Twenty-second Entry

 

Wednesday, April 8th, 2020

Union Square farmer’s market was mostly packed up at 4:00 PM——earlier than normal. “Normal,” once a banal term, now needs to be defined. There was a palpable sense of comradery among the market vendors.

Perhaps just the end of a workday, but it felt like more. Two guys half hugged, half chest bumped; it was almost uncomfortable to observe their direct and resonant connection. Physical contact between humans is more than out of fashion, it almost seems illegal.

Governor Cuomo announced that the Covid death toll in New York has surpassed the 9/11 death toll “times two.” Flags are to be flown at half-mast. If he said for how many days, it was not reported. Now, 25 days after the first Covid-19 death in NYC, more than 700 people are dying of Covid every day.

I heard a government official say that 50% of Americans will get Covid-19.

After being closed for 76 days, the city gates of Wuhan, China were unlocked today. People can now leave town, though only while wearing masks and maintaining social distance.