April 14, 2020
We are just over a month into a stay-at-home order from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker to “flatten the curve” against COVID-19. Today I am reading in the New York Times why it might be a good idea to start a coronavirus diary. I’m kind of a hack writer, as anyone who reads my blog knows, but I thought I might try to preserve for posterity (whether the internet archives things is another matter). In any case, perhaps my kids or grandchildren will read this and learn something about this unique time period.
The Times suggests that I describe my day, changes I’ve personally experienced, and/or difficulties I’ve had during the crisis. So, here it goes.
The federal government may have known about COVID-19 back in January 2020, but for me and my family we hadn’t really known about it until the end of February. By early March, discussions were underway in Illinois to close the schools. Tuesday, March 17 would be the first day of school closures for us.
Andrea (9) and Natalie (7) are in fourth and second grades, respectively. O.A. Thorp Scholastic Academy, their primary school, was remarkably prepared for online learning – new to us and the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) district. In fact, Thorp implemented online learning right out of the gate on March 17, while district-wide implementation did not begin until April 13, 2020.
I am a stay-at-home dad at the moment, having decided in 2019 that I would be in charge of raising and educating the kids full-time while Amanda’s career was taking off. I did not know I would be a home school teacher. I was inadequately prepared for the task. I find teaching, at least at the elementary level, to be monotonous and frustrating, as I don’t feel I have the tools to communicate and educate. Lesson plans, such as they are, are optional as CPS is winging it. I don’t know what things were like during the Spanish Flu of 1918, but it seems like everyone, including CPS, was caught off-guard during this pandemic.
The challenges of the stay-at-home order are numerous and profound. The economy quickly crashed, with unemployment rising to Great Depression like numbers (16 million people lost their jobs in March 2020). For the moment Amanda’s job is safe; whether this continues remains to be seen. I suspect no one is truly safe, economically or health-wise. No, the hardest part for us, with our privilege of working from home, is the monotony and loss of social life. With bars and restaurants closed, theaters shuttered and most “non-essential” work shut down, there’s nothing to do. And with fears rampant about catching COVID-19, visits with family and friends, at least in person, have ceased. Our normally busy calendar, packed with social, school, work and networking events, is suddenly very empty. Weekdays become indistinguishable from weekends. New video conferencing software has popped up to enable “virtual” happy hours and family meetups, but it’s a poor substitute for real life get togethers.
It’s the oddity of it all, the disruption of life that makes this time so strange. And so far, my family is healthy, at least from COVID-19. However, Amanda had a non-COVID-19 health scare, which I’ll save for the next post.