First off, I hope you’re all doing OK. Not necessarily well or fine. Just OK. Because being just OK is about as much as some of us can hope for during this unprecedented global pandemic.
Unless you always fast-forward through taped TV shows like me, you’ve probably seen the AT&T commercial featuring a group meeting at a conference table called Just OK is not OK. It goes something like this:
Boss: Tell him we’re flexible.
Bearded guy: Don’t worry. My Dutch is OK.
Boss: Just OK?
Bearded guy: Uh-huh. This man is very bendy.
Boss: Tell him we need this merger.
Bearded guy: He says he needs a hug.
Puzzled, the Dutch client stands and walks over to hug the boss.
Bearded guy: It’s happening.
Voiceover: Just OK is not OK.
I am grateful to be just OK. Others are not as lucky. If you’ve been sick with COVID-19, being just OK probably sounds pretty darn good right about now. If you’ve lost someone to COVID-19, being just OK may seem out of reach right now, and possibly impossible ever to achieve again. It isn’t, but you don’t need to hear that from me.
From our little corner of the coronavirus world, it has been nearly two months since Michigan’s first stay-at-home order was issued. That was on March 23. Seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it? For some, it is.
When Rebecca and I returned from Florida on March 10, life was pretty much the way we had left it after heading south in January. Boy, were we wrong about that.
A week later, right after St. Patrick’ss Day, all hell broke loose. I can see it in black and white because our stone tablet social calendar went from drinks and dinner with friends at 6 to pick up Kroger order at 10 and Zoom with Pittsburgh cousins at 7.
Here’s how quickly things in Michigan have changed:
March 13: Events with more than 250 people were banned, and schools were closed. Confirmed cases: 28. No deaths.
March 16: Bars and restaurants limited to carry-out orders and delivery only. Gyms, cafes and casinos closed. Barber shops and salons open. Crowd ban lowered to no more than 50 people. Confirmed cases: 54. No deaths.
March 21: Barber shops, tattoo parlors and salons closed. Confirmed cases: 807. Deaths: 8.
March 23: First stay-at-home order issued, limiting reasons to leave your home to shopping and essential work. Confirmed cases: 1,328. Deaths: 15.
April 2: All schools shuttered through the end of the school year. A civil fine of up to $1,000 for violating stay-at-home order is set. Confirmed cases: 10,791. Deaths 417.
April 9: Stay-at-home order extended through end of month, adding stricter rules for stores remaining open. (This is the order that led to backlash and protests in our state Capitol because you couldn’t buy seeds or paint.) Confirmed cases: 21,504. Deaths: 1,076.
(On a personal note: The above death toll grew to 1,077 on April 10, when our friend Dinah’s husband, William, died from COVID-19. His birthday was May 8. He would have turned 68. Think about this kind, gentle soul the next time you complain about an unfilled grocery order.)
April 24: Stay-at-home order extended to May 15 with some restrictions lifted. You can golf and go boating. Confirmed cases: 35,291. Deaths: 2,977.
April 30: Theaters, bars and casinos remain closed, with restaurants limited to carry-out orders. Stay-at-home order extended to May 28. Confirmed cases: 41,379. Deaths: 3,789.
May 7: Stay-at-home order extended until May 28, but manufacturing jobs set to resume May 11. Confirmed cases: 45,646. Deaths: 4,343.
May 8: Confirmed cases: 46,326. Deaths: 4,393.
So that’s where we’re at as of today. Awaiting fewer confirmed cases, a flattening of Dr. Fauci’s curve and reduced deaths. Will we get there? I hope so.
It has been a wild ride, one that I don’t ever want to experience again. And I pray that we’ll all continue to be just OK.
