Coronavirus is officially a pandemic. The U.S. has officially declared a national emergency. And this morning, all the shelves at Whole Foods, Costco, and Trader Joe’s around the city were wiped clean. In my work Slack, on text, and in Facebook and Instagram, endless people were posting photos of all the empty grocery store shelves in their local neighborhoods. Toilet paper was nowhere to be found. Packaged instant ramen, clearly a hot commodity in times of crisis like this, are sold out everywhere.

We walked into Whole Foods in Columbus Circle today just to see what it looked like. Almost all the beef and poultry were gone. Dried pastas, rice, oats, and cereal were about 90 percent wiped clean. Yet… we still saw plenty of dairy (not much oat milk left, though!), yogurt, and the usual full supply of fruits and vegetables. The frozen fruit and vegetables were gone, though. And the eggs…… completely sold out. Those shelves have been replaced with more juice.

What, people don’t want juice in times of disease?

Today was the first day this week that I had no access to our lounge, gym, or pool in our building. It felt incredibly depressing. I did a half hour yoga session on my yoga mat in my bedroom. I realized I hadn’t used my own yoga mat in ages… since prior to moving into this apartment. I’ve been so spoiled having a spacious gym right downstairs that I never even use my own workout stuff anymore.

The work-from-home mandate was initially bearable since all the stores around us seemed to be operating just fine. The restaurants I’ve frequented and get daily work delivery from have all been operating and happy to serve me. Having access to the gym and lounge was giving me additional space and a place to exercise and relax my mind and body. And now, all of that is gone. We’re basically under house arrest because we have no where else to go. Restaurants are being forced to operate at 50 percent capacity. Broadway has officially cancelled all its shows. Even the NBA is on a Coronavirus shutdown. March Madness is not happening. Kids are being told that they need to stay home, as classes are cancelled. Even Wellesley sent out a message today, stating that they would be moving all classes after spring break to “online only.” All students who live on campus need to evacuate and fully move out by the end of March. This is complete insanity.

Even walking outside, I feel a little uncomfortable, wondering if at any second, if I end up sneezing or have a dry throat to cough… what if someone lashes out at me randomly? Should I have a come-back prepared, especially since I am not quick on my feet at all?

This afternoon, our building management sent an official letter stating that under the direction of our state governor, all building public areas such as the lounge, children’s room, locker rooms/showers, pool, and gym would be closed until further notice due to COVID-19. Working from home was fine until the moment I read this notice. WHAT? I CAN’T GO TO THE GYM ANYMORE NOW?

This just felt dystopian to me. We have no line of sight into how long this will last and when any semblance of normalcy will come back. And in the meantime, I cannot work out at the gym? We can’t even use the bathrooms in the lounge.

The novelty of the work-from-home mandate completely just ended at this moment. This is a dystopia. Or, if I were a Jehovah’s Witness, this is a sign that Armageddon could be coming…. like NOW?

Even though I’m on a work-from-home mandate, it still doesn’t feel like anything is really different. I have a feeling that I will be forced to work from home for longer than just a week as was originally noted, as it was a moving target, but it’s unclear when all of this will end. We are still going about our usual lives. The show we saw tonight was still on, and it was a decent crowd, as well. I’m still cooking and doing the usual things I would normally do at home. Our freezer is particularly well stocked with everything from frozen fruit and vegetables to meat and seafood. In fact, we’ve unearthed things that we completely forgot we had (I had completely forgotten about my frozen banana leaves… plus, who knows how long these Trader Joe’s hash browns have been sitting in here…?!).

Our country feels really unprepared in general. We have existed under an administration that doesn’t believe in science, so I suppose it’s no surprise that they also think all of this is a hoax. None of this is surprising, but it’s just extremely depressing.

Effective tomorrow at our company, all employees who are customer facing (that includes me) are required to work from home. We learned today that one of our Austin-based colleagues was exposed to someone who had recently returned from a Level 3 country (according to the CDC), and so this employee will be quarantined and working from home for the next two weeks. The Austin office will be closed for the next two weeks, as well.

The idea behind this is to preserve all Go-To-Market employees from any germs we could potentially pick up while commuting, whether that’s on the subway, on buses, or even in shared rides or on the street. I realize that they are doing this to be extra cautious, but part of me is wondering if we are going too over the top with this. On the other hand, I have heard other employees complain that the company is not doing enough to take care of employees and our health. Another person suggested we just halt all business operations until the end of the month. Ummmm…. NO? How could you even think of that?

Our office manager has let the cleaning staff know that she wants them to do extra cleaning and sanitizing of all surface areas, even the couches that are normally not cleaned. A lot of people in our office are uneasy about COVID-19, and the media is certainly not helping with the building hysteria.

