Weddings, Funerals and Life in Dire Times

Years from now, we’re sure it will make for a good story. But for now, we’ll start this chapter at home, quarantined together and hoping the world comes back around.

Katy Campbell
Ryan Jernigan
Raleigh, N.C.

To the Editor:

Some friends are worried about how they are going to occupy themselves for weeks staying in their home. My cousin is worried about not being able to get the chocolate ice cream that she says she cannot live without. My neighbor calls me often with rumors about other neighbors who may have the virus now. I listen quietly to their complaints, but my only thoughts are about my son, who is in the middle of his shift as an E.R. doctor.

Joan S. Kaufman
Westbury, N.Y.

To the Editor:

I am a middle-class retiree with non-life-threatening health problems that require me to be homebound 75 percent of the time. Besides an element of fear, the coronavirus has not disrupted my life as much as it has for many others.

As one too experienced with self-isolation, I suggest that we reflect on the millions of people forced to flee their homes and live in refugee camps because of war and violence; people living in unsafe neighborhoods who always practice some form of self-quarantine for their physical safety; people around the world who live in abject poverty who are quarantined from a real life; the working poor who will forever feel the effects of this pandemic.

After such reflection, lucky ones like me can then spend their time reading books, listening to music, watching movies and eating takeout food. Luckier ones must agonizingly wait a spell to dine out and take in a show.

Alan Canner
Allentown, Pa.

To the Editor:

There has been a pleasant upside to our self-isolation. My husband, a retired infectious disease physician, and I are in our early 70s. So we have been distancing ourselves socially for a number of days.

Every afternoon we move into our small den to settle in and watch a foreign TV series like the one we’re watching now, “Trapped,” an Icelandic production. We binge watch several episodes, then return to the kitchen, pour ourselves a glass of wine, turn on the news and make dinner together.