Traveling during a pandemic

I made plans to travel to New York City for spring break several months ago. With no classes, a student media convention happening at the end of the week and a desire to tour New York University, I figured mid-March was the perfect time to finally visit the city I've been dreaming about since childhood. Then, the coronavirus pandemic happened.

I left Cleveland Monday night on a Greyhound. The convention was still scheduled, and I was still set to tour NYU. So I bought extra hand sanitizer before I left and tucked a bottle into every bag I was bringing, and I'm hoping for the best.

None of this trip has gone as planned. The governor of New York put a ban on events/gatherings with 500+ people starting Friday evening. NYU canceled all tours for the foreseeable future. Museums are closed, the 9/11 memorial site is blocked off and some areas feel flat-out desolate.

The convention I came into the city for was cut a day short. The limitations on traveling at universities caused cancelations for people presenting and attending. Regardless, we all made the best of it, and that remained a great experience.

Everything else hasn't had such a smooth adjustment. My university is on an "extended spring break," with classes set to resume with online-only instruction at least until mid-April. It's unprecedented. I don't know what exactly I'm going back to.

I've spent the last few days wandering a city that's supposed to be crowded at all hours, and there were times I was the only one on the sidewalk for an entire block along 5th Avenue. Subway cars had an abundance of seats throughout the day, and I stood alone in a station waiting to head back uptown. Bryant Park is practically empty as I'm sitting here writing this, and I think I've seen more pigeons than people.

My job called me into a last-minute remote meeting Friday evening. My friends and family are all concerned. Meanwhile, people in New York seem calmer about the situation than the people back home, who in comparison have a much less likely chance of coming in contact with the virus.

Everywhere you look, there's something about the virus: people walking around in masks, news stations prominently displaying that they have masks in stock when they do, cancelation announcements plastered on newspapers, ropes and signs blocking off church entryways and an excessive amount of hand sanitizing stations added in heavily-trafficked areas. Even The Daily Show focused heavily on the pandemic. They had Mayor Bill de Blasio on for the March 11 show, and they were one of the few shows still filming in front of a live studio audience.

I considered extending my stay for a while. Hotel prices have dropped drastically, and most transportation providers have severely changed policies affecting changed travel plans for the time being. Worries about my scheduled bus trip being canceled because of the situation meant checking daily that I still had a way home. Heading back wasn't even really a decision that was entirely on me to make.

I get back home early in the morning after an eight and a half hour bus ride, and I have to hope that Cleveland wasn't one of the areas losing their minds stockpiling on groceries so I can fix the empty kitchen waiting for me. Ohio's state of emergency restrictions under Gov. Mike DeWine are stricter than New York's, so my hopes for home being calm aren't high, especially now that my county is up to at least four positive tests for COVID-19.