How has CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) affected YOUR life?

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Share your stories about how the Coronavirus has affected your life or things where you live.

I'm in New York, so we've been greatly affected. My office has semi-shut down, and a lot of us are working from home.

Broadway has shut down.

Gatherings of 500 or more people were banned, and on Tuesday a new ban went into affect that restaurants can only offer take out and delivery service. No dining in.

Movie theaters are mostly closed.

Comic shops are hurting.

In San Francisco, I'm reading that there is a ban on a lot of outdoor activity, and it is basically permitted only under certain circumstances. New York is considering the same thing.

Only time will tell if all of this is an overreaction, but for now, this is the new normal.



So, what are things like where YOU live, and are you concerned about things getting worse in terms of the virus spreading to your area if it hasn't already, and are you worried that these measures taken by local governments constitute an infringement on personal freedoms?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I live in Philadelphia, personally speaking, it hasn't been too terribly bad so far. I work in the federal government, so I don't have to worry about being laid off or furloughed, though the building I work at which has a staff of nearly 200 hundred people is practically empty, along with myself, I'd say there are perhaps only eight or nine others physically in the building, the rest are teleworking.

I'm in good shape when it comes to toilet paper, hand sanitizer, hand soap and disinfectant wipes, as long as the supermarkets remain open (the nearest one is only half a mile away from my house), I won't starve. I'm practicing social distancing, so that's no problem, but I'm bummed because I can't go to the gym for my twice weekly workout, so I have to settle for long walks after work, meanwhile, I can't get my weekly comic book fix. Oh, yeah, as a sports nut, I'm down in the dumps with EVERY league shut down, but, I'm not at a loss for entertainment as I have Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Britbox, plus Crunchyroll and Funimation for anime to keep me busy.

I for one have no problem with all the precautions taken by local governments and the national government. We're in uncharted territory, unlike the flu which has a beginning, middle and end, we know nothing about coronavirus and how deadly it can get if allowed to spread like wildfire, also, unlike the flu, COVID-19 has no cure. In my opinion, personal freedom is meaningless when you're in a pine box. Better to bite the bullet and let this thing run it's course, then return to whatever semblance of life the world knew before it sprng on us like some beast in the night.

[C_Miller]

Only time will tell if all of this is an overreaction, but for now, this is the new normal.

If it works, we'll never know if it was an overreaction. The whole point of all of these measures is to make sure that the virus is not as bad as it could be. And I personally, don't really give a damn about personal freedoms in a situation like this and frankly, this whole mess has really shown that most Americans aren't very responsible with their freedoms. So many Americans get so aggressive when they think people are telling them what to do that they actively made the stupid decision. If everyone is left to their own dispositions, we're never going to get on top of this and millions of people are going to die (not an exaggeration based on worst case numbers). People are going to have to suck it up and get over their infantile concepts of what freedom is.

Edit: Didn't say how it's affecting my life... well, I'm in grad school so all of my classes have switched to online which is an adjustment. I was subbing one day a week in a middle school, so I'm not doing that either. I do have a part time job where I work three days a week, but it's at a comic book store, so I imagine we won't be open for much longer per an order from the governor. If I still go to work, it will likely be without customers. Thankfully, between my wife who has a lot of job security, my student loans and a decent savings account still built up from our wedding, we'll be fine through the end of the year, if need be.

[Malvolio]

I work as a cleaner in a school, and they've given us a new schedule for the next several weeks. The school is already closed for students and will be closed for teachers starting next week. We cleaners will work alternate weeks, so when I go in next week, it will be just me and one or two other cleaners, and then the following week, I will stay home, but I will still get paid.

I was thinking of going to my LCS yesterday, but thought better of it. I did call them and ask for them to hold a few books for me, but who knows how long they will do that before they have no choice but to shut down?

[ed2962]

I work as a cleaner in a school, and they've given us a new schedule for the next several weeks. The school is already closed for students and will be closed for teachers starting next week. We cleaners will work alternate weeks, so when I go in next week, it will be just me and one or two other cleaners, and then the following week, I will stay home, but I will still get paid.

I was thinking of going to my LCS yesterday, but thought better of it. I did call them and ask for them to hold a few books for me, but who knows how long they will do that before they have no choice but to shut down?

My store was still open, but the guy was wearing gloves and a mask ( he apologized for looking silly).

[ed2962]

I have relatives in a nursing home, we can't see them.

