CONFINED TO AN APARTMENT DURING THE CORONA VIRUS

Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D.

In Aug. of 2018, my wife Ines and I left our comfortable condo in Ashland, MA and moved into the independent living section of the Willows, in Westborough, MA, a suburb of Boston. I was getting closer to my 80^th birthday, had retired from my congregation, and even though I taught part-time, first at Boston College and then at Framingham State University, I was finding going up and down the stairs of my second-floor office a bit tiresome. At the Willows, we got ourselves an apartment with two-bed-rooms and two baths, on the 4^th floor, overlooking the main entrance to the complex, right across from a rehabilitation and skilled nursing center (called, Beaumont),  and another building for those who needed assisted living (called, Whitney Place). For about two years, every night we walked down to the 2^nd floor community dining room and had dinner with a few friends. A cleaning lady came in every Monday morning and spruced up the bath rooms and swept the entire apartment- but did not dust! The Willows, with about 150 apartments in the independent living area, is surrounded by a lovely courtyard , and has a small gym as well as a library. In the past, I gave a few public lectures to the residents in the auditorium. Life was good. And then, early March, 2020, the Corona Virus hit with vengeance, changing our lives in a dramatic fashion. The impact was nationwide and profoundly disturbing. More than two million Americans got sick, and even more than 130,000 died. For a while, the country was almost paralyzed.

Right away, the administration, with justifiable concern for the residents but with excessive zeal, imposed  a total quarantine on all of us. We could not even get out of our living quarters. Meals were delivered to our apartment, the gym and the library were closed, and family visits were eliminated. All residents were told to cover their faces with masks, and keep distance from others. After a month of this restrictive regiment, we felt as if we were in jail! We were safe but cut off from the rest of the world, except by phone. Quickly, we realized that many of our neighbors are much older than we are, many of them depend on aids to move about, and quite a few can get around only in a wheel chair. Ines and I, however, are healthy enough to engage in physical activities with greater ease. Once or twice, I sent the managers letters of complaint regarding the deteriorating quality of our food and the rigid imposition of the group dynamics on us, but did not get very far.

Things started to ease up by mid- June, 2020. We were able to move about freely within the complex at any time, and have family visits, albeit only at the courtyard outside, with masks and appropriate social distancing. The gym and the library remain closed, and we still received our meals in our apartment. We were discouraged to leave the campus altogether, even though many people simply snuck out and did their thing.

At one point, Ines and I thought of moving out altogether and buying a condo in the neighborhood, but opted against it, because of my age, now at almost 82, and with the likelihood that we will still need a place like the Willows, within a few years down the pike. So, we decided to stay put and do the best we can.

Now, early July, we are still being kept in phase 1, even though Massachusetts has already moved into phase 3. The management of the Willows told us that soon things will start to ease up for us as well. I hope so, because it is becoming too difficult to live with these restrictions.

Sadly, we now realize that our lives have changed drastically. Until the virus is under control, daily activities that we took for granted in the past, like traveling, socialization, or going to cultural activities, will from now on be curtailed for a considerable period of time. In the future, I hope we can talk about these dark days with awe but also with gratitude that we survived it all.

July 8, 2020