The Coronavirus quarantine is freaking everyone out. I’m a freelancer. We’re already self-quarantined.
“Aren’t you freaking out?” asked my friend who was clearly freaking out. He was stuck in traffic in Los Angeles and he called to find out how I was doing in Seattle, the epicenter of Coronavirus in America.
I was not freaking out. I was sanguine.
Because long before Governor Jay Inslee decreed large events be shut down, that schools be closed, that people self-quarantine, I was already isolated from the general public.
I have the wipes, the meds, the cans of soup, the extra set of toilet paper (it’s still unclear why we all went on a run of toilet paper, but I got two packages anyway). I have a freezer packed with frozen foods. But life for me is the same as it ever was. As a freelancer, I’m already self-quarantined. As a struggling freelancer, leaving the house is expensive. I only do it a few times a week, and even then, my friends are kind enough to help. If the weather is nice, I take walks, but I live in Seattle. So, mostly, I stay inside.
In January, before it had entered America, I would stay up nights looking at the reports leaking from China. Some of them were clearly fake news, but many of them were true and horrific and awful. I watched drones telling little old ladies to stay inside. I…
