# How are you personally affected by the Corona Virus? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [March 12, 2020, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-personally-affected-by-the-corona-virus/849340 "2020-03-12T15:26:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 33
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-personally-affected-by-the-corona-virus/849340/649 "2020-05-22T14:04:39Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > One of my favorite [independent stores](https://www.pressherald.com/2020/05/20/old-port-retailer-portmanteau-closing-for-good-after-41-years/) in Portland, ME won’t be reopening because of the pandemic. ☹ The owner is an awesome lady who has loads of neat stories about the Old Port, and the bags she made are absolutely gorgeous (and durable, too!). I can absolutely understand why she won’t reopen; social distancing in her shop would have been impossible. Damn! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-personally-affected-by-the-corona-virus/849340/650 "2020-05-22T20:30:39Z")
My older half-brother lives in northeast New Jersey just across from the NYC metro area, about the highest COVID levels in the United States. He’s high-risk for age (70s) and for being HIV-positive(!). He’s staying in his apartment as much as he can but when he does go out for indispensable supplies, people in the stores are ignoring mask and distancing. He reports having to literally flee from people like they were lepers, while they look at him funny and wonder what’s his problem. ---
**Author:** ![Rodentia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@Rodentia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodentia)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-personally-affected-by-the-corona-virus/849340/651 "2020-05-22T20:33:29Z")
My workload shifted and increased. I now have additional research projects related to COVID-19 Everything else is much the same, other than I don’t need to meet people face to face anymore or travel ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-personally-affected-by-the-corona-virus/849340/652 "2020-05-22T21:32:32Z")
my friend in another state was in the hospital twice in Dec. but they did not know what was wrong. He has now tested positive for the antibodies. He had a bad case of it. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-personally-affected-by-the-corona-virus/849340/653 "2020-05-22T22:14:12Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > my friend in another state was in the hospital twice in Dec. but they did not know what was wrong. He has now tested positive for the antibodies. He had a bad case of it. He got it in December? Where does he live? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-personally-affected-by-the-corona-virus/849340/654 "2020-05-23T02:13:36Z")
My employer could not offer me enough work to guarantee I’d receive health insurance for the next year. I have put in paperwork to retire, and will need to get another job because in taking my benefit early, I’m losing a minimum of 100K in income and retirement payout, but at least this strategy will lock in a health plan for my family. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2020, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-personally-affected-by-the-corona-virus/849340/655 "2020-05-23T02:29:40Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > My older half-brother lives in northeast New Jersey just across from the NYC metro area, about the highest COVID levels in the United States. He’s high-risk for age (70s) and for being HIV-positive(!). He’s staying in his apartment as much as he can but when he does go out for indispensable supplies, people in the stores are ignoring mask and distancing. He reports having to literally flee from people like they were lepers, while they look at him funny and wonder what’s his problem. That’s odd. I live in the same area and you can’t go into stores without a mask and they limit the number of people inside. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-you-personally-affected-by-the-corona-virus/849340.md?page=32)