Pandemic Diary XI

Today is day 102 of lockdown, or stay-at-home, or quarantine, give or take. I'm counting from the last day I went out to dinner, Sunday, March 15, when I went across the street to one of my favorite restaurants, Sabor del Caribe. Sadly, at some point since then, my friends Ana and Roberto moved out, closed the B&B, and relocated their restaurant to Riberas, two towns to the east.

Life seems to be returning more and more to normal here. They reopened the malecon last week, which Taco and I are very happy for. She is really enjoying her morning walks there. I've been letting her off her leash and she loves to burn off energy with runs around the skate park. More and more businesses are reopening. Most all are requiring masks and limiting how many people are allowed to enter at a time. But there's also a surprising and disappointing number of people not wearing masks.

I find myself becoming a bit more lax, not intentionally, but by accident. It's just hard to maintain a high level of vigilance and diligence all the time. I sometimes forget to wash my hands when I come in from outside. I neglect to wipe down surfaces my housekeeper might have touched. The other day I had a pizza delivered and didn't wipe down the box. I am still far more careful than ever before, but not nearly as much as a month or two or three ago.

I suppose part of this is either laziness or lack of attention. But I also think maybe I'm suffering from resistance to having to be so paranoid all the time. I'd rather not get this virus. But to what lengths must I go over the next year to avoid it?

I'm much more concerned about potentially infecting others. So I am very careful to wear a mask when around other people. I don't wear a mask all the time when I'm out of the house, for example every time I take Taco out for a walk. If there are no other people around and it's easy to keep a distance from the occasional passerby, I'm not going to worry. But I really worry about being too close to other people and certainly won't approach others, or let them approach me, without a mask on.

A few days ago I was out walking Taco and a woman was trying unsuccessfully to start her car, which was parked across the street from my house. I told her if she had jumper cables I would pull my car out and give her a boost. So I did that. Afterwards, she thanked me and offered her hand to shake. I was astonished, and I politely and regretfully declined.

I'd be very interested to hear from you about how your thoughts and actions related to the pandemic are evolving. Compared to a few months ago, are you more or less exacting in your attempts to avoid getting infected and to avoid transmitting a possible infection to others? Please add a comment below.

I've slowed my TV bingeing somewhat. But I did watch a fabulous documentary on Netflix called Disclosure. It tells the story of how trans people have been depicted in film. It's narrated by Laverne Cox and also features a wide range of other trans and non-binary actors, many of whom are African-American, so it also puts a lot of emphasis on the treatment of trans people of color by Hollywood. I found it to be very educational. It woke me up to many things I'd never been aware of before. I think it's essential viewing.

In other news, my hibiscus is really pretty.