Did you change your spring break plans because of the virus? From what to what?
No, I always work Spring Break. It’s a good time to get a lot done.
How did you feel when you were informed the remainder of the semester would be held online?
Safe & Sad. I knew what we were doing would be very helpful to keep people healthy. I guessed we would all be sent to work from home soon after classes went online, and that is something I did not look forward to.
How has the virus (and the precautions taken to prevent it spreading) impacted your daily life?
I am home a lot. Before the virus (and after it is gone) my place was just a glorified storage unit that I slept at. Before the virus I went to work then straight to exercising and didn’t get home until 8:30 pm. Just enough time to clean up and prep for the next day and sleep. Only one day a week did I not exercise but had a gaming night with friends. Weekends were full of working out then knitting at a local yarn shop. Sundays were clean everything days and get ready for the week after exercising.
At work I have a nice big desk and a good computer. At home I have a laptop with a second monitor perched on some thick books on a 36″ crafting table. Now, I am walking four feet from my bed to my tiny desk. I have some exercise equipment crammed on my tiny balcony but a big part of my workout comes from the people I workout with. I can’t push myself like others can push me. Game nights have turned into just online video conferencing where we all just chat because part of game night is venting and relaxing. Some people in our game group are in the medical field. So we hear about their tough week and things we should be doing to keep healthy on top of what we have been told by the media.
Another thing that is different is that my roommate and I are tripping over each other all the time now. My roommate has always worked from home and has no sympathy for me. But now there’s two people stuck in this place creating twice as many dishes, twice as much trash, and cleaning every day. There’s one bathroom that we have to share more. We have to go to a laundromat and that is different. I bring disinfecting wipes with me and wipe down the door handles, machine buttons and machine door handles before doing laundry. I wipe them down again after I am done with the machines and the door handles as I leave.
The virus impacts my life in so many ways but I am lucky. I still have a job, a home and food. So many others don’t.
How worried are you about getting the virus?
No, I am not worried about getting it. If I get it, then I get it. But I am worried about others around me.
Do you know anyone who has gotten COVID-19?
No.
Are you staying in? What are you doing to pass the time?
Yes, I am staying in. I leave to go to the office once a week, for a couple hours, to handle some things that can only be done in person to ensure no interruption of services for our faculty, staff and students. I go grocery shopping once every two weeks. Other than that I am a knitter and I have endless projects. I am also a gamer and lots of games to catch up on. I have a bunch of books to read. I have recently found some groups that are making non-medical masks to keep people safe. So I have recently started sewing on my machine to make some masks. This has relieved a lot of the helplessness I felt while sitting at home. I am a protective person and even though staying at home is protecting people, it didn’t seem like I was doing my part. When I read that crafting stores were making kits that I could pick up, sew the masks and bring them back. Now I can do something more. So i have been practicing the sewing techniques and getting use to my sewing machine again. The problem is that there is a shortage of elastic needed for the masks. So I have yet to be able to pick up a kit. But I am making some with ties and exploring other elastic materials to use instead.
Are you going out? Where do you go and what is it like?
A lot of hand washing. I only go out to my office once a week, for a couple hours. I go to the grocery store every two weeks. I go to the laundromat with anything that I can’t wash by hand (bedding, towels, jeans, etc…). I have a hand-crank laundry pod that can clean anything that is lightly soiled. Going to the grocery is getting more and more scary. Now we are suppose to wear face coverings and try to stay apart. But there are a lot of people who want to wait in line like always by being right on the back of your heels. I bring disinfecting wipes everywhere I go. I clean my groceries before bringing them in or dispose of their outer packaging.
I did stay at a friends’ place for 8 days, taking care of their animals while they had a family emergency across the country. This was just when things were starting to get bad for New York and then cases started popping up all over. I got a little worried because these are friends that would be at highest risk with their age and health conditions. But they had their own camper to stay in. And they got back just after Florida pushed out the stay-at-home order. So I was out walking their dogs several times a day. It was fine, I rarely saw anyone. The weather was really nice.
What is giving you hope and/or strength right now?
I am already in a depressed head space from my mother passing away two years ago and still dealing with stuff from that from all sides. At first what helped me was giving myself permission to be upset about the situation. I saw written several times that we need resiliency. So I’ve tried tapping into that. Also knowing that this will end eventually. My job and co-workers have been great. Meeting with my friends online. Now making masks to help people is really giving me strength. Just taking it one day at a time, it’s not so bad.
Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about what you’re feeling or experiencing right now?
Not seeing my co-workers everyday is off setting. I see them online, which helps, but I can’t just walk into their offices right now. Another part of that is by walking through the offices and the public spaces I would overhear conversations or get pulled into one that I could help with. I could then make things easier for my co-workers and the faculty, staff and students. I don’t have that now. I can’t just jump in and help out. Sometimes people don’t know you can help them until you say something. Now people have to send out a message to everyone to see if someone can help with something.
Even though I can still do my job from home, it is not as fast as I can do things at the office. Everyday I struggle with accepting that it is okay to be slower. Things that would take a few hours at the office, take all day or several days on a laptop over wifi. Or I can’t just print things out and check them off by hand, I have to figure out how to use programs that can screen capture and highlight. Just figuring out how to work around things takes time. I have to figure out how I get information to certain people in a way that is easily understood and organized for them to do their job. It’s still a lot of figuring things out four weeks into working from home.