Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Journal of a Plague Year, Tuesday, May 26

Today’s trip to the post office marked the beginning of the third billing cycle since the beginning of the lock down in New Mexico.

Last week when I went in, the two people ahead of me were buying money orders. In answer to some comment, the clerk said they had noticed an increase in that particular business.

Traffic seemed heavier on Riverside, and the drive-ins all were full around noon. The food truck that installed picnic tables had added more, and they all were full. Few people were in the grocery store.

People wore masks, but had no sense of distance. They follow the floor markers, but, if the tapes aren’t there, they crowd each other. It’s difficult to pass people in aisles when they still walk down the center.

I don’t think these are deliberate attempts to flout medical guidelines. I think people have no sense of space. When they drive, they are taught to maintain a safe distance between themselves and the car ahead. However, the cars on the sides are closer. They’re peripheral vision is used to moving in rectangles, not circles.

As of Sunday, Rio Arriba County had an accumulated total of 37 diagnosed cases of coronavirus, with 9 of those in the past two weeks. There had been four reports since May 19, or one a day.

Sources:
Wikipedia. "2020 Coronavirus Pandemic in New Mexico." Reviewed today, May 26.

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