This new virus reality sucks. It's been 7 weeks of social distancing so far and it doesn't look like end of it is near. I'm trying to find some positives about this situation but there aren't many. Not being able to attend family parties every weekend is actually one of them.
Another one is cleaner air. When car traffic dropped dramatically, many cities reported a significant improvement in air quality. People in India can see the Himalayas, while citizens of Los Angeles have the longest stretch of clean air since 1980.
Before and after - cleaner air in India due to reduction in car traffic (Source: CNN)
When I see pictures like this I think that people are the virus and Covid-19 is the cure. You can get roughly the same impression from this excellent short animated movie - What On Earth!
Anyway, I realize it's increasingly challenging for many folks out there. Unemployment is through the roof. Economy has slowed down to a crawl. In my case though, my work keeps me very busy and one thing I regret is that I cannot simply do things I love as much as I would like.
Going on a bike ride is difficult. We are having a cool April, which means that every warm and sunny day results in hundreds of people going outside, walking, riding bikes, running, and playing. Everyone is waiting for warmer weather, but on top of that, people don't want to be stuck at home forever so they go out - all at once.
It's not easy to find safe places to ride. Ideally, I should just visit a deep, remote forest (not many of those here in Eastern Massachusetts), otherwise there's no guarantee I won't encounter a large group of "roadies" riding together (I guess they didn't hear the news), just like this morning.
After this virus is over, we need to restart into a newer, better reality. We need Version 2.0.
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