New Normal. Shortened business hours. Limited Seating. Masks Required.
Covid-19 has brought a massive change to our daily living here and everywhere across the globe. I know for my real estate business things certainly slowed in April; national showing stats showed a 50% decrease in showings, but we're easily working at full capacity right now just as any normal buying/selling season. In fact according to houseingwire.com demand is up 25% above pre-pandemic levels! WOW! But we'll save those crunchy stats for another day...
Life during 'Rona: In the beginning, we all weren't sure what to think, many of us played it safe regardless, following the guidelines given to us. We kept our 3 yo home for 6 weeks - quite a trying time for many, I know I could stand to never watch Peppa Pig again! Homeschooling, working from home, never getting to leave home- that all created a lot of stress for many. As a society that loves to eat out, especially with all our local growth these last couple years, many found ourselves pressed to cook every meal, everyday at home. My personal cooking creativity is about a 6 on a scale of 1 to 100, so we ate spaghetti... a LOT of spaghetti during the stay-at-home order. The itch to go out resulted in many people just going for a ride in the car or make a trip to Lowes of course for home improvement fun. Lowes was definitely not hurting. I know several people who even went into survival mode (ourselves included) planting home gardens and getting chickens as a "just in case" self sustaining tactic. My chickens aren't laying eggs yet, and their droppings all over my beautiful back patio are certainly making me question if those fresh eggs are going to be worth it...
Today: We are all starting to try to return to normal but are still experiencing at least some effects in our personal lives due to this virus. I personally started using the Shipt app and don't think I'll ever stop! Getting groceries delivered straight to your door is a GAME CHANGER for us mammas. Businesses are opening back up. Indoor dining is opening with limited seating- anything, ANYTHING other than spaghetti, cooked by someone else of course, is worth its weight in gold. Some people are wearing masks, some aren't. Everyone tries to stay 6 ft. apart, but in some cases you know you can't so you just try to hold your breath as you pass by at a little quicker pace. Crowds are starting to gather, itching to enjoy the fun of summer. As predicted, we are having a second surge of positive cases. Our local neighboring city of Greenville has been highlighted as a "Corona Hot Spot", with the highest level of Coronavirus related deaths than anywhere else in the state. Some businesses are having to even shut back down. Even here in Spartanburg, event permits have been deemed non-issuable for the month of July, making August our hopeful first month to gather at events like our International Festival, this year honoring the country of Colombia- ¡Viva!
When will things go back to normal? Certainly this new phrase of "new normal" has been tossed around; I myself almost found the term offensive to be honest-- seemed to be a denial of a return to normal which I was not ok with. I do feel we will certainly return to normal, we are all just unsure when that will be. From my studies during my undergrad biology degree, what I can tell you, is that as members of our society do become infected with the virus, whether they display symptoms or not, our herd immunity will increase and our bodies will (for most of us) build up some level of immunity to Covid-19, decreasing it's effectiveness with time. Until then, we'll continue to follow guidelines, try to use our hand sanitizer as often as possible, and restrict our activities around larger crowds. Check out the latest statistics on Covid in South Carolina at SC DHEC.
We'd love to hear from you! How has this pandemic effected you Spartanburg? Email us the funny, the sad, the real, the scary at sparklecityliving@gmail.com to be featured in a Covid follow-up!
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