Far From Normal
I’ve shared with you before that I’m very fortunate to not have the COVID-19 outbreak affect my daily life very much. A stark reminder of how different things are came yesterday after work during a trip to get food and other necessary items.
I knew that one of the two entrances to the Walmart was closed to help control the movement of people, but it’s a bit unsettling to pull up outside the open entrance and see it appear to be blocked off by crime scene tape. In reality, it was the store’s attempt to limit people passing one another too closely…upside down shopping carts connected by bright yellow tape lining the path to the door where you enter, and to keep you from the path from the exit. Navigate the maze, get a cart, wipe off the handle, and you’re in the store.
It was far more unsettling to look down the aisle and see so many with all manner of masks and gloves, looking down at shopping lists and making their way through the store. Great that they’re taking this seriously. Still unsettling to see that this is what daily life has become.
Having the pharmacist who is handing you your prescription wear a mask is another level.
A trip then to the Hy-Vee told a similar story. “One Way” signs and arrows in the floor in tape directed traffic to limit people passing each other. Luckily for me, the flow was the way I normally go up and down each aisle. The system is only as good as shoppers who follow it; I’m talking about you, guy who kept going against traffic.
And I’m again struck by shortages. That Hy-Vee had plenty of toilet paper, but was out of various food items…these days, one-stop shopping doesn’t mean what it used to.
I’m good for a couple weeks now. Because it’s not something I want to do most days, much less these days. You stay home, too.
