Simply Santamaria: 2020

Sooo CORONAVIRUS!!

Wow what a month. We are currently living in a pandemic right now. This virus has no cure, no vaccine and is contagious from person to person. This has affected the entire world. It started in Wuhan, China and slowly spread everywhere within months. China reported cases in December/January but it got really bad there in Jan/Feb. The entire country went on lockdown, thousands became sick and thousands died. The next country that has been severely affected is Italy. Also on lockdown and they are at their peak. Spain is not far behind with the number of cases and death. The US is just starting to see cases and so many are on lock down depending on where they live.

I've been working from home since Tuesday, March 10th. The week before that we were already very aware of this virus. I was cleaning my desk everyday, lunches changed to be packed up, I was not wanting to ride the bus or touch the poles but until they told us to work fro home I had to keep going. We finally received the email Monday night. At first we weren't sure if it was for real. The CEO said effective immediately we must work from home until March 23rd. It was shocking but we were also expecting it. Whoever was in the office packed up their stuff and peaced out. Me and my coworker Katie decided to go grocery shopping in our kitchen. Grabbed a bunch of snacks, drinks, whatever we can get. I wish i got more but felt greedy. Sure enough another email sent like at 7pm told people to take perishable foods Dang! Should have taken the eggs and more!

Well here we are on my 3rd week of working from home. The Mayor of SF put the city on lockdown last week starting, Monday March 16th. Only essential businesses are open and we can only takes walks, go to grocery stores, banks and that's it. If we go out it must stay 6ft away from each other. Last week it felt like many people weren't taking the shelter in place serious. There were so many people taking walks, running or riding bikes. Way more than a normal evening or weekend day. It was ridiculous. That is when I really stayed home. I didn't leave my house for 3 days. Not even for walks! I finally ventured out and I was kind of scared. I went to get groceries at Smart & Final on a Wednesday at 6pm. It was soo much quieter, the store was practically empty. It finally felt like people were taking this lock down seriously.

I realize I'm living through history right now and thought this is something to write about. I hope everyone I know stays healthy, safe and mentally safe. I hope to keep writing more as this pandemic continues. I've added some pictures of the city since I've been home for 2.5 weeks. I've never seen the city so empty but everyone is here just at home. It's crazy! And also kind of nice to see a quiet city, more birds and animals are out, sky is cleaner, people are cooking. It's a very different world right now.

Here are a bunch of stats as of Thursday, March 26th.