Sheltering in Place…

The Bay Area went to shelter in place last night at midnight. In case it comes to your area too, I thought I’d share what “shelter in place” is like around these parts. And granted, it’s super early, and I know I’m a lucky fella in a million ways, so please read this with that context.

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In brief: day to day it’s much less severe than I think most of us expected. But the economic impact will be profound.

Things we can do include:

So food hoarding, for example, doesn’t appear to be all that necessary. Things are still coming in, and we can go shopping. We also aren’t confined to our houses, which is a relief.

We just went out to drop food off for loved ones and were surprised that we weren’t the only car on the road. My wife went into a local convenience store and there were 5-6 people in the aisles, staying 6 feet apart, of course. On the way there we past a lone skateboarder in the night, so that was odd.

Things we can’t do:

That last one is the key thing for many people — in terms of day to day life, while shelter in place is perhaps less severe than you might think, the impact on many jobs is very quick and serious. More important than toilet paper is thinking about how you can help the people and businesses you care for.

So that’s the neutral and the (seriously) negative.

Here’s the one positive: when your town or city goes to shelter in place, people’s lives in your area are being saved every day. It is a little inspiring, at least at the start, to be part of a collective effort aimed at keeping folks healthy, keeping hospitals from being overrun.

I’ve been comparing this whole thing to preparing for a typhoon, boarding up windows. But it’s different than a typhoon because what we do now does more than protect our own houses. This is about slowing these strange winds down to protect everyone.

And that’s the news from the area by the bay, where the sheltering is in place and I’m pretty sure my cat is just confused why we’re around so much.

Best to all…..
Cecil

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