The Pandemic Diaries: Thomas's First Hundred Days
Historians say the main takeaway from the world's last deadly pandemic is the scant evidence that it actually occurred. Journal and diary entries from 1918/1919 have few mentions of it. One reason is that the celebrated news of Armistice Day eclipsed the horrible reality of the outbreak's second wave. There was a collective minimizing of any bad news. People were exhausted.
The scourge this time around has not been as deadly nor as infectious as the one in 1918 but the idiosyncrasies of the novel coronavirus are still baffling doctors. People are hurting and looking for answers. I've always found writing to be therapeutic so I am adding my voice to the annals of pandemic literature. Here are my observations and adventures of the first 100 days since the WHO labelled Covid-19 a pandemic:
Lots of Moving - I left the UK on March 24th, a month after the WHO classified Covid-19 as a pandemic. March 24th was also the day the kingdom went into lockdown. As of June 9th, back on English soil, the pubs are still closed and many cafes and grocery stores are only letting in a certain number of people. Some bigger businesses have personnel that can manage queues (not that the British need help on that note; it's a national pastime to form fair-minded queues). The UK, as you remember, was infamously late in locking things down. I was going to dance parties and shows at the theatre during the first half of March. The country paid for its tardiness; the UK has a higher Covid-19 death rate per capita than the U.S. Boris Johnson and his ilk were trying to achieve herd immunity for a totally novel coronavirus in which a vaccine was non-existent. This highly radical move won him few admirers.
-On March 24th, I flew back to San Francisco to be with my sweetheart. In Fog City, I expected anarchy but the people (at least in Lower Haight and the Panhandle) were surprisingly well-behaved and compliant. San Francisco, if you remember, was the first city in the USA to have a shelter-in-place order which went into effect on March 16th. London Breed, SF's African-American mayor who grew up in the projects of Western Addition, should be lauded for her courage.
That are several reasons why she took this urgent step and why it has largely been successful.
1.) The urgency for the lockdown is that San Francisco has a large homeless population and a large population that is immunocompromised. San Francisco already experienced a plague in the 80s when many of its most loyal citizens, the gay men, seroconverted and became HIV positive - a repeat of that would be unthinkable. Thus protecting the vulnerable by locking down amenities is not only the compassionate choice it is also excellent public health policy.
2.) Of course, San Francisco still has its blue-collar workers who are in the service industry and need to show up in person in order to work, but we have one of the largest numbers of highly-skilled workers in tech who are able to work remotely from home. In fact, Breed's job was made easier when a number of tech companies in Silicon Valley mandated its employees work from home.
Thus the number of cases have been low and flat in the Bay Area due to these muscular policies. San Francisco not only had the AIDS crisis as a civic trauma to remember. In 1918 the city had lifted its lockdown measures prematurely, causing widespread fatal transmission.
Beyond moving shores (twice) within the first hundred days of the pandemic, my life hasn't been that spectacular. It has though been a bit more eventful than others in lockdown.
- Academic Writing I spent ten weeks working until the very last minute on my assignments for Term 2. This span of time even included a three week extension which was granted to all of the class. While Term 1 was academic gangbusters for me (having brought home four distinctions), this term I received just one distinction and three merits. The lower-than-expected assessments I shall cover in another blogpost.
Still, the act of writing and completing the assignments was nothing short of heroic for my classmates and me. In retrospect, I am so GRATEFUL that I had something to occupy my brain for those ten weeks in San Francisco. I would have been absolutely adrift without a goal. Hummingbird guided me during this time: making short, sweet visits and inquiries to different flowery sources as I sought to build my bibliography and form my argument.
To maintain structure, I was also able to work remotely at my part-time City, University of London Communications Assistant job. The shift, because of the merciless time difference, had me roll out of bed at 5:30 a.m. each morning and work for two hours.
- Future Careers For several weeks this spring, Mauricio and I lived in a state of suspense. We were waiting to hear back on several job opportunities for him in the Bay Area and the UK. On May 30th, it was decided. He was going to work in the City of London as an instructional designer. We only had a few days to find a cute apartment, pack up, confirm that a dear friend of ours would oversee our pied-a-terre in San Francisco for a year and then fly across the pond.
