Life in the time of CoVid-1 Day to Lockdown!
At 11:59 Thursday March 26 Lockdown Begins*
Pen poised: Was a time I posted musings on my blog Kelly’s Fishbowl regularly. But like many others who “blogged,” with so many other social media platforms taking attention—especially the more visually-focused—my “read this” missives were superfluous. So, instead I turned my focus to creating/exploring poetry and for the past 132 weeks have been posting, with Cindy Faughnan, poetry prompts called The 7-Minute Challenge.** (If you’re a subscriber, you’ve been receiving—and trying out the prompts yourself.) But that was Life before the time of CoVid-19.
With those of us considered “non-essential” now housebound, “sheltering and “social distancing,” and scratching around for things to do, I’m thinking time might be on my side. Especially as my wings, as of midnight, will be officially clipped. We are in South Africa, have been since March 3rd.
On the day we departed, March 1st, the first case of CoVid in New York was confirmed. The victim was a woman who had flown in from Iran, she was isolating at home with “no serious complications.” Govern Cuomo wasn’t worried, so why should we?
“There is no reason for undue anxiety—the general risk remains low in NY. We are diligently managing this situation &will provide info as it becomes available.”
Must confess having arrived in Capetown, South Africa feeling fortunate to be escaping the Corona “Hype.” Certainly we were concerned. We felt compassion and sadness for all those people in China, Italy, and the Northwestern U.S., but we were feeling mostly immune, removed. After all, we can count the “epidimics” we’ve avoided: Legionnaires in 76, SARS in ‘02, Swine Flu in ‘09, Avian Flu in Indonesia, Zika in Trinidad, even Relapsing Tick Fever in good ole Austin, Tx. Besides, as every one was repeating “The ‘common flu’ kills 250-500 thousand people world wide—every year!”
We’d come to South Africa for holiday, specifically to celebrate with friends and cycle the Cape Argus. A tad giddy upon landing in this then warm, sunny, Corona Virus free country, I was more worried about riding—and finishing The Argus than I was CoVid.
Cheesing at the Start
March 5th we took a long practice cycle in preparation for The Argus. My big complaint: a sore bum. March 5th, the first CoVid-19 case in South Africa was confirmed. The victim was a man who’d flown in from Italy. The man was in quarantine in far off Johannesburg (870 miles away.)
March 12, 16 Confirmed Cases of CoVid in South Africa.
March 15, Sunday, the first locally-transmitted case is reported.
March 15, NYC Schools, Restaurants, Bars closed; number of cases tops 700.
The day after Charles Birthday Bash (an evening of pure revelry), the South African President, Cyril Ramphosa, gave a speech declaring a national state of disaster. We gathered in at the TV to watch as he detailed the measures the government was taking to contain the virus. These included cancelling gathering of more than 100 people, including school, all sporting events & concerts, hand sanitization, social distancing and elbow bumps (with 2 demonstrations). The elbow bump was immediately dubbed “The Cyril.” Laughing we practiced it along with the Chinese hand-shake alternative: Foot Taps.
Later, while speaking with our family back in the US, who were housebound in self-isolation, with school’s already cancelled, we considered ourselves very lucky to be so far from danger. In fact, our kids jokingly suggested (or maybe not so jokingly) that we would be better off staying put. Especially as the number of CoVid-19 cases in New York mounted.
March 22, with 51 confirmed cases in South Africa; 33,334 cases* had been reported in the United States of COVID-19, with 415 deaths.
The South African Government took action. This evening President Ramphosa addressed the nation again. In an eloquent, clear and comprehensive speak, he announced the plan for a national 21-day lockdown. The plan included suspension of travel except to essentials: grocery, pharmacy, doctor, bank & public assistance offices, and no gathering except for funerals (limited to 50 attendees.) All non-essential establishments & places including parks, beaches, etc. Liquor sales were suspended, too (and anyone caught with liquor in their car would be arrested.) Domestic airports would be closed and domestic flights cancelled. All beginning at 11:59 pm on Thursday, March 26th. The country had 4 days to prepare for lockdown.
Following the animal trail to Rhinos
We congratulated the President on taking swift action (much swifter than the US had) and watched as Shona, Charles, their relatives, Port Alfred and the rest of the country stocked up on supplies. The big joke was “toilet paper.” All their Australian friends and family were complaining about the lack—paper printers were even printing blank newspapers to fill in as “loo paper.”
We Expats listened and watched with curiosity but not personal concern. We had been “quarantining” with the same group (pretty much) for weeks. And besides, we were scheduled to fly out in a matter of days: Curtis and I were set for Monday, Port Elizabeth to Capetown to London to JFK departure; Dave & Les were scheduled to leave from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg and then Sydney on Tuesday. We planned a few last things to do: river cruises, beach walks, fishing, card games, “what’s for dinner?”
March 23rd we were faced with a new reality:
“Breaking: Confirmed coronavirus cases surge to 402 in SA”
*I know, this post is long. Consider it more of a catch up. I plan to post daily through the lockdown, the rest will be shorter promise. (And yes, the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge will continue too.
**The 7-Minute Poetry Challenge officially began March 17, 2016. I can’t say my interest in adding poetry to my days began with Trump, but I do credit Trump for it becoming habit. Creating a poem-a-day began as a challenge between myself and fellow writer, VCFA classmate, Cindy Faughnan. When pledging to devote 7 minutes each day to creating a poem (7 being the magic number of minutes because 5 was too few and who had 10 minutes to spare?), we needed to set a penalty for failing. Then, in the heat of the 2016 Presidential Elections, we could not think of any penalty more horrific that for Donald Trump to win the election. Thus with the penalty for not writing and sending a poem by midnight was set: whoever missed must donate $50.00 to Trump’s campaign and announce it loudly and publicly on all social media platforms. 7-Minute Poetry Challenge set, we commenced writing poems. Needless to say, we DID NOT miss a day and have committed to continue creating a poem-a-day as long as he is in office. (Frankly, I’d be happy to quit, so please help dethrone him.) After more than 400 days of the challenge we began creating prompts to share. Poetry Lab was born.
Click on Fishbowl link below and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
SUBSCRIBE TO THE FISHBOWL