Today is one month under since the mayor issued a stay at home mandate for New Orleans, the state order came two days later. How are people holding up to the big changes to everyday life?
We spoke to Stacy, a woman on her way home with lots of groceries for her family.
“It’s hard to be home all the time,” Stacy began. “I have 14-year-old boys and they thought it was a vacation at first, but now they’re getting a little down about it.”
Three 14-year-olds at home intrigued us. When we asked about how her home life has changed, she addressed her teen boys again:
“I see a lot of kids in the neighborhood with other friends, I don’t allow that, it doesn’t make any sense to me.”
It was clear social distancing is the order of the day at Stacy’s home.
And, she’s a big believer in staying with course, to get through the pandemic:
“The longer that we do what we have to do, the quicker we’ll get through it.”
Another shopper said, “There was a lot of stress in the beginning for me, it took a little while to get used to it, but I’ve been fortunate, I get to work from home.”
Cyrus does watch repair down in the French Market, he knows all about taking precautions.
“I do what I can do about being safe, I wear a mask, wear gloves, thank God I am on Social Security so I am getting an income.”
When it came to restarting the economy, Michael commented, “I’m anxious for everything to get back. People can get back to work, obviously, that’s the goal.”
And then there was Jim, an older married man who says he’s dealing with best he can.
“A little bit of cabin fever going on at home,” he says. “But I’m still employed so it hasn’t affected my job I’ve been able to work from home.”
But Jim laments about the things you can do anymore:
“We used to go out maybe three times a week,” Jim says. “And of course, it’s not the same going an picking it up from Outback!”
Jim is cautious, but really wants things back to normal.
“I ready for them to be cautious—but open. May 1st, maybe get started, take it from there.”
