Covid Chronicles. Chapter 14: Developing a Covid Routine

Read chapter 13 here

Photos by Retiring Guy

Sunday, March 29 

How quickly we have learned to appreciate the small things in life since the start of the pandemic. Just the fact that the three of us – JoAnna, Andy and I – are living under the same roof is a great source of comfort. We look forward to our daily ventures outdoors, spending an hour or so walking the ‘figure-8’ paths along Tiedeman (pictured above) and Stricker ponds or through the Pheasant Branch Creek corridor. We look forward to a 5 o’clock happy hour as well as to a sit-down dinner together at the dining table, which has been repositioned so that Andy has a more space for his employer’s desktop computer. 

 We look forward to hanging out together in the family room to watch TV, which of late has included episodes of “The Honeymooners”, the original 39. In order words, we have developed a routine during a time when everyone’s lives have been thrown out of whack. On Fridays, we order a fish fry to go from a local restaurant: Sport Bowl, where the Kiwanis holds its annual pancake breakfast, the weekend before last, and Paul’s Bar, a supporter of Middleton Home Talent Baseball, this past weekend.

“Where should we order fish next Friday?” Andy asked earlier today. 

“How about Oakcrest?” I added, which has no direct connection to any of our activities. 

At this point, it looks as though the question of where to order fish to go will be with us for a while. According to an article published at Madison365’s website: 

The coronavirus crisis will peak in Wisconsin around May 22, with about 1,350 people in the hospital and 13 people dying every day, and will last well into July, according to projections from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent global health research center at the University of Washington. 

The projection assumes Wisconsin residents maintain social distancing, with schools and nonessential businesses closed and the governor’s “Safer at Home” order still in effect. 

The projections indicate the number of people hospitalized by late May could be fewer than 100 or more than 3,000, with about 1,358 the most likely number. 

“And will last well into July”. 

If that turns out to be the case, any major progress to a return to normal is not likely to take place until the fall. In other words, our extended Memorial Day weekend trip to Warren is certainly in doubt as well as the final edition of our annual Bastille Day Party in July. 

“Day by day” sums up our guiding principle right now.