Journal Day 5: My little corner of NYC in the age of the Coronavirus, Thursday, March 26, 2020
I almost didn’t go out today. I think the combination of knowing that someone was quarantined in my building who had tested positive, along with the scary article in yesterday’s NY Times about the “apocalyptic” conditions at Elmhurst Hospital, made me feel like this was all getting very close to home. Elmhurst Hospital is less than three miles from me and could very well be the hospital I would need to go to if I got sick. They were already overwhelmed yesterday, and the infection rate isn’t expected to peak in NYC for three more weeks.
On top of that, Queens now has the most infections of any county in the country.
But then I was starting to feel squirrely after staying in the apartment all day, so I ended up going out, after all, around 8:00 p.m. It turned out it wasn’t a bad time to go out. Even though I missed the day’s beautiful sunshine, there were fewer people on the street after dark.
I had called ahead to the CVS drugstore to see if they had any toilet paper, and they did! When I got there, I was glad to see the drugstore had put down lines of blue masking tape to indicate where to stand on the check-out line. They also had a clear plastic sheet separating the cashiers from the customers.
They kept the toilet paper behind the front counter, as if it were jewelry or high-end electronics. Now I am the proud owner of nine “Mega” rolls of Cottonelle. I also feel better for having taken the walk, even though it was relatively short.
Because I didn’t make it to the Gardens today, here are some photos, which I didn’t already post, that I took there yesterday:
Next: Journal Day 6: The Illusion That Everything is Normal
