Good advice circulated early in the covid pandemic: take lots of notes, you'll want to remember this era. I tried! This was pretty much it. I'm doing a lot of retrospecting on a lot of things 6 years into the 2020s.
It’s about 9PM on the first of April, 2020.
Georgia’s governor just issued a shelter-in-place order after a March that saw new global covid-19 cases rise from a couple thousand a day to over 70 thousand daily.
The order ends on April 13th. It may be too late to stop a major outbreak, but it seems like the people at the top are catching up. Cities, counties, events, and many states paid attention sooner. Maybe he’ll extend it when he realizes things aren’t getting better on the 13th.
Between the weeks of thick clouds and my anxiety about going out for a walk amid an outbreak, I haven’t seen the night sky in a while. The steady stream of planes to and from Atlanta is missing. I saw a lone, dim speck of light float by, but no telltale blinking lights. A satellite. A digital check of overhead planes confirms it’s not just the clouds getting in the way. Whether it’s the order or a weeks-long normal, I do not know.
Almost as quiet is the nearby highway. I blamed my stopped up ears at first, but I heard one car go by every few minutes.
I’m concerned, but optimistic. Good luck, everyone. Wash your hands, dab when you cough, and keep six feet away. I see one plane overhead as I finish this draft. There’s hope.