Christa lives up the street from me with her partner, Mel, and their little girl.I stopped to talk to Christa for the extra benefit of seeing her answers in sign language.Christa is dealing with these circumstances as a parent of a young child (she also has adult children).
This is part of a series of interviews with Ann Arbor residents, talking about personal experiences adjusting to (and adapting during) the COVID-19 crisis. Interviewed Mar 29, 2020
So I’m talking to my neighbor, Christa.
(waves)
Christa, I would like to ask: how have you changed your lifestyle since we are dealing with the COVID-19 virus?
We have changed are lifestyle dramatically. (I’m signing for people who understand sign language.)
We really don’t go out much. I grocery shopped two weeks ago thinking it was going to last two weeks and most of it did except for the fresh stuff. I decided that I know that things are going to get really worse, so I decided to get some really last minute (really carefully) fruits and vegetables that were going to last me at least for two weeks. I have some frozen stuff but my plan is to not leave my house for the next two weeks, three weeks.
We walk around the neighborhood, but we don’t go to any public parks. When we’re walking, we make sure that, like, if someone’s walking towards us either they’ll go into the street or we’ll go into the street. We follow the six feet rule. Definitely not going to any playgrounds for our kids. Sadly, we’re not seeing my older children who live locally, but they are still working and we don’t want to kind of cross contaminate each other. (waves to neighbor passing by)
So, it’s really hard. We’re both working from home now and we really don’t drive places. If we need to get out, we walk outside. That’s all. We’re not leaving. This is really serious stuff and we want to protect ourselves, we want to protect the older people in our community.
Do you have any advice for people who are still going out and about and feeling really cooped up, like they need to get out to just… not feel like they’re in prison?
Yeah, I mean, literally walk out your door and go for a walk. If you’re worried about being around people, maybe go earlier in the day or later, but don’t go to public places. Really avoid the grocery stores (unless you absolutely have to), maybe order your groceries online, and be careful.
I went to the store yesterday and I’m leaving my food for 24 hours and I’m going to wipe down some of my things. You know, that may seem a little bit paranoid, but based on what we’re learning from other states and other countries, we have to learn the lessons from them, right? And that’s what they said, so we’re learning it.
I don’t want to get sick, I don’t want to get my family sick, I don’t want to get my friends sick.
Just go outside and go for a walk or pick up a new hobby. I know people that are learning the guitar online. I know people that are playing games online with friends. Just try to be creative. That’s what we’re doing. This is serious stuff and we have to change how we live, for now.
Thank you so much, Christa! I think you have a lot of good advice!
Sure! Bye bye!