I don’t even know what to say about everything that is happening right now. Everything is happening so fast, it’s obvious they didn’t know how to handle it. Something like this hasn’t happened in 100 years!! I’m in the current epicenter in NYC which is Brooklyn, NY.

I first heard about the corona-virus in January when there was news of a new highly contagious deadly corona-virus in China. I heard it came from a market in Wuhan and possibly from pangolin meat. Pangolin is an endangered species so it’s just as well that the earth would get its vengeance against us because of our abuse of her and our fellow living beings. They were saying that the pangolin got it from bats that were in a cave somewhere.  In late January the World Health organization declared a Worldwide Health Emergency. I found it all very interesting but kept about my life.

Eventually it was reported that the virus was in the US and that travel from China would be banned. Our first reported case was a man that went to Washington State from Wuhan, China. Then there were deaths reported in other countries besides China.

In February a Japanese cruise ship was quarantined and a doctor from Wuhan who tried to alert everyone died from the virus. I think the poor guy was extremely stressed and his immune system just couldn’t handle it anymore. Imagine being one of the first doctors treating it and dealing with the virus. He had no idea how contagious it was or how to contain it; it was too much too fast.

There were outbreaks all over the world by late February. News about the virus kept getting more and more prevalent. The US had its first death at the end of February in Seattle, Washington.

Personally I was feeling sick during February with my autoimmune illness and a cold.  I was just feeling crappy the whole month. I had to cancel my plans with book clubs, museum events and concerts. I was annoyed about missing my plans but am getting used to living with the unpredictability of my auto immune illness.

In early March in the US, CDC officials allowed extensive testing for the virus throughout the country and the Governor of New York declared a State of Emergency in New York State. Then the US President banned travel from Europe into the US. Events that I planned to attend started getting cancelled. 

On Friday, March 13, 2020 a National Emergency was declared in the US due to the corona virus. By this point I was starting to get worried about my health and that of my husband who is asthmatic.   

That whole week people at my job had been talking about the virus more often and wondering if they were gonna allow us to work from home. I’m an auditor at a state government agency so I have laptop for work. A lot of auditors and accountants do because we go to different offices to visit clients to do our work. Accounting firms were starting to allow their employees to work from home so my coworkers were hoping for the same. Colleges were moving to online classes. My workplace has a rule which would only allow for 5 days every two weeks so that’s all we were offered.  I decided not to bother since the computer is too heavy for me to bring back and forth.

By Sunday night we were notified not to return to the office and to work from home. They were going to limit the amount of people that went into the office and were trying to encourage us to work form home everyday. I went to the office on Monday and picked up my case files and computer. At this point I was taking it seriously and brought all the cases I had pending review because I didn’t want to go back to the office. Luckily my work was mostly electronic and the paperwork I had to bring home wasn’t too voluminous. I didn’t mind if it was heavy since I wouldn’t have to lug it back and forth. Also I didn’t want to go back to the office.

By the next Monday after working from home for a week, the Governor said that only essential workers could go to work in New York. My job is not essential so I could not return to the office anymore. I’m glad I brought the extra work home. My employer has been great about keeping in touch with us and making sure we have work to do while we are home. I work for the State of New York and feel very proud when I see the calm collected Governor Cuomo on TV knowing he is in charge. He is my boss and I am proud of him. A lot of people dislike him but that won’t affect my opinion.

My husband was declared an essential worker because he is in construction but he was able to get a medical leave from his employer because of his Asthma and my illness. We are considered high risk if we get it. Now it’s almost the end of the second week I’ve spent working from home. The virus is very wide spread all over NYC, they say the area around where I live in Brooklyn is the epicenter but things change daily.

Emotionally I’ve been a wreck especially when it got so crazy and everything moved so fast. I worry for my parents and in-laws since they are all above 69. I worry for my husband, my daughter and myself. I worry for my fellow New Yorkers, my fellow Americans and all my fellow Citizens of the World.

I have a strong spiritual faith and know that everything will be OK. Things will be tough and a lot of people will die. I think something good will come of this, people will learn from it and grow.

We will get through this, we aren’t alone, we have each other.