Me and my dog Huey at my parents house in October of 2020, soon after I moved back to Fort Myers, Florida.
(Note to reader: Most of what follows was written in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic and is observations that I made. Toward the end of the blog, I wrote segments that are dated. Below that are individual observations that I remember from the early days of the pandemic. Keep in mind that from the beginning of the pandemic in March of 2020 to the end of April of 2020, I lived by myself in Marietta, Georgia. On April 25th I decided to travel to visit my parents in Fort Myers, Florida and never returned, at least permanently. I had lost my business teaching music lessons within a matter of a week or so and was in the process of divorcing my ex-wife, so I didn’t have much left to go back to.)
“There was nothing good about the good ole days” my grandmother told my mother one time. My grandmother’s father died in October of 1918 at the height of the Spanish Flu Epidemic. No vaccines existed. No antibiotics existed. Disease would kill people quicker than anything. It is believed that many of the victims of the Spanish Flu epidemic died within a couple of days of getting symptoms.
This statement is more prevalent and understandable at this moment in our present history than any other. My personal opinion on why older people mention “the good ole days” is because they really are referring to the fact that the basic living of life was simpler and things were not as complicated. But like my grandmother was implying, there was a drawback to that life.
The doctor had just left my great-grandparents house on October 27, 1918, attending to my great-grandfather, whose name was Andrew Henry Schoenstein Jr. Everyone called him “Andee” and he was a much-loved citizen of the town of Franklin, Louisiana. Andee and his wife Una owned a bakery in the small town and lived right next door. The doctor came to the house that day because hospitals or sanitariums didn’t exist in Franklin during that period. After he left Una went out into the backyard to feed Andee’s hunting dog Major and as she was preparing Major’s food the dog became excited and ran into the house, so much so that Una was frightened and ran after the dog. When she went into the house, she found that her beloved husband had just died in his bed. Major must have had a sixth sense that his master had died.
Even though my grandmother was only about two years old when her father died it scarred her mother for life and Una passed this down to her daughter. Una was always careful to talk to her daughter about disease and infection. She never liked trees in the backyard because it harbored germs and there was no sun to kill the germs. She wouldn’t let her children play in dirty water in the street. My grandmother became a wonderful woman but she had the stigma of disease guiding her throughout her life, along with her sister, my Aunt Beverly, who was born only a few months before Andee died. Later in life my Aunt Beverly became so afraid of the spread of infection that she would not allow anyone to touch her and would grab doorknobs in her house with a Kleenex. My grandmother boiled hand towels to remove the spread of germs.
Throughout our days dealing with the Coronovirus and the numerous lockdowns and quarantines that are facing our country I am reminded of the ways that my grandmother and aunt acted. Us young folks laughed their actions off as craziness. We can never become sick and possibly die! I am laughing no more.
The Coronovirus has become a national emergency in the United States and throughout the world, especially in the countries of China, where supposedly the virus began in the wet markets of Kuhan. Italy, now, has become the hardest hit country with the number of deaths topping 4,000. This will be a time to remember.
Although much awful suffering has occurred, I think that much good will come out of this. The concept of social distancing will be the norm to a certain extent, even well after the COVID-19 virus is under control. The major change would be the long-endured custom of shaking hands and hugging one another. I predict that this will not happen for quite a while. Not until enough time has passed that the virus is somewhat forgotten about and then people probably will go back to hugging and shaking hands. People will find alternatives. Recent news reports state that people have done everything from bumping elbows, feet or even giving the Vulcan salute, immortalized by the character of Mr. Spock in the original Star Trek television series. My belief that the simple “hello” and a wave will be the norm.
Another change in lifestyle will be how we acquire food in the future. The idea of walk-in grocery stores will diminish and what will take over will be grocery stores that either will deliver to the home or become carry-out stores, in which the grocery store will only have employees working within the building and the customer can drive to the store and have their groceries, which they order online, loaded into their car.
Concerning restaurants, I think people will start to frequent restaurants again but there will be more delivery and carryout options than before and these restaurants will gain a larger percentage of their earnings from these practices. I think even if the virus had not ravaged our society this would have still been a factor because it seems that online shopping is a wave of the future.
Observances in the Early Days of the Covid-19
March 13, 2020. After the virus is over, I think it will make a change in American society in which people will be reluctant to shake hands for quite a while.
March 14, 2020 – Many churches are closing. Some are going to online services. I also believe that this might be a norm for a good amount of time. Many changes will come about, and I think most will be a positive consequences. Many will gather online for church services. They can still give money but do it online. This money would not be to pay the rent or mortgage for a physical building but will help in paying the pastor and people who run the online platform.
March 15, 2020 – Over-buying is occurring rampantly across the country. I think it stems from nervousness. People have never experienced a pandemic of this sort and don’t know what to do so they go out and buy any essentials they might need in bulk.
March 20, 2020 – California under lockdown. Only people can go out for essentials, like grocery stores, doctor appointments. Mom told me today that Costco (in Fort Myers, Florida) is allowing only 30 people into the store at a time to help keep the six feet distance from each other. Been home myself since last Thursday. I did go to the store last Thursday for groceries and got enough for two or three weeks. Since that time, I’ve only gone out twice. Once to get ice cream through a drive thru window at my local Bruster’s and another day to just take a drive around the area for a little bit to get out. I keep myself busy here. I have readings and writings for my graduate classes, watch movies or tv shows, play piano, clean a little bit.
March 24, 2020 – Cobb County is getting ready for lockdown. 38 deaths in Georgia. Read online where a priest with the virus gave his ventilator machine, whom his fellow pastors purchased, to a young person so they could live. The priest died. To me this is a perfect story for canonization by the Catholic Church.
Observances remembered
(Note to reader: These are observances that I noticed while I was still living in Georgia in the early months of the pandemic.)
· Two observances when I went to my nearby Publix. As I was coming out of the Publix and returning to my car, I noticed an elderly lady, before getting into her car, spraying down the outer portions of her car with sanitizer before getting into the car. She was covered head to toe with clothing and wearing a mask. Legs and arms were covered, and she was wearing gloves, not because it was cold outside but because of fear of getting Covid. As I got to my car soon after this first observation, I noticed an elderly couple sitting in a car, fearfully asking a lady walking by going into the Publix, if she could buy them something because they didn’t want to go into the store out of fear of catching Covid.
· In the very early days of the pandemic my college, Kennesaw State University, was still open to in person classes for a short few days until the quarantining was put into effect. I always met in the front of my classroom about half hour before the class started to talk to my fellow classmates. I made a poignant statement to them that made everyone stop and reflect. I told them as historians, that one day, all of us will be writing and telling future generations about what is to come.
· One of my professors during this time mentioned to us that he was immune compromised (don’t remember exactly why but he had been hospitalized in the past because of catching influenza) and we could tell that as he was talking about it, he was scared to death because of the uncertainty of what was to come and the fact that one day he might catch Covid-19.
Conclusion
Observations of any event in history is always important because it describes to later generations how the world looked. These are my writings and recollections of these early days of the pandemic. Since these observations were from the last couple of years, it might be inciteful into how the pandemic will evolve within the next two years.
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