Crystal Wise
The city is showing signs of life again as restaurants reopen their dining rooms, hair salons take appointments, and retail shops see customers browsing their racks. And while a sense of normalcy is slowly returning to Fort Worth, most would agree — it's not quite the same.
On our editors' last day working from home — yes, Fort Worth Magazine returns to the office starting Monday — we ask: What will change the most about the way we live, post-COVID?
Brian Kendall: After Governor Abbott announced a cautious, trickling approach to a return to normalcy — one necessary for the health and safety of all Texans, mind you — it seems he inadvertently opened the floodgates in Fort Worth. A trip to Target, Woodshed, or a local park proves many are throwing caution to the wind and eager to return to a time before face masks and social distancing. Yet, I suspect this behavior will be temporary. As diagnoses and deaths continue to rise, I’m afraid stay-at-home orders will likely be reinstituted, and those who think a frenzied and overreactive media has influenced the government’s response will change their tune once the virus inevitably hits closer to home. Face masks, social distancing, and more frequent takeout orders will remain the norm for the foreseeable future.
Samantha Calimbahin: I'm personally hoping for an overall greater emphasis on sanitation and general health — even when the pandemic is over. It's so easy to catch illnesses in obvious places: concerts, arcades, theme parks, basically anywhere with large crowds. But maybe COVID-19 will teach us something. Wipe down door handles. Use hand sanitizer frequently. Take your elderberry supplement before heading out into society. Perhaps a general consciousness for healthy habits will make a difference in the long run.
Scott Nishimura:
Arguably, the way we’ll live post-COVID is already playing out. We’re nesting — and investing — in the spaces we live in. See the shopping carts at Home Depot, packed with non-essentials like bedding plants to beautify our bare gardens, paints to cover those worn spots we’ve stared at for weeks, and light fixtures to replace the old ones we’ve thought about replacing for years but prioritized behind those can’t-miss Cowboys games.
Closely related, we’re enjoying nature more than we ever have. This summer, we’re looking for reasons to travel — by car, to a secluded spot like a mountain cabin where we won’t be surrounded by throngs of other people. Yes, the $207 roundtrip airfare to San Francisco on American in mid-June looks very enticing. But I pack very light (I traveled to China for three weeks out of an Osprey daypack and, most recently, to England for two weeks out of the same pack), and I can’t create enough room in my bag for that bottle of Clorox wipes.
We’re using technology to limit physical contact and exact more convenience in our lives. In my family, in the last two months, we’ve purchased two appliances and 100 cubic feet of mulch over the phone with Oliver Dyer Appliance and online with Lowe’s, without ever setting foot in a retail store. While more restaurants are reopening for dine-in service, my family’s going to continue to support our local places with takeout. Favor is our friend. And for Mother’s Day, I DoorDashed sushi to my mother at her senior living center in Oakland, California; the staff there was delighted to take it to her apartment door.
And what to make of restaurants? The long daily lines of customers waiting to pick up a family meal pack from Bonnell’s have been largely an anomaly, compared to other restaurants. Are there any openings in the market? We hear some restaurateurs are eyeballing new concepts combining deli, butcher, gourmet grocery, and beer and wine.
More workplaces are re-examining the nature of work their employees perform and bailing on the traditional office model — at least for the time being. Google, for one, just announced the majority of its employees will work from home until 2021.
Our daughter’s private university in San Antonio is considering changes this fall that include more remote instruction as part of its offerings and a “de-densification” of dorms that would seem to mean changes to its policy that currently requires students to live on-campus their first three years.
And COVID-19 has forced changes in our relationships. Churches are pondering how best to “re-gather.” Mine has migrated to Zoom and Facebook Live for services and meetings through at least the rest of May. But my wife and I at least get to enjoy a glass or two of wine during the Tuesday night theology class we take together with 10 other souls through our church, now via Zoom instead.
And COVID has forced folks to come up with new ways to maintain relationships, from drive-by birthday parties to virtual happy hours, socially distanced parties where everybody sits at least six feet apart, and visits to nursing homes where family sits outside their loved ones’ windows with a picnic and chat through a window.
