I was in Lunds around 10pm after attending a small wedding last Saturday. Many shelves where cleaning and hygiene supplies are stored were empty, with signs declaring a max limit on items due to the virus. I saw people wearing latex gloves and face masks and people pulling their own carts filled with medicine, soup, and bags of beans and rice. We had left the wedding early because it didn’t feel right not wanting to shake hands and hug people, so we left before the cake was cut. We had gone to Lunds for some “make-up” cake. The store felt like the calm before the storm. We left, and decided early the next day we would go to the Target off Old Hudson to stock up for two weeks. If Lunds was the calm before the storm, this Target felt like a looted store, post hurricane. I went back to my car and cried. This is when I realized that this was the first time in my life I’ve never had someone model for me what to do. I wanted to call my grandparents who raised me, but they have both passed. The realization that we were writing a new “How To” instruction manual hit me quite hard.

It was really only a few days ago, when I got an email from my kids’ school, that I realized just how bonkers this is going to get.

I think it all happened pretty early for me. I Was lying in bed, wide awake in the middle of the night. I was watching that video on my phone. The time lapse one. In Wuhan. The one where an entire hospital is built in ten days. Ten days! An entire hospital. Up and running. Treating patients. At first, I was simply astonished. But then, It was like a train wreck. I just could not stop. I watched it over and over again. An absolutely terrifying wave crashed over me… I was petrified. I couldn’t breathe… I’ve studied viruses.

My mom has always been a free spirit. When she posted an alarming article about Italy on Facebook and said, “don’t panic but do what you need to do,” my heart skipped and I got that metallic fear taste in my mouth. If she’s taking shit seriously, it’s pretty serious.

I realized it when I listened to Dr. Michael Osterholm* discuss the virus, what he had predicted, and what to expect.

*Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and former state epidemiologist at the Minnesota Department of Health.

I had a very immediate reaction to 9/11 that was more global. Where are my friends and family? About everyone in the planes, or in New York City trying to save lives, or getting out of harm’s way. Once I learned the likely scenario, I was more even stunned but also realized that we were experiencing what has been happening in or to all of the world.

I was worried but when I saw how we were reacting to COVID-19 in such a nonchalant manner, I knew were in trouble—but not at the level we are in now. Usually when something goes on in the world, we have watchdogs. Apparently we sent them home.

Anyone that spoke out was called ‘alarmist’—well that is what an alarm is for. You don’t call an alarm clock a #FakeClock. Maybe some us still rely on them to buzz again before the office calls and asks “where the heck are you?!” Either way, we didn’t take this one seriously for a while.

I’m preparing for loss of people I know.

I’m filled with anxiety over being less helpful to the most vulnerable right now.

I want the White House and its entire administration to burn to the ground.

I fear that many of our businesses will not make it through this.

I’m afraid to have my upcoming surgery, even though I’m prepared for its cancelation due to it not being an essential surgery.

I hope we can continue to enter the kindness and good deeds that come out of this tragedy.

It has yet to be seen. Fear can blow reality way out of perspective. Yes, there’s a TP and hand sani shortage but in my family’s business, all of our product comes from China. It will be interesting to see how our contracts will be fulfilled this year.

For me, everything changed. I’m in a high-risk group because I’m severely immunocompromised, so I knew I would need to ‘self-isolate’. I left town and am staying with my parents, also in a high-risk group, in the small town where I grew up. Like many other Lowertown artists that teach, either as a full time job or as a side gig, I’ve lost work. Also like others, I’ve lost Art Crawl. For many of us, this is a significant part of yearly income.

I have no social life/friends locally and I never did much but go to work and hang out at my home. So my activities haven’t been reduced much. I go outside for more walks. I probably would have gone out to eat more recently. Even takeout, I’m afraid of the virus being passed along by a cook or the person who packages it up.

I have a regular paycheck so I’m not afraid of missing a rent payment but the stuff I have to twist myself up to do, to receive said paycheck, does not seem worth it in these times. I wish I were a beloved Lowertown artist who believed in myself and my own creative work enough to try to get by without an office job.

I had a planned 1-week vacation to Turks & Caicos cancelled—it was to be my first week off in 10 years, to celebrate my 60th birthday. I had to come home early from working in Miami to tend to my business and to avoid possible shutdown of the domestic airports. My husband is still in Columbia South America and is working to get home.

Business has been crazy since the end of last week when the news started coming in. We are a company that is essential in a recession or downturn, so clients and potential clients are calling and emailing non-stop.

I lost work, patrons, and clients through cancelation or rescheduling. I lost 9,600 dollars of projected income real work. It was one of the first times in my art business that looked like it was going to be a great year. I had made a payment arrangement purchase on a plane ticket to travel to an international conference in Boulder, Colorado. I hadn’t imagined an invitation to speak to be threatened in such an unforeseen way. Everything started canceling so fast and there was nothing I could do. Our lives were irrefutably changed. I was broke, with all my backup funds gone as well.

I see businesses sharing their plans to educate staff on safest practices and altering business models to accommodate delivery, pick ups, trying to reassure us that we will be safe but—at the same time—we all know that this is a time when we don’t know for how long we will have to be in seclusion and missing wages, therefore spending our money is a very risky thing right now.

I’ve seen folks come together in support of the kiddos. People still are going to try and work. Bills aren’t going anywhere.

And of course, my personal losses are reflected in the larger Lowertown population of artists. We are in it together. We have all lost work. We have all lost Art Crawl. Many of us spread out our summer show earnings across the year. I’m concerned for the restaurant owners in Lowertown, as well. The industry exists on such a razor thin line to begin with! Add to that, the onus of employees weekly checks’ (as a few of these businesses are doing). These losses are simply staggering. Lowertown will look different on the other side of this disease!

