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By Donald Kirk
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A friend of mine in Japan emailed asking if I was able to get out of the house. He wondered if I could still buy groceries, go out on the street, see people, or drive around the city.
The answer to all such questions is sure, no problem, don't believe everything you see in the papers or hear on radio and TV. On one level, life remains pretty much normal here, but then you realize quite soon things are distinctly not normal and may not return to normal for some time.
I got one such jolt when I stopped at a Starbucks with every intention of settling into a lounge chair and reading. No way. The chairs were all piled up on one side and the employee behind the counter told me service was strictly "Grab and Go." That is, you could grab your coffee or whatever and leave with cup in hand but hanging around in the store was not allowed.
Finding that a little hard to believe, I dropped by two more Starbucks, and the story was the same. In fact, here in D.C., it's the same for every restaurant, whether fine dining or fast food. I made it through the day by dropping by one of my favorite fast-food joints, Angelico's, ordering a pizza and sharing it with my cousin in his vehicle.
But those tales from the city are trivial, minor inconveniences compared to all the other stuff you're hearing.
What's really hard to believe is not just restaurants and coffee shops but almost everything else is closed. Schools, colleges, universities are shut down, some offering classes online, but basically students are on an extended spring break that may not end even in time for graduation.
The same goes for athletic events, theaters, speeches and panel discussions, and conventions. You even have to wonder if Trump's Republican Party or the Democratic Party will be able to stage their conventions this summer.
For that matter, what about campaign rallies, campaign speeches? The prospect of surging crowds of people standing close together for any reason is an invitation to epidemic. Real old-fashioned campaigning may be off.
Talk to people here, and you risk heated debate on two issues that have nothing to do with politics. Are so many precautions excessive for a disease that's infected thousands worldwide but has resulted in relatively few deaths. Isn't it more dangerous to drive from Washington to New York on the interstate?
The other question is when it's all going to end. We keep reading that the Chinese and Koreans have the virus under control thanks to rigorous constraints on meetings and much testing. Will the U.S., now that President Trump has awakened to the danger, be able not only to stop it from spreading but to come up with a cure?
Answers vary, but most people do seem to agree that too many precautions are a whole lot better than too few and it's wise to take drastic steps. President Trump has been under criticism for having delayed a response by his administration. I don't think too many of us realized the seriousness of what the World Health Organization now calls a pandemic. I know I didn't.
As for when the virus will end, the most common answer I hear is "I don't know." The optimists think in terms of weeks, or maybe a month or so; but ultimately no one knows and the uncertainty is palpable. You can feel it driving down normally crowded streets, now free of traffic, and stopping by fast-food places and coffee shops, now either closed or only selling to-go.
Donald Kirk (www.donaldkirk.com) reports from Washington as well as Seoul.
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