Day #9
Global: 316,187
US: 26,747
MN: 137
Announcements:
- Minnesota has requested to enacted our National Guard in a way that would activate our men and women, but allow the Federal government to cover costs
- Minnesota classifies food distribution workers as "emergency" so they can get childcare
- Minnesota has Gov Walz has enacted an executive order to stop price gouging
-NY and NJ are added to shelter in place
Took a few days off for my own health, and I'm also starting to think I should spend some time doing personal journaling. We are still doing well, trying to keep ourselves busy with house projects, walks, reading and attempting to start a yoga habit (we will see.) Both of us are also trying to balance between wanting to be informed and not buying into the 24/7 media panic which will just make things worse.
We did a quick supply run to Target the other day, and I had been doing well until we walked in there. It wasn't like anyone was running, and their shelves, other than certain paper products (you can probably guess which ones), were actually pretty well stocked, it was more the energy in the place. You don't need folks to be running and screaming to know that there is panic, you don't need fights in the aisles to understand that people are trying to weigh what they would need to get by for the longest period of time if they had to. A whole store of people functioning under the possibility that this could be their last trip to the store for a while. I think the best way I could describe it is a calm fear. We had made a list beforehand which was great, so we got what we needed, checked out, got home, wiped everything down, and through our canvas grocery bags, and every stitch of clothing we were wearing into the laundry.
We also talked about what would need to happen in order for us to start rationing food, and what that process would need to look like for both us and the cats. I truly do not think we will get to that point, but as a planner it was important for me to say the words out loud, and work through them with my partner. We are lucky, she has worked in kitchens for the past 15 years and has really wonderful knowledge around food safety and storage. Waste not, want not, but also now would be a horrible time to get food poisoning.
This whole detox process after we get home had me thinking about what might change once we get to the other side of this. I would love the idea that our government systems will magically reformat to better help people in these extreme times of crisis, but I doubt it. I'm also wondering on a more personal level. I have a hard time imagining my kitchen ever getting down to just cereal and milk again, I can imagine for a long time I will wash my hands every time I walk past a sink, I can imagine I will guard my savings a little more tightly and read medical benefits packages on potential new jobs a little more closely after all of this.
When I try and think about what these changes could look like on a larger scale, I think about work from home policies, I think about people reaching out to check in on their older neighbors, I wonder if there will be fiscal or benefit policies that will come out of this to both protect small businesses and force larger companies to act more responsibly. Most importantly I wonder what kind of lessons there are to learn from this situation for if/when this happens again. We now have multiple generations of people that have a clearer idea of what a fast response means when dealing with a virus. What happens when the next one that comes around has a 10% mortality rate? What about 30%? Will we be so gun shy? Will we understand that to act with restraint in this situations, means to prolong and aggravate the severity of its impact?
We, as humans, no matter where we are, are slow to learn and fast to forget. I hope that we are able to use the current sense of urgency to enact silver lining policies that can protect us better in the future.
Stay strong,
Claire
Global: 316,187
US: 26,747
MN: 137
Announcements:
- Minnesota has requested to enacted our National Guard in a way that would activate our men and women, but allow the Federal government to cover costs
- Minnesota classifies food distribution workers as "emergency" so they can get childcare
- Minnesota has Gov Walz has enacted an executive order to stop price gouging
-NY and NJ are added to shelter in place
Took a few days off for my own health, and I'm also starting to think I should spend some time doing personal journaling. We are still doing well, trying to keep ourselves busy with house projects, walks, reading and attempting to start a yoga habit (we will see.) Both of us are also trying to balance between wanting to be informed and not buying into the 24/7 media panic which will just make things worse.
We did a quick supply run to Target the other day, and I had been doing well until we walked in there. It wasn't like anyone was running, and their shelves, other than certain paper products (you can probably guess which ones), were actually pretty well stocked, it was more the energy in the place. You don't need folks to be running and screaming to know that there is panic, you don't need fights in the aisles to understand that people are trying to weigh what they would need to get by for the longest period of time if they had to. A whole store of people functioning under the possibility that this could be their last trip to the store for a while. I think the best way I could describe it is a calm fear. We had made a list beforehand which was great, so we got what we needed, checked out, got home, wiped everything down, and through our canvas grocery bags, and every stitch of clothing we were wearing into the laundry.
We also talked about what would need to happen in order for us to start rationing food, and what that process would need to look like for both us and the cats. I truly do not think we will get to that point, but as a planner it was important for me to say the words out loud, and work through them with my partner. We are lucky, she has worked in kitchens for the past 15 years and has really wonderful knowledge around food safety and storage. Waste not, want not, but also now would be a horrible time to get food poisoning.
This whole detox process after we get home had me thinking about what might change once we get to the other side of this. I would love the idea that our government systems will magically reformat to better help people in these extreme times of crisis, but I doubt it. I'm also wondering on a more personal level. I have a hard time imagining my kitchen ever getting down to just cereal and milk again, I can imagine for a long time I will wash my hands every time I walk past a sink, I can imagine I will guard my savings a little more tightly and read medical benefits packages on potential new jobs a little more closely after all of this.
When I try and think about what these changes could look like on a larger scale, I think about work from home policies, I think about people reaching out to check in on their older neighbors, I wonder if there will be fiscal or benefit policies that will come out of this to both protect small businesses and force larger companies to act more responsibly. Most importantly I wonder what kind of lessons there are to learn from this situation for if/when this happens again. We now have multiple generations of people that have a clearer idea of what a fast response means when dealing with a virus. What happens when the next one that comes around has a 10% mortality rate? What about 30%? Will we be so gun shy? Will we understand that to act with restraint in this situations, means to prolong and aggravate the severity of its impact?
We, as humans, no matter where we are, are slow to learn and fast to forget. I hope that we are able to use the current sense of urgency to enact silver lining policies that can protect us better in the future.
Stay strong,
Claire
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