On March 13 the mayor of New Orleans and later, the Governor issued an order requiring social distancing and cancelling some events set for the weekend, namely St. Patrick and St. Joseph parades. Schools were closed through at least April 13. They banned gatherings over 250 people. In response, Archbishop Aymond dispensed Catholics from their Mass obligation but said that churches would remain open and Masses said.
I'm a Girl Scout leader and when I heard all that, my first thought was "thank goodness we didn't plan to sell cookies this weekend". Ours were gone, and we'd made our money. Still, I don't think people took it seriously. I know lots of troops who worked their booths that weekend, even advertising the cookies as quarantine snacks.
We had been invited to a big birthday party for a 90 year old. I texted her daughter to see if it was going forward, and she said yes, but no hugs or handshakes allowed. The kids roamed the room offering everyone hand sanitizer. While some of guest of honor's peers chose to self-isolate, most of the younger folks saw it as a joke--elbow bumps were exchanged instead of hugs. Down in the French Quarter a crowd gathered on the street when the bars had to keep them out due to social distancing. We went to Mass on Sunday. My church isn't crowded on a good day, and about half the usual crowd attended.
Monday my husband and I headed to work as normal, leaving my teen and my now unemployed son at home. I work for a law firm and have my own office with a door. Everyone in my office has a decent-sized space of their own, most with doors so social distance isn't hard. My office overlooks the Interstate, which is usually very busy. I was creepy seeing how few cars were on it. Monday the Governor limited restaurants to take-out or delivery only. My husband sells seafood to restaurants--Lent is supposed to be his busy season and now many of his customers were shutting down. How long will his job last? That same day Archbishop Aymond cancelled public Masses through April 13.
My daughter's school began virtual lessons on Tuesday. Despite the fact that much had changed, my life really hadn't--I went to work daily, came home and then walked with my husband. My Girl Scout meeting and religion classes were cancelled but that was it.
Saturday was weird. My daughter recommended purchasing a wi-fi booster so I ordered from Amazon, which couldn't tell me when it would be delivered. I cancelled the order and headed to Best Buy. You had to tell them at the door what you wanted and they had one sales person for each person they allowed in the store, and they kept their distance.
Sunday we watched Mass on TV and I had tears rolling down my cheeks and I can't even explain why.
Sunday afternoon the Governer announced even more restrictions. Most businesses were required to close effective 5 p.m. Monday. I headed to work Monday expecting to be send home with equipment and directions about working remotely. When that didn't happen by late afternoon I wondered if layoffs were in our future. No, it seems law firms were allowed to stay open with essential employees, but we could make arrangments to work from home if we wanted. I had a couple of big projects to work on so I emailed them to myself and planned to come back into the office periodically to get stuff.
Working from home means wearing comfy clothes to sit in an uncomfy chair and using computers designed to be toys rather than workhorses. Still, I made it through the week. I've been homeschooling my daughter in PE--she was getting no movement at all so I drag her out for a walk at lunchtime. We've probably talked more in the last week than we have in ages.
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