"There are all kinds of emergencies out there we can prepare for. Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That’s right I said z-o-m-b-i-e-a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you’ll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you’ll learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency.”
-Ali S. Khan, Posted on May 16, 2011, on CDC website
The words above posted on the CDC and Prevention website in 2011 turned out to be prophetic. In movies, plays and in sci-fi books, zombies are portrayed as being created by an infectious virus, which is passed on by bites and contact with bodily fluids. Even though we don’t have the coronavirus, in so far as we know, we feel like zombies to some degree walking around trying to adapt to the new normal. It’s a whole new world out there and like everyone else we are learning a thing or two and are grateful to all the first responders, medical professionals, epidemiologists and our leaders who are attempting to help us navigate our way out of this crisis. Cecile and I are also grateful to Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Safeway, to name a few who have joined the number of retailers offering special senior-only shopping hours during the coronavirus pandemic.
Focusing on our Trader Joes' experience the other day, they were so well organized, created an extra line outside its front door to provide customers with a quicker entrance and abiding by the six-foot physical distancing guidelines inside and out. Most everyone including ourselves wore masks and Cecile wore rubber gloves. The last time we wore medical gear like this was when Cecile used to assist me in performing foot surgery at our clinic in San Jose.
When we made it to the front of the line we were greeted warmly by a young woman clad in a camouflage outfit, a mask and hands covered with latex gloves. She sprayed the upper part of grocery cart as well as our open hands with a disinfectant solution.
After helping Cecile off load the bags of groceries on the garage counter top for a disinfectant scrub, I headed to the Saratoga Farmer’s market which I had been avoiding of late, due to expected crowds. I was planning to quickly purchase a half-gallon of fresh squeezed orange juice and leave. But to my surprise, for the most part everyone was honoring the six-foot social distancing guidelines as well, which I never thought was possible. They were wearing masks and many were wearing gloves including the merchants. For obvious reasons they did away with the usual sampling of fruits and food. Recalling crowds of panicked shoppers at grocery stores in recent weeks, the open-air markets appear to minimize the risk of exposure. Everyone was calm and courteous. But the festival-like atmosphere of pre epidemic times including live bands was clearly missed.
I discovered that merchants were getting a lot of people who didn’t typically shop at farmers markets or haven’t been in a long time, but were showing up due to the shortage of food in grocery stores. But the truth is that many farmers are doing a brisk business during the COVID-19 pandemic as their wholesale business selling to restaurants has come to a halt and they are as grateful as the customers who come to patronize them.
I purchased the half-gallon of fresh orange juice from one of our favorite merchants, Ferry Farms. I also purchased breakfast burritos from El Tio Santos, another favorite merchant and lastly a rotisserie chicken. I was impressed that the latter didn’t accept cash during the pandemic and instructed me to place my credit card in a Square Point of Sale Reader.
I returned home, going through the ritual of washing my hands with disinfectant soap for 20 seconds, cleaned off the packages the food and drink were contained in, and Cecile, our son Jason who has been working from home visited and joined us for lunch while his dog Daisy looked on thinking hey what about me?