She’s ordered additional hand sanitizer bottles and Chlorox surface wipes for the office, as well. And yet, somehow, in the last few days, when she’s placed about 10 bottles of brand new hand sanitizer bottles, obviously for office use, she looked at the shelf today and noticed only three were left. Where have they all gone?

People are actually stealing them. These are well paid, white-collar professionals with all the best tech startup perks in the world… stealing office supplies that are meant for office use. This is completely ridiculous and embarrassing, and I’d love to call out the people who actually stole those bottles.

Then, I have my cousin texting me, telling me that a white woman on the train randomly started staring him down and swearing at him nonstop before running off the train. “Because of your people, we’re all going to die, you asshole!”

When a virus is spreading, so does hate, racism, and xenophobia. All political correctness dissipates and instead, is replaced with the true subconscious hate that people harbor in the backs of their minds. Plus, the desire to hoard and distrust everyone in existence, especially those who look like those at the epicenter of the virus.

I haven’t experienced any racial slurs as a result of this, but I am bracing myself for the moment when I do.

I stopped by Whole Foods after work today since a few things were on sale that I wanted, and was a little shocked to pass through the dried pasta and canned goods aisle to see that almost the entire shelves were wiped clean. There were a handful of canned beans or tomatoes left, but for the most part, the shelves were empty. Whole Foods workers were diligently in the midst of restocking these shelves, but as they did this, more people came to take anywhere from 10 to 20+ packs of pasta or beans and fill their carts.

I realized that mass hysteria has descended upon society with COVID-19 being a concern, but I stupidly didn’t think that this would affect my local Whole Foods that much. I went to the fresh seafood counter to pick up some shrimp on sale, and it was a bit comical to see how idle the seafood workers were. They were more than thrilled to hear I wanted to buy something from them and could actually use their services! It was clear no one wanted to buy fresh seafood, and everyone just wanted things that were non-perishable that they could store up in their pantries.

As I passed through the aisles, I noticed how inexpensive the canned organic beans were. The cans were BPA-free, too. So… I thought I’d toss in a couple cans myself… because why not? Granted, I’m not even close to freaking out about this or thinking we will all need to go into seclusion, but I guess it couldn’t hurt to have a few more of these in our pantry.

Regardless, I will NOT be one of those people who spends $50 for a desktop-sized hand sanitizer bottle. This disease spread has really only shown how crazed and racist people can be in these times.

Every couple of months, Chris and I do a trip out to Jackson Heights in Queens for our dosa fix, as well as Indian groceries ranging from his favorite banana chips and mixture to my pantry staples of different pulses, beans, spices, curry leaves, and frozen Asian goods. When we went to Patel Brothers on Saturday with my friend to introduce her to several of our favorite ethnic neighborhoods in Queens, we found out that they are actually doing a pretty economical delivery service and will deliver to our zip code in Manhattan. The delivery charge is only $3, and it’s a $35 minimum (before tip). Depending on the item, some of the items are the same price as in store, while others are a little bit more.

I took a look at some of the potential things we could buy. Dosa batter mix (refrigerated). Curry leaves (fresh). Ghee. Endless types of legumes. Frozen grated coconut. Frozen vegetables, pre-cut up. Fresh tomatoes, onions, and even okra. Wow. This is actually very impressive. It was almost like having FreshDirect, but even better because of all these amazing South Asian goods we could buy, plus the delivery fee was so much less.

This could end up becoming dangerous, but I will try this out to see how it is.

I’m embarrassed to say this, but the last time I visited the New York City Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) was likely way back in 2010. The permanent collection here is quite notable, with works varying from Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Surrealism, and the surrounding times. But what has been most notable is the recent change to the MoMa to be more representative of diverse artists of diverse backgrounds of our modern time. More artists of who have historically been lesser represented, as well as subject matters (racial segregation and discrimination from the 1930s to the 1970s) that have not had the level of exposure that they should have had, are now prominently on display at the MoMa. It was really refreshing to actually be able to see many of Picasso’s cubist works in the same room as this white/black violence portrayed in the painting “Die.” It makes you wonder what the future holds for us, for our future children and generations that we will not be around for. It is less of a “what happened then?” question in art, but rather a look forward to what the future could potentially hold depending on the decisions our people and governments make today. It is like art history in the making and asking us tough questions for the now.

The COVID-19, or Coronavirus, has slowly made its way to the U.S. We now have reported cases in California and Washington states, and it’s only a matter of time before it gets everywhere. With that, panic is everywhere: companies are issuing travel bans for International travel and severely limiting domestic travel; people are wiping out entire shelves of face masks, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and hand sanitizer; Non-perishable foods are slowly being sold out everywhere. Panic instead of prevention seems to be the theme right now.

The only real “change” I may have made is using hand sanitizer a little more often. I already wash my hands all the time. I’ve been buying food the way I normally do. I’m not sure what else any individual can do to help the situation other than try to remain calm and collected, and do what is practical.