The coronavirus has completely upended my life in Atlanta. I can no longer go to work, I’m constantly indoors, and nothing feels normal anymore.
But, Georgia, I’m begging you to please keep your businesses closed. For the safety of our country, and because trapping my daughter at home has been the only way she will talk to me (sometimes).
If we start to re-open businesses like gyms and nail salons, not only are we encouraging the rampant spread of disease across concentrated groups of people, but we are also encouraging my daughter to leave my home. And I just can’t have that happen. Yesterday, she told me about someone she was dating. Do you understand the gravity of what I’m saying? She has never told me about someone she was dating. I still can’t get his name. But I’m hoping, if we stay home a little longer, I can get his first initial.
There’s a lot at stake here – the coronavirus death rate in Georgia is up 37% from last week! And opening our local economy only stands to increase that number, and also the amount of time my daughter spends “out.” She never tells me where she’s going. She just says she’s going “out.” At least now I know she’s at home, usually in her room with the door locked. And if I listen closely through the door, I can even tell what she’s doing! (Usually saying bad things about me to her friends or playing Animal Crossing.) We have literally never been this close.
To my dismay, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is also easing restrictions on restaurants and movie theaters. This is extremely dangerous. Restaurant surfaces and movie theater bathrooms will instantly become cesspools of the virus, not to mention that they’ll provide extremely fun options for my daughter in lieu of Family Movie Night Fridays (these are Fridays in which we watch movies as a family). She has attended a few (two) of these since quarantine started, and I just cannot risk her never attending one again. I got my daughter to watch Sleepless In Seattle. She asked me if “that was the Toy Story dude.” I said, “Yes.”
Do you see the importance of staying at home? It was the longest conversation we’ve ever had!
There have been over 19,884 cases and 802 deaths in Georgia alone. I’ve been keeping close track because I’m worried about my family falling ill, particularly my daughter — she is not only immunocompromised, but she also has said multiple times that she would “rather die” than spend more time with me. So she would really stick it to me by dying during this thing. And she can’t die before we have one full conversation (five lines, minimum). Please! This is my only goal at this point.
So I’m begging you, Georgia state officials: for the sake of our health and safety, do not re-open businesses. Think of the long-term, here! I need to find out her boyfriend’s initials!