I see a lot of artists and service industry folks worried about their livelihoods. Maybe they are eligible for unemployment or there will be some basic income distribution.

I haven’t been home yet to find out the effects in Lowertown.

We are in a mandatory shutdown after no time to prepare. My friends and associates are artists, musicians, cooks, dog walkers, babysitters, waiters, and restaurant owners. Many have little or no savings and are working check to check. If you own a business it may be worse—all of what you own is in the business and you also feel responsible for your employees. This virus has been devastating but we are still trying to figure out how to take care of each other safely and respectfully.

I think the current administration lied and delayed both the news and severity to make themselves look better, they refused tests from WHO, and they lied about how many respirators were purchased. They touted this as “a Democratic hoax” to some of the lower denominators in their followers and now, we have a pandemic.

I applaud Waltz for his immediate efforts to pass bills to waive the 2-week waiting period on unemployment and for the county to shut down public offices, while still implementing a work forward approach so that services can continue remotely.

I have truly taken to heart the generous response of many local restaurants that have made a commitment to see that ‘no child goes without food’ during this crisis. I hope now that people have accepted how great the need was before this crisis, that they will be just as compassionate once we have started to recover, and will work to vote in policy changes so that families have the basic necessities to provide meals at home.

I think authorities statewide are just copying what other states are doing. If I heard something happening from say, Ohio, I can place my bets on it happening in MN, too.

The president of the United States has been on a pathetic lying binge since the Wuhan outbreak. His actions are utterly immoral and unbecoming of the office. We have a federal government that doesn’t ‘believe’ in science, and any federal employees that might have helped out at this point, were excised from the staff long ago. State leaders, on the other hand, are handling the problem in an entirely different manner. Thank goodness!

I don’t know. I don’t think anyone knows.

Governor Walz has been fantastic: clear, direct, and empathetic to those in need. President Trump has been absolutely horrific to watch. He’s the most appalling example of a leader I have ever seen.

I think the City and States are trying to do their best. I heard our Governor. Thank God he is consulting with the best people he can. He is also fine tuning as they go. Things are so uncertain when it come to the mystery of how to contain this.

When you see entire countries on lock down, that is scary. Our federal government dropped the ball many times since January. I think our local government and municipalities are doing the best they can and I also hope they will ‘up their game’. It is a mess and I don’t recall what the plan is for the homeless population.

I fully believe in flattening the curve by decreasing our mobility and interactions as much as possible. I hope that the money we save in reducing deaths will be applied to business grants and other subsidies so that we can all recover with a modicum of equity.

Well, I think it will work. At least I hope it will. I can’t wait to get on with our regularly scheduled program.

Yes. I do. Three quick reasons: Hospitals will have time to more fully prepare. More test kits, which target grater accuracy can be produced. Respirator manufacturing can be incentivize.

It’s something to try. It would help alleviate fear, except not everything is shut down. The CPA firm on the corner is still full of people working overtime for tax season. Chunks of my office are not telecommuting. Teachers are still in the schools.

I agree with it. We sent all of our 25 employees home last week with their workstations and phones. We are lucky enough to work in the cloud and have the flexibility for everyone to work from home.

At this late point, we are going to have to shut it down!

We have to take personal responsibility for our choices and actions. Our current administration gave people a false sense of hope. I do not believe businesses intentionally put profit over people by not being prepared or staying open too long.

We have to remember that businesses are made up of people and we all have our own beliefs, opinions, strengths and weaknesses. These business owners had the difficult task of doing the right thing for their employees and their own families.

As I said earlier, we are now writing this “How To” manual as we go.

I can’t blame the business owners of Lowertown for responding slowly. Everything happened so fast. I’m sure they wanted to make sure they were aligning their responses with everyone else’s.

Well now, I guess they have.

I have a first instinct to be judgmental and expect perfection. I was resenting people who took vacations recently for “unnecessary travel.” But who am I or any of us to say what is necessary for someone else. I am trying to choose to believe people are all doing the best they can with what they have, and most of all have compassion.

I’m sure they are still in a state of shock over what to do. These are small business people. They have families, employees, and most likely most of their savings tied up in their businesses. As they make decisions, they can let the community know of their plans.

They are trying to turn a Cruise Liner around. They are going to have to lay off people and feed the community that rely on their services. People want the restaurants to survive. With the timelines we are hearing now, some will not. This is fully-fledged assault with a virus on top. I have heard of entire buildings, planning take out together from their neighborhood restaurants. That sill might not do it but it is one good idea being generated by the community.

Please remember that a smile can also be contagious, in a way, and that’s what we all could really use. Smile and send love and hope out to each and every person that you see. We have to center kindness and compassion on this tragedy—it’s who we are and it’s what will get us through this.

Be kind. Be useful. Use your compassion as much as you are able. Share your TP.

Be kind. Share. Care for one another. Reach out to friends and family. Reach out to at-risk people. You can enjoy the outdoors, while still maintaining safe ‘social distancing.’ This is an opportunity to come together as a community. Let’s choose to do that!

I wish we could stop being selfish and divided (I am describing myself in that statement), and have a giant group hug in Mears Park to reduce stress. But none of us trust each other, we trust the government, the media, and social media more to tell us what to do. This insanity is the natural outcome of how confused that we, the human race, have become.

Stay strong, seek help if you need it, follow the recommendations of the governor, and stay safe.

We are a strong, vibrant, and welcoming neighborhood. I hope that artists find ways to entertain in their homes and studios, and that people can use pay per view—something like that. Imagine T. Mychael Rambo or VocalsEssence doing a sing along, composing people’s stories and creating vinettes based on their virtual community engagement. We must shut in but we can not shut down. I know this from personal experience. We must take care of each other, doing what we can.