With a world-wide virus – this world-wide virus, never seen before – comes a range of emotions.
A new chapter in the planet’s history is being written as we speak. We’re scared, concerned, indifferent, cautious, confused. We’ve been shocked over long lines at grocery stores and empty shelves, sad over news of an increasing number of deaths, and dismayed by a brawl over toilet paper, caught on a cellphone for all to see.
Some blame the Trump Administration. Others point toward the Obama Administration. Still others blame the irresponsible, sensationalistic media, convinced the danger is minimal, maybe the flu on Red Bull.
Meanwhile, rumors spread like the virus itself.
The undeniable truth is the logistical portions of our lives have been altered, turning each day into a novel ready for the big screen. If only that were the case.
We’ve canceled trips, birthday parties, sports events, conferences, church, temple, classes.
Here, plenty of people were out and about on a recent night and then again the next morning. That might change, though, based on the message that creating some distance between you and others will help quiet the contagious nature of the illness and ultimately help ease the strain on local hospitals.
For now , crowds shopped at Walmart, Sam’s Club and Market Basket, stocking up just in case. Here’s what they had to say about a topic so huge, it’s knocked the race for the White House out of the spotlight.
She’s 18, lives in Concord and works at Panera Bread. She’s concerned about her grandmother, 70, who lives in the North Country. She’ not concerned about herself. Not really. Not yet.
“I’m worried a little bit, like about my grandmother and I worry about older people, but I don’t see it posing much risk to someone who’s healthy and 18 years old.
“At work they have us doing a lot of protocol things, like wiping any surfaces you’ve touched, a lot more so, and the credit-card reader that you don’t always think about but everyone touches all the time.
“We can’t have our phones in our pockets because of the germs on those and we’re working with food. We have to leave them in the back with our stuff.”
Shaw-White’s shopping buddy, also 18, is on the same page as her friend.
“I’m more worried about the older people. But I take a lot of cleanliness precautions, so I wash my hands a lot and I keep my hands off of my face and I try not to share things with people.
“I’m looking out for myself, but I’m not worried about myself. My grandfather is in his late 80s and my grandmother just turned 70. They are feeling fine. They live in South Carolina and my grandfather is retired and my grandmother works at home, so they’re already self-quarantined.”
He’s 42 and has family in Italy, which is basically closed these days because of the virus. He hasn’t visited there recently. He came here for a work conference, the Boston Seafood Show, which, of course, was canceled. He’s staying with a friend in New London before flying home.
He, like the two young ladies already featured, was worried about older people in his family, not himself.
“I have family in Italy. My aunt is like 90 years old, so you know for old people it’s even worse because of their immunity, so yeah, I’m worried. She is just home.
“I’m worried, so I’m trying to do all my best like cleaning my hands every time. My hands are like dry because of all the alcohol (in hand sanitizer). But I’m not really worried. I’m just protecting myself.”
Dave is 63 and says you better believe he’s worried.
“I don’t like leaving the house. I don’t like going into stores, touching different things, the handles. I’ll go home and wash after using that stuff.”
Dave’s wife did most of the talking.
“We have it (hand sanitizer) in the car, too. We have it everywhere. In the kitchen, bathroom, dining room, living room, bedrooms. We actually bought it beforehand. We’ve been buying the big bottles because of flu season.
“We want to make sure we don’t get it. We’re getting a little nervous because it’s getting closer and closer to where (we) live. . . . When it was farther away, there was a little less worry.
“We’re thinking about school, and they’ve already canceled stuff from school for them to go places, and that makes us nervous. It could get into the school system and our son (16) will get it and pass it on to everybody else.”
This 27-year-old accountant struck a balance, as many others have during this crisis. He’s concerned. Sort of.
“A little bit worried. Worried enough to come buy a week’s worth of essentials here at Sam’s Club. Got water, tomato juice, pasta sauce, salsa, chips, stuff that lasts a long time and I can keep in my house for a week, and even if I end up not needing it, I can save it for later.
“Who knows? We can end up like Italy where stores might be closed for a period of time and I wouldn’t want to go without food.
“I don’t go to too many crowded places in general, but, I’m not sure if they’re running any sporting events now, but if they are I probably wouldn’t go to one. If we have more time at home, we won’t have anything to watch on TV.”
He turned 71 the day we spoke. He had a stent inserted into his brain after suffering from heart disease, describing what he went through, saying that was far more dangerous than what might happen now from the virus.
Buckle your seatbelt if you follow politics. Especially if you support Trump.
“It’s a concern, but overall I don’t think there is a heck of a lot that we can do. We have an incompetent president in my opinion, so we don’t have enough tests yet.
“I almost checked out two months ago. This is a second chance and I feel empowered. Doing the cardio rehab two or three times per week at the hospital. Another six weeks of that, then I have to join a private gym.
“ I feel so much better. If my number is up via the coronavirus, I just don’t think that’s going to happen. I think we’re going to have a lot of social problems when the schools start shutting down and parents have to find a way to take care of kids, and the people without very much money are going to get the worst probably.
“My son is a designer and he travels all over the world. He came back from Japan and the boss called him and told him to take the next two weeks off, full pay. Do whatever you want except come to work. He’s young (37) and solid and I don’t think this can knock him down.”
