainly not out at the pub on the last night it was open, despite the fact that I am a charter member. Nor was I about to hang out at the bakery-cafe around the corner when I dropped by last Friday to pick up coffee and a scone as a gesture of support (could not believe how many people were just sitting there breathing on one another in close proximity). I picked up a coffee the other day at the cat-adoption cafe in my neighborhood, again purely to support them, since I do have coffee and half-and-half at home for now. I'm guessing that so long as restaurants are allowed to do take-out here, I'll get the occasional meal to go to help them stay afloat.

Speaking of food, I began gradually stocking up several weeks ago, because it's always good to be prepared for disaster anyway, and I didn't want to be out there during panic-buying. Now when I go to the grocery store, I can just run in and grab some fresh produce and one or two other things and get out. And I'm pleased to say that our local Kroger rationed items like toilet paper, so I didn't have any trouble getting a fairly big (not enormous) package last week. I'd still like to get a second thermometer (one for each human) but the drugstore was out last I checked. At least we have one in the house and when I took my temperature, it said 97 degrees. Apparently I don't have a fever and maybe I'm a reptile.