Notes from Quarantine

Like much of the country, Pam, Brian and I are under a stay at home order issued by our state’s governor. As I write this, Ohio’s current order is scheduled to expire on May 1 and Governor Mike DeWine will be announcing new regulations early next week. I have been home for about six weeks since my truncated winter sabbatical in Henderson, NV, and I have been pretty much housebound since then.

I have experience with a health-related quarantine. During the summer of 1952 when I was four years old, our family was quarantined for about a month when I contracted Pertussis, a.k.a., Whooping Cough. I had been vaccinated for this disease, but it was only about 60-70 percent effective back then and I was one of those for whom the vaccine did not work.

In June, my family was spending the day at the swimming pool at the Officers Club at the Army’s Defense Supply Center in Columbus, Ohio. My dad served in the Army during World War II and continued in the reserves after that. So, we could use the facilities at the base that included the club, a golf course and the swimming pool.

I was playing in the pool that day when a kid next to me vomited on me. My mom ordered me out of the pool and my dad took me into the locker room to take a hot, soapy shower.

A few days later, I developed a fever and a horrible cough. The diagnosis of our family doctor was Whooping Cough and my family and I spent the next month in quarantine. I still remember the red notice from the city health department taped to our front door and having to spend the summer inside our non-air conditioned house on the east side of Columbus.

More than 30 years later when Pam and I adopted our son Brian in Honduras, he got sick a couple of days before we were scheduled to bring him home with us. He spent four days in the La Policlinica Hospital in Tegucigalpa before he was well enough to travel home. We had him examined by an infectious disease specialist at Akron Children’s Hospital. Ironically, his diagnosis was Whooping Cough.

This particular stay at home order doesn’t bother me too much. I only leave the house for an occasional drive through the nearby Cuyahoga Valley National Park or a walk on the bike-hike trail that runs behind our house. Because I am at high risk due to my age and chronic asthma, we are lucky that Brian can run errands for us.

This morning, I attended a wedding. Not in person, of course, but I watched a former co-worker of mine get married in a service that was streamed online. The current quarantine regulations limit to 10 the number of people at an event, so the church was pretty empty. I was able to see the wedding online from my favorite living room chair dressed in a t-shirt and sweatpants and sipping a cup of coffee. I must admit it was much more comfortable than dressing up and going to a church and then a reception. Although, it could have been more fun if there was an open bar at the reception!

Another unusual event occurred about two weeks ago on the Saturday before Easter. I heard a siren coming down our street and I looked out the window to see a police cruiser followed by a fire chief’s SUV with a person wearing an Easter Bunny costume sticking out of the sunroof and waving. Then came a Jeep with the Bulldog Mascot of Stow High School in the back waving and another city vehicle with lights flashing at the end of this makeshift parade. It wasn’t the Tournament of Roses parade, but it added a light moment to the day.

My final observation about the coronavirus quarantine is about groceries. When the stay-at-home order first took effect, we sent Brian to the store with a detailed list and he came home with most of what we wanted. Since then, Pam has ordered groceries online for curbside pickup.

The first time a local grocery chain botched our order big time and when Pam and Brian got home from picking up the groceries, she discovered that about half the items were totally wrong. She called the store and they told her to keep the wrong items and she and Brian went back and picked up most of the items that were missing.

The next time, she ordered a long list of items from a larger regional grocery chain and we ended up getting most of what we ordered. Last night, we ordered carryout from a local restaurant and they got the order right and the food was very good.

Meanwhile, my package of six reusable face masks arrived and I am hoping to be able to use them to go a few places when the governor’s revised coronavirus orders take effect next week. I miss spending a couple of hours in a coffee shop with my computer and researching and writing about whatever I want. I’m also look forward to meeting friends for coffee at a restaurant with outside seating or at a park and keeping acceptable social distance while we talk.

Pam and I have agreed that a trip to a vacation spot is probably out of the question this summer, but I hope we can take some interesting day trips where it isn’t too crowded. However, I won’t feel really safe until the scientists develop a vaccine and a treatment to effectively mitigate COVID-19. In the meantime, we’ll have to wait for the next set of directives and see whether officials think the coronavirus numbers are trending downward enough to ease the lockdown.

Even with the inconvenience of the quarantine, we are doing much better than people who who are battling this dreaded disease or have lost their jobs. I think about them and pray for them every day.

I wish all of you good health and hope you can keep your spirits up during these trying times.

We’ll see you next time.