Day 55. I’m officially back to being a night owl.
The first few days are a blur. I wish I had started this sooner. I think we’re all doing the best that we can to figure out what’s happening and manage during this rough time.
I’m going back in time now, back to March 9th. I started a new gig on a Netflix series as a payroll assistant. It was my first week back to work since a feature I was prepping was shut down due to “creative differences.” We were hearing some information about Covid-19, but not enough to truly understand the magnitude of what was ahead. I, personally, was misinformed about the virus and regret not being more concerned sooner. I guess when you’re faced with something so unknown to the world, it’s easy to piece together a bias from what you think you know about viruses.
Everything seemed to be business as usual, except for the obsessive hand washing and handling of door knobs. Our production seemed to be concerned but not panicked. The job was close to home so it was nice walking to work again. The weather was starting to get better as the temperatures had gone up from the 30’s to mid to upper 40’s. Felt like spring was around the corner. Throw in a couple of 60+ days and it was glorious.
Then on March 13th we got word that many studios would be shutting down due to safety concerns for their cast and crews. It was a bold but necessary move. But what about schools? They were shuttered as of March 15th.
I was concerned about work. I had been unemployed since mid November, then started working again in mid January, only to be laid off again when that feature shut down. Collected unemployment for three weeks and it was back to the grind. Only to be shut down without knowing when we would return to work. If we are to return. How am I going to pay my bills once my savings has been depleted? This was a worry for every worker, everywhere.
Luckily, my show allowed us to work from home. Which became a little bit of an undertaking at first. I don’t have the space to set up another home office. So I set up a little nook in my dining room.
Working from home with a 3.8 year old. 3.8 because she was about to turn 4 in a few weeks. What another undertaking that was. But as luck should have it, I was still able to drop her off at my moms during the day while my husband and I worked. He had some cases he needed to wrap up, as courts closed the week of the 16th.
The state government issued a state wide “PAUSE” order requesting all non essential workers to shelter-in-place. Only essential workers were allowed to go to work. This included medical, food service and of course police and fire fighters. Among others. We seriously thought this would only last a few weeks as the incubation period of this virus was shown to only last about 14 days and roughly the same time frame for recovery. Who would have known that NYC, the most population dense city in the world (besides maybe some cities in Asia) would have an unprecedented infection spread. Italy was already hit hard in February, but we never thought it would be as bad in the U.S.
Among the closures were parks, playgrounds, and city pools. Beaches may still remain closed but they’re trying to figure this out. So no recreational spaces, save for some hiking trails, to entertain children.
Being at home with a preschooler, working, and trying to educate her and entertain her has been a challenge. My husband and I have, somehow, managed to make everything feel as normal as possible for our little one. She’s such a resilient kiddo.
On March 16th, the number of deaths reported in NYC was 9. There were 11,571 deaths on April 15th. Currently, 19,415 total deaths in NYC. This is so devastating.
So here we are. Day 55. And still no word on whether anything will open up soon.
I’ll be slowly posting some memories of this as well as current thoughts and information so that one day I can tell my daughter how she survived a global pandemic.
