…and we may well think they’ll never end.
With Coronavirus (COVID-19) related cancellations, closings, social distancing, and voluntary isolations in the news and affecting many of our personal lives, the posting of this rather dark and empty black and white street photo series may be appropriate for the moment. These restrictive measures are not to eliminate the virus but are efforts to try and slow down and limit its spread. Now if one is looking for the silver lining in the current virus cloud, the Coronavirus doesn’t have an extremely high mortality rate and I say this even while being in the higher risk 60+ age group but luckily with no limiting preconditions.
This doesn’t seem to be something that will pass quickly say in a week or two or even in a month or two. Our lives will permanently change to some extent and we’ll probably feel at least the economical effects for years to come. If we’re smart, an extended Coronavirus threat period could be an agent of change in preparing for the next perhaps deadlier pandemic. Haha…I’m not overconfident we’re that smart…i.e. toilet paper, bottled water hoarding? 🙄
Bonnie and I are personally trying to reduce the danger of exposure as much as possible…frequent hand washing and surface cleaning, avoiding crowds and doing required errands during less busy periods. But you can’t make life not worth living so we’ll continue to do some of the things we enjoy and support some of the local businesses and people, although perhaps less frequently. We make these decisions considering our own health and lack of limiting pre-conditions, but that is open to change as defined by day-to-day circumstances.
Note: These photos were made in Italy where they now struggle with a high Coronavirus infection rate and its required severe social restrictions. Even so, we’ve heard them singing from their balconies. Stay strong, Italy! All mankind is in this together. Keep well, my friends!
I was wondering if you had any thoughts on how RV life figures into this situation. In some ways, it seems you could self-isolate rather easily in some remote place. In others, you have to go for supplies, etc – so might bring exposure?
Mark, I’ve thought about the full-time RV community. I don’t know there’s a major difference than say, apartment dwellers, as far as exposure goes. Social distancing or even isolation wouldn’t be that difficult. As far as supplies go, most full-timers have larger RVs with the storage and refrigeration for storing weeks of food and supplies. If your rig is equipped you could dry camp on BLM land and not see anyone for weeks but even then you’d eventually need to dump waste and take on water. I’ll not be surprised if many full-timers find a decent RV Park closer to family and then stay put for a long period. Being close to or part of a support network is reassuring. Of course, I’m assuming the parks stay open and this is all a guess on my part. :-)
Edited on 3/16/2020…fix typo’s and some bad English. :-)
At first, I thought your images evoked a sombre mood but then I looked at them again, this time without prejudice over the pandemic situation and I realised that had I viewed them at any other time, the feeling from your images would have been vastly different. Interesting.
My wife just cancelled our holiday to Italy due to CONID-19 and while that’s more than fine with me, a certified homebody, I do feel for all the small businesses everywhere who will need to struggle through this hardship. I also feel for all the employees of the larger companies who are employed as contractors and may not get paid over what could end up being an extended period of weeks or months.
Cedric, I’m not surprised by your differing views on these images. They were made in 2012. I’d only pulled them together about six months ago thinking of a totally different and much more uplifting storyline but then with COVID-19, it felt right. :-(
I’m sure even as a certified homebody you’d had rather made the trip to Italy than have it canceled for these reasons. I expect there will be many small businesses that will not survive and it will be extremely lucky if there’s not a global recession. Take care and thanks for the comment!
I am also thinking of Global Recession because of all of this. Michigan is shutting down all restaurants, bars, theaters, etc today following many other states. There is no way you can shut down this much without having reverberations throughout. Interesting times.
Agreed! Coronavirus is systematically wrecking the global economies. First China and the far east, with Europe as coronavirus central for the moment and we’re in the beginning stages with a national leadership crisis. Just my opinion but I think the current stock market values are actually on the optimistic side. Yes, an appropriate Chinese curse…May you live in “interesting times” indeed. Actually scary!
We shall see if the Chinese Year of the Rat brings the renewal it predicts. :-)
I have friends who are being impacted financially due to the closures. There is a small breakfast brunch restaurant around the corner from me that just opened a couple weeks ago. They will be hit hard. There is something within me that feels the changes we are making to our lifestyles will be a positive change. Like Cedric, I am at my core a homebody but do need a community of some type, even a community with nature.
I’m afraid a great many of these small businesses will never open again, or if they do, it will not be anytime soon. My heart goes out to them, especially since this crisis has been sudden enough that most of them had no time for a workable “Plan B.” I hope you’re right about the positive changes, Monte. My concerns are while the opportunities are undoubtedly present, our current leadership seems to be greed-driven. The terminology “social separation” is not the best or proper term for what needs to happen, it should be “physical separation” because more than ever we need social support and networking, just not physically together. :-) Terminology, but I do believe words are important.