The coronavirus, or COVID-19, was first identified and reported in December of 2019 in Wuhan, China. I remember the initial reports were very similar to other recent pathogens like swine flu and bird flu; both of which, while serious, were not major or life-altering. So, I didn't worry too much through the month and into January.
We had a Disneyland California trip booked for the week of February 16th, at which time the virus was getting pretty serious. Our home state of Washington reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 on January 21, 2020. Even then, one singular person having the virus in the country was serious, but no precautions were being taken by the general public at the time because it was thought that it could be contained. As our Disney trip loomed closer, I made the decision to just do what Disney does. If they close the parks, then we won't go. If they make everyone wear masks, we'll wear masks.
But even as the World Health Organization increased the severity of COVID-19 to a "Global Health Emergency" on January 31st, there were only a handful of confirmed cases in the U.S. We went to Disneyland in February with most of the family ignorant of the rapidly spreading virus. We took very minor precautions like avoiding people with obvious signs of illness, not touching hard surfaces like railings and walls, and using lots of hand sanitizer. Had we known then what we know now, we likely would have cancelled our trip. Thankfully, we made it through unscathed and had an absolutely magical time. Unfortunately, it was the last time things would feel normal.
We started to see closures outside of the originating country of China. Japan announced that it would close all of its schools on February 27th. I half-joked on Discord that we should all take a page from Japan and close down everything. Had we actually done this, I wonder how many lives this would have saved? People started to panic-buy and hoard. The most popular was toilet paper, but hand sanitizer, face masks, and cleaning product shelves were all bare for a couple weeks. On February 29th, WA state reported the first U.S. death from coronavirus.
On March 4th, Microsoft sent an e-mail to all of their employees letting us know that we are to work from home through March 25th. A half-marathon I was supposed to run on March 7th cancelled and our local comic con, Emerald City Comicon, announced its postponement and ultimate cancellation. Announced on March 6th, the University of Washington said that they would move all classes to online courses during the following week. The rest of the world was also shutting down. The country of Italy got hit hard and announced a full-scale lockdown on March 9th. On March 11th, only a few weeks after our return from Disney, the WHO officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic.
I wish I could say that that's where we are now, but that honestly feels like a year ago. Washington state governor Jay Inslee announced on March 12th that all schools in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties were to close until at least April 24th. 12-year-old Julie was thrilled; 7-year-old Coral was not thrilled. There were tears. On this same day, Disney announced that it would be closing Disneyland and Disney World.
Shortly after this time, the country saw small signs of coming together. "We are all in this together" was a slogan you would hear from multiple companies. Some even offered free or enhanced services. One example that helped me out a lot was Comcast/Xfinity eliminating data caps for a couple months. T-Mobile also got rid of their 4GB limit of 4G/LTE for a little bit. Governor Inslee closed restaurants, bars, gyms, theaters, and pretty much every other non-essential retail store on March 15th, but allowed for food take-out and delivery still. Home-cooked meals have been great, but I think everyone is tired of it and are choosing to order food more often.
We started to see the stock market and financial impact from the pandemic around this time. The Dow lost more than 31% from its all-time high and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq dropped more than 29% below their records. It wasn't looking great for a little bit, but at the time of writing this, we've recovered quite a bit. Unemployment rates skyrocketed though and while I do not personally know of anyone directly suffering from these times, I am aware that there are a lot of people out there who are.
"Stand at least 6 feet apart" became another common site. Social distancing is commonplace now when you are out shopping, waiting in any type of line, or chatting with people who are not your family members. There are markings on the floor pretty much everywhere to remind you. Here's the line at Dick's Drive-In one night:
March 16th saw San Francisco order its residents to perform mandatory lockdowns; unless you were an essential employee, you could only leave your house to get groceries, medicine, or visit your doctor. A few days later, the whole state of California ordered a lockdown, with New York and Illinois following suit. WA state locked down on March 23, 2020. It sounds like a big deal, but at the time, no one was really going out anywhere anyway in fear of the virus.
The Summer Olympics in Tokyo were postponed to Summer 2021 due to the pandemic. India's 1.3 billion people were placed under lockdown. Things that were closed until April moved to May, which moved to June and eventually were TBD. This was probably the most disheartening part because now there didn't seem to be an end.
School teachers had moved most of the curriculum to online learning, but all school districts took different approaches. Some had live online classes through software like Zoom and Teams, while others simply assigned work to complete at home through apps like Google Classroom or Seesaw. Honestly, I do not know how much education kids got out of this change, but no one was really prepared for this. It was a pain to have to work and try and help my kids with their work, too. I'll just say that this summer has been very welcome in our house. As the months have gone on, we've started to see places slowly re-open, but there is also another wave that has started.
