Has the Peak of Infection Passed?

Almost a month has passed since I started working remotely from home. Light exercise and weekend shopping are just about the only chances to venture out. I worried at first about building up stress, but I haven’t felt it much.

The supermarket I visit limits the number of people who can enter, and a long line can form in front. Masks are compulsory for customers and staff.

Normally I receive my purchases in a tote bag, but now employees put them in paper bags to guard against infection, and customers wait two to three meters (approximately seven to 10 feet) away from the cash register. I also sense a tinge of loneliness from their silence, as Americans love to chat.

The first confirmed infection in America was in the western state of Washington on Jan. 21. The Trump administration banned the entry of foreigners from China, but infections kept spreading and America has now become the world leader in both infections and deaths.

San Francisco, in the West, will be extending its quarantine measures until the end of May. Those measures have been in place since mid-March. Maryland, where I live, also doesn’t feel like it will reopen yet. Yet although it is still early, some states have concluded that the peak of infection has passed, and have started to resume economic activity.

I would be happy to see the hubbub return to the streets, but will it lead to another expansion of infections? If that happens, this will all have been for naught.