Virginia Governor Ralph Northam who re-emerged into public view after the midterms announced a series of public health measures related to COVID-19, among them steps to encourage social distancing. The measures were directed at “non-essential” businesses. Fortunately, that definition does not included pharmacies like the CVS across the street which sells wine. So all is not lost; we are keeping hope alive. With Cabernet Sauvignon as it happens. 

But it is eerily quiet on the streets in Reston Town Center as well as RTC Park. The Bow Tie Cinema is closed, as is the Apple store. And retail merchants have shut their stores for the time being. But the restaurants in town have take-out menus up and running, so that’s a win. 

We had planned to 2 month trip to Italy, primarily to Rome and Florence, beginning April 8. Needless to say, that has been cancelled. The good news is that if we had scheduled the trip 2 months earlier we could have been caught in Italy in the middle of the disaster with no way to get out.   

Anyway, I went out and took a few photos around the neighborhood because it’s so rare for the streets to be so empty, especially on a Saturday afternoon. The photos are posted below. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how long this lasts.