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Quarantine Chronicles: More Isolated & Domesticated Than Ever

I’ve been practicing social distancing and working from home for 3 weeks, and it’s been a tricky transition. My husband still leaves the house to work every weekday, so I’ve become responsible for our young daughter’s distance learning. I’m struggling to find a rhythm for working from home, giving my daughter and husband the attention they need, and doing more cooking and cleaning than I usually do. I’ve never been this domestic! And I haven’t yet figured out a way to carve out time and space to take care of myself personally. It’s a strange place to be…feeling both more isolated than ever (cut off from regular interactions with family, friends, coworkers, and strangers that I’d see in public), but also never alone (because I’m constantly with my daughter, and often my husband). I feel very fortunate, but not quite like myself right now.

How did we get here?

Space. I need my space. I need space to unwind, to educate my children, to do my work, to support my family, to make space for connections of loved ones. My space has gone from the world to my home. It is constricting, overwhelming, frustrating, scary, fun, new and so much more. There is no normal. The days blend, the hours blend. It could be worse. It is worse for so many others. How can I help but still be true to myself, family and networks? My family needs space.How did we get here?

LOOKING FOR LIGHT

Hi my name is Darryl Sanders Jr. I am a freelance videographer/photography. I was firstly affected by the closing of venues due to the Corona Virus Outbreak which caused clients to cancel their events therefore forcing me to lose deposits from previously booked event. It has also effected my bookings because no one can have social gatherings for months ahead so i have no source of income to pay my bills at this time. Its also been hard finding groceries and proper sanitation products to keep my environment clean. Also my kids schooling has been effected been effected and i dont feel i could teach them at home as well as they would learn in a class setting. We are just looking forward to all of this getting behind of and going back to our daily lives without fear of leaving our home and contracting a deadly illness.

We have to take this serious.

Well to be honest I thought it was a joke and didnt take it to serious. But as the time has gone by it has become a very serious. I myself have be impacted by have to now teach at home, as well as have my second job pretty much cutting hours reducing income into my home.

Starving

I live on a limited income. I ran out of food yesterday after going five days of eating only one meal. I have no money or food stamps. I have no car. The bus is my only transportation. I am considered high risk due to underlying health problems. I have no mask or gloves. I am terrified of going out unprotected. Many of the food pantries have closed or I cannot get to them or there are specific instructions on accessing them which I cannot meet. Example: This link came with a notice of a food pantry that will be open today. You have to have a car, you pull up in line, you cannot get out of your car, when your turn arrives you either open your passenger side window or automatically open your trunk, the food will be handed to you or placed in your trunk, then you drive off. Like I said before, I have no car. I have no family or friends who can help me…

Unemployment shortfalls…

At Macy’s i work on commission… And everyday i must cover my $9.00 an hour draw.. 7 hrs ×9 equals $63 a day that Macys is paying us right now.. I’m one of the lucky ones… That’s $315 minus taxes, fico, and s.s.(at 25 %) equals $227.25 a week… I cannot pay rent food, auto loan, insurance, gas (taking care of mom in Boynton) ,dentist loan, electric, capital 1(when times are tough) and going out( to support our local economy.. Take out etc..)… Made $32,000 in taxable income 1918.. Devided by 50 weeks is $640 per week… Minus taxes etc. Equals $480 after taxes..so there’s a shortfall of $252.75 or approximately $1008 amonth.. Will unemployment insurance cover any of this?

Family Forst

My boyfriend just moved to Florida and was excited to find a job. But can’t find any openings. My sister works as a waitress. She lost her job as they closed. I am very fortunate to still have a job and am fortunate I can help them through this time, whether that is buying fresh veggies or paying for rent this month.

A New Reality: The Journey of a Second Grade Teacher Through the Pandemic

Hi. I’ll start at the beginning. I’m a elementary school teacher. A little more than two weeks ago I started to feel bad. Like I had the flu times 10. I wasn’t surprised because my children have been sick for over 3 weeks with the same symptoms as we’re talking about now. One I sent to the nurse had a high fever, wheezing, could barely stand up. He went home, and went to the hospital where they kept him overnight. He was out the next two days, then back in school, still sick. So, I started to have the same symptoms, minus the fever. Since then I’ve seen two doctors, two different rounds of antibiotics and no effect. I tested negative for the flu. Last Sunday I felt so bad, extremely weak, like I could barely walk. At the suggestion of the health department, I went to the hospital. My goal was to get tested. They quickly informed me that they had no testing kits and that no hospital in Palm Beach County had testing kits and that they didn’t even know of a drive thru place and that I probably wouldn’t be tested anyway because I’m not over 65 and have no underlying health conditions. They drew blood, took a chest xray, and told me I was basically healthy. I said, If I’m so healthy, why do I feel like crap? They said, Well, you probably have some kind of virus. They gave me a bag of IV fluids and after a while sent me on my way. They told me to come back if I started to turn blue. Yes, they really said that because those are the patients they are seeing now. Scary. Since Sunday, I’ve slowly started to feel better. Until last night. It’s like a wave. I am completely congested, coughing again, (dry cough) back pain like a knife, extremely tired, etc…. While this is all going on, I’ve had to order a new laptop because my current one isn’t up to par with what the school district is expecting us to accomplish. I’ve been watching countless live and recorded seminars on creating virtual classrooms, setting up links to assignments, hosting virtual meetings, participating in virtual meetings sometimes 2-3 day with my fellow teachers, calling, emailing and messaging my parents and students, trying to get them into my Google classroom. It’s exhausting. I’ve been on the computer until 11 every night looking at what my students are doing now, creating reading and math lessons for them, and learning a new format I didn’t expect to do, at least right now. But, I think we will all be a lot better at tech when this is all over. So, I’m grateful for that. I don’t want to sound like I’m whining. My brother-in-law got laid off this week from a job he’d been at for 20 years. There are people a lot worse off. I saw it when I was in the emergency room myself. I am grateful to still have my job, still be able to communicate with my friends and family, and still be able to hug my dog. Even though I’ve been completely isolated for over two weeks now and counting, it could be worse. Thank you for reading my story…..

10 (Story #64)

The coronavirus have infected my life a lot I am very depressed I do the crossing guard for the school and I’m not getting paid and only the teachers getting paid they say we going to go by April 15th but that’s no guarantee because I’m I got a very good feeling it’s only a month left for school to May 30th so they probably not going to even go back I don’t know how I’m going to pay my next bill I don’t know what the next time you coming from because most of the crossing guards get pensions and they get Social Security Im only 60 so I don’t get my Social Security yet so my little cross and got money is the only little money that I have to depend on how I take care of my grandson with mental problems he’s a challenge to so I’m trying to keep his spirits up why is he out of school and I’m trying to do the best that I could not knowing what a next dime coming from but it’s very hard to smile when you got all these bills coming from week to week and you don’t know where the next time it’s coming from and I rate my story a 10

1 (Story #62)

This virus has impacted my life because my 84 year old Mother is unable to receive her continuum of care after fracturing her hip on December 25,2020. Her care has been interrupted due to her not being able to continue the care of physical,occupational and home health care.My Mom was scheduled to continue her therapies at a rehabilitation facility . However, due to the virus the facility has closed its doors.