Isolation Day 21
This is now my 4th post on this subject and the world is probably tired of hearing about it. Pandemic news spews to every news source, chat group, Twitter page and even online gaming.
However, regardless of how you feel about it. This will be in the history books forever and etch its place into history. So time to document what has happened between day 7 and 21 due to the continued pandemic: COVID-19.
Shopping
In terms of my runs to the grocery store chain (Publix). I've noticed the following in just the time-span of 14 days.
- Blue tape for all lines to denote safe distance between folks
- All toilet paper still missing.
- Plastic shields installed in front of cashiers
- Apple/Android Pay support (finally)
- A special hour for senior citizens on select weekdays.
- Lanes closing and simply rotating to get cleaned
All in all, the shopping experience has changed. Walking in I'm greeted to clean my hands at this touch-less cleaning station as well as being offered a cart that is being wiped down before given to me.
STAY AT HOME
This announcement came from the Whitehouse urging people to stay at home and it was suggested until April 30. That was quite an announcement to get after already being on a forced work from home for 2 weeks. This meant I would have to spend another month at home working.
This wasn't preferred, but then I thought about all those less fortunate that don't have a job that can transition remotely, as well as the people that just flat out lost their job. So I thought it was pretty disgusting to complain as it could be much much worse for me.
It became eerily close how much the line between work and home line blurred while working remotely. As we approach day 22 of this, I think a consistent routine based on timing will help instead of rolling out of bed onto a work computer.
#JOE EXOTIC
What a time during a pandemic for a new documentary to drop capturing the focus of everyone stuck at home. I couldn't believe how many of my social media chats and feeds were all talking about this show. People were messaging me saying - "Isn't Big Cat Rescue near you?" and it was, but I didn't understand why they mentioned that.
While I imagine the show exaggerated some details - it just proved how you can have no idea about a section of the world. The exotic animal business and private zoos were something I honestly knew nothing about. I may go to zoos and Big Cat Rescue, but they were for Ingress Portals first and animals second. To watch this and learn about deception, fraud, arson, murder and more was just insane. I couldn't believe this was a real story - it was something you should see in a feature length movie.
The Remote Journey
While staying home and working during the week and being isolated during the weekend I noticed most services could not cope with the increased demand for online services. From my memory...
- Xbox Live temporarily disabled custom avatar uploads and real time chat typing notifications.
- Netflix dropped quality in Europe to lessen strength on connections.
- Azure disabled new instance creation for those on the free tier.
- Amazon Prime delays pretty much delaying "same day / next day" delivery
With such a short time frame of most of the continental USA pivoting to remote shows that some services couldn't hold up with the increased demand. Even my internet, which I pay for a 75/75 split is averaging at more 13/5 so I imagine all residential networks are clogged.
Conclusion
I hope we get through this unscathed, but I'm continuing to hear about friends who weren't as luckily to be able to work remotely or found their hours sliced to 0. To all those affected, best of luck - I'm trying to support local businesses to help where I can.
Another month to go so please stop buying all the toilet paper.