COVID-19 Journal #2 Happy Apocalypse

All this COVID-19 chaos happened so fast, we all have whiplash. Someone asked me how I’m dealing with it, and the truth is, there’s just so many moments of mini-panic, hope, weirdness, frustration, and silly things happening all the time. Quarantine life is weird, and makes for bizarre dreams. A week ago I was doom-spiraling, but for now I’m kind of enjoying my #coronalifestyle, especially since my partner is no longer sick. She’s officially out of quarantine (in the bedroom, that is). We’re still self-quarantined in our home, I disinfect the door knobs and sink handles a couple times a day, and today I wiped down a bag of chips with a bleach solution I made in a spray bottle. That’s just life now.

King County is a scary place to live. As of yesterday we have 1,359 confirmed cases and 94 deaths due to coronavirus. That’s just in my county. In Washington state, the current numbers are 2,580 people who tested positive, and 132 deaths. I’m worried about the people I know who were laid off from their jobs, suddenly without income, and with rent coming up. There are also so many amazing people stepping up and helping right now. Follow @covid19mutualaid on Instagram to see how this community is coming together. What really excites me is all the people talking about prison abolition, rent strikes, and universal income. If this is the end times, let’s go. What a great opportunity for change.

I started selling goofy stickers that pretty much sum up how I feel right now.

Happy Apocalypse COVID-19 Seattle 2020

I mean, what a time to be alive. Why not commemorate the occasion? Buy one to send to a friend.

Check out @happyapocalypsecompany on Instagram for more info.

COVID-19 Journal #1

Every day for the last two weeks I’ve been asking myself, ‘How did we get to be the epicenter of a pandemic?’

Yep, I live in Seattle, the epicenter of coronavirus in the United States.

Last week I was watching the news, and my Twitter feed, obsessively. Like so many other Seattleites, I was just trying to figure out what was going on. Was I was experiencing allergies or COVID-19 symptoms? Were we going to be on lockdown or what? Should my partner and I go out and stock our home to the brim with non perishables and water? (Probably.) And then my partner got really sick.

She woke up one morning with a wicked sore throat, fatigue, runny nose, and body aches. Since she didn’t have a fever, she technically didn’t check all the boxes for COVID-19, but with lack of access to test kits, overcrowded hospitals, and healthcare hotlines that take hours to get through, there was no way of knowing either way. I’ve read accounts of younger people who tested positive for the virus even without having all of the typical symptoms. We quarantined her in the bedroom, I disinfected door knobs and other surfaces diligently, and washed my hands so often they became chapped and cracked.

Most of the time when one of us gets a cold or flu, we’ll be out one or two days max, but she was out for about five days, and couldn’t do much except sleep, watch Hulu, drink water and take all the zinc and vitamin C she possibly could. She recovered, thankfully, and the last two days she’s been pretty much back to normal. We are taking care to self-quarantine ourselves. Staying at home and social distancing is effective in slowing the spread of COVID-19, and allows hospitals more time to keep up. I jut learned that King County is building a temporary field hospital on a Shoreline soccer field that will provide an extra 200 beds for people with the virus.

I reported on the effects of coronavirus on Seattle cafes that were still open for Fresh Cup Magazine on March 11. Then on March 15th, Washington Governor Jay Inslee issued a proclamation that shutdown all restaurants, bars, cafes, and other establishments for at least two weeks. Many of my friends work for restaurants and cafes, live check-to-check, and this news, while essential to flattening the curve, is devastating to many employees and owners.

My mission in the coming months is to write as many articles as I can that bring attention to issues faced by working people during this crisis. If you have a story idea, or experience you’d like to share for an article, don’t hesitate to reach out.