2020 - Art in Time of Uncertainty
COVID-19 Pandemic
A Pandemic: An Introduction (Update April 2021)
mbfitzmahan. The Art Junket. Berkeley, California. 2020.
Don't worry about a thing
'Cause every little thing gonna be alright
Singing' don't worry about a thing
'Cause every little thing gonna be alright
Rise up this mornin'
Smiled with the risin' sun
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin' sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true. Bob Marley
April 20, 2020
On New Year’s Eve, 2019, the Chinese government reported a new virus in the Hubei prefecture. 11 days later, a man died from what would be called the “coronavirus.”
That was 3 months ago. We were celebrating New Year’s Eve in Upstate New York. I thought that 2020 sounded like a particularly auspicious year.
Ten days later the virus was spotted in the United States. Two months after that, infections and deaths increased exponentially, and on March 11th the World Health Organization declared that the world was experiencing a pandemic.
There is no cure or vaccine for the coronavirus.
mbfitzmahan. Pandemic-Lockdown. 2020
In 1969 I had the Hong Kong flu in Tokyo. Thirty years later I was bedridden for six weeks in Wales with a different flu. In early March here in Upstate New York, I suggested to Don that maybe we should go to COSTCO and buy extra toilet paper. Maybe buy extra beans and hand sanitizers. Do we have enough flour?
Governments throughout the world were dangerously unprepared for the coronavirus. Recriminations were tossed back and forth between presidents and prime ministers. Someone had to be blamed. Was it the Chinese? The Democrats? Those hospital workers that must be stealing face masks. How about Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos?
Although warned weeks before the outbreak, Donald Trump failed to effectively mobilize a nationwide response to the epidemic. The virus spread so quickly, that each week of inaction led to massive infections and deaths.
The president forbid visits from travelers from China, then from Europe, and then from everyplace else. Still people got sick and died. Even if sick, people were told to stay home. Only if “you feel like you are drowning or you can’t catch your breath should you go to the doctor’s or to the emergency room.”
Hospitals could not take care of all the sick. ICU’s were filled past capacity. Doctors and nurses didn’t have enough protective masks and gowns. Medical staff came down with the disease. Many died.
Tao Graham. Masks. Berkeley, CA. April 2020
Trying to avoid going to the store, Don and Eric make bread every other day. Don makes rice milk and Eric makes oat milk. Don makes kombucha. Erin helped us plan a garden and I bought seeds for planting. Our 6 year old twins are out back making the ground ready. Just waiting for the weather to cooperate. It snowed today on April 18th.
The CDC and the World Health Organization warn people: “wash your hands and don’t touch your face.” Avoid large crowds. Finally, in mid March governors from many states ordered schools to shut down. Non-essential businesses were forced to close and finally people were ordered to stay home.
We are “sheltered in place.” Erin and Eric take turns homeschooling their Kindergarten boys. Schools have been closed since March 18th. It is likely that schools won’t reopen until September.
The disease spread from community to community, unhampered and chaotic. Without a cure, the virus killed the most vulnerable - the old, the sick, African Americans, and Latinos. It also infected the young and killed some of them, too.
Don and I are the most vulnerable in our multigenerational household as we are both in our 70’s. On March 21st, Liam suddenly came down with a stomach ache, fever, and diarrhea. Augie, Erin, and Eric soon had similar symptoms. The family stayed upstairs in self-quarantine. Don and I fixed meals, snacks, and drinks and left trays on the stair landing. The symptoms lasted only 4 or 5 days, but Erin et. al. stayed upstairs for the requisite 14 days. Stomach ailments were not initially considered one of the symptoms of coronavirus. But, to be safe, the four of them stayed upstairs. A few weeks later, fever and stomach ailments were identified by the CDC as possible symptoms of coronavirus.
Kaitlin Strange. Quarantined in Barcelona. Barcelona, Spain. April, 2020
As of this writing on April 20th, 2020, globally there have been reported 2.5 million cases of the coronavirus disease. Since few people are tested for the virus - that number is probably only a scant 10% of the true number - the actual number of cases is more likely 20.5 million. In the United States there have been 767,379 cases of coronavirus. The likely number of cases could be as high as 7.6 million.
The first case of coronavirus in New York State was discovered on March 1. Today, a bit more than a month and a half later, the number of confirmed cases is 256,555.
The first death in New York State was on March 14th. Today the death toll for New York is 19,693.
Maureen Fitzmahan. Unmade Bed. Pawling, New York. March 2020.
Don and I go for walks down our country road. I listen to podcasts on the pandemic and go on Zoom and FaceTime to talk to our family. I watch British dramas on Netflix until 2 in the morning. The last time I walked out with a group of people was in late February when Don and I took the train to Grand Central Station and toured the Catacombs under the Basilica of Saint Patrick’s Old Cathedral in Manhattan. Touring tombs below the busy streets of New York City seems an uncannily prescient experience when the first death in New York City would hit 2 weeks later.
