Pandemic
Log: Sunday, 22nd
March 2020
Our first Sunday with New York on lock down did not feel slow or lazy but more like a surreal dream that for the
moment feels never ending one.
At 9am our laundry lady was on the
phone asking us to bring our clothes in because her boss decided to close the laundromat;
starting that evening. They had remained open in the first days after the September
11th attacks, during the great Manhattan blackout and through the
2008 financial crisis but were defeated by an invisible an insidious virus.
When I asked if someone had
gotten sick, she said that was not the case and that all the employees had
lobbied to remain open, but the owner was adamant that he did not want to risk
anyone getting ill.
Just last night millions of
Manhattanites had breathed a collective sigh of relief, when the Governor
issued an executive order stating that all non-essential businesses would be
required to close, but classified laundromats as an essential service; allowing them to remain open along with
hospitals, pharmacies, delis and grocery stores.
This is probably a hard thing for
most people to get their head around but many people in this city, especially
those who live in walk-ups and pre 1970’s buildings do not have a washing
machine in their apartment or laundry services in their basement.
Granted that running out of clean
underwear might not be at the top of anyone’s concerns, but it does become an
additional inconvenience for many of us who will now have to add hand washing
clothes to our list of things to do.