As to isolation, for some of us, this time isn't terribly different. In Oregon, our Gov acted early and proactively to close everything that isn't essential. Perhaps the most difficult thing is that this state has laws to prevent drivers from filling their own cars, but the Gov has suspended that law, enabling service stations to be self-service--without any explanation of how to fill your car if, like me, you've driven here all your life!

Although I'm 77, I still have a design and marketing business from my home office, but all jobs have always been done remotely, with brief client meetings to discuss ideas and proofs of finished work. The sport fishing industry will take a long time to recover, so I have none of that work right now. I'm still doing the same volunteer work, which has never involved many other people, but means driving, loading and unloading generally totally alone. I still do fish surveys, which, again, means driving for hours and then hiking miles--by myself with my dog for a companion. I e-mail the results, and receive e-mailed results of other surveys by other volunteers for our project, but there's never been much of any contact between volunteers...no annual meetings or picnics, just e-mailed reports of results.

Big changes are no monthly fly fishing club (one of the few things my husband was willing to go out for) and the weekly lecture series we used to attend during fall and winter months. Winter term ended two weeks early when Oregon shut down, so there was a flurry of rescheduling lectures for what we hope will be a Fall term...but, as Curriculum Dir., I haven't scheduled the remainder of Fall Term because it could be an exercise in futility. If things have opened up and look positive by July, we'll knuckle down and schedule the 12 weeks of Fall Term then.

Our home has no nearby neighbors, although the same people walk our road for exercise most days, but those interactions are the same, a "hello" from my position bent over tending flower beds to someone walking past with little conversation. We hardly ever have visitors, although, gasp, we had two after the first of the year, a veritable flood! The one thing I really miss is the library: due to Meniere's going bilateral almost a year ago, I'm now virtually deaf most days, so I had been checking out several books each week to take the place of phone calls, TV, radio, a few words here 'n there with my spouse. We own thousands of books, so I'm re-reading some of those. In addition to our own acreage, there's over 200 acres of undeveloped forest adjacent our place, so I have plenty of places to walk by myself...as usual. There's also more yard/outside work here than I'll every be able to do, so I can pick and choose each day.

So, for some us, other than loss of income that we don't actually NEED, life hasn't changed a whole lot. I can only imagine how dreadful it would be to live in a dense complex where there is no wild place nearby, where you are really stuck inside. That would be a nearly impossible situation for me!