- The Flight Apart from a four-hour mechanical delay in Chicago in which we were allowed to walk around the terminal for two of those hours, the flights weren't terribly intolerable. The fact that United Airlines wasn't serving any booze left me speechless but at least the second, longer flight was only about 10% full.
- Back in London Since June 3rd, we have been back in London. This time I am south of the river in the enchanted borough of Greenwich. This southeast region is one of only four royal boroughs in London. Evidently Elizabeth the I and King Henry the VIII were both born here. We have been setting up house and communicating with the landlord, a lovely, quiet man who has been nothing but helpful. I have taken up running around Blackheath Common and Greenwich Park and identifying trees.
Things are quiet in London but public mask wearing has only about a 10% compliance rate. Even at the crowded farmers market. There is a brand new directive now that everyone MUST wear a mask on the Tube. BoJo is looking worse for the wear since his own brush with Covid-19. He is also in hot water since his Svengali, Dominic Cummings, was caught flagrantly violating the lockdown rules that he himself helped write for the masses. In a recent poll, only 27% of Britons trust Boris Johnson as a person.
- The Effects of a Pandemic We all know that it has been a disturbing and surreal time. Lots of time warps and quarandreams. There is a tremendous sense of unacknowledged grief and resentment with a third of us deemed indispensable and working in the flesh, a third of us working from home, and a third of us who have been laid off from our jobs. We are equal parts exhausted, bitter, and bored.
But yet we carry on.
-------------
References
Bevk, A. (2017) 'A mapped introduction to San Francisco's many varieties of Victorians', Curbed SF, 17 November. Available at: https://sf.curbed.com/maps/map-guide-san-francisco-victorians (Accessed 10 June 2020).
Blanchard, S. (2020) 'A lesson from history on the dangers of lifting lockdown too soon: How San Francisco's deaths more than DOUBLED in a second peak when it ended social distancing after just a month in 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic', Daily Mail, 27 April. Available at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8261013/San-Francisco-1918-flu-pandemic-warning-against-lifting-lockdown-soon.html (Accessed 10 June 2020).
Cleary, E. (2020) 'Coronavirus: UK government joint worst in the world for handling COVID-19 crisis, poll finds' Yahoo News UK, 8 June. Available at: https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/uk-coronavirus-approval-lowest-in-world-120740871.html (Accessed 10 June 2020).
Gross, S. (2020) 'What it means if the coronavirus is called a pandemic', Bloomberg, 26 February. Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-26/what-it-means-if-the-coronavirus-is-called-a-pandemic-quicktake (Accessed 10 June 2020).
Miller, J. (2020) 'Why you should start a coronavirus diary', New York Times, 13 April. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/smarter-living/why-you-should-start-a-coronavirus-diary.html (Accessed 10 June 2020).
Radnor, Z, et al. (2020) 'Covid-19: Open Letter of Solidarity to our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Communities', City, University of London, 27 May. Available at: https://www.citystudents.co.uk/news/article/6013/Open-Letter-of-Solidarity-with-BAME-Communities/ (Accessed 10 June 2020).
Scrivener, E. (2018) 'Guide to London's royal boroughs', Global Blue, 26 March. Available at: https://www.globalblue.com/destinations/uk/london/guide-to-londons-royal-boroughs (Accessed 10 June 2020).
Simon, D. (2020) 'Three weeks into lockdown, San Francisco's new normal is very abnormal', CNN, 5 April Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/05/us/san-francisco-coronavirus-diary-simon/index.html (Accessed 10 June 2020).
Smith, J. (2020) 'San Francisco announces three week lockdown: Residents are BANNED from leaving home after midnight on Tuesday for anything but doctor's visits or grocery shops to fight coronavirus', Daily Mail, 16 March. Available at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8118417/San-Francisco-announces-three-week-lockdown.html (Accessed 10 June 2020).
Ward, M. (2020) 'Lockdown diaries: the everyday voices of the coronavirus pandemic' The Conversation, 29 May. Available at: https://theconversation.com/lockdown-diaries-the-everyday-voices-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic-138631 (Accessed 10 June 2020).