I mentioned in the other thread, that they decided to shut my workplace down after all.

There's been some mild panic buying in my neighborhood, but most people seem to be just rolling with the punches.

[AnakinFlair]

I live in St. Louis, and work for Cash App. We literally just moved to a new office on a Monday, and by Tuesday we were strongly advised to work from home. By the end of the week, it was mandatory work from home. Best part of that is that I don't have to wake up at 5:30 in the morning so I can make the drive down town. Worst part is that it is very hard to be productive working from home at times.

[Javasaurus]

I work on a college campus in the Houston area; which has been taking the same precautions that so many others have. The students were asked to use Spring Break to move back to their respective homes; and classes are going to remote instruction only; beginning Monday. Faculty and staff have been allowed to work remotely if they had underlying health concerns; kids home due to school closures, etc. After tomorrow, we will have only a skeleton crew of essential staff on campus, to look after infrastructure, security, etc. I'm not in that category; so I begin working from home on Monday.

As for job security, the university has pledged to not furlough, reduce pay, etc. for the remainder of the semester. I guess we'll see what happens after that. My wife works in a small architecture firm; and they are pretty concerned about their clients going into hibernation and the projects drying up. So there are a lot of unknowns right now; which is making it tough for many people.

[DrNewGod]

I'm a professor. I'm fortunate. Tenured, and well paid. We've got the essentials, but I went against the crowd and have concentrated on fresh produce more than canned goods, so I've had no problem restocking (although I'll admit, salad number 11 begins to lack for charm).

The wife and I are making a point of picking up at least one meal a day from one of our locally owned eateries, even if only as takeout, and I and visit my local, non-chain coffee shop every morning.

I work as a cleaner in a school, and they've given us a new schedule for the next several weeks. The school is already closed for students and will be closed for teachers starting next week. We cleaners will work alternate weeks, so when I go in next week, it will be just me and one or two other cleaners, and then the following week, I will stay home, but I will still get paid.

Malvolio, I appreciate your work, and am glad your school is taking care of you. I've been in my office about half the time for differing reasons. Our custodians are working very hard to keep our building safe for us.

[SuperiorIronman]

Almost nothing has changed.

The only thing that has changed is the insanity at work where people are buying everything we have and us not being able to keep up. We actually had to explain to a customer that us closing early is so we can catch our breath. There's no shortage in our area that we are aware of but with a run on things occurring we simply can't stock our shelves. People are even trying to sneak into our warehouses and have stolen out of the bathrooms the toilet paper. When people come up to the counter they bring multiple eggs, milk, toilet paper, and bread despite the numerous and fairly large signs saying you can take one regardless of size or type. It's gotten that bad.

70 to 80 dollar purchases used to be a rarity on grocery but now it's commonplace and we have to limit how much of what people can buy at a time. I have to lie to people's face when we have something because our regulars can't get it. And don't tell me you're a regular when nobody has ever seen you before, you shop at Target an hour away, nobody has ever seen you and you don't even live in town. We have to guard the milk truck when it arrives and milk only has a ten day code. You're not stocking up for your family, you're just being an *******. The nerve of people thinking we're going to let them walk out with a case of disinfectant or eggs.
Because of the run on things we can't get most of our orders. We can't get it because everybody is stocking hundreds of dollars with of stuff and will show up the next day to buy more. You're threatening lives by doing this and making our work harder as we can't restock the shelves due to the amount of people or not even having the product.

YOU CANNOT QUARANTINE IF YOU'RE AT THE FUCKING STORE EVERY GOD DAMNED DAY.

[Bruce Wayne]

A family I know (I use to borrow their stuff a lot) got the virus from their son who got it from attending the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. So I guess that's the closest way the virus has effected me.

[Immortal Weapon]

I'm from NY and things are so shitty here. I work as a crossing guard and the department still has me working even though there's really no need for me to be out there. Since the schools are open to give out grab and go meals they want me out there for that. Only a handful to kids actually come by so I spend most of my time not actually doing anything.

It surreal how few people are actually in the street. Not even the people I normally see hang out in the corners be outside anymore. MTA might buses free with the entire front section of the bus being closed off. Buses actually been showing up on time so that's one benefit to this.

My mom hasn't left the apartment since Friday. Apparently two residents in our building are confirmed to have the virus and she's been afraid to leave. She hasn't been out since Friday and disinfects the apartment every other day.