John Oyler: voluntary selective social distancing

These certainly are unique times. Who could have predicted the complete suspension of all major sporting events, the transition of education from classroom to online, the proliferation of working at home and the disappearance of toilet paper from supermarket shelves?

I must admit, I agree with the logic of “social distancing.” Certainly, minimizing the contact between individuals will dramatically reduce the rapid transmission of this frightening virus, hopefully enough that our existing medical facilities will be able to adequately care for all of us who are infected.

My children are concerned with my fragility and are encouraging me to “hunker down” and wait out the storm. I am committed to self-quarantine for the near future. So far I have missed one brunch with my high school friends, an Osher class on Johann Sebastian Bach at the local library, a Pittsburgh Symphony concert — Brahms’ “First Symphony” — and a Civil War lecture in Carnegie.

There is concern that self-quarantined folks will quickly get cabin fever. Fortunately, the weather has broken and I permit myself to take my walks in the woods, morning and afternoon, as long as I take along my walking stick to ensure that I maintain a safe distance from anyone I encounter.

The university has extended spring break a week so instructors can work out the logistics of conducting courses online from their homes. I am envious of them — it would be great fun to have the challenge of figuring out how to accomplish that. My daughter, Elizabeth, disagrees with me; she is in the midst of doing just that for two courses and doesn’t consider it fun.

It isn’t clear yet how we will handle senior design class. It is a particularly difficult course to handle online. However, the experience of sorting this out may be very advantageous to our students, as it could well be a precursor to the way they will cooperate in projects once they enter the “real world.”

It will be interesting to see if this experience will have an effect on elementary and secondary school education. Do we really need Taj Mahals if it is possible to handle much of the teaching remotely? I have long been an advocate to a return to neighborhood schools, linked electronically to specialty schools.

I wonder what the duration of my self-quarantine will be. According to my son, John, things are slowly returning to normal in China. His company, which is based in Beijing, has been operating, apparently effectively, online for the past month or so. He and his family are self-quarantined in California.

Elizabeth is particularly worried about the effect social distancing is having on low-income workers, like our favorite waiter in the University Club restaurant where we normally have lunch together once a week. It is difficult to work from home when one is a waiter.

A consequence of families self-sequestering could be a return to simple pleasures that have disappeared in our current society. Our children have fond memories of a cold winter week during the Oil Crisis in the mid-1970s when their schools were closed and we entertained them by reading “Lord of the Rings.”

One hopes society will learn from this crisis and make the necessary investment to make certain we are able to cope with crises like pandemics in the future.