Wednesday, March 25, 2020, 6.30 a.m .: Actually quite normal
Actually a completely normal day, the sun is already shining in the bathroom, the cherry tree in front of the house is already in bloom. After we had no winter this year, the spring sun spoils us today.
Today is day 13 when we are all in our Apartment in Brooklyn are included. My wife Danielle and I work from home, our daughters Lissy (12) and Lotta (9) go to school at home. “Homeschooling” has always been something for the religious fundamentalists in the USA, but now all schools are closed. This is especially bad for the more than 100,000 homeless New York school children, for whom school meals are the main source of food – and are now being lost.
8.10 a.m.: Still no sign of life from the children
Still no sign of life from the children who sleep much longer than normal, even than on weekends. The new routine at home is tiring, we go to bed too late, watch too many series. So far, our attempts to add structure to the new everyday homeschool routine have only been moderately successful.
Normally I would now be on my way to work at UN office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation do. The subway journey from Brooklyn to Midtown Manhattan takes a good hour, the trains are full, and the walk from Rockefeller Center to the East River is an obstacle race between taxis, trucks, bankers and tourists. How long before I’ll miss this stressful part of everyday life myself?
My last trips on the subway seem like memories of another life right now. Still, the nervousness was clearly noticeable back then – every time someone sneezed, the whole car winced.
It is amazing that the pandemic is only now falling over New York. Because every subway train in winter has the viral load of an incubator. The subway continues to run, because without public transport, even those working in the health system can no longer go to work.
In contrast, our office has been home for two weeks now because the United Nations is closed. Even the Security Council only meets virtually. At the weekend we drove past the UN by car. The beautiful building exuded a calm that did not match the turmoil in the world at all.
10.30 a.m .: garbage collection, post office, police – a lot works
I have to get down on the street quickly, change the car, because the streets are still cleaned regularly. For all New Yorkers who own a car, this means that they still have to park their vehicle on the other side of the street at a set time. In general, it is remarkable how much still works very well – garbage collection, post office, police. Who actually says that the future of work lies in the home office?
11.00 a.m.: We live in the epicenter of the corona crisis
The Governor of New York State, Andrew Cuomo, gives a speech: With 15,000 infected, New York City is now the epicenter of the corona crisis, the doubling period is three days, the number of deaths is higher than in all of Germany. And that’s just the beginning, says Cuomo, who denounces the Trump administration for continuing to withhold necessary relief supplies, especially breathing masks.
It’s hard not to panic. Many who can afford it, and for example have a house on Long Island, have long since fled the city. We want to leave too, maybe have the opportunity to rent a house in Upstate New York. Arne and Charles, the owners, have agreed for the time being, if the current tenants actually leave. You yourself decided to stay in town to take care of friends.
Arne says that anyone who lives in Lower Manhattan is used to crises: AIDS in the 1980s, September 11th, Hurricane Sandy.
12 noon: Daughter Lissy goes out – with latex gloves
Lissy is doing a lap around the block alone, but I’m not quite comfortable with it. As if to remember better days, she makes her way to school. With latex gloves and without contact. Our deli on the corner is open, but the neighbors are at a safe distance.
The neighborhood is empty despite the beautiful weather. In contrast to Prospect Park, Brooklyn’s green lung. Only the playgrounds are empty here. Mayor De Blasio has announced that you use it at your own risk as there is no capacity to disinfect it.
1 p.m .: In the supermarket, customers wear protective masks
Lunch break. Actually, we still need coffee. But go to the supermarket for that? D rather not. The day before yesterday almost all had customers (but not the people who work there). Protective masks on. If the spread of mask wearers is an indicator of the spread of the virus, then things are getting serious now.
In any case, the time of hamster purchases is over, when the line ran through the whole supermarket. Some stores now have guardians at the door to keep a safe distance when shopping. In New American it is now called “Social Distancing”, but Americans have always been masters at it. “It was nice talking to you” sounds social and yet distant.
5.45 p.m.: Neighbors toast with plastic cocktail glasses
The working day is over. Around the corner, a couple of neighbors with plastic cocktail glasses have gathered in front of their houses for happy hour. You stand there every night, I can’t decide whether to find it enviable or unwise.
We drive to Coney Island, the city beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southwest Brooklyn. What would normally mean an hour’s drive at rush hour now only takes 20 minutes, the 10-lane Ocean Parkway has little traffic.
Once in Coney Island, the first thing you do is go to the boardwalk. All shops are closed: the drinking places, which normally have customers who love to swallow every ray of sunshine, but also Nathan’s hot dogs. Police cars drive up and down at regular intervals and ask them to help, to protect us from the corona virus and to keep a two-meter safe distance. It’s easy, though, because there’s little going on on the promenade, just a few intrepid young women doing physical exercises.
9 p.m. Bad feeling with ambulance sirens
Ambulance sirens trigger the whole chain of associations every time. What if, which hospital is nearby, should you actually go there? Maybe the ambulances have always been out and about so much, but now you can just hear them more because the general noise level has decreased: less traffic, fewer planes.
10:00 p.m .: What is currently going according to plan?
Arne writes that we can move into his house in Hudson, Upstate New York on Sunday as planned. Relief, but what is currently going according to plan?
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