When news of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China began to fill the headlines, people around the country and San Diego County had no idea what that ultimately meant for daily life.
As the virus made its way into each community across our region, residents all had to adjust.
“Now that the kids are home we’ve had to make a lot of adjustments,” said Jennifer Uy, a publicist for Empower Public Relations who started to work from home on top of raising, and educating, her family. “We are juggling working from home and helping the kids with distance learning”
In San Ysidro at the Otay Mesa border crossing where thousands of people cross between Mexico and the United States each day, employees and volunteers from Hearts and Hands Working Together work each day to keep the sidewalks and streets free of debris.
“It’s very important the job that they do, because here in San Ysidro there are many people that are coming and going,” said Alicia Jimenez who helps organize volunteers. Jimenez said that an employee recently contracted COVID-19 was in the hospital for an entire month.
“Some of our workers at first were very scared to work, but they have to work,” said Jimenez. “They are doing a great job and I’m very proud of them.”
For Kirsti McClure, a product manager who took her family to Moonlight Beach in Encinitas, the pandemic has shifted her thinking.
Local
“We are doing things at home to stay active and interested with each other," McClure said, adding that trips to the grocery store are no longer a family event, and visits with family and friends are socially distanced and limited.
“This is the first time, I think, we have gone anywhere as a family since March. And so we were wanting to give the kids a break," she said.
Across the county, people say that while the effort is overall an inconvenience, it’s worth it to keep each other safe.
