Day 0.
Today was day 0, last night the National Basketball Association announced that the league was suspended indefinitely, following the news that Ruby Gobert, the starting centre for the Utah Jazz had contracted it. More news followed the next morning. I came into the office at around 8:35, made my usual breakfast: oatmeal with bananas and an avocado, I’m known to add more fruit to my oatmeal, but I didn’t buy fruit that week, not because the grocery stores were empty, but because none of the fruits were on sale.
Tom Hanks, and Rita Wilson had also contracted it, faces were being ascribed to the spread, emotions were now involved. Donovan Mitchell, a young star of the Utah Jazz also tested positive that morning.
I was walking by as all the team leads had gathered in meeting, a walk by wasn’t enough time to extract any relevant information at their decibel levels. It was an open concept office. I asked a co-worker what was happening, she didn’t have any ideas.
In the moments that followed, our team leads had gathered and informed us that a colleague came in contact with a relative that had also contracted it, and that effective immediately we would be requested to go home and work from there until further notice. Their spirits remained lifted delivering this devastating information, it was admirable. The entire office was in a similar state of subtle panic. A frantic search for monitors swept over the employees, they really cared about their work.
Some stayed up to a few hours, everyone else left as soon as they could.
With nothing but the media to inform us, we patiently await further instruction.