Love in the time of the Coronavirus

by imothyt

Sweet COVID-19

Hands..
Washing hands
Reaching out.. washing me, washing you!
COVID-One Nine,
Wash your hands you know you should!

Things I won’t have to worry about if I die from a coronavirus

  • Arsenal’s summer transfers (THE WARCHEST!)
  • Global warming!
  • How they will ruin the next season of the Mandalorian
  • High Blood Pressure/Low Sodium Diets
  • Finishing Moby Dick
  • Which kind of asshole my daughter will date
  • This article I’m writing about Arteta’s stats
  • Joe Biden winning the Democratic nomination
  • Donald Trump’s inevitable 2nd term
  • The next wave of Coronavirus

Things I’ve learned about myself thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic

I touch my face a lot. It just itches constantly. I can’t stop. In fact, the more I consciously try not to touch my face, the more it itches in response. This is a nightmare.

Social-distancing is my normal state of being. I am very happy to spend Sunday watching football by myself, baking a loaf of bread, taking the dog for a walk, reading, and then watching a few movies. I feel bad for all the extroverts out there getting cabin fever after a few hours cooped up.

I find people’s response to all of this pretty funny. I went to Costco and WinCo this weekend – I needed dog food (Costco) and bulk foods (WinCo) but I also just wanted to see how people were reacting.

Costco had a person at the front door offering to wipe down my cart with a disinfectant. Uhh, I’ve already been pushing this cart, fella. And I touch my face about once every two seconds. So, if there’s a Kornvirus on this cart, I’m getting that shit.

Once inside, I noticed that they have canceled all of the samples. That was a real shame because I was all set to cheat on my low sodium diet with some garbage samples of hot dogs or something. Technically, all samples eaten at Costco are calorie free. Just thought you should know!

There were also people wiping down the frozen/refrigerated sections. Disinfecting them I’d guess. There were people in masks and of course the store was rationing bottled water and completely out of toilet paper. I wanted to yell out “THEY JUST PUT OUT SOME TOILET PAPER!!!” and see the crowds go running to the back of the store like some 1986 Cabbage Patch Doll Christmas frenzy.

I find it all performative. People wiping down carts and freezers isn’t going to stop the spread of the virus but Costco needs to look like they are doing something or else (middle-class/wealthy) people might not shop there.

Over at WinCo, it was business as usual. No one was wiping down the bulk food bins. No one offered to wipe my disgusting WinCo cart (which almost certainly covered in MRSA). I even made eye contact with an attractive dark-haired Russian woman who smiled at me as I bought some tubers.

We got a bunch of spices for my adventures in spicy minus salt cooking, got some more (various) flours (spelt, rye, whole wheat) for a bread recipe I’m working on*, and felt like I should have asked that Russian woman out.

I am also trying to date during this pandemic. No one as yet has said that they won’t meet me or anything, though the threat of contagion does hang like an early morning fog over every conversation. I wonder if people will be more or less picky? What are we as people without that connection? Without the very specific thing that makes us human, love?

I don’t know. I ordered Love in the time of Cholera from my local Library to see if the inimitable Gabriel Garcia Marquez has the answers.

Qq

*It’s because AMN isn’t applying himself in training.

**It’s called “Stop the Insanity Bread” which is actually a misnomer. See I thought that Dave’s KILLER bread was actually called Dave’s Insanity Bread and wanted to make a loaf

18 comments

  1. Wealthy people shop at Costco?

    Also, I wonder what it serves beyond a narcissistic irrationality to have a six months’ supply of toilet paper for a sickness that will last between three days and two weeks? And look, if you get it so bad you end up in the hospital for weeks, you’re not going to need that toilet paper.

    1. Overstocking on TP reminds me of that joke where all human body parts argued which should be in charge, and after much ridicule it was the a$#hole that won the argument.
      Get an occasional nosebleed and you might ignore it for awhile, start bleeding from your a$$ and you’ll be at your doctors in double time.

      My wife and I went out to a newly opened” RPM Seafood “ restaurant here in Chicago over the weekend and the place was packed. All tables , lounge and the bar area where people were brushing against each other constantly.
      After dinner we went to another lounge/ bar which was also packed, and then to a nightclub , again, full to the rafters.
      I must’ve come into some sort of contact with two dozen of strangers throughout the night and didn’t wash my hands once.
      I’m wondering if this is me being reckless , stupid, or normal but I haven’t stacked up on anything yet let alone TP.

      1. They are but in a new construction setting rather than existing home remodel.
        Think of it as an extra sink but for your butt.
        You need a supply line ( no problem there) but the extra drain is more of an issue and often time the space might be limited too.

        1. Uhh, you can just buy a toilet seat with bidet attachment these days. Couple hundred bucks. Really nice, easier on the drains, no TP needed. Just FYI.

  4. What’s perhaps interesting about COVID-19 is that its exposing issues within society that were already there:

    – workers on zero-hours contracts (without sick pay) are pressured to work when ill;
    – basic hygiene (washing hands, not sneezing/ coughing without covering ones mouth) is essential to protect the vulnerable (old and immunocompromised);
    – healthcare systems that allow anyone to have access to care (regardless of wealth) to prevent disease spread;
    – access to clear, factual guidance based on science/ minimising the spread of rumour/ fake news/ partisan information;
    – fragility of some supply chains (yet also a level of robustness in others);
    – lack of need to travel as much as people assumed;

    I’m sure I’ve missed many.
    Will this disease change any of the above on a long-term basis?
    I hope so.

    What we do know now, is that the panic from the zombie apocalypse will begin in the aisle for bog-rolls.

    1. As the 7am house radical revolutionary commie left anarchist identity politician, you have a great list there of structural problems.

      I can add – Coronavirus is pointing out the need to decouple income from labour (at any given moment, a majority of us are not working and therefore dependent on the income of others / income from existing wealth. Over 70% of those in poverty in the US are children, students, sick, disabled or retired, i.e. those unable to earn income through labour).

      Universal Basic Income Baby!

    2. Hate to be the bearer of bad news but in the age of rampant populism there will always be someone to blame. No lessons learned, no evaluation about what we could do better. Just blame someone else.

    3. The travel for work thing has perplexed me for a while. Don’t these people know that they can have online virtual meetings?

    4. @Matt – sadly I think you’re right and maybe the blame-game will happen.
      Trump has already tried blaming the Democrats for fear-mongering and Obama for policies which made it harder to test people (a claim that was untrue, qu’elle suprise).

      btw has Trump name-called the virus yet?

      “corny Coronavirus”?
      “corrupt Coronavirus”?
      “cowardly Coronavirus”?

      or is it just “nasty”?

      [sadly this is probably taking up most of his time, rather than focusing on how to manage the crisis]

  5. I blame the Pangolin.
    Credit to the Chinese for identifying them for the nasty creatures that they are and trying to make them go extinct.

  6. My strategy is to have a “clean” hand (right) and a “dirty” hand (left). Correct me if I’m wrong, but didnt they do that in Africa? I wear disposable plastic gloves on my left hand, which I change from time to time. I only ever touch my face with my right hand. Anything I’m not sure of I grab with my left hand. Had a little practice on the train up to London Bridge. Worked for me. Felt really simple and intuitive.

  7. “Love in a time of cholera” is pretty good. I did laugh when a friend of mine ditched it because the main character dies after 30odd pages (not a spoiler).

    “100 years of solitude” on the other hand is one of very few books I’ve failed to finish. Twice in fact – I tried a second time because it’s do highly rated.

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