Public Domain
Camp Funston, at Fort Riley, Kansas, during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic
The scourge this time around has not been as deadly nor as infectious as the one in 1918 but the idiosyncrasies of the novel coronavirus are still baffling doctors. People are hurting and looking for answers. I've always found writing to be therapeutic so I am adding my voice to the annals of pandemic literature. Here are my observations and adventures of the first 100 days since the WHO labelled Covid-19 a pandemic:
Lots of Moving - I left the UK on March 24th, a month after the WHO classified Covid-19 as a pandemic. March 24th was also the day the kingdom went into lockdown. As of June 9th, back on English soil, the pubs are still closed and many cafes and grocery stores are only letting in a certain number of people. Some bigger businesses have personnel that can manage queues (not that the British need help on that note; it's a national pastime to form fair-minded queues). The UK, as you remember, was infamously late in locking things down. I was going to dance parties and shows at the theatre during the first half of March. The country paid for its tardiness; the UK has a higher Covid-19 death rate per capita than the U.S. Boris Johnson and his ilk were trying to achieve herd immunity for a totally novel coronavirus in which a vaccine was non-existent. This highly radical move won him few admirers.
Ancient Oak Woodlands, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
Photo Credit: Thomas Kilduff
-On March 24th, I flew back to San Francisco to be with my sweetheart. In Fog City, I expected anarchy but the people (at least in Lower Haight and the Panhandle) were surprisingly well-behaved and compliant. San Francisco, if you remember, was the first city in the USA to have a shelter-in-place order which went into effect on March 16th. London Breed, SF's African-American mayor who grew up in the projects of Western Addition, should be lauded for her courage.
That are several reasons why she took this urgent step and why it has largely been successful.
1.) The urgency for the lockdown is that San Francisco has a large homeless population and a large population that is immunocompromised. San Francisco already experienced a plague in the 80s when many of its most loyal citizens, the gay men, seroconverted and became HIV positive - a repeat of that would be unthinkable. Thus protecting the vulnerable by locking down amenities is not only the compassionate choice it is also excellent public health policy.
2.) Of course, San Francisco still has its blue-collar workers who are in the service industry and need to show up in person in order to work, but we have one of the largest numbers of highly-skilled workers in tech who are able to work remotely from home. In fact, Breed's job was made easier when a number of tech companies in Silicon Valley mandated its employees work from home.
Slight Haze from Alamo Square, San Francisco
Photo Credit: Thomas Kilduff
Thus the number of cases have been low and flat in the Bay Area due to these muscular policies. San Francisco not only had the AIDS crisis as a civic trauma to remember. In 1918 the city had lifted its lockdown measures prematurely, causing widespread fatal transmission.
Pride of Madeira Flowers in Buena Vista Park, San Francisco
Photo Credit: Thomas Kilduff
Beyond moving shores (twice) within the first hundred days of the pandemic, my life hasn't been that spectacular. It has though been a bit more eventful than others in lockdown.
- Academic Writing I spent ten weeks working until the very last minute on my assignments for Term 2. This span of time even included a three week extension which was granted to all of the class. While Term 1 was academic gangbusters for me (having brought home four distinctions), this term I received just one distinction and three merits. The lower-than-expected assessments I shall cover in another blogpost.
A Walk in the Woods, Golden Gate Park, Memorial Day 2020
Photo Credit: Mauricio Rojas
Still, the act of writing and completing the assignments was nothing short of heroic for my classmates and me. In retrospect, I am so GRATEFUL that I had something to occupy my brain for those ten weeks in San Francisco. I would have been absolutely adrift without a goal. Hummingbird guided me during this time: making short, sweet visits and inquiries to different flowery sources as I sought to build my bibliography and form my argument.
To maintain structure, I was also able to work remotely at my part-time City, University of London Communications Assistant job. The shift, because of the merciless time difference, had me roll out of bed at 5:30 a.m. each morning and work for two hours.
Gothic-Style Victorian in Greenwich, England
Photo Credit: Thomas Kilduff
- Future Careers For several weeks this spring, Mauricio and I lived in a state of suspense. We were waiting to hear back on several job opportunities for him in the Bay Area and the UK. On May 30th, it was decided. He was going to work in the City of London as an instructional designer. We only had a few days to find a cute apartment, pack up, confirm that a dear friend of ours would oversee our pied-a-terre in San Francisco for a year and then fly across the pond.
