My neck of the woods, Westchester County, and I’m less than 3 miles from where the lawyer And family featured in this Covid-19 lives. I’ve not been there for some weeks, however. My Favorite Starbucks is right on the North Ave that is now pretty much deserted. I wouldn’t be frequenting restaurants in the area if I were back there; in fact, it’s probably a good idea to cut down on eating out, avoiding crowds and close contact with others.
New Rochelle schools not closed because the kids with the virus did not attend them. The two private schools where the quarantined kids from the two families affected are closed. Two other school districts have decided to shut down their schools to do a thorough cleaning and sanitizing, possibly because some of their students may be in the circle of friends of the affected kids.
I’m being a bit more careful at my locale even though there has been no sign of the virus here or in adjoining states. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it is lurking about and simply has not been diagnosed. It takes someone getting very ill or directly within the circle if someone affected to get tested. The New Ro lawyer would likely not have been found with the virus had he not become so terribly ill. Even so, he had to be considered in serious condition and transferred to another hospital that could handle higher risk patients before he was tested. As a result, staff at the first hospital are in quarantine, and who knows how many there at Lawrence Hospital while he was there picked up the virus indirectly? We’ll likely know in the next 2 weeks who catches this virus from him and his family and his contacts during his contagious period. A number of those folks likely to be walking about right now undiagnosed, and some of them in their local businesses and usual venues. Highly likely those eateries have been serving someone who is infected from this cluster. Give it time. So, yes, I’m not interested in hanging out in the Wyakagyl part of New Rochelle where it is a known fact that most of those known to have Covid-19 have been frequenting.
I’m more conscious about touching my face these days and washing my hands a bit longer. Avoiding direct contact with others. I’m face to face with clients at my job, but am more aware of contact and I clean my desk with bleach wipes between clients. I’ve always had clients with colds, coughs, sniffles, blowing nose and with kids with such symptoms. Had few with pink eye last month. All my coworkers have been sick with colds and coughs this season, and have worked days very much showing symptoms Not breaking out the n95 masks yet, but yes, am more aware of sanitary measures and trying to make them a matter of habit.
I’m not in the heightened state of fear that I would have been a few years ago when I had fragile and elderly parents living with us. I don’t have direct contact with anyone in that category these days, so I don’t feel like Im putting high risk folks in danger. I’d be a lot more careful if I were in that diet of contact. The clients are my only possible such contact, and I am a good arm’s length. away from them. I don’t think I’ll be giving as many hugs when greeting older relatives for a while. I don’t want to transmit anything to them. I’ve no reason to believe I have this virus presently; no symptoms but that can change in an instant.
I have tickets for a flight to SanDiego first weekend of April and will see how that goes. American hasn’t announced anything about the flight yet. If it’s not advisable to fly and flights being cancelled, I may not go. As of now, it looks like a go for me.