Coronavirus Shelter-in-Place

Pine Creek, Concord, California

By: Deke Graham

Monday, March 16th 2020

Preface:

Yesterday was a weird one. On Sunday the Governor asked that all people 65 and older should stay home, and self-quarantine. This was on a voluntary basis, not a directive. Little did we know how things would change when we went to bed that night…

Erin and I went to work on Monday anyway. We are the kind of people that feel guilty if we let our employers down in any way. Understanding the situation, the owner of my company asked me to go home. I didn’t have to feel guilty asking to quarantine myself, I had been given permission by my employer. I had four weeks of vacation due me, and would be able to use it for my stay at home. After I got to the condo Erin texted me saying that they had put out an order saying that everyone in six counties of the San Francisco Bay Area would be required to shelter-in-place in their homes for three-weeks. When Erin got home from work we talked about the whole situation, she was still not sure she wanted to comply. Her reasoning was that she worked in a private residence with a family of four, and that the parents were working from home per their company’s request. They depended on her to watch the children while husband and wife worked at their computers in other rooms. I told her that I totally understood her situation. I also said that my preference would be that she stay home, but that the decision was hers to make. We then talked about the reason for the quarantine. The whole idea was to isolate people in family groups without being exposed to others to see if they developed symptoms of the virus. If they did come down with it they would stay in place and let it run its course without infecting others. If one of us didn’t follow the guidelines it would defeat the whole purpose of the shelter-in-place order. Thinking of how quickly the Corona Virus was spreading she texted her boss letting her know that she had decided it would be best for her and them if she stayed home. After sending the text she said that she felt awful for letting them down, and I could tell it was really weighing on her. I was on the telephone with a friend when she came down the stairs with a thumbs-up saying that her boss had texted back that she totally understood and that she would be paid for the time off. We breathed a sigh of relief that things would be okay for us financially, and that we would be able to follow the orders to and maybe slow down the virus. Both of us have great employers! Our big worry was for everyone else that wasn’t as fortunate as us.