- The Flight Apart from a four-hour mechanical delay in Chicago in which we were allowed to walk around the terminal for two of those hours, the flights weren't terribly intolerable. The fact that United Airlines wasn't serving any booze left me speechless but at least the second, longer flight was only about 10% full.
Cute Homes near Blackheath, England
Photo Credit: Thomas Kilduff
- Back in London Since June 3rd, we have been back in London. This time I am south of the river in the enchanted borough of Greenwich. This southeast region is one of only four royal boroughs in London. Evidently Elizabeth the I and King Henry the VIII were both born here. We have been setting up house and communicating with the landlord, a lovely, quiet man who has been nothing but helpful. I have taken up running around Blackheath Common and Greenwich Park and identifying trees.
A Face in the Masonry
Photo Credit: Thomas Kilduff
Things are quiet in London but public mask wearing has only about a 10% compliance rate. Even at the crowded farmers market. There is a brand new directive now that everyone MUST wear a mask on the Tube. BoJo is looking worse for the wear since his own brush with Covid-19. He is also in hot water since his Svengali, Dominic Cummings, was caught flagrantly violating the lockdown rules that he himself helped write for the masses. In a recent poll, only 27% of Britons trust Boris Johnson as a person.
- The Effects of a Pandemic We all know that it has been a disturbing and surreal time. Lots of time warps and quarandreams. There is a tremendous sense of unacknowledged grief and resentment with a third of us deemed indispensable and working in the flesh, a third of us working from home, and a third of us who have been laid off from our jobs. We are equal parts exhausted, bitter, and bored.
Grey Summer Day, Blackheath, England
Photo Credit: Thomas Kilduff
Photo Credit: Thomas Kilduff
But yet we carry on.
-------------
References
Bevk, A. (2017) 'A mapped introduction to San Francisco's many varieties of Victorians', Curbed SF, 17 November. Available at: https://sf.curbed.com/maps/map-guide-san-francisco-victorians (Accessed 10 June 2020).
Blanchard, S. (2020) 'A lesson from history on the dangers of lifting lockdown too soon: How San Francisco's deaths more than DOUBLED in a second peak when it ended social distancing after just a month in 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic', Daily Mail, 27 April. Available at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8261013/San-Francisco-1918-flu-pandemic-warning-against-lifting-lockdown-soon.html (Accessed 10 June 2020).
Cleary, E. (2020) 'Coronavirus: UK government joint worst in the world for handling COVID-19 crisis, poll finds' Yahoo News UK, 8 June. Available at: https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/uk-coronavirus-approval-lowest-in-world-120740871.html (Accessed 10 June 2020).
Gross, S. (2020) 'What it means if the coronavirus is called a pandemic', Bloomberg, 26 February. Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-26/what-it-means-if-the-coronavirus-is-called-a-pandemic-quicktake (Accessed 10 June 2020).
Miller, J. (2020) 'Why you should start a coronavirus diary', New York Times, 13 April. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/smarter-living/why-you-should-start-a-coronavirus-diary.html (Accessed 10 June 2020).
Radnor, Z, et al. (2020) 'Covid-19: Open Letter of Solidarity to our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Communities', City, University of London, 27 May. Available at: https://www.citystudents.co.uk/news/article/6013/Open-Letter-of-Solidarity-with-BAME-Communities/ (Accessed 10 June 2020).
Scrivener, E. (2018) 'Guide to London's royal boroughs', Global Blue, 26 March. Available at: https://www.globalblue.com/destinations/uk/london/guide-to-londons-royal-boroughs (Accessed 10 June 2020).
Simon, D. (2020) 'Three weeks into lockdown, San Francisco's new normal is very abnormal', CNN, 5 April Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/05/us/san-francisco-coronavirus-diary-simon/index.html (Accessed 10 June 2020).
Smith, J. (2020) 'San Francisco announces three week lockdown: Residents are BANNED from leaving home after midnight on Tuesday for anything but doctor's visits or grocery shops to fight coronavirus', Daily Mail, 16 March. Available at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8118417/San-Francisco-announces-three-week-lockdown.html (Accessed 10 June 2020).
Ward, M. (2020) 'Lockdown diaries: the everyday voices of the coronavirus pandemic' The Conversation, 29 May. Available at: https://theconversation.com/lockdown-diaries-the-everyday-voices-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic-138631 (Accessed 10 June 2020).
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