Time and
time again, this pandemic has shown the true meaning of sacrifice. Luckily, my
family did not have to make major adjustments because of the pandemic, but I know
many families who did. Roughly 10 months before the pandemic, my dad found a
new job. He is a regional vice president of a storage facility company so most
of his job is managing business, but it is also required of him to travel
across the country to meet with store managers, check on properties, and occasionally
scope out areas where new facilities can be built. Roughly ¾ of the job was working
from home while ¼ was traveling. When Covid first hit, my family was ecstatic
that my dad would now be working from home 100% of the time and not have to travel
every other week. He still had plenty of work to keep himself busy and it was
not a huge adjustment from what he had already been doing.
Furthermore,
not long before the pandemic, my mom took up a job as a medical receptionist at
a doctor’s office. She and I continued to work as healthcare workers at the frontline,
leaving home every day as we normally would. For her, she saw fewer patients and
therefore had less work because doctor’s offices started utilizing Telehealth
appointments as much as possible. For me, I saw a surge in prescriptions (many
people taking advantage of an old hydroxychloroquine prescription that they
still had a refill on and wanted to have on hand in the event that it could
help cure the virus). I had more work than ever, but I also brought in more
money than ever. So, at least for my family, unemployment was not an issue and we
did not have to worry about being able to afford food or even some extra luxury
items.
Still,
we did see a major change in diet. Immediately, extra time at home for the
family meant extra eating. My little sister who absolutely loves cooking and baking
enjoyed making meals for the family several days a week. Food was, in a way,
comforting during this time of uncertainty. A hearty meal was something that we
looked forward to and kept us hopeful. It was often boring lounging around home
and not being able to leave. Sometimes to cure the boredom we would cook or
bake just because it gave us something to do. We saw a shift to more foods with
carbohydrates and I gained five pounds. Social media soon coined the term “quarantine
15” – a play on the phrase “freshman 15” to fit these times.
However,
as lucky as we were to live through the pandemic without ever worrying about
where our next meal would come from, we weren’t always able to access
everything that we wanted to at the grocery store. The first things to go were
toilet paper (why???), hand soap, cleaning supplies, and paper towels. There
was an every-man-for-himself mentality at the grocery store where people would
often argue as to why they needed a roll of toilet paper more than the other
person. Grocery stores put limits on how much we could buy a certain item
each day. As the pandemic raged on, we soon saw flour and bread run out next. The
baking aisle was always wiped out every time we went. Everything came back in
stock fairly quickly and there were only a few times we had to change our
choice of bread or bake something that didn’t require certain ingredients.
As new
cases starting declining and things were starting to look better, we began
eating healthier, seeing stores have items in stock, and we were finally able
to enjoy a meal at a restaurant. It was relieving to finally see life go back
to somewhat normal. But now, as the weather is starting to cool and positive
cases are going up, grocery stores are struggling to keep items in stock and
food accessibility is once again beginning to dwindle.
Only
time will tell how the virus ends up impacting me and my health. Until then,
enjoy your stock of toilet paper at the grocery store; you never know when you’ll
have to fight someone for the last roll.
