Quarantine Diary 1: Incident at DD and RNC Call

As we end the fifth week of the COVID-19 quarantine, a dull lethargy has set in. The New York Times recently ran an article stating some Gothamites have given in to despair and just given up. I don't quite feel that way. I don't believe this state of affairs will continue forever. Sooner or later a vaccine

Judy Woodruff's bookcase

or treatment will be developed and people will feel safe enough to venture into movie and Broadway theaters. It's not going to happen by Memorial Day as Vice-President Mike Pence--or as we like to call him Race Bannon--cheerily predicted to Geraldo Rivera on Fixed Noise. (Where does he get this sunny optimism from? It's not based on data or statistics.) A return to "normalcy" may take a few years. There will be many deaths and economic hardships, and but eventually, gradually people will probably be packing into subways like sardines without a thought in their heads about climate change or pandemics. But citizens are getting a bit antsy. Two recent incidents are examples of the threads beginning to fray.


Incident One: I try to go out for a walk at least once a day. My world has shrunk to the blocks around my co-op in Queens. On these jaunts, I usually go to the Dunkin Donuts opposite the subway station (I haven't been on a train or bus in five weeks) and get an iced tea. I'm sort of addicted to their iced tea. So as I'm standing in line in my mask and gloves waiting for the server to fix my tea, the woman behind me says in a loud voice to the server, "I saw you. You touched food and then you touched the ice." It wasn't even her drink. The woman behind the counter answered back, "I used a scoop, Miss." Then the customer starts arguing with the DD employee and screams at the top of her lungs, "THERE IS A HEALTH CRISIS GOING ON." Instinctively, I raised my hand to make a calming gesture and shushed her. The screamer yelled at me, "Don't you shush me!" The employee told the woman to get out and the loud young woman, who wasn't wearing a mask, went to the other end of the store and complained in a quiet voice to another employee. I took my drink, not worried about whether the worker had touched my ice. Maybe I should have, but I just quickly got out of there. The complaining woman's anxiety was palpable. I wanted to say to her, "Look, screaming isn't going to help anything. If you don't feel safe here, just don't buy anything."  She was obviously scared of contracting a disease that could kill her and maybe frustrated that even a simple visit to Dunkin Donuts was fraught with peril.

Incident Two: Last Saturday morning, my husband Jerry was watching Faux News. We have been consuming a steady diet of TV news since this whole thing began. Every morning, we DVR Morning Joe and listen to Joe's rants over breakfast. He's preaching to the choir, but we love it. Every night, we watch the PBS NewsHour. By the time this is over, I will know every title in Judy Woodruff's

bookcase. In fact, I've even taken to photographing the home bookcases of correspondents and posting them in Instagram with comments ("I like the butterfly collection of the Financial Times editor"). So once in a while, Jerry likes to flip over to Fox to get the alternate reality. This was right after the stupid anti-lockdown protests had gotten under way. The overly made-up and vapid weekend news anchors were spouting the Trump party line that these gun-totin' imbeciles were being perfectly reasonable. They just wanted to be treated like adults and to make their own decisions about their health and their jobs. As long as they wash their hands, social distance and wear a mask, what was the problem? (Very few of these goons were wearing masks or keeping six feet apart, but why worry over little details?)

Anyway, I was furious that Fox was not presenting both sides of the issue. (I should not have been surprised.) Like, these protesters were not concerned that in all of their states, the infection rate was rising and they were not even meeting Trump's loose standards for reopening. Then the phone rang. The ID screen read "RNC." I was curious, so I answered. A robotic voice said, "This is Michael (I don't remember the real name he gave) from the RNC. We are conducting a one-question survey."

"Are you a real person?," I said. "You sound like one of those robocalls."

"No, I'm a real person. We are asking a one question survey."

Okay, I thought. Why not. The question was: Do you approve of President Trump's handling of the Coronavirus pandemic?

"No!," I shouted back at the phone. "He's worse than Hitler!"

Michael laughed and said, "That's okay." I don't know what it was, maybe it was this RNC pollster's laughter which I interpreted as condescending, maybe it was the distorted, science-averse bias of Fox News, but I reacted like the woman in the Dunkin Donuts and screamed "Fuck you!" then hung up the phone.

As was later pointed out to me, if I had kept my temper and stayed on the phone, Michael would have taken down my demographic information and my answer would have been tabulated. Maybe the RNC would have seen the majority of the country is not happy with Trumpy and actually done something about it. What, I don't know. I'll never know. If they call again, I'll be calm and give my views. I think Trump still has a good chance of being re-elected in spite of impeachment and the total mishandling of this crisis. His base has not changed their support and Biden is not exciting enough for the middle in the swing states to move over to him. If not for the electoral college, Biden would be a sure winner.

This leads me to think about what I would do about the pandemic if I were president. I would form a council of international leaders to focus on solutions for the entire world, not just the US. It would include figures from countries were the curve has flattened and citizens are getting back to work, such as Germany, Taiwan, and South Korea. Angela Merkle, who is a scientist, would definitely be on it. I would have daily Zoom calls and start mass testing and contact tracing. All businesses would be forced to make the necessary ventilators and PPEs. I would treat all states fairly and distribute supplies based on need regardless of their political leanings and whether or not the governors were "nice" to me. Oh well, back to watching the news and TCM.