Arrival for the 7th Time
Today is April 6, 2020
It has been exactly a month since I arrived in the US for the seventh time. I left home urgently, preparing in just 3 days. The children learned that a new law was passed in the states stating that with a Green Card, one cannot be absent from the country for more than six months from the last stay, or it might be canceled at the border. There was a similar rule before, but either it was not enforced as strictly, or it was enough to live in the current year for more than six months. My six-month absence period was expiring on March 16, so on March 2, we bought a ticket and I flew out on the 5th. Tickets for that date were very expensive, so I had to use accumulated miles and only pay 14,000 rubles – the mandatory fee, plus $200 for the ticket from Los Angeles to Phoenix.
Later, we realized how timely my departure was.
When I left, the coronavirus was rapidly spreading in China, there were already cases in European countries and America, but a pandemic had not yet been declared. Sheremetyevo Airport was calm, with a few people wearing protective masks. There were many sports teams, both youth and adult, traveling. I noticed that our plane had more passengers from India than usual. Many of them were dressed very lightly (presumably transit passengers), while it was very cold in Moscow at that time, and we were transported to the plane in a bus through fields where snow lay in places.
At Los Angeles Airport, the passport control line was as long as ever, but there were no Chinese passengers. Usually, a flight from China would arrive at the same time as a Russian flight, and there would always be a lot of Chinese passengers, but this time there were none at all. It was said that all flights from China were redirected to San Francisco, Seattle, and New York. Probably, this is why these cities now have the worst situation with coronavirus infection in the states.
Later, we realized how timely my departure was
Customs control took a very long time. Now, you don’t fill out a declaration on the plane; instead, everyone must first register automatically. At the numerous machines in the passport control hall, you had to answer a questionnaire, i.e., fill out a declaration, scan your document and fingerprints, take a photo, receive a printout, and then stand in line with it for customs. All customs officers were wearing gloves, some had masks, but there was no special commotion. Everything was as usual. There were already some cases of illness, but mostly on the East Coast of the states.
I arrived on a Thursday, and on Saturday, we even visited friends. Then the grandson’s school had a spring break starting March 9, and on March 11, Wednesday, America announced a quarantine and self-isolation régime.
Air travel between European countries was suspended. Schools and universities switched to online learning, and employees of businesses (whose work mode allowed it) transitioned to remote work. National parks, movie theaters, libraries, museums, and gyms were closed, all competitions and training were canceled, and restaurants were shut down. Americans, most of whom were accustomed to eating out, rushed to make purchases. Initially, store shelves were emptied of pasta, canned goods, cleaning supplies, and disinfectants (sanitizers), and paper towels and toilet paper disappeared. Just like in that joke: “Who would have thought that in 2020, toilet paper would lead the stock market.”
While food supplies quickly stabilized, and even toilet paper and paper towels were soon back in stock, sanitizers and disinfectants are still in short supply as of May 1, 2020. Initially, there was a shortage of flour, but later it appeared, organic, in simple paper bags (about 10 kilograms) with no labels or pictures on the bag. We decided that the shortage was not because the country lacked flour but because all the colorful packaging came from China. In general, China concentrated all production, and every little thing was from China, and now the world is paying for that as well.