He’s 50 and came to the United States from the Philippines 27 years ago.
He travels for work a lot and was shocked at the lax security he found at American airports. He visited his homeland two weeks ago. Stricter safety procedures are there, way more than here.
“Yes, I am worried a bit. Prevention at the moment seems like an unworkable solution. Other countries have already tried preventing it so they try to isolate. I think you have to find a cure.
“My work requires me to travel to Dallas and Illinois, so my company stopped us from traveling to help prevent the virus. Two weeks now since I’ve been staying home, so I’ve been working from home most of the time.
“What I realized in Dallas in February is that people who come from China, they’re not scanning for medical conditions or doing some kind of scan. Back home in the Philippines, if I go to my country I get scanned and if I have a fever, then I get put away in case I have something. The airport in Dallas, they don’t do that and I was so amazed.”
The hairstylist, who said she’s in her 50s, is a Greek native. Use common sense, she said.
“Don’t hug anybody, stay away from people who sneeze or they have signs like they are sick. At home, everything is clean in my house, but when I’m outside the house, just washing my hands.
“I have family here, I have family in Greece. I have family everywhere in Europe. I’m not very nervous somehow. I’m a little bit, but nothing too serious right now. Maybe it’s because we don’t have a lot of people here having the coronavirus that I’m not scared right now.
“I think it’s very serious, though.”
Also in her 50s, she’s a retired state worker who now works part-time for Community Bridges as a life coach. In her view, if you’re forced to stay home, enjoy.
“I’m cautious, I’m not worried. I think it’s important that people do just a little bit, not to be fighting with each other in the store over toilet paper and stuff like that.
“I think the older generation, people my age and a little bit older, are lucky they grew up with parents that went through stuff like this, so we’re a little bit understanding of it, like your parents making big batches of soups and stews and chili, extra water.
“I have a son in college who’s a little bit nervous, but that’s it; nervous is good. We talked and I told him what to do, just a little bit of basics, don’t go freaking out. Be clean. If you’re going to be locked in the house for a while, get some booze, get some wine, get some tequila.
“New Hampshire people are more outside people, so I think it’s going to be okay here. I don’t think it’s going to be like the big cities.”
The 50-year-old nursing aide was grocery shopping with her mother. While she’s worried, she cited what she saw as the overblown nature, like the response we saw during the swine flu scare a few years ago.
“Yeah, I’m worried, but you just have to do the right precautions. When you work in healthcare, we’re trained for that. It’s just safety.
“It has to do with people who have respiratory problems and especially for the elderly. That’s a big thing to worry about, because their immune system is weaker. We can fight it. At work we have to have our temperatures checked every day. Even family members and people like that. You have to use your senses. You have to be smart.”
Roy’s 71-year-old mother lost her husband to kidney failure six months ago at 65. Now she lives with Roy.
She heard the news that Trump might have been exposed to the virus and she’s worried about him, as well as herself.
“I’m out today because it’s my daughter’s day off, but all the rest of the times, I stay at home. I don’t want to get sick. I’m 71 and I want to stay around a lot longer.”
The 67-year-old artist says, essentially, nothing to see here. Or at least not much.
“I’m not terribly concerned. I don’t think the cases in New Hampshire have impacted life, although schools are considering going online, but I think that would be a drastic measure for prevention.
“Normal sanitary measures are adequate and of course screening for immigrants and things like that. I think it’s understandable that when it has reached an epidemic, to be concerned, but I don’t see that it should impact New Hampshire right away.”
He’s a 69-year-old retired MBTA worker who senses a healthy dose of fake news here. Or at least overly dramatic news. He also thinks that, unlike our last president, the current one is the right man for the job.
“No, not worried a bit. The media is blowing it all out of proportion. But when the swine flu hit, 60 million contracted it, and out of that, 35 or 40,000 were hospitalized and a couple of thousand died and nobody talked about it.
“Obama’s presidency, he just glossed it over like it was nothing. Now that Trump is at the helm, the commies on the left, the damn democrats, they’re blowing it all out of proportion to make him look bad, because they don’t want to see him get re-elected, which he will in a landslide.
“Why would I change my lifestyle after 69 years? Because some idiots in the media are blowing things out of proportion?”
She’s 60 and says she’d be worried if the virus surfaced around here. She said her mother wonders why people need to be told to wash their hands. Don’t they do that automatically?
In fact, she’s decided that traveling to New York City to visit family isn’t such a hot idea. Flying or taking the bus are not in the running. Recently, with increased alarm spreading along with the virus, Brennan chose not to drive, either.
She’s a great example of how things we love to do, fun things like a road trip to see mom and dad, are disappearing from our everyday lives, and we simply have no idea how long this will last.
“I would become more nervous if someone in Concord came down with it. I’m starting to avoid being out in big groups. I was supposed to visit my parents and I decided not to take the bus down and they’re fine with that.
“We considered driving and then I thought that I didn’t want to bring something to them. What if I’m carrying something? My father’s birthday is next week and he says don’t even send his birthday card because he’s worrying it can come through the mail. I asked him where he heard that, and he said it makes sense that it can come through the mail. I don’t know if it can. I’ll scan a birthday card and email it.
“We’re thinking about driving down, but I’m going to see how they react. They might say no, don’t come.
“We’ll see.”