I'm not going to spend too much time talking about the controversy or the politics that have emerged from this pandemic, nor the social injustice events that have sparked many peaceful protests as well as dangerous riots in the world. As with anything, you have people who take the pandemic too seriously, and you have people who are completely careless. I can only tell you what my family is doing and what our lives are like right now.
Microsoft's latest notice to employees in the U.S. is to not come back into work until October, but at the rate this thing is going, I would not be surprised if it gets extended. My team is considered "business-essential," to a certain extent, so we're busier than ever. As Microsoft's in-person events are being virtualized due to the pandemic, my facility has been tasked with distribution of these events causing a much greater workload than ever. It is a blessing and a curse at the same time. It's a blessing in that I have a well-paying job that is pretty secure. It's a curse because while most of Microsoft is working from home on their jobs unimpaired, I'm swamped like never before.
Now, that said, I can do about 90% of my job remotely from home and I am being encouraged to do so. On average, I go into work once per week. I go in more often when there is a big event like Build, Inspire, and Ready. I wish I could say I love working from home. Don't get me wrong, I definitely prefer it, but I don't love it. My colleagues and I agree that it's nice to get a little extra sleep in the morning and not have to deal with traffic. However, since we are busier and technically always home, we're getting called upon way more often. Where I would usually work 9-5, there are a lot of days where I feel like I am working 7-7. It's this "always online" mentality that I think a lot of the tech companies have right now. I long for the weekends when I feel like I have more of an opportunity to get out and go for a walk, or just turn off my phone for a couple hours. I always thought I'd have more time to workout if I worked from home, but my increased work schedule doesn't really allow for that. Maybe I'm just making excuses; I should do more.
Bethany's world changed less drastically, but her new normal has its pros and cons. She hates the online schooling program. She hates not being able to go shopping as much, but that has gotten slightly better recently. She likes me being home more. We watch a lot of movies, shows, or YouTube videos in the evening. We also play Minecraft together.
Juliana will be a teenager later this year and we're already seeing signs of attitude changes. She loves to chill in her room, listen to music, and draw. When she's not doing that, she's downstairs playing Animal Crossing or Minecraft. Speaking of, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been an absolute joy. For a long time, it was one of those games I played everyday that just made me feel so content. Anyway, Julie is a homebody, so this pandemic has been pretty good for her, I think.
As I mentioned earlier, Coral was sad about not being able to go to school when the pandemic first hit. She's still at that age where school is fun even though she is a little behind on her math skills. We enrolled her in a math tutoring service before the pandemic hit, so that's been an interesting change, too. They went from in-person sessions, to virtual online sessions, and now back to in-person sessions, but limited to three days per week with mask. Coral misses swimming and playgrounds the most. I have to say that her attitude through all this has been pretty good. We celebrated her eighth birthday in May. Like most people who have had to celebrate their birthday during this pandemic, she didn't get to have a party, except for a small gathering of family members.
So, what's the outlook at this point? Well, personally, I don't see this ending soon. Scientists and doctors seem to be saying the same thing. The U.S. as a whole was too little too late to respond to this highly contagious virus, and now they are restless. Restless because of social injustice. Restless because of being kept at home for so long. Restless because of change. Whether we like it or not, this is the world we live in now.
I'm encouraged by our current level of technology and innovation. Pharmaceutical companies all over the world are racing for a vaccine. Some are even already in Phase 3 of testing. While we likely won't see one widely available for another year or two, a vaccine is the best hope we have to ending this nightmare. Or maybe masks will work? There have been conflicting studies done on the effectiveness of face masks, but if we all wear them often and properly, maybe we could stop coronavirus?
But things won't ever go back to normal. Or maybe they will in a couple decades. I suspect that face masks will be more commonplace, along with social distancing, hand sanitizer, and plexiglass. Our state is slowly re-opening retail and small businesses. Bethany and I sat down and ate at a restaurant for the first time last week. It's nice to have some of these things back.
If for some reason you have found this post decades or maybe even centuries from now, know that it feels like we are in the thick of it right now. No one knows when this will be over and it's taking a small toll on the general public's mental state. Maybe you're reading this at a time when a new pandemic is happening. In which case, my advice to you would be to listen to the science, use common sense, and don't give up hope.
I hope the next time I write a personal entry on my blog, it will be to celebrate the ending of the coronavirus pandemic.
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