I felt very anxious in the first weeks. Boredom broke through next. Depression followed. Now I am writing this article, and I feel like I have some small purpose as I reach out to you, my artist friends. I feel like I am a small part of a global experience, sharing these hard months with 7.6 billion other vulnerable human beings.
Maureen Fitzmahan, April 21, 2020. Pawling, New York.
Brian Nelson. Untitled. Berkeley, California. April 2020.
Update: April 25, 2021.
One year has past since I wrote this article.
Around the world we are still working our way through this COVID pandemic. Worldwide there have been 14.7 million cases of COVID 19. There have been 3.1 million deaths.
The United States has suffered nearly 600,000 deaths, and 32.1 million cases of coronavirus.
Fortunately, none of our Art Junket members got sick. We all changed our lives considerably. Katie Strange who had left Berkeley moved to Barcelona in September 2019 to get her PHd. Her husband contracted coronavirus early in March 2020 and was extremely sick. Fortunately, Katie who was a few months pregnant, stayed well. She gave birth to a baby boy in August 2020. Then four months later, she and her family left Barcelona. The members of her collegiate were not able to meet because of the pandemic and any opportunity to continue her research was stymied. She and the family have moved to Vashon Island near Seattle, Washington.
Erin Mahollitz. “This Is Not the Homeschooling You Are Looking For,” Pawling, New York. March 2020.
Erin and our families have bought 20 acres in Upstate New York and Erin is still homeschooling her twin boys. Shauna and her husband escaped Brooklyn and have spent the last year moving from safe harbor to safe harbor to avoid the virus - Wisconsin woods, Colorado winter, Yucca Valley in California, and Seattle, Washington.
The former president, Donald Trump, denying the danger of the pandemic, made the health crisis a political platform. Fortunately, he was thrown out of office in the November elections and Joe Biden was elected president.
Vaccines became available, and many of us have been vaccinated in 2021. The State governments started inoculating health care workers and then those of us over 65. Quickly, everyone became eligible. As of April 2021, every adult in the United States is eligible to get a vaccine.
Don Fitzmahan. Maureen vaccinated! Westchester County, New York. February 11, 2021.
At first, it was very difficult to find an appointment to get vaccinated. Don and I were fortunate to be able to have the time and resources to get vaccinated with our first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at the end of February. We got our second on March 4th.
The country has not reached ‘herd immunity,’ yet. Nearly 30% of Americans have received at least their first dose of the vaccine. 229 million doses have been administered. Worldwide 1 billion people have been vaccinated at least once. Most vaccines require two shots to be completely effective.
25% of American adults are still refusing to get vaccinated because they distrust the government, fear the effects of the shot, or doubt the efficacy of the vaccines.
Since last year, the United States has suffered nearly 600,000 deaths from COVID 19.
In other parts of the world, the disease has surged. In India nearly 300,000 people contracted the virus yesterday. Japan continues to ban travel into their country. New variants of the virus are dangerously attacking unvaccinated populations.
There are signs in the news and from friends of high levels of optimism interspersed with deep levels of fear, depression, and ‘languishing.’
Maureen Fitzmahan, April 26, 2021. Lagrangeville, New York.
mbfitzmahan. Grand Central Station at Noon. New York City, NY. May 10, 2021.
Update: May 15, 2021
An unexpected turn of events brings us hope. On Thursday, May 13th, the American CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) announced that studies now show that in the United States vaccinated persons are unlikely to be contagious. In addition, the vaccines have been found to be 97% effective, even against the highly contagious and virulent variants from the UK, South Africa, Brazil, and India.
Because of the latest science, the CDC no longer requires vaccinated persons to wear masks in most places. Inside or out.
Fully vaccinated people (i.e. 2 weeks beyond 2nd vaccination) no longer need to wear a mask or physically distance in any setting, except where required. Also, vaccinated people do not need to be tested following a known exposure to the virus.
Katie Fitzmahan. Katie and Huxley Strange back in the United States. Seattle, Washington. February 14, 2021.
This is surprising and very good news.
Maureen Fitzmahan, May 15, 2021. Lagrangeville, New York.
The photographs on this page are by Art Junket members - West, East, and Abroad. In April 2020. I made a call to artists, most of us in isolation at home, to push through our fear, feelings of impotence and ennui. Go and take a photo. Use your iPhone or any camera available. How are you feeling, what are you seeing? Record this historic time through art.
Tao Graham - Berkeley, California - member of Art Junket West (2017-2022).
Kaitlin Strange - Barcelona, Spain - founding member of the Art Junket (2015-2022).
Maureen Fitzmahan - Pawling, New York - founding member of the Art Junket (2015-2022).
Brian Nelson - El Cerrito, California - member of Art Junket West (2017-2022).
Erin Mahollitz - Pawling, New York - founding member of the Art Junket (2015-2022).
Words: Maureen Fitzmahan
Tech adviser and designer: Erin Mahollitz
Photos on cover, and front - Maureen Fitzmahan.
Maureen Fitzmahan and Erin Mahollitz are the founding members of the Art Junket (2015-2020).