Pandemic Lockdown, Day 0.5 – The Living Room Times

I’ve already covered the broader context, the screenshots, the tweets, the “where were you” moments, etc., of Wednesday 3/11 and Thursday 3/12 in my “Day 0” post.

But Thursday late afternoon and evening were actually sort of the beginning of my “Pandemic Lockdown” — i.e., the period of time when I’m staying home from the office, and from most normal activities outside the house — as you’ll see in a moment.

That said, our official family count considers Friday 3/13 to be “Day 1.” So I’ll designate this last part of Thursday 3/12 as “Day 0.5.”

The new phase in my COVID-19 reality started with this:

Lacking a thermometer at work, I waited till nobody was in the kitchen, then quickly dashed in to retrieve my lunch — being extremely careful not to touch anything unnecessarily, and to immediately wipe down anything I did touch — before returning to my office and precautionarily isolating myself there. I think I even closed the door, like it was #lastman or something. 🙂

I felt perhaps a tiny bit better after eating lunch, but not much. So, around 3:45 or so, I started packing up my things and preparing to leave for the day — and, I consciously thought, perhaps quite a bit longer.

As I walked to my car, I tweeted:

Have been feeling suddenly a bit clammy & achy this afternoon. It’s probably nothing (maybe even psychosomatic), but — just in case — I left work early and am avoiding all contact with people (#lastman is good training for a pandemic!) until I get home & can take my temperature.
— @MileHighBrendan was here (and still is sometimes) (@MileHightheGrey) March 12, 2020

When I got home, I had to practically run away from my 8-year-old daughter, as I insisted that she not give me a hug yet — not until I could take my temperature.

UPDATE: No fever. 🙂
— @MileHighBrendan was here (and still is sometimes) (@MileHightheGrey) March 12, 2020

My temperature was subnormal, as per usual. 🙂 97 point something.

Reassured, I took Becky’s advice that self-isolation was unnecessary, and proceeded to take care of some necessary business — like, first and foremost, updating the #GiantBracket:

I did also make a quick run to Walgreens — again, this was after confirming I didn’t have a fever — to check if they had a finger Pulse Ox reader thing, a Becky-suggested precaution since I’m an asthmatic with a history of being prone to pnuemonias and whatnot.

They didn’t have one (I would eventually order one off Amazon), but the trip did give me the opportunity to witness firsthand the toilet-paper shortage everyone had been talking about: