WUE·NY | Things Changed after France Skiing Trip

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The Editor's Notes

By May 15th, Global Covid-19 cumulative infections more than 4400 thousand, cumulative fatalities more than 300 thousand, cumulative recovered patients more than 1550 thousand. US Covid-19 cumulative infections 1410 thousand, cumulative fatalities 85,898, cumulative recovered patients 246,414.

New York, as the pandemic epicenter area in the U.S. , had 338,617 confirmed cases, death toll up to 27,448 by May 14th (local time). But it’s worth mentioning that, the rate of mortality and hospitalization ` are falling, and the outbreak of pandemic seems to be gradually under control for these days.

April 26th, the governor of New York Andrew Cuomo had proposed that New York start "Resumption of work ", restoring the economy step by step and gradually releasing the “home order" from May 15. But on the evening of May 14th, Cuomo announced that NY on PAUSE is extended to May 28 for regions that didn't begin reopening that day. Five regions in NY are ready to begin Phase 1 of reopening on May 15, NYC is not included.

Chen and Pat are an elderly couple living in New York State for more than 40 years. They are fond of skiing. In late February, when the Covid-19 cases were sporadic in the U.S., they went to go skiing in France for their annual vacation.Then they went to Spain and Portugal. When they returned home after a 20-day European journey in March, all is completely changed.

Invited to write for the WUE program - the "record of pandemic outbreak in New York", Chen and Pat shared what they felt while travelling in Europe, which was in the early days of the outbreak, as well as their experience of isolating themselves in their home and their review and reflection on the pandemic after coming back to the U.S. In their eyes, the pandemic is like a religious "retreat ", which can help them figure out what matters most in their life. At the same time, they also believe that if human beings have experienced all kinds of difficulties, this time, they will also pass through such difficulty. Every cloud has a silver lining. We should always stay hopeful.

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What does New York look like under thepandemic? Before the article beginning, we want to share a short film from film director Spike Lee—— NEW YORK NEW YORK. Video From: Instagram @officialspikelee

While concentrating on our family annual ski vacation in France in the middle of February, we did not pay much attention to the news about Coronavirus.

Chen and Pat's family were on their family annual ski vacation in France. Photo From: Chen&Pat

Skiing in France and pass by the virus in Spain, Portugal

We had only learned before the trip the news that the Wuhan area in China was plagued by a Coronaviruses epidemic. The situation over there became very serious and the government sealed off the whole area. When we left home in the middle of February, life in the U.S. was quite normal. The Coronavirus epidemic was only news in newspapers, far away from us.

Even when we were on the ski slopes, our attention focused on where to ski the next day and at which restaurant to have lunch or how to play a card game, Scopa, with our grandchildren. Just like a regular skier. Surrounded by beautiful white snow ski mountains, I seldom checked the news.

With us skiing in France were my daughter’s family of four, my oldest son coming from Toronto, Canada and the daughter of our good friend who is Italian. Our plan was after two weeks of skiing together, the young people would go back to work or to school. I and my wife, Pat, would continue to visit Spain and Portugal for one week. Since we are retired, we have plenty of time to travel.

Chen, Pat and their granddaughter   Photo From: Chen & Pat 

However, no one could predict that three weeks went by and the news became bigger and bigger. 

First, we read the news from the Wall Street Journal that an English person was infected with Coronavirus in Singapore and then he spread it to another 5 people while he went to ski in the French Alps.

Some countries in Europe started to take mitigating measures to check tourists entering their countries. Even some countries started to cancel their international commercial flights.

We followed our original plan, flied to Spain from France, and the whole trip was pretty smooth. Now I recalled that week in Spain and Portugal, people there were seemingly calm and carried on their normal activities.

The magnificent cathedral in Santiago Photo From: Internet

I remember, In Spain, we had a chance to watch their Carnaval, and the pandemic hadn’t impacted their celebration. Our main purpose during this Spain trip is to visit the magnificent cathedral in Santiago. Although we have been in Santiago four times and are still not tired of it. We didn’t see many people wear the mask nor they were cautious about the pandemic.

After that, we spent four days in Portugal. Although she is a small country, she has a rich history and culture. Lisbon is beautiful. We walked easily throughout the city on foot. We still could see its glorious past. It was quite pleasant. As pleasant as the beautiful Lisbon, you didn’t feel the tension and cautiousness of the coming pandemic.

With the swift spread of the covid-19 in Spain and even it caused the first ‘national emergency’ in Portugal history. It’s hard to imagine during our trip at that time, and it is difficult to comprehend the impact of the virus.

Back to America,  It seemed to us that we were in a different world.

We spend more than three weeks in Europe, near the end of the trip, we started to get anxious and hoped to go home soon.

We were glad the whole family returned home before more restrictions were introduced in Europe.  In the meantime, our children went back to Toronto and New York before us. We went back home to New York on March 7th.

After the pandemic break out, New Rochelle became New York's first “containment area”, the national guard were also sent there delivering food or other essentials to the residents. Photo From: dailymail

At home, the first Coronavirus case occurred in New Rochelle which is the next town to us, just a few miles away from our home. We usually go to shop for food at Costco in that town. One mile in diameter surrounding the affected family area was sealed off and the national guard were also sent there delivering food or other essentials to the residents.

Since then, we do not shop for food in that town any more. A few days later, more cases were found in New York City and in other states.

At the same time a series of mitigating measurements were implemented in the country, like washing hands frequently, social distancing, working at home, stores closing except for essential services, restaurants are for take-out only, school closing, people staying at home. The major streets in New York City were virtually empty. My daughter’s family came back to New York. Not long afterward she and her husband also had to work from home and the school for her kids closed. It seemed to us that we were in a different world.

Due to the COVID-19, there are almost no people on the streets of New York. Photo From: Twitter @NYC_Alive

Just one month ago, young people went to work every day, schools were open and restaurants were filled with customers. And we had a great meal at an Italian restaurant owned by my good Friend’s son. The conversation and laughter still echoing in my memory.

The vivid New York City looks like an empty city from recent news photos. Italia in Europe was also hit hard by the pandemic.  

Amid the pandmic, people have quarantined at home, and many cities have become empty. The picture above shows the street of Italy, and the picture below shows the streets of New York, USA. Photo From: Twitter @NYC_Alive @UrbanwearTS

Compare to New York State, the situation of social distancing was similar in Toronto, Canada. My oldest son works there. He has to work at home for two weeks when he returned from France. Working from home is much better than being trapped in a foreign country. After two months, he still works at home and even he changed to a new job.

Staying at home is like a religious retreat

Staying home for us is not a bad. We are retired. It gives us more time to do what we want to do without interruptions and less rush. Every day we can do more gardening, reading, walking and watching movies on the TV or cleaning the house. 

We have cut down our shopping trips to Costco to buy food to every two weeks. 

Shoppers line up at a grocery store.  Photo From: USA Today

At the supermarket, they have set up special times for seniors to go to the store to avoid crowds. They also limit the number of people going into the store at one time. People voluntarily stay 6 feet apart and wait in line patiently outside the store.

We feel people are more civilized now and less rushed. Our neighbors, a Jewish family, always ask us what we need. Isn’t that nice to hear?

Quarantine makes the community quieter and makes the neighborhood more caring for each other. Photo From: Chen&Pat

Pat and I are Catholic. Our parish church, actually all churches in New York, are closed. She feels that staying at home is like a religious retreat, just concentrating on what is important in life. To me, stay-home is like the story of Passover in the Bible. We all anxiously wait for this pandemic Pass over us. 

Meet Children and Family in FaceTime and Zoom

Since we are all staying at home, we cannot visit our children’s families nearby. We miss family gatherings. We miss watching our grandchildren’s ball games on the weekend. Grandchildren grow so fast. They change their look if we don’t see them in a month.

Chen and Pat's grandchildren Photo From: Chen&Pat

Now we do a lot of FaceTime with them but FaceTime is not personal contact. How much you can talk to children on FaceTime? Our grandson said to us “I don’t know what to say to you.”

Recently, we also do FaceTime more often with our friends overseas. Pat has ten siblings. Most of them live in the Boston area. Boston too has the same restrictions as New York. We do FaceTime or Zoom with her family to talk and to share our feelings. To virtual visit more than eleven people on a computer screen at the same time is quite an experience. Isn’t the internet wonderful? 

She feels that staying at home is like a religious retreat. It also makes people more concerned about family relationships in family. Photo From: Chen&Pat

The school children here are fortunate indeed. Although their school is closed, they learn online. Teachers assign homework and check attendance online. Our grandchildren spend several hours each day doing online learning. They also learn Tae-Kwon-Do online. Their instructor can watch their movements. Our grandchildren passed the yellow belt test and were promoted last weekend. The latest news is that schools in New York State will remain closed until September. That will cause a lot headache for the working parents who have young children.

Because people stay home, many have to time to surf on the internet. Shopping on line is a big business. Amazon receives a record number of orders. They even want to hire 50000 workers! By staying home people also easily add a few pounds. Some experts even predict by next year there may be a baby blip. That is quite possible.

Looking forward to the  silver- lining

Flower designer Lewis Miller decorated the flowers on the corners of the streets of Manhattan. The "Fearless Girl",  opposite the "Charging Bull",  was also dressed in a flower gown. Even under the pandemic, New York is still brilliant and stubborn. Photo From: Internet

In our lifetime we have experienced many scary, potentially catastrophic storms. From nuclear wars to population explosions, from malaria to HIV diseases. We avoided them all. The Corona virus pandemic is scary. However, we are optimistic and confident that human ingenuity will defeat this pandemic. Our society will pay more attention to our basic health issues. Isn’t that a silver-lining?

The good news is that the first patient from Coronavirus in New Rochelle was discharged from the hospital and the area where his family lives is opened again. The more important news is that more than 80 companies throughout the world are racing to develop Coronavirus vaccines or therapeutic treatments. Last week the FDA approved Remdesivir by Gilead to treat Coronavirus on an emergency basis. And it is also reported that vaccines may be available by late summer. If it is true, that will give people confidence to return to normalcy. I hope it will be true!

——END——

Chen and Pat：Senior New Yorker. Chen grew up in Taiwan China, then moved to New York in his 30s. Pat was born and grew up in U.S.A. They like outdoor activities, ski and camping. They are retired. The photo is Chen and Pat was skiing in France on late February.

The article only represents the author's personal views. For more information, please refer to the previous articles of WUE2020 Campaign.

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Author/CHEN&PAT

Translator/ZIAN.Y

Editor/CICI

Chief Editor/OHIA

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