I started keeping a journal on March 20th, 2020, when it became clear to me that the COVID-19 virus had become a pandemic. It does not pretend to be a scientific account of the virus and its ramifications. Historical accounts of plagues necessarily focus on generalities, and it is not always easy to infer the details of daily life during such times — what it was like, for example, to shop for food on a periodic basis, or how ordinary social activities were impacted. So this journal combines both personal details and news from the nation at large and from other nations as well.
I use the full names of public figures, but for personal friends and acquaintances I have used initials only in order to protect their privacy.
When the virus has completed its course, many conditions will change. For the most part social arrangements will revert to the way they were before; in some matters the effects of the virus may impact how matters are arranged now, or at least how they were arranged before the virus made its presence. In any case, the peculiar mood of this time will fade and eventually become a distant memory. It is possible, therefore, that journals such as this one kept during the days of the pandemic will eventually have a